[dev1082] THE Mount System / Chocobo Tribute

[Esthar]

Hello Forum-Readers and FFXIV-Team~!

This is my idea for it.
A little map for this mess of a post is appropriate, I think. *chuckle*

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1.) First Words

2.) About The Chocobo

3.) The Implementation Of THE Mount

• a.) Role
• b.) Naming & Guardian Diety
• c.) Attributes
• d.) "Shepherd" Class & The Different Licenses
• e.) Combat
• f.) Food
• g.) Gear
• h.) Different Chocobo's For Different Folks

4.) The Implementation Of Other Mounts

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1.) First words
Thank you SE for not giving it away. I think it could be, if really really wanted, implemented within less than a month, but... Would that be as epic an experience as the Chocobo deserves it? I doubt it. Therefore thanks for holding back until the Chocobo cameo is as mindblowingly creative and unique as it should be and as the little (definingly) yellow (but also multi-colored) horsebird (hehe, sorry) deserves it to be.
While writing and reaching the 25% mark of this post, I felt I needed (by all means) to add: Yes, I'm a hardcore fan. Can I get a: "Yay, me too!" please?

Before we start: I have used the word "Chocobo" 141 times in this post.

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2.) About The Chocobo
I don't know about you, but whenever I see those movies where people spill tar over other people and then bathe 'em in white feathers... I curse 'em for not taking yellow feathers and playing a Chocobo theme as background music that very second. What I want to say is:
That's how much I love Chocobos.
Therefore, as Tidus would probably say right now:
"This... Is your story..."

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The chocobo was created by Koichi Ishii, a video game director who worked on various Final Fantasy titles.
The first one ever appeared in Final Fantasy II and looked kind of like a dinosaur in early artworks.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/2.png

It was a more passive cameo, though, unlike...

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...Final Fantasy III, where the chocobo had a stronger appearance.
You could summon it for combat, use the fat one as sort of a retainer and play a mini-game with it.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/3.bmp

And apparently people liked it. (Hands down... Who wouldn't / couldn't...?!)
Therefore...

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...In Final Fantasy IV they took it to the next level.
Colored Chocobos. A white one for MP restoration (who remembers skipping the inn?) and a black one that can... Fly~! Over mountains.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/4.png

Pretty cool...

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...And with love and kudos from the fans came more creativity and deepness for it's role in Final Fantasy V. A Chocobo as part of the story, with personality and whatnot. Boko & Koko. While I think it's a bit corny, but also funny, when Koko comes into play, I just love Boko. Towards the end he's required to do something like side-quests.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/5.png

Probably because it's role was larger than ever before in part five...

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...It's role was whether mild in Final Fantasy VI.
You can rent chocobo's for travelling.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/6.png

But hey... We're steering towards epic territory. Extremely epic for any videogame and it's called...

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...3D. Oh my god. Remember when Sega Saturn felt like real life and people said stuff like: "This is virtual reality! Soon we are never gonna leave the house again." Of course with the first 3D part of the game, Final Fantasy VII, everything had to be epic.
And it was.
Golden Chocobo, breeding and racing. My god. I could've kissed a girl way earlier, but hey. (Actually: "Dammit!")
Besides the Golden Chocobo, aka the SUV of all Chocobo's due to the fact that it can ride over anything, you get put in charge of a whole stable. Neat!

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/7.jpg

After this insane implementation it it seemed they had to let it cool down a bit...

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...Or probably it was due to Squall's and Rinoa's epic saga.
I mean... Virtually nothing can exist successfully when there's Squall and Rinoa and their epic struggles for answers, self-finding and love in the room.
And they deserve it. Final Fantasy VIII - By far my favorite Final Fantasy of all time.
You needed a Chocobo to return to your spaceship once and... If you were proud owner of a pocket station, which I wasn't, you could get a mini-game for it.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/8.jpg

So... Not a lot of Chocobo-ism going here, except the mini-game which was another new way of bringing it in. To steadily raise, but not overrush the ammount before the big bang...

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...In Final Fantasy IX they went back to something that reminded me of part five.
A chocobo with a personality. "Choco", who learns new tricks during the game, evolves. You can use it for treasure hunting and transportation.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...rebesaid/9.png

Coming close to the big bang, a rather small appearance occured in...

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...the following mini-saga of Final Fantasy X / X-2 (rolled up as one here).
I might get it mixed up, cause in my head both games are more or less one,
except that the speedy way of casting healing spells (or all spells really) in X-2 was the coolest thing ever. You could ride the chocobo in Mi'hen (as if to say: "We know you love it and ah... Well... Go ahead and ride it once on Zanarkand just to say you did it." Love ya, Square Enix. You're the best!) and there was a mini-game.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ebesaid/10.jpg

And then came...

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...Final Fantasy XI.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ebesaid/11.jpg

No...

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...More words needed there I guess, so let's advance to Final Fantasy XII.
To my shame I have to admit that I didn't play it yet, my best Final Fantasy buddy Erica
("Hi E!!!" ) says it's awesome, though. And I trust her.
Wikipedia and fansites say that Chocobo's here are sometimes fightable.
Hmmm, interesting! And rideable. Gonna check it out on one of these days, I guess.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ebesaid/12.jpg

Another title which I...

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...Sadly didn't play is Final Fantasy XIII. And Erica didn't get into it yet as well.
Fansites say there's a guy who carries a Chocobo in his afro.
Did I get that right? Jesus... From dinosaur to Boko the lovemachine to crapping into afro's... Long way, man... Long way.
Apparently the Chocobo song gets also lyrics for the first time.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ebesaid/13.jpg

After we've walked such a long road, seen it in such various ways, colors, utilisations, fought it, rode it, breeded it, used it as hair styling accessoire, we reach the present day, the 10th letter of a man called Naoki Yoshida who is yet to conceive the latest and hopefully most epic appearance of an idea that was born in 1988, dear people, we reach...

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...Final Fantasy XIV. Ex-Eye-Vee... Fourteen.

Damn, man.
So, now follows my little private fantasy, my vision, my perfect scenario, my 2011 version of the Chocobo.

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[Esthar]

2.) The Implementation Of THE Mount

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a.) Role

We've all seen the Grand Companies page and the Chocobo's in armor.
This is the way to go! Chocobo's might be more intense than ever.
Chocobo's may be inevitable as a part of the experience. The pictures are actually intriguingly foreshadowing something like that. And... Be honest... There's war... And there's Chocobo's. Why not use 'em. Huh?

Of course, it may not be restricted to combat only. Riding as well.
And playing. Playing as in racing, breeding, trading.
And status. NPC storylines and quests for Ul'dah's snobbish Chocobo elite.
And lore. Chocobo's that are used for cultivation in La Noscea.
And fights. Wild, differently colored Chocobo's in Mor Dhona that are fighting humans due to the endless times they've spent without seing one.

The Chocobo shall grow a real companion.
A comrade, a friendly spirit. The friend every lone adventurer needs in the times of war that are afoot. Something that you grow really fond of while playing and even LS members eventually will know the name of your Chocobo.

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b.) Naming & Guardian Diety

The Chocobo might be nameable.

It might have a Guardian diety, the same as Characters have,
determined by it's in-game date of hatching.

Assuming that one day Guardian dieties will boost certrain attributes:
The Character might recieve a very slight bonus if the Chocobo is of the same diety as the Character. The bonus that might be applied is a minimal attribute bonus of the attribute that's assigned to the Guardian diety.

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c.) Attributes

The attributes of the Chocobo. They might influence:

Chocobo: The Chocobo's own Attributes
Character: The effect of the Chocobo's own Attributes on the Character Attributes
Non-Combat Purpose: The effect of the Chocobo's Attributes on Non-Combat Activities

STR
Chocobo: Determines the Attack Power of the Chocobo Abilites
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native STR worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Racing (see below)

DEX
Chocobo: Determines the Hit Rate, Critical Hits of Chocobo Abilities
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native DEX worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Treasure Hunt (see below)

VIT
Chocobo: Determines the HP, Physical Defense
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native VIT worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Riding (see below)

INT
Chocobo: Determines the Chocobo TP generation
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native INT worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Racing (see below)

MND
Chocobo: Determines the Magical Defense
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native MND worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Riding (see below)

PIE
Chocobo: Determines the max. Chocobo TP ammount
Character: Determines the boosts / penalties for Character-native PIE worth
Non-Combat Purpose: Treasure Hunt (see below)

For more on boosts and penalties see below.

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[Esthar]

d.) "Shepherd" Class & The Different Licenses

There might be one class (let's stick to the rumors and call it "Shepherd") that determines your allowed level of interaction with the Chocobo.

There might be various licenses for each segment, to determine how far you have advanced yet..! Instead of 1 license, I envision something like 20+. Something like this:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 1 - Treasure Hunt
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Treasure Hunt" which rewards the Basic License.

Takes place in a Chocobo stable at first, due to the lack of skills to take the Chocobo out into the open world. A mini-game like Crafting / Gathering.
Might reward materials very randomly (not random in quantity, but random in type). Might be moderately hard, to give a feeling of hustle, grind and finally exctatic happiness.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for advancing the license:
- Do 500 Treasure Hunts.
- Do 1000 Treasure Hunts.
- Hit 3 epic finds.

At Rank 1, you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting Treasures

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 20 - Riding
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Riding" which rewards the Basic License.

Ride your Chocobo outside of cities.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Ride 5000 yalms on a Chocobo.
- Ride 25000 yalms on a Chocobo.
- Ride to all 3 cities in one session.

At Rank 20, you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting treasures / Riding

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 25 - Racing
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Racing" which rewards the Basic License.

Use your Chocobo in races.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Do 100 races.
- Win 100 races.
- Win 500 races.

At Rank 25, you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting Treasures / Riding / Racing

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 25 - Open World Treasure Hunt
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Open World Treasure Hunt" which rewards the Basic License.

Just as "Chocobo Treasure Hunt", but in the open world.
Might reward materials of all variations with the chance of a "critical hit", such as a "Buffalo Horn" every ~1000 searches.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Do 500 Treasure Hunts.
- Do 1000 Treasure Hunts.
- Hit 3 epic finds.

At Rank 25, you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting Treasures / Riding / Racing

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 30 - Combat
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Combat" which rewards the Basic License.

Use your Chocobo for combat.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Slay 500 enemies on a Chocobo.
- Slay 2500 enemies on a Chocobo.
- Slay 10000 enemies on a Chocobo.

At Rank 30 you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting Treasures / Riding / Racing / Combat

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 40 - Breeding
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Breeding" which rewards the Basic License.

Be allowed to breed Chocobo's.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Breed 10 Chocobos.
- Breed 5 differently colored Chocobos.
- Breed 50 Chocobos, 5 differently colored Chocobos and one Chocobo of every size.

At Rank 40, you can acquire EXP by:
Hunting Treasures / Riding / Racing / Combat / Breeding

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shepherd Rank 50 - Trading
License: Enables you to undertake the quest for "Chocobo Trading" which rewards the Basic License.

Be allowed to trade Chocobo's to other players at prices that you determine.

Advancing the license:
Is linked to the achievements system that's on the Lodestone right now, takes your achievements you achieve on a Chocobo and notes them somewhere for you to get ranked higher the next time you visit the head of the Chocobo Stable.

Examples for Advancing the license:
- Trade 10 Chocobos.
- Trade 25 Chocobos.
- Trade 50 Chocobos.

At Rank 50, you can acquire EXP by:
Nothing, since you did it and are the happiest person ever, even if you came to hate Chocobo's by this point.

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[Esthar]

e.) Combat

The Chocobo might put benefits / penalties on the Character in Combat.
It has it's own HP / TP bar and own set of attributes.
The stamina bar might be shared.

Enemy attacks might hit both, Character and Chocobo.

Example:
Peiste Standard Attack hits you for 243 of your total 2250 HP.
The same Peiste Standard Attack hits your Chocobo for 221 of it's total 1023 HP.

Cure's will not Cure both, but there might be specific Cure's for Characters and Chocobo's.

The Chocobo might not be revived during Combat and might, when dismounted, not be mounted again as long as the current fight lasts.

The Character might be able to execute any of the actions he can execute without sitting on a Chocobo.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The gain of a Chocobo in Combat:
- 1-3 Additional Chocobo Abilities
- A slight shift of attributes & specialization of certain attributes that can only be reached on a Chocobo. Slight enough, though, that every fight is still fightable without a Chocobo. (As seen in the example below.)

The downsides of a Chocobo in Combat:
- 15 seconds of Petrification when the Chocobo dies
- Penalties are slightly higher than boosts
- Reset to regular attributes in case of death

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Attribute Shift
In Combat the Chocobo's Attributes might adjust the attributes of the Character, regarding the gear the Chocobo is equipped with.

Example: "Aeolian Saddle"
Effect on Chocobo Attributes: STR +5 / DEX +5 / VIT -5 / MND -5

The Golden Number (GN) here is (let's say) 50.
50 = 100%.

Chocobo Attributes without Aeolian Saddle
STR - 50
DEX - 50
MND - 50
VIT - 50

Chocobo Attributes with Aeolian Saddle
STR - 55 (10% more than GN 50, therefore +10% on Character Stats)
DEX - 55 (The same as STR)
MND - 45 (10% less than GN 50, therefore -10% on Character Stats)
VIT - 45 (The same as MND)

Character without Chocobo Shifts
STR - 220
DEX - 120
MND - 80
VIT - 300

Character with Chocobo Shifts
STR - 220 (+10%)
DEX - 120 (+10%)
MND - 80 (-12% - don't fret... see below)
VIT - 300 (-12% - don't fret... see below)

Why negative 12%? In case of a penalty there might be an additional 20% advanced penalty on the existing penalty, to makes things a bit harder and balance out the benefits and downsides.

Example for 10% penalty:

20% advanced penalty of the 10% initial penalty = 2% additional penalty

10% initial penalty + 2% additional penalty = 12% total penalty

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Imagine the strategy the whole Chocobo in combat option would bring on the table.

Conjurer:
"Do I cure the Chocobo's and risk a DD going down, or do I cure the DD and risk all Chocobo's going down."

Gladiator:
"Should I dismount the Chocobo now to avoid it's death penalty on me since it's not gonna last or should I risk it to keep the VIT boost up."

Archer:
*1 - 2 - 1 - 1* "Did the Chocobo's just go down? Ah bummer..." *3 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 1*

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[Esthar]

f.) Food

The same way Characters can be fed all kinds of stuff, Chocobos might be fed the same way, with two different types of food.

Riding / Racing Food / Treasure Hunting Food
Influences the attributes that are touched by those three activites.

Combat Food
Influences the attributes that are touched in combat.

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g.) Gear

There might be 3-4 slots for equipment in the same way it works with Characters. Also additional slots for accessoires.
I've never played a game where you could see the earrings that one equips so cleary. Now imagine putting a necklace, or something on the Chocobo. Awesome! So personal, so individual.

Riding / Racing / Treasure Hunting Gear
Specialized for the above mentioned three activities. They might cast heavily negative effects on the Chocobo (and therefore on the player) if equipped in combat.

Combat Gear
Specialized to boost the Chocobo's and Characters Attributes in combat.

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h.) Different Chocobo's For Different Folks

When you have a piece of gear in FFXIV, it can be worn by Lalafell's and Roegadyn's and changes it's proportions according to whoever is wearing it.
That's cool and doesn't actually matter at all.

I think, though, it's impossible to apply the same system for Chocobo's.
With the emphasis that has been put on "reality" this time (emotes, weather, story, the "flowery" language, the prostitute in Ul'dah) please keep it semi-real here as well.

Also imagine the coolness factor of this.

Since it's pretty obvious that a Roegadyn can't ride the same Chocobo as a Lalafell, they simply shouldn't be able to. There should be different sizes.
This would not only fuel player interaction via trading, but also be so much fun and would even furthermore personalize the experience you have with your Character, and your Character on your Chocobo since the combinations of different and unique players designs / visualizations would multiply by a lot.
They might be all absolutely equal in attributes.
The outcome might be completely random.

Small Chocobo's
- Lalafell

Medium Chocobo's
- Lalafell
- Mi'qote
- Hyur

Large Chocobo's
- Mi'qote
- Hyur
- Roegadyn

Extra Large Chocobo's
- Roegadyn

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4.) The implementation of other mounts

Don't.

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Thanks for reading this to the end. I wish y'all a good evening or whatever it is right now where you live and hope you enjoy the game.

See you! (^-^)v

[Reika]

wtf...
/10char

[Maxi_Irving]

Very ambitious post. I REALLY like the idea of unlocking more things to do with your chocobo by using the Shepard class/job.

[Esthar]

Very ambitious post.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked reading it. (^-^)

[Laughlyn]

4.) The implementation of other mounts

Don't.

Completly disagrees.

rest, ok i guess

[zaviermhigo]

I just don't want ridiculous mounts in the game, I can't honestly think outside of the box because I've been trained to like chocobos in a ff setting, where horses are for summons, or really epic people. :/ not even being sarcastic, don't flame me, just give me ideas to other mounts because I just can't think of one :/