Chocobo Breeding is coming!

[Andromeda]

Originally Posted by Square Enix Development Staff

The FINAL FANTASY XI development team has finally addressed everyone’s cries for a system to raise their own personal chocobos. As announced at the FINAL FANTASY XI Fan Festival 2006 in Santa Monica, this new feature will be introduced in the next version update!

Raising Your Chocobo
[Basic Concept]
Think of chocobo raising as an upgraded version of gardening. You can raise a chocobo by taking care of it for a minimal amount of time each day over a span of roughly 1-3 months, so even players with little time can enjoy this feature. Your chocobo may come in handy when it is fully grown!

[Chocobo Eggs]
Your first step is to get hold of a chocobo egg. Each egg is encoded with its own specific genetic information, and some players may come across an extremely rare variety…

[Caring For Your Chocobo]
You must work together with the chocobo stable employees in order to properly care for your chocobo. Feeding your chocobo and spending a bit of time with it each day will gradually build trust. You will be amazed at how your chocobo grows!

Chocobo Variety
Chocobos differ based on their color and type…and possibly more. Naming will be handled in the same way that dragoons and puppetmasters select their wyvern or automaton’s name, but there will be more options than ever before!

Matchmaking
Match up your chocobo with your friend’s chocobo and see what happens. If the match is right, you could end up with a new baby chocobo!

Scores of other exciting features are scheduled to be added in the next version update, so keep checking the main site for more information in the next few days!

The thing that everyone has been wanting and asked for is finally coming for us. I cannot wait to get my own chocobo, I wonder how many we will be able to have because I want to get a blue one, so if I cannot the first time I want to be able to try again. I have done gardening before on a mule, but unfortunately this is not something that my mule can do for me. I have to personally do this. I wonder if we can get it set up in Jeuno or something where we can easily keep an eye on our Chocobo.

Well hopefully there will be more details as we come closer to the version update.

[Usagy]

Looking forward more to what we can actually do with them. Of course the races are planned eventually, but I hope so much we can just summon chocobo's. Maybe chocobo ring or something, 16hour recast to summon. no clue. Gimme gimme choco biatch!

Peace out

[Quintessence]

That's so awesome. I already know who's chocobo im going to breed with... gay or not! lol jk...
I'm excited.

[Usagy]

That would be ****ed up, if you would get a gay chocobo out of your egg that refuses to mate with females >_<

[Andromeda]

Originally Posted by Square Enix Development Team

What is a Chocobo?
The chocobo is a large, herbivorous bird with powerful legs and a sharp, sturdy beak. Its size and impressive speed make it the most popular type of mount in Vana'diel. Although too small to allow flight, the chocobo's wings assist in keeping balance and also function as a type of brake.
A species native to the La Theine Plateau, the wild chocobo were once seen racing across the plains in great numbers. However, as the people of Vana'diel began to realize the utility of this fleet-footed creature, more and more chocobos were captured and domesticated. A truly wild chocobo is now a rare sight to behold.
Adventurers mainly use the chocobo as a mount, but there are those who are skilled at using gysahl greens to have the animal dig holes, taking advantage of its natural instinct to bury food.




Domestic Chocobos
Elvaan have raised chocobos for use in farming, hunting, and general labor since before recorded history.
But once the practice of riding bareback was civilized with the invention of reins and saddles, the number of people using chocobo mounts suddenly soared. Merchants now preferred chocobos for long, overland journeys, and the military adopted the birds for use in highly mobile cavalry units. People began selective breeding programs as the chocobo craze spread to every corner of Vana'diel.
Recently, the chocobo races held at a local level have been elevated to the world stage, garnering unprecedented attention.

Chocobo Breeds
Destrier
These knightly mounts were bred in San d'Oria. They underwent training that allowed them to bear the weight of heavy armor and withstand the shock of cavalry charges. Destriers were characterized by their large, jet-black bodies and thick, powerful legs. With the decline of lance combat and improvements to ranged weaponry, destriers lost their place in battle to the faster coursers. These days, there are no remaining purebred destriers, but it is possible to see their proud bloodlines occasionally reemerge in the birth of rare, black chocobos.

Courser
The courser is a larger-than-average chocobo and is the most common breed found in the Kingdom of San d'Oria. They are characterized by their streamlined bodies, and long, graceful legs. They were originally bred for scouting duties, but their adoption into the military was accompanied by a general acceptance of the courser as an everyday mount. On extremely rare occasions, a red-colored courser will be born.

Palfrey
The mid-sized palfreys were bred to withstand the searing air and blazing heat of the desert. They are mainly raised in the Republic of Bastok and on Zepwell Island. With a relatively gentle demeanor, these chocobos are suited for those with who lack advanced riding skills. Palfreys are known to come in both blue and yellow.

Jennet
This breed of chocobo has been magically reduced in size to provide mounts for the diminutive Tarutaru. They have short legs when compared to other breeds, but like the Tarutaru themselves, jennets are capable of maintaining a rapid pace. Due to a request from the southern Mithra wishing to blend into the jungle, there are some jennets that can be found in a shade of green.

Rounsey
With its huge population of adventurers, Jeuno boasts more frequent use of chocobos than any other nation. The main type of chocobo to be found in the duchy is the mid-sized rounsey. The pride of the famous trainer Brutus and his family, the rounsey is the result of a lengthy breeding program involving wild chocobos. This program has produced a robust mount of somewhat unpredictable temperament that is suited for long, punishing treks.

More updates to the chocobo raising, so I guess size might decide the color in some fashion. I want a blue one, even if it is going to be one that is more for novice riders. Though I do like Black as well, maybe we can get a gold eventually.

[Usagy]

Big chance chocobo digging will enhance your chocobo's skills.
Now let's waste 7M to get max chocobo digging level

Peace out

[Edward Elric]

You forgot the second page^^:

Originally Posted by Square Enix Development Team

Calling Your Chocobo
Along with the new chocobo raising system, in the upcoming version update we will be introducing the ability to call chocobos. This feature will allow players to call up and ride the chocobo they have lovingly raised.

No longer will adventurers have to rely on rental chocobos for traveling around Vana'diel! Players will be able to call their very own chocobos anywhere, at anytime.
Impress your friends with your personal chocobo mount!

Calling Your Chocobo
Calling your chocobo will involve an enchant item, similar to the signal pearl or empress band. With the appropriate item equipped, you will be able to call your trusty mount at any time, in any area where chocobo riding is permitted.
We are planning on setting the enchant recast to a time period that won't adversely affect in-game balance. Rather than making it possible to recall your chocobo immediately after dismounting, it will be necessary to wait for a certain amount of time.

Your Own Personal Chocobo
Colors
Aside from the familiar yellow, we will be introducing two new colors for chocobos. We invite you to try chocobo raising for yourself to discover what colors are available. Additional colors will make an appearance in subsequent version updates.

Appearance
The appearance of your chocobo will change depending on the attributes it acquires. These changes will affect a part of the chocobo, such as its beak or legs, rather than change its appearance entirely.

Attributes
Depending on the method used to raise your chocobo, its attributes will be slightly enhanced or decreased. For example, some chocobos may run a little faster, while others may be ridden for longer periods of time.

Digging
Just as with a rental chocobo, it will be possible to dig with your personal mount. Perhaps you may notice a difference when digging with a chocobo that you have personally raised with love and care?

Additional information will be released in late June as the version update approaches.
Keep an eye on the Topics page!

Yay for calling Chocobos! I remember seeing on Alla somewhere that you couldn't ride your own chocos, so I was afraid it would be pointless and SE messed up, but it seems like we can!

Hooray!

[Tech Support]

I'm glad you can ride them... otherwise I wouldn't even waste my time raising one. I mean, it might be fun to do some races here and there for shits and giggles, but spending a ton of time for just that? Of course, you can probably win prizes or something for winning enough chocobo races, perhaps... but even so... thats a lot of effort for that. I'm curious as what they think a 'balanced' time is on the item. 24hrs? {Sorry, I'll have to pass}. Something like 3 would be reasonable. You party for a few hours, jump on your choco and head wherever you need to go. It'd be great for places like the dunes, nest, citadel, or hell... the fricken jungle(need I go there? ). Most likely it will have a level requirement like all these other gadgets so you don't have lvl1 ppl riding around on chocos. Although.... that would be useful for my mules... *cough*

Actually, that brings up an interesting point... can I mate my chocos with my mule characters or is it something you both have to be at at the same time, so you wouldn't be able to. Although it would be interesting to be able to use my mules, I would rather not... because it would lead to an unfair advantage for ppl with an ass of mules. They could just breed a bunch and mate them together, getting the choco they want. Rather... cheap.

[Andromeda]

Yeah I have been wondering how they are going to be handling the breeding process too. Though I am not sure if you will be even breeding with other people, because if you think about it, unless they decide that every breeding there are 2 babies born. How you going to decide which one of you gets the one baby chocobo from the breeding. Probably it will be like FFVII and you will have a stable or something and you will have several of your own chocobo and just breed from your own stock.

Though if you do have more than one chocobo how will they decide which one is called out when you use your item. Will each chocobo have an item or you select from a list that is prompted which is your default chocobo or something.

[Kilana]

so chocobo breeding and riding will be in it yay i cant wait to play it now