FFXIV: Big Yellow Birds....of Eorza!

No, not the one in the kid's show sesame street. I am talking about CHOCOBOS!

Chocobos have been a staple on most installments of Final Fantasy not to mention starring in their own spinoff games (Chocobo's Dungeon, Chocobo Tales, etc). So it is of no surprise when we saw them running around in Eorzea in FFXIV v1.x as the official mount. Problem with that though is that they were depreciated by the spells teleport and return. Players have found very little use of these cute yellow aves.

A Realm Reborn gave our avian companion a new breath of life (so to speak) with lots of aesthetic armor and the ability for the birds to answer the call to adventure!

The Chocobos can now fight alongside its adventurer as a healer, tank, damage dealer or a free thinker. They can scratch, scrape, peck, kick, heal, tank or cast chocobo spells to help best the adventurer's quarry. They still, of course, serve as mounts to help us move around from a spot to another, so no, rest assured the game is not about chocobos...the name was not changed to Chocobo RPG: Battle the Primals.

As mounts...

When a player reaches level 10 they are allowed to visit the chocobo porters stationed in all the major camps and towns in the game. They will have preset locations that the chocobo will head to (auto drive :S ). You may, however, right click on the "chocobo-mounted" icon on the top of the screen to dismount at anytime. The chocobo will run away unfortunately, prematurely ending your ride. It is also possible to rent a free-running chocobo from the main towns but you will be limited to 10 minutes of riding time before the chocobo drops you and runs away.

After you have progressed enough in the main storyline (around level 21-ish) you will be inducted into one of the grand companies and will be allowed to purchase (using company points) a chocobo whistle to summon and mount your very own chocobo! These chocobos can be freely controlled and does not have a time limit.

Barding...

Leather barding

Uldahn barding

These grand company owned chocobos can be dressed by obtaining "bardings". Currently, you may purchase bardings by company points to dress them in company's colors.

At the most current release they only serve to please the eyes but in future releases, it is rumored they will have stat boosts for their masters.

The developers have also confirmed many other bardings to dress the chocobo at launch and in patches. (There is a behemoth barding rumour running around already)

As Companions...

Now, what does separate FFXIV Chocobos from other MMORPGs? It is the companion system. Once you are able to obtain a mount from the grand companies, you can speak with the wandering minstrel (right outside the grand companies' main office) and teach your chocobo to fight alongside you. Once taught, you may open your skills page and navigate to the "companions" tab and find a lot of skills added. These skills are shown below:



You can summon your chocobo by using a gyshal greens (which can be purchased in the main towns). This will add your named companion to your party (as shown in the very first picture). They cannot be manually controlled, though, you will be able to assign them to stances. This will give them set amount of gambits (ala FFXII) that they will follow to accomplish their role.

 Attacker Stance: This stance gives the chocobo a direct-damage role. It will scratch, peck and kick until the fight is over or until you assign a different task for it to follow.

Healer Stance: The chocobo will prioritize healing you (or itself) than it's other skills. It can also cast support magic as shown on the next image (chocosurge).

Your chocobo can also take a tanking stance and take damage for you. Very handy when you are a spellcaster or direct damage dealer. 

Or you can have them think for themselves via a free stance, healing when you are low, dealing damage when you're not.

You can also ask your chocobo to follow you around Eorza (though i would rather ride a chocobo than run around with one ;) ) or if you wish to take a break on your adventure you may ask your chocobo to withdraw.

Take note though, like all pets they thrive in incentive and what's more gratifiying for a chocobo than a gyshal greens? they would want one everytime you call upon them. Actually... its more like a bribe... since you cant summon them without one. XD

These big yellow birds had a lot of screen time in this installment of Final Fantasy. And I for one am very glad they did. See you next time! 

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