DevTalk: Chocobo Thread. Riding! Raising! Racing! You Know You Want Your Fix

[Rentahamster]

UPDATE: Chocobos are coming in patch 1.19, although in what form, we do not know yet.

This seems like a good spot to drop some information that we recently heard from Yoshida... He mentioned that the dev. team is currently thinking about two different approaches.

The first is pet-related content where players can raise chocobos and other mounts that anyone can ride. The second idea is centered around pets that can only be utilized by specific jobs.

However, we won't be picking just one concept to implement. Instead we will be looking into the specifications so that we can implement both. However, as we are not yet at the stage where we can disclose when the implementation timing will be. We hope that the current chocobo implementation planned for 1.19 will hold you all over in the meantime.

According to a recent dev post, the team are still "gathering their thoughts" on modes of transportation.

Ah, sorry I missed that. Regarding what Foxclon said on the JP forum was the fact that in the 1.18 patch, the anima cost of "Return" will be lowered to zero. He also said that while it's a bit off, they're gathering their thoughts regarding future modes of transportation and once we have something concrete to share, we'll let you guys know.

Well, we all know that one particular form of transportation, a true Final Fantasy staple, is quite conspicuously missing in action: the almighty Chocobo. Let's gather our thoughts, shall we?

GOALS:

Implementation of chocobos as an alternate form of transportation that has particular pros and cons that distinguish it from the already established modes like walking, teleporting, and boat-riding. (Inspired from all Final Fantasy games that let you ride a Chocobo)

Implementation of chocobos as a minor pet-raising simulation so that players use their skill to breed and train their own custom Chocobo. (Inspired by FF7, FF11)

Implementation of chocobos as vehicles for competitive racing in which players can compete in a non-combat form of PVP to win gil and prizes (Inspired by FF7, FF10, FF11)


In order to realize these stated goals, we should want to try to implement the best qualities of the chocobo-related activities of past games while ignoring the not-fun parts.


[SIZE=5]RIDING[/SIZE]

In FF11, the license quest at level 20 was a nice milestone to look forward to in a young player's career, so I'd like to bring that same concept into FF14. What I want to change, however, is the actual quest. Feeding a sick chocobo 4 times is a pretty lame quest objective. I'm sure the devs can think of something better than that.

Level 20 - Chocobo Renter's License Quest
This would allow you to rent a chocobo from the town NPC for a small fee. 30 minute time limit on rented chocobos.

Level 30 - Chocobo Owner's License Quest
This would allow you to own your own chocobo and call upon it at anytime out in the field. Unlimited time limit on personally owned chocobos.

How these modes of transportation differ enough to be useful in their own ways:

Teleport - Fastest mode of transportation and costs no gil, yet it costs anima to use, and it can only teleport to certain pre-determined areas.

Chocobo - Faster than walking with the freedom to go anywhere and not use anima, yet it costs gil to rent or to own a chocobo

Walking - Costs 0 gil and 0 anima, but is slow.


[SIZE=5]
RAISING[/SIZE]

Chocobo raising was a neat concept in FF7, but I felt that it was a bit too complicated and overdrawn in FF11. I'd prefer the more tedious Tamagotchi-esqe care-taking aspects of it be removed.

Level 30 - Chocobo Breeder License Quest
This would allow you to breed and raise your own chocobos for your own use or to sell to other players.

- allow players to rent a chocobo stable to house their chocobos. Rent is automatically deducted form your character as long as you have a stable active.
A "basic stable" costs 10,000 gil per real-time week to maintain and holds 1 chocobo.
A "breeder's stable" costs 20,000 gil per real-time week to maintain and holds 4 chocobos.
A "master's stable" costs 70,000 gil per real-time week to maintain and holds 8 chocobos.

- Each chocobo has a unique ID to it and has a variety of genes associated with it that express themselves via various traits such as: height, wing size, feet size, head size, color, beak size, beak shape, eye size, eye color, tail feather size, tail feather style, speed, endurance, etc

- Chocobo genes and traits are passed down from generation to generation in a manner that follows the Mendelian Principles of inheritance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance

- Genes are responsible for 70% of a chocobos final stats and appearance, while 30% is determined by the skill of the player who raises it and the choices they make while caring for the chocobo.

- It takes one week of real-time for a newborn chocobo to reach adulthood and be eligible to be ridden or raced.

- The process of raising won't be a tedious baby-sitting job like it was in FF11, the basic process of chocobo-raising can be completed with minimal attention throughout the one week maturation period with no negative consequences to the chocobo or its future offspring. However, squeezing out that extra 30% of potential from their chocobos will be possible for those breeders who want to dedicate their time to do so.

- Baby chocobos can be made to follow the player character around town like a puppy in order to show off.



[SIZE=5]RACING[/SIZE]

Level 30 - Chocobo Racer's License Quest

- each town has a gate that all leads to the same instance - Chocobo Racing Arena

- Similar to behest, one race in 3 different skill classes happens once every 30 minutes. Up to 8 players can race simultaneously per race. If more than 8 players sign up for a race, additional race instances are created to handle the overflow of players. If under 8 players sign up for a race, the extra slots are occupied by NPC racers.

- players can race in 3 different classes. Player entry fees for each skill class are put into a single pot.

1st place: 70% of pot
2nd place: 15% of pot
3rd place: 5% of pot
4th place: 5% of pot
5th place: 5% of pot

"B Class" - entry fee is 1,000 gil. Reward for 1st and 2nd place also randomly includes some kind of medium-value gear/craft material/materia/whatever

"A-Class" - entry fee is 5,000 gil. Reward for 1st and 2nd place also randomly includes some kind of medium/high-value gear/craft/material/materia/whatever

"S-Class" - entry fee is 10,000 gil. Reward for 1st and 2nd place also randomly includes some kind of high-value gear/craft/material/materia/whatever

- the actual racing game is an actual racing simulation. Whether the nature of the racing sim is more inspired by Gran Turismo or Mario Kart, is up to the devs. What should be important is that the actual racing game is a game of skill and not chance. It should also be designed to minimize the advantage that players with high ping have over players with low ping.

- While Chocobos do have variable stats in regard to speed and endurance, the overall determining factor of victory is player skill. i.e. a crappy player with a godlike chocobo will still have a hard time beating a skillful player with an average chocobo.

- After 2 months of real-time has passed in an adult Chocobo's life, it must be retired from racing. It may still be ridden, however.

- I'm not sure if I want to keep the concept of Chocobucks from FF11. Maybe.


MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS:

- Chocobos level up the more you use them for riding or racing, boosting their stats slightly and granting them new abilities (like 'dash' or 'jump' or 'glide', perhaps?).

- You can equip various gear and decorative armor to your chocobos on their head, body, and feet. These types of gear can be found in treasure chests, or crafted by players, or bought at NPCs, or dropped from NMs, etc.

- You are able to name your chocobos whatever you want.

- You may sell your chocobos to whomever you want


Related links on how to fix Final Fantasy 14: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/s...vBForum_Thread


Thoughts? Criticisms? Ideas? Please comment.

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