Multicolored horses... Great! But why no multicolor chocobos?

[Skullriot]

It should also be noted that lore-wise, chocobos in Eorzea have only just come back from the very brink of extinction, just prior to the Calamity a devastating plague called 'chocobo blight' was afflicting chocobos across Aldernard, forcing the Ishgardian stables to quarantine their birds and thus preventing them from providing them to the other city states. This was the in-game lore reason given at the start of 1.0 why players were unable to ride chocobos then.

I did not know that, but that is a very good reason that chocobos aren't terribly diverse. However, horses are non existant in the game outside of player mounts, from what I know, so I'm still scratching my head as to why they went that way instead of chocobos. Maybe the model is easier to work with?

[Enkidoh]

I presume you haven't played another FF game based on your above post, in which case, chocobos are basically Square Enix's mascot (and the mascot of the FF series in general) - in every FF game horses are virtually non-existent (often the only times a horse shows up is either as a generic enemy, like the so-called 'Crazy Horse' monster in FF1, or Odin's steed Sleipnir), and accordingly FFXIV keeps to that tradition.

Most FF games allow the player to ride a chocobo as a mount, whether just as a rental, one they have to catch in the field, or can actually breed their own at a stable, it all depends on the FF title. This page has all you need to know about chocobos: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Chocobo

Lore wise for FFXIV, horses are actually native to the Far East (the continent of Othard), and are not found naturally in Eorzea, other than a species of unicorn being native to Coerthas, hence the player mounts. The special event Heavensturn that happened at the start of the year fittingly dealt with why horses were not well suited to Eorzean conditions and why chocobos are preferable, albeit in a humorous way.

[Skullriot]

I presume you haven't played another FF game based on your above post, in which case, chocobos are basically Square Enix's mascot (and the mascot of the FF series in general) - in every FF game horses are virtually non-existent (often the only times a horse shows up is either as a generic enemy, like the so-called 'Crazy Horse' monster in FF1, or Odin's steed Sleipnir), and accordingly FFXIV keeps to that tradition.

Quite the contrary, I have played a massive amount of final fantasy, but i'm wondering why theres not as much chocobo love in this game. It's my favorite mount animal out of any

[Niwashi]

in every FF game horses are virtually non-existent (often the only times a horse shows up is either as a generic enemy, like the so-called 'Crazy Horse' monster in FF1, or Odin's steed Sleipnir), and accordingly FFXIV keeps to that tradition.

Well, at least it used to. That's my real problem with the new additions. They're going to make Eorzea significantly less "Final Fantasy" looking. As Skullriot pointed out, it would have been a lot better if they had gone with Chocobos. Quite a few FF titles have had several different colors of chocobo, (though yellow is always the most common and the first you encounter).

[Kyan]

Lore wise for FFXIV, horses are actually native to the Far East (the continent of Othard), and are not found naturally in Eorzea, other than a species of unicorn being native to Coerthas, hence the player mounts.

Correct, horses are in the Far East! Though, I do not agree that it is the same as the continent of Othard (it has not been stated that Othard is the Far East, just that it is east of Eorzea/Aldenard. I could be wrong, as there is no specification that it isn't, either. But, there is a lot of care taken by the localisation team when referring to an items origins from the Far East or from Othard, as seen in their descriptions. We have not had an item which links both those names together.)

However, are they truly native to the Far East? They could be. But, horses are present in at least one other continent - Ilsabard. The item description of Sea Bo provides this evidence.

I will also speculate that the New Continent (also known as the West), also could have horses on it - this is tentative on which continent the Miqo'te originate (I am uncertain as to where Miqo'te came from? The West? The South? The moon?). Here is why:

• Hipparions are an extinct relative of the horse in the real world.
• The K tribe of the Sunseeker have the hipparion as their totem animal.

• The tribe names are originally based on traditional beastkin, scalekin, or cloudkin totems, which are said to protect the tribe.
• Whilst the sounds of the tribe letters changed to match the Eorzean alphabet, the tribe names are based on animals before the migration - these animals should be native to the lands where the Miqo'te originate from.

Perhaps I am clutching as straws with the last one, but I think it is a convincing argument!