Revamping Interactions for Your Chocobo

[majormischievous]

Wouldn't it be cool if your Chocobo could interact with you more?? Yes they do fight alongside you and you can change their color unlike other mounts, but other than that, they don't really feel special. They're supposed to be your "companion" especially when you're new and at a lower level, but I think most people at any level only use them as a tool for extra dps or for the regen.

I think giving them extra interactions would be so cool and give more life to them. Eating out of your hand, doing a periodic whistle (partially whistles the chocobo theme or similar), dancing, sitting/sleeping with a player, reacting to emotes, and interacting with other chocobos are a few things I think would be awesome to see.

With these or any others, I think new players (or anyone) would get a lot more out of their "companion", and in general, they'd be more fun to interact with!

[ItMe]

I def agree.
Being able to customize them with bardings and skills is cool and all, but the chocobo doesn't feel like a companion to me. Mainly because I have to spend Gil to summon it for 30 minutes. I don't feel like I can just chill with it when I have to pay to spend time with it.

[Soge01]

I would LOVE this!!!! 8D

I def agree.
Being able to customize them with bardings and skills is cool and all, but the chocobo doesn't feel like a companion to me. Mainly because I have to spend Gil to summon it for 30 minutes. I don't feel like I can just chill with it when I have to pay to spend time with it.

You can feed your chocobo one more time after summoning it to increase its time to 59 minutes. :3

[MsQi]

There should be a nest that you can put in your house/apartment. You could have your choco sit in it while you chill at home, and interact with him in the ways mentioned.

I also think the combat needs some work, like you should be able to make him pull.

[Hysterior]

Chocobos are indeed one of these 2.0 features that have not really seen a lot of updates in quite some time.
Hope they can so something more there as I would barely call them "companions" anymore...
Mine spends more time in the ranch than outside on the field.

[Joven]

I want a fetch minigame. Or to have them help with treasure hunts.

[Stepjam]

It won't happen in xiv, but if they ever make another MMO, mounted combat would be pretty cool

[SenorPatty]

I would like to see "affection" assets used in a particular mini game in shb for chocobos. Playing with it, feeding it and grooming it could raise it's affection level and grant you some perks. For example, at "level 5 affection", it will start "picking up" random items from the ground like plant materials or gems. Maybe at a higher level, it can revive you if you die on the field.

Another thing I'd like to see is bardings granting different abilities and/or stats to the chocobo, with each barding granting unique or situational abilities. For example, equipping your chocobo with a full maelstrom set nets you 10% extra wolf marks for participating pvp in a maelstrom team.

[Edax]

At this point, I'd almost rather see a retainer as a companion over the Chocobo. At least you could have a glam buddy assisting you in combat.

[Roda]

I would like to see "affection" assets used in a particular mini game in shb for chocobos. Playing with it, feeding it and grooming it could raise it's affection level and grant you some perks. For example, at "level 5 affection", it will start "picking up" random items from the ground like plant materials or gems. Maybe at a higher level, it can revive you if you die on the field.

Another thing I'd like to see is bardings granting different abilities and/or stats to the chocobo, with each barding granting unique or situational abilities. For example, equipping your chocobo with a full maelstrom set nets you 10% extra wolf marks for participating pvp in a maelstrom team.

This is a great idea. The chocobo stables are kinda similar, but they feel really weak compared to what it could be. (just feed every hour and "train" with a samey cutscene that you skip every time)
I'd love to be able to actively interact with the chocobo like you do with things like pokemon-amie or pokemon camp.

Giving a treat could be, instead of just getting a single plant, you could cook something up for a boost of affection

You could play with them by playing fetch (go into a little chocobo ranch solo instance that' will replace your hotbar like you're in a vehicle. You have skills like "throw ball" "point to ball" "give treat". The more you play it, the better they get at fetching, the less you have to point to the ball. As they get more skilled they'll be able to get extra drops and items from the open world.

Training could be something similar where your chocobo is training against a mammet, and you have command skills like "strike high" "strike low" "interrupt" "heal" and "give treat". The mammet will give tells and you'd have to command your chocobo the responses to said tells. This training could shorten the cooldowns to your chocobo skills the more progress you make with it.

Maybe they could even have grooming, where if you regularly clean your chocobo their experience gained by kills, affection gained by playing, and.. uh let's call it "aptitude" gained by training gets a boost.

At this point, I'd almost rather see a retainer as a companion over the Chocobo. At least you could have a glam buddy assisting you in combat.

Honestly both would be cool. Maybe give bonuses when summoned depending on what you chose?
(Choose companion slot anywhere you can currently use glamour plates)

Chocobo companion: Chocobo mounting cast time instant. Riding speed automatically max speed (3 star map) at max bond you can play chocobo hot and cold every X minutes to find items (maybe map exclusive items? Like the rare and expensive stuff should be on the loot table but super rare still)

Battle retainer: Extra drop chance from monsters without training required. Grants duty action based on the role. (Ultimatum for tanks, mana shift for magic dps, Peloton for ranged dps, Leg sweep, but aoe, for melee dps)

MIN/BOT retainer: Higher hidden node proc rate (up to 100% as your bond level increases), gathers crystals from the node you are gathering from.

Fishing retainer: Allows you to attempt to mooch with a NQ fish (lower chance to aquire mooch only fish than an HQ fish, takes longer for a fish to bite). Boosts chance to obtain mooch only fish when mooching. Lowers time it takes for a fish to bite. (all effects become more powerful as bond increases) (When retainer's effect is active, it's the retainer actually catching the fish, so animations should play on them instead)

The retainers should also have a bonus feature where they can talk to you and other npcs as you're going about your business as well as interact with the environment as you would. Nothing super fancy, just a little quip about the settlement you just entered, a greeting towards a guard, a "HAVE AT THEE" to a monster you are fighting, and if you do an emote, they too should do one especially if you're sitting. You should go through a dialogue tree to set their AI as well.