Mount Suggestion: Horse

[Rawkzillah]

You gave us this fantastic race, the Au Ra. We're told of mounts not indigenous to Eorzea- HORSES! But when Stormblood comes, we see normal horses but no mounts!

Perhaps design some skins from this model for future mounts? Maybe even barding? Here are some suggestions I created for colors.

In-game

[Rawkzillah]

Continued:

[Enkidoh]

I'm going to have to disagree I'm sorry. We should be getting more chocobo mounts than horses (seriously, there are actually more horse/equine mounts in the game already than chocobo mounts - granted some of those are actually not 'real' living creatures but aetheric constructs like Nightmare and Sleipnir but still), as the chocobo is supposed to be representative of the Final Fantasy series and actually is technically Square Enix's mascot.

The chocobo actually makes FFXIV's setting seem original and unique, where as putting horses front and centre makes the game more like a generic Western Tolkienesque sword-and-sorcery RPG to it's detriment.

[Shurrikhan]

So long as they still look like plastic magical ponies, can't say I care...

Of course, that's a visual integrity argument that was dead before it could ever even be argued. (Not like sparky shiny rock unicorns were demoed beforehand, nor the developers open much to feedback in these areas.)

I'd much rather see some slight variation on Chocobo designs than another mount that pretty well aims to be gaudy, even if a more mundane version thereof.

Edit: Of course, a horse that looks like a horse and moves like a horse would have my vote just the same.

[Rawkzillah]

While I agree the chocobo is the benchmark of FF14's universe, it was the dev team that decided that in Othard, they ride horses. And chocobos can be dozens of colors based on how you feed them. They also have many barding options to make them appear unique. I don't think it is unfair for them to put into the game a representation of a steed they said existed in the area they released. While I do not argue that other chocobo styles would be a fantastic option... Stormblood is about Othard. And in Othard, they ride horses. I'm just requesting that if further mounts be released that they consider the horse to be among them. Else why have even bothered saying that it is the standard riding animal of those lands at all.

[Enkidoh]

Stormblood is about Othard. And in Othard, they ride horses.

That's not correct. Stormblood is actually about Ala Mhigo and Gyr Abania, journeying to Othard was simply a means to an end to accomplishing the real goal of Ala Mhigo's liberation by liberating Doma and forcing Zenos to fight a war on two fronts. Othard was never anything more than a point on the path towards the real destination. And besides, that's irrelevant to this thread.

And as for riding horses in Othard, they seem to favour giant falcons as mounts including the rental mounts, so that's not really true either. Sure the au ra tribes in Azzim Steppe favour them, but that's just one zone in an entire continent, hardly 'proof' for more horse mounts to be added to the game.

I'm really sorry if I'm coming across as somewhat bellicose here, I guess I'm just disappointed that SE have been tending to favour horse mounts over the FF series mascot, to it's detriment.

[Rawkzillah]

You are correct. It is about Ala Mhigo, but it did open the world of Othard to us. And while the in-game shows a lot of falcons and yol (which they had to do since they couldn't do the black chocobos like they did for HW since Othard doesn't have chocobos), I believe it was Yugiri was the one that introduced us to the fact that even among the Doma, horses were the mount of choice. There are xaela tribes whom revolve around them. Yet there is not one practical in-game mount to reflect this. If you wish to request other types of chocobo, be my guest. I'll endorse and support you in it. But I ask again... why make a point of having auri characters puzzle over the smell and appearance of our "strange horsebirds"... base them off of the mongolian culture that is all about horsemanship and falconry (which is why they chose falcons for the taxi mounts)... and then leave it as unobtainable for auri characters to actually -have- a horse?

[Enkidoh]

You are correct. It is about Ala Mhigo, but it did open the world of Othard to us. And while the in-game shows a lot of falcons and yol (which they had to do since they couldn't do the black chocobos like they did for HW since Othard doesn't have chocobos), I believe it was Yugiri was the one that introduced us to the fact that even among the Doma, horses were the mount of choice. There are xaela tribes whom revolve around them. Yet there is not one practical in-game mount to reflect this. If you wish to request other types of chocobo, be my guest. I'll endorse and support you in it. But I ask again... why make a point of having auri characters puzzle over the smell and appearance of our "strange horsebirds"... base them off of the mongolian culture that is all about horsemanship and falconry (which is why they chose falcons for the taxi mounts)... and then leave it as unobtainable for auri characters to actually -have- a horse?

Because the whole 'horses come from Othard' thing was written into the lore long before there was even ever any intention of actually journeying to Othard. Othard was simply 'the Far East' where they could use as a handwave to the origin of things that really did not fit the more Western-influenced Eorzea, specifically things of Asian origin (and on the specific point of Othardians calling chocobos 'horsebirds', that is actually an injoke towards an unfortunate meta incident in the original version of FFXIV, where an early beta translation of FFXIV 1.0 into Chinese rendered chocobo as "horsebird", becoming an extended meme by players and the gaming press to mock 1.0, by using it as a symbol reflective of 1.0's troubled development, and from there the current development team included it in ARR and beyond as a light-hearted jab at the problems that plagued ARR's predecessor).

Same goes for the au ra and some of their tribes favouring horses, given they were introduced in Heavensward again before Othard had been considered to be actually visited and thus their lore was worked out beforehand, it was simply a narrative device used to show that they're 'different' to Eorzeans. Again I'm not trying to mock your idea, my point is that there has been a little too much emphasis on horses in the game and that SE should maybe bring chocobos back into importance again.. but that is just my opinion.

[Rawkzillah]

Okay. I get it. A horse mount isn't for you. But this isn't just about one person. And this thread is here so people can bring their ideas and suggestions forth. I respect that it is nothing YOU are interested in. But can you please allow me to be interested in it in my thread? There's no saying a dev will even care about my thoughts. I just wanted to express them because that is what this place is for.

I will say you assume a lot in your believe that them saying horses are from Othard didn't matter. It was in Heavensward content. It is a substantial part of auri culture. And they even went so far as to create a herd of sorrel horse models at the Dawn Throne, so clearly someone on their team still believes it is relevant. Even if you do not.

[Lambdafish]

Don't we have enough horse type mounts in the game? I count at least 10

Okay. I get it. A horse mount isn't for you. But this isn't just about one person

On the same note, you should respect other people's opinions, especially when there is nobody (so far) that agrees with your opinion. This isn't just about one person