Chocobo Racing Discussion

The FINAL FANTASY XI development team would like to hear your thoughts about one of the upcoming parts of Chocobo Raising, the highly anticipated Chocobo Racing. Therefore, we're opening discussions on the Zam Network here so the team can hear your thoughts and ideas about how to make Chocobo Racing as enjoyable as possible.


Below is a message from the person in charge of development of Chocobo Raising.

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Greetings everyone,

After the Chocobo Raising announcement was made recently, we received many comments and requests about Chocobo Racing. This surprised us, so we decided that we'd use this space to ask for more input about Chocobo Racing from all of you, so that we can make this feature as good as possible. Like Chocobo Raising, this is a new feature developed completely from scratch, unlike the job and battle features which have been our main focus until now. Therefore, we want to include your hopes and dreams in order to make this feature meet everyone's vision as closely as possible.

At the same time, there are many of you who might say "We haven't played it yet, what are we supposed to suggest?!" Therefore, we have decided to include some of the mechanics of this new feature, outlined below. Please use them as a guide to imagine what Chocobo Racing could be like.

Currently Planned Specifications:

  • The ability of raised chocobos will be reflected during Chocobo Racing.
  • Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.
  • It is possible to give orders (i.e. sprint ahead, come from behind, etc) to riders before the race.

While posting your comments onto the forum, we would appreciate any ideas related to "gambling" for example, as well as any other opinions or concerns regarding Chocobo Racing.

We look forward to hearing from you on the forums. Let's keep those ideas rolling!

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Comments

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Chocobo Racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 6:21 AM Rating: Decent
Riders and gear:

I would like to see more chocobo gear both for the bird and the rider. New rider's gear, different styles of saddle or reigns.

A really fun idea would be to get a slight bonus if you have a NPC from the mirror mirror quest - have your NPC act as your rider.


The bird itself:

I would also like the new chocobos to be very unique, if not customizable. The colors are good, but adding other "flares" would make themfar more fun. They would almost be like a PC with reguars to their armor - they look different depending on what they are wearing. . . the chocobo would look slightly different depending on how they were raised. Maybe a pointier beak, longer beak, longer tail, designs in the feathers, patterns, etc.

Chocobo Ranks

We all know the infamous chocobo ranks have to be worked in somehow. You should start out at rank F and slowly work your way up through E, D, C, B, A and then eventually S. As you win races, you should earn Chocobo points and as you gain points, you can purchase new equipment, imperial currency, and even new ranks. Purchasing ranks like you would the other chocobo items would be an interesting way to advance your rank.

Gambling

Gambling in Aht Urghan currency would be optimal, I think. An auction-house style betting area would be ideal. I would suggest multiple methods of betting to add variety. All bets would pay the same ratios of money bet in as described below.

Betting ideas:

Winner Takes All: Simply, you bet on the bird you think will win the race and if you win, the house pays 3 to 1.

Double chance: You pick 2 birds and if one of them wins, the house pays 2 to 1. If one wins and the other comes in second, the pay out is 4 to 1.

Winner and Loser: Similar to Double Chance only you pick 2 birds and one has to win and the other has to come in dead last. If you only pick the winner correctly you win 2 to 1. If you only pick the loser correctly, you win 1 to 1. If you pick them both, you win 5 to 1.

Order em up: Predict the exact order the birds will place. House pays 12 to one if you win.


Monthly tournament: Once a month there should be 3 torunaments with multiple "heats." Single or Double elimenation. Betting would be normal on each heat with a seperate betting sytem for the overall tournament. All betting on the overall tournament would go into a money pool and whoever picks the winner of the tournament would split the pot among other winners. (minus a cut for the house) There would be set betting for the tournaments as Decribed below.

There would be 3 tournaments per month. The Bronze F to C Class Bracket, the Silver B to A Bracket, and the Gold Class S Barcket.
chocobo racing suggestions
# Aug 04 2006 at 6:04 AM Rating: Default
There are alot of great ideas here. Most of what i want to suggest has been added already but here's my spin on things:

The idea of not controlloing your chocobo is fine with me since there would always be a lag issue otherwise. However, i would like to see a system setup where periodically during the race you could give your chocobo a command similar to the following:

"sprint" - gives momentary dash of speed but greatly reduces your chocobo's "stamina" recharge rate
"keep pace" - commands chocobo to balance speed with stamina recharge rate
"fall back" - chocobo reduces racing speed significantly but stamina recharge rate doubles

"overtake" - attempts to pass a targeted opponent - result is randomly decided but regardless a chocobo's max stamina bar is reduced by a % (25%?) for the rest of the race
"sabatoge" - a dirty trick used on another rider, either blind attack or body-tackle that has a chance of reducing an opponent's speed or stamina but each attempt results in ranking point deduction if any are earned for that rider during that race

This is only a suggested list and can be altered or added to as needed. My general point is to have interactive abilities during a race that allows the riders some control over their chances of winning and get to enjoy the actual race itself. A timer/stamina bar system should be easy to impliment and some chocobos could be better at certain abilities so that not everyone spam-raises the "fastest" chocobo breed possible.

Now about gear: Everyone likes to upgrade their char, and their chocobo should be no different. One of my favorite aspects of any racing game is when i can afford to get the next better tires or that nitro-injector or whatever. Therefore we all want a method in place so that as we earn more ranking points we can cash them in for better items. Some can have racing only affects and some could have other chocobo riding affects such as digging bonus etc. But knowing that each win brings you closer to that coveted reward is a thrilling and strong motivator to not only win, but participate in every race possible. As far as the ranking system for winners, it could be just like ballista where you get points from various wins and eventually you cash them in. That way even a poor luck/skilled player could get something desirable if he/she was just persistant enough and dedicated to racing.

I also like the idea of server/nation/linkshell tallies. Once a week the best times and most wins and total rank points could be posted at every server world's choco track. This give a thrilling and friendly competition both within a server and across the server worlds.

Now for the different typse of racing: There should be different classes, similar to boxing like

Rooky Curcuit- lowest entry available No ranking points required
Chocobo Curcuit- mid-level races 1000 rank points required to enter
World Curcuit- highest level races avail 5000 rank points required

And as such prizes would be greater and rarer the higher up the curcuit you enlisted. Also having the option to "rent" the track for linkshell or competition among friends would add a wonderful element of entertainment to the game. In such private races no ranking points would be earned but an option to open a "gambling pool" where each participant had to ante up a set amount before the race and then which would be propotioned out to the winners after the race.

And last but not least, the subject of Gambling:
This is a touchy issue. Sure gambling is fun and it can be thrilling. But it can also become obsessive and cause some real problems for either young or weak-willed people. But all that aside, my main concern is for the highly sensative FFXI economy. Like in real life this game's economy is an organic creature that can't help but change as the market demands. Therefore the idea of lots of quick gil being able to be earned, although personally appealing, is obviously a recipe for inflation. However i still would like to enjoy the rush of a good race and gamble. To that end i would like to see alternate forms of tender used in gambling. Perhaps only a pre-set list of items, like foods or medicines can be wagered, and the payoff is 2x 3x 4x etc based on the pre-set odds of each race and the participants.
Another alternative is to wage and earn conquest/imperial standing points. I know this goes outside the box of what those points represent, but its an idea. Other than those two ideas it seems gil is the only practical method of earnings. If SE does go for an all gil gambling system, my final bit of advise is to keep the potential winning small, under 10k imho, so that there is a thrill to win but very little chance people will waste away their rl/ffxi life trying to get that "big score".

Thats all i can think to suggest. Whatever SE decides to do, i know it will be well worth the wait and another excellent addition to an already incredible game.
chocobo racing suggestions
# Aug 04 2006 at 6:07 AM Rating: Default
and besides the lag issue u will have asswholes using flee tool and **** to cheat so not being able to run them yourself is a great idea
Suggestions
# Aug 04 2006 at 4:21 AM Rating: Good
Hell yeah 2 suggestions:

1.- If there is no way to control the chocobo it's gonna be boring even if you can command to sprint or stuff like that, at least make the raider controllable and make it like mario cart so you can throw an objet to somewone and knock him down for a bit XD. Make it addictive!!

2.- Make it possible to gear up your chocobo to improve certain aspects, just like any classic racing game. Or just to make your chocobo look cool, those peices of gear/equipment could also be crafted or something.
team sport
# Aug 04 2006 at 4:07 AM Rating: Decent
i don't know about the mechanics of raising and racing chocobos, but to encourage the competetive spirit in us, there should be some kind of effect on each servers conquest tally. also different LS's should be able to challenge each other, maybe in a server wide tournament to determine a champion. but what i really think it needs is team competition. racers shouldn't just be racing for treasure or money, they should be able to represent their nation and/or LS to race for pride. maybe even server wide glory!
Rewards
# Aug 04 2006 at 4:00 AM Rating: Decent
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204 posts
I think gambling is a great idea, however to keep it more interesting i would suggest points for wiining. For example:

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place gets a certain amount of chocobo points.

These points (in large numbers) can later be exchanged for various chocobo accesories. For example:

Chocobo head gear (as seen in opening FFXI movie).

Chocobo saddle.

Chocobo leg armour.

Ect.


These items should all come in a default color. For additional Chocobo points a player will be able to create custom colors (using the same technique as for picking a linkshell color), this will create individuality.

For those who do not have time to race Chocobos (or are not gifted at racing) additional ways will provided of obtaining Chocobo points. For example:

"Larger" amounts of gil will be able to be traded for Chocobo points.

Items will be allowed to be traded for various amounts of Chocobo points. Items will include: armour, weapons, materials, and ofcourse any useless R/E items you may come across.


Finaly; those who do take the time to race chocobos (and win) will be awarded with special "Chocobo Emblems" which will proudly be displayed on the various Chocobo accesories.

Chocobo gear should serve little or no tactical advantage.


Just some thoughts
# Aug 04 2006 at 3:58 AM Rating: Decent
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564 posts
My main concern is how to get racing to be enjoyable by as many as possible. I consider it highly likely that a few people manage to raise themselves the perfect racing-chocobo and then totaly dominate the racing business. The fun for anyone starting would be instantly killed.
A rank system sounds like a good idea to have, and it also fits how many other things in FFXI have ranking. If everyone competes at his/her own rank it can be challenging and fun for everyone. There is still a risk of some people finding ways to get good racing chocobos and flood the lower ranks they have to go through. Not sure how big it is and what to do against it.

Somewhat less of a concern will be the rewards. From what we have seen for other rewards in the past, any good reward will be either prone to monopolization (if you can get the same thing more than once, and trade it) or lead to an end of racing (if you can only get the big prize once and it can't be traded)
On the other hand, someone who puts in some effort to become good at racing should get a nice reward for it. Maybe rewards like in Ballista would be an option.

I never was much for gambling. I'm not against it, and I'm not for it. It just doesn't interest me. However, I am concerned about how ingame gambling may clash with laws in some countries. Most of these laws were made to keep children and young adults from getting addicted to gambling. If there was official ingame gambling, that could get parents to tell their kids not to play FFXI, or even mess up the T-rating for FFXI entirely. I think some research on this may be in order.
As for the form of gambling, maybe a model like a real life race-track would be a good idea.

About tracks: Different tracks sound like a good idea. So do private tracks for people who want to have their chocobos go head-to-head.
Just some loose thoughts:
It might be nice to have a track in each city. Lower rank races in the starter cities, higher rank races in the big city, imperial racing in Al Zahbi, desert racing around Rabao, obstacle trial near Kazham.
Racing tracks can be separate, like real life racing tracks for horses. However, I can also imagine 'street-tracks' with gates to go through that are in existing areas, like Ballista. This might be a good idea if players were in control. For automated racing this might be less workable.

I am a bit confused about some remark in chocob-raising. It said a chocobo can only remain in a players care for a limited amount of time. Does that mean people have to start over every now and then? Would that mean starting over with the racing too? I can imagine some people liking that idea, and I can imagine people hating it. I guess we will find out once we have started actualy raising our chicks. I expect the answer will have an impact on the racing business. I wonder how it will turn out.

And ofcourse, kudos to SE for listening to the fans. I hope the fans will help make it great.

Edited, Aug 4th 2006 at 5:06am EDT by superguppie
lag issue
# Aug 04 2006 at 3:16 AM Rating: Decent
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810 posts
A lot of people may seem disappointed by the fact that we won't be able to control our own chocobo's but I can see why this was done. If we were in control of our own chocobos (as if we were ridding a regular chocobo through a zone) a certain issue presents itself, that being lag. A player with a somewhat laggy connection will be at an unfair disadvantage to other players. All it takes is just one lag spike and you could be out of the race.

I do not believe total control should be taken away from us completely, but rather like a poster said, have us be able to send commands to the chocobo such as sprint, etc. The server would control the chocobo but we would give it commands to change its performance.

As far as betting is concerned I think its fine, if and only if, it does not introduce extra money into the economy.

Edited, Aug 4th 2006 at 4:21am EDT by bluesolarflare
Ideas
# Aug 04 2006 at 3:10 AM Rating: Default
I think the chocobo races should have odds, if they have won previous matches, and have a good chance of winning, you wont win as much as if you bet on a gimpy chocobo. And add variation, dont let the slightly better bred chocobo win EVERY time.

What about other event also? maybe a chocobo beauty show >.< or a talent show with results that depend on how well they are treated and fed, not too fat, but not skin and bones. Something for the youngens ^.^

I actually like the idea of not being able to control the chocobo, because lag would come into play, i know maybe not much, but i still know that certain people are further down the connection food chain than others and this could cause quite a few complaints.

I really like Tinikyy's ideas, like the chocobo tournaments, maybe similar to the fishing ones? just a rare/ex item that you can show off, extended riding time or something? And also the idea of just racing with your friends privatly.

Thanks for letting the players be a part of it.
Ideas
# Aug 05 2006 at 12:48 AM Rating: Decent
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484 posts
-Jousting would be very cool, as stated above.

-It would be very nice if there was a plce for people to sit and watch the race go by. Someplace for your friends to cheer you on when you are racing.

-This is very general but if this is going to be fun, it should be very addictive. Racing should be easy to participate and require alot of skill. I want to be able to have "OOOHHHHHHHHHH" moments just like I do in other racing games, such as mario kart.

On another note:

Didnt you guys come and ask for MPK input and that just ended up in some wild frenzy last time? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but maybe this time you can offer us a little feedback. I understand that working on this game takes an immense amount of time, but maybe if it's possible at all, just give us players some feedback on why, or why you didnt, choose something to work with.

After the MPK fix, beastmasters were very angry, firstly because of what it did to their job. Secondly, if im not mistaken, there was no answer to the cry for an explanation as to why "this" particular solution was chosen over many of the other very good solutions players suggested.The SE crew knows this game and how it works better than anyone else but sometimes im baffled myself as to the decisions that are made sometimes. Again i mean no disrespect.
Chocobo Racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:41 AM Rating: Decent
Perhaps give a certain amount of life points depending on a rank (much like FFVII). Have an Attack command or something similar that lets the player hit another racer. Having zero life points disqualifies. Also, have a Counter command so that people don't spam the Attack command. Also have items that help life points and such. Let certain chocobos have certain attributes. Maybe even have obstacles on the race track. Let there be Jump and Duck commands. There's a lot of possibilities.

Personally, the lack of control of the chocobo disappoints me. At least let the player move left and right.
Race/Gambling/Rank/Control
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:34 AM Rating: Default
Hello

For Gambling- Pro: Yes it should be implemented like FF7. It would really increase more participation in Chocobo Racing to keep players interest in it. But there should be a limit to it. I like the idea 2X 3X 4X the cost of bet we win or prizes that we choose for each rank.

Con: Remember there is a problem in Economy and I dont think its wise to make it harder for people than it already has. It is wise to keep it low price suitable for all players. Price Range: 1000gil-10k

Ranking- Is it possible to have a Ranking system and place for each chocobo/Players like FF7.

Rank: F---> E---> D ---> C ---> B ---> A ---> S

Racing- Well I am disappointed that we cannot control our chocobo but instead we set them to race like sprint etc. I am sure alot of people will be disappointed not to control their own chocobo to win the race.

It'll be good to set up actions buttons and control of our chocobo like this:

When Race begins we push start button then it turns to auto run [Start] [Auto Run]
[Sprint]
[Slow down]
*allow control of our chocobo---Important thing for all riders!

1 Chocobo track sounds short and limited. I wonder how many people are going to stand there or watching. It'll be disappointed if it is 1 round racing that'll be short and not very enjoyable. Probably 3-4 is best.

Just a suggestion Well anyway I hope others people have better suggestion than this.

Thank for your time Development Team
Race/Gambling/Rank/Control
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:47 AM Rating: Decent
Quote:
Con: Remember there is a problem in Economy and I dont think its wise to make it harder for people than it already has. It is wise to keep it low price suitable for all players. Price Range: 1000gil-10k


I feel that is a terrible idea. Gambling should not be restricted, it should be No Limit. People who can truly afford to gamble 1-10k will not bother gambling such measely amounts because that will be a waste of their time and would have no interest. Making gambling 1-10k to allow new players to participate would actually make their money situation even worse, as they would **** away every gil they have hoping to "get rich quick." Besides, this is an optional event and it shouldn't be gimped to accommodate players that can't handle it financially.
Racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:28 AM Rating: Decent
Although I was a little disappointed to hear that players wouldn't be able to control the chocobos, I can kinda see how it could be interesting by adding some strategy to the whole thing. Now for us who would like to race our friends and so forth, maybe you could make the chocobo delivery quest always available and have a bit more of a ranking rather than the just the fastest. It wouldn't be quite what we were expecting, but it still could add some friendly competition going from point A to D by stopping at B and C first.
Chocobo ranking.
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:26 AM Rating: Good
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3,777 posts
I also had one more thought.

In ballista you have a ranking system according to points. Top rank gets gold chevron and then there is silver and bronze chevron. Then job specifics.

There is also the fish ranking system. Pull up the best fish and be ranked high enough get a rare/ex reward.


I like that type of system and I think a similar chocobo ranking system could be very neat. Competitive chocobo racing perhaps over the course of a real life month like fish ranking.

Spoils for being a high ranker in chocobo racing ranking system could include a ring that relieves some of a chocobos digging fatigue if you placed in the top 10. I know many diggers are as of now disheartened by the current rental chocobos getting fatigued in what they feel is a short time. 100 digs as I understand. While I know you plan for chocobos to be customised to adress that issue when breeeding is released I think a reward to digging could be given from racing. 20 hour recast enchantment ring that reduces a chocoboss fatigue by 10 digs with 20 charges I would not find overpowered but still an incentive to race.

Then there is the chocobo wand... increases chocobo riding time. Not rare but IS ex so one character can have 2 but can not trade. That in my opinion would be a very nice reward for first place in chocobo racing ranking if its held once a real life month. One or even 2 or 3 new chocobo wands to an entire server each month is not overpowered in my opinion with there being 10,000-20,000 players a server and yet it is a very nice reward for those who take firsst (or even second or third).

In my opinion the chocobo wand should be attaainable SOMEhow with chocobo breeding. That item and chocobos are so closely tied together I don't see how you could not put it in there somewhere.

Again, my thoughts on chocobo racing having a ranking system similar to fish ranking and ballista. Has very much merit to it. Toss it aroundd if you like it. Again balance is the key and if done properly I would findd chocobo ranking system to chocobo racing a great addition to your game.
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[ffxisig]56619[/ffxisig]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
disappointment.
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:21 AM Rating: Decent
Quote:
Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.


Ok, I'm more than disappointed by this. So its more like a **** fight where you put some birds down and see who wins. Not want I was looking forward too.

I was more excited about something much more like Mario Cart, or another racing game. Where that you realtime control agenst other people.

I really hope SE changes this. Even if they wait another 3 months to put it in.

EDIT: Also I love the gambling idea. We know people love it. Its very popular in jeuno and has been for a long time. Put caps on it so no bets over.. 100k or so? Different rakes different bet levels. Thats something to still be hammered out but for the sake of god.. Make the chocobo's controlable!

Edited, Aug 4th 2006 at 3:30am EDT by Smurfxxx
disappointment.
# Aug 04 2006 at 12:49 PM Rating: Decent
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1,912 posts
Smurfxxx wrote:
Quote:
Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.


Ok, I'm more than disappointed by this. So its more like a **** fight where you put some birds down and see who wins. Not want I was looking forward too.

I was more excited about something much more like Mario Cart, or another racing game. Where that you realtime control agenst other people.

I really hope SE changes this. Even if they wait another 3 months to put it in.


It prevents cheaters, and allows the people who spent time with their chocobos actually have a chance. Letting the client control the chocobo's in a race would just add a ton of issues, lag, pos hacks, flee hacks, ect... This is probably the number one reason on why they are letting the server handle the races. I think it's a shame you don't actually see your character on your own chocobo. ; - ;
disappointment.
# Aug 04 2006 at 6:57 AM Rating: Decent
Mario Kart ↔ Final Fantasy?
fix
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:19 AM Rating: Decent
issue while posting. sorry.

Edited, Aug 4th 2006 at 3:22am EDT by Smurfxxx
As far as gambling.
# Aug 04 2006 at 2:10 AM Rating: Good
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3,777 posts
I like the multiple ranks idea. Lower lvl chocobos in a class C circuit with mid lvls class B and highest ranks class A (maybe even add a class S for a supreme chocobo race). I also like not being able to control the chocobo during races because if people could control them at all I could see several issues arising. Simple and easy is the key.


As far as gambling, I would think best just to keep it simple as well. Small amounts and such. As we all know the in game economy is delicate being able to wager large sums of gil and win 4x the wager could result in a problem. (I just bet 250k and won a million gil woot.... 750k new gil created in game anyone???)Capping the gambling at a maximum of 5-10k for lower ranked races or 15-20k on higher ranked races could be rather interesting though.

I also think gambling spoils could include items similar to the rewards from assault (NON ??? items). Winning a bet could merit a Hi-Potion +3 or 2, or maybe a few remedies. Something that could be very practical in other aspects of the game. Food could also work as well as echo drops for mages or holy water, but I like hi pot +3 and remedy best personally.

Other thoughts I would consider for gambling spoils would be possibly the windurst, bastok, or sandoria gate glyphs that can be obtained already through chocobo running (the npc given quest once a rl week.) or maybe a page of dragon chronicles or meriattes memoires (spelling). Of course these items being more special should be limited to one of any type in a specific timeframe. However I would not find the ability to try for a page of dragon chronicles once a RL week overpowering aand it would certaainly be a nice perk.

Gambling is something I think could be quite fun. But when stakes are allowed to be set too high it becomes an obsession and the fun of it fades fast. Just look at the casinos in lower jeuno where people can lose hundreds of thousands of gil and keep betting in hopes of winning it back. In reality gambling can easily become an obsession and I would not wish for that to play into ffxi. But if kept at minimal betting range and minimal but rewarding spoils it couldd be a very nice addition. Its all a matter of keeping balance.

Thats my thoughts anyway.

____________________________
[ffxisig]56619[/ffxisig]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
RE: Chocobo Raising!
# Aug 04 2006 at 1:45 AM Rating: Decent
Quote:
If there is only going to be one place to chocobo raise, how about make it so that you can pay a small fee to just race against your friends, kind of like diorama ghelspa outpost (sp?) I could only imagine how crowded one little place to race is going to be if there can only be so many racers at once, and with this being new and everyone loving chocobos so much, it might be so busy that you cannot even get a chance to race.


Not exactly a little place for the racetrack... 7maps to the place :P
http://www.ffxi-atlas.com/nav/?act=show&id=chocobo-circuit
ideas on chocobo racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 1:30 AM Rating: Good
I realize there will be a problem making this feature as good as possible, thanks to ps2. However here are my ideas, mostly taken from FF7 (as most people want it that way including me).

Lets start with the chocobo. You should be able to use your fully grown chocobo, go out on a quest to find one, rent one from a list, or have it randomly chosen for you. Not being able to control your chocobo is just stupid. In FF7 you could steer, speed up or slow em down and at times give em a extra boost, but you had to watch your chocobo's stamina gauge and each one was unique in this aspect. You guys should know better, unless those who made FF7 is no longer with Square Enix.

For the track, this is most important. It needs to be at a decent length, not always the same, and held in different areas so it reduces lag. The track needs to be a combination, or one or the other, of above and below ground (caves). The length of the track should last about 7-10 minutes. Since there is no modern technology in this game, the idea of having a VR track won't work (unless you can some how figure that out with aht urhgan).

For the gambling part, it should be like it was in FF7 with the item differences of course. A person should be able to pay gil for gambling and either get items or gil if his chocobo came into a certain place. As to what items should be won is up to who ever is making this feature as long as it's not something cheap *** for the 1st place winner. However I do have ideas on what a winner should get. 1st place: a randomly selected high end piece of material for crafting, a high end medicine item, a high end armor, weapon, or item. A specialty item only won from chocobo racing.
2nd place: same as above but not so high end and with fewer possibilities.
3rd place: a low end item (such as a potion or 2, or something random).
As for how much gil a person should put up, it would depend on what he/she wants to win. If it's gil, then that person should put up the gil he wants to win and the 1st place would receive 3x, 2nd 2x, and 3rd 1x. As for items, the minimum gil should be somewhere between 2k-20k gil.

If it wasn't for the short comings of ps2, I'm sure all this could easily be implemented without memory shortages. But this is my 2 gil on the idea. I hope this feature will turn out good. Don't forget that jp people are easy to please, so even the dumbest **** that comes onto the development table may get implemented. lol

Edited, Aug 4th 2006 at 2:35am EDT by rremnar
Champtionship mode
# Aug 04 2006 at 12:57 AM Rating: Default
I think it would be a good idea to put some-sort of championship mode in Chocobo racing.
Go Choco's!!
# Aug 04 2006 at 12:57 AM Rating: Good
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257 posts
Above thoughts are cool. I think its a nice addition to things and I expect to see lots of people attending at the start like most other new events in FF. Making sure everyone has a chance to contribute is most important. I dont think any particular prize is needed however because of the time i spent in the game room in FF7. I never got anything but i kept on playing. So maybe develop more of the game play part of the raising and racing but add in prizes and tournaments later for those that need a reward/fame fix. I think it would be cool to have some control over the birds honestly even if it was only a sprint command like the controls in Ballista. Also adding some ability to effect the outcome of a race by which green the bird is fed before hand would be nice.

Thanks for your time and Thanks for asking the players' opinion.
gambling
# Aug 04 2006 at 12:28 AM Rating: Good
as soon as gambling as mentioned i instantly thought of the FF7 choco betting only id say instead of paying gil for a bet youd put items up or something and the winner got w/e items they were or maby having the choice of the items or another standard prize depending on wat ppl were betting ex: someone puts up a kotetsu+1 a lvl 72 item but its not worth that much and since the game tends to place value on lvl more than anything else someone could put up something of lower lvl and thats worth alot more and have the bet be considerd lesser bcus the level was lower alternatly there could b a gm hired specificaly to tend to choco betting or it could b just like horse race betting but that may cause inflation problems if there werent enough losing players (horse tracks and casino's in america have a license to print money)... as far as racing goes maby have it similer to the B-spec mode in Gran Tourismo4 i cant see having much more control than that bcus of conection speed problems would make it hard to figure out what place your in exactly. as far as choco raising itself goes im already completly stoked ill b able to call it when im in the field that alone will make this one of the most popular updates ever i dont think anyone will b disapointed with it lol
Chocobo Racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 12:17 AM Rating: Decent
Will there be a chocobo ranking system like in FF7? I think it'd be a good idea so that players with lower ranked chocobos can still participate with others who own chocobos of that class. Like weight classes in boxing if you will.

Also, in regards to the gambling portion of the game I hope spectators will also be able to gamble. Also I think pricing for different ranks should be different and thus winnings will also reflect the rank. This way, if someone doesn't have much Gil, they could still play one of the lower ranked races.

Perhaps multiple betting options could also be incorporated like guessing only on the 1st place chocobo would earn a certain multiple of the bet, guessing the order of first three would win a higher multple, and guessing order of winning order of all chocobos in the race would win the highest multiple. I've personally never been to horse tracks, so I'm not sure how the betting system is like, but something similar perhaps simplified would be good.

For the racing between friends idea, I think that's great and would be fun. Perhaps an option to add a prize pool where everyone participating puts in gil or items and have winner of the private races take all.

I'm looking forward to this new aspect of the game. It'll be interesting to see some chocobo breeding and racing team linkshells.
Re: Chocobo Racing
# Aug 03 2006 at 11:55 PM Rating: Good
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2,614 posts
Quote:
Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.

That's a little surprising to hear... I expect a lot of people are going to be disappointed.

Quote:
This sounds like a great idea, but i don't think the gambling part is such a good thing to throw in

If we don't control them, then betting on the races is really the only involvement players can have. I don't know what kind of "ideas" we can offer about this exactly - I mean, gambling is gambling, isn't it? All I can think of is to have some new items available exclusively through chocobo betting.
Re: Chocobo Racing
# Aug 04 2006 at 10:36 AM Rating: Decent
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1,912 posts
Borkachev wrote:
Quote:
Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.

That's a little surprising to hear... I expect a lot of people are going to be disappointed.


I'm not surprised at all. While many may not want to believe it but it's better to have the server handle the racing. Otherwise you run into people who will cheat via "flee hacking" on their chocobo during the race. If you let the client handle the race you open the gates to people cheating, if you let the server handle the races, the winner is determined on the type of chocobo you raised.

Does that mean I don't want to control my chocobo during the races? No. I just know that in all fairness it's better for the server to do it.

Cheaters suck.
Chocobo Racing
# Aug 03 2006 at 11:43 PM Rating: Decent
This sounds like a great idea, but i don't think the gambling part is such a good thing to throw in
Chocobo Raising!
# Aug 03 2006 at 11:11 PM Rating: Decent
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938 posts
If there is only going to be one place to chocobo raise, how about make it so that you can pay a small fee to just race against your friends, kind of like diorama ghelspa outpost (sp?) I could only imagine how crowded one little place to race is going to be if there can only be so many racers at once, and with this being new and everyone loving chocobos so much, it might be so busy that you cannot even get a chance to race.

I also think that there should be tournaments held every month or something along those lines. There would be brackets, kind of like the college basketball. Whoever is the winner of each bracket could win a nice prize, and the grand champion would recieve a golden chocobo egg or something of the like, maybe even a chocobo sword hah (like feathers on a sword resembling your chocobo.)

I think that it would be neat if maybe certain kinds of chocobo were faster on certain land types. Maybe chocobos originating from bastok are good at running in caves, where as chocobos from san'doria are good at running on grass, or something along those lines.

Thanks for your time SE!
Chocobo Raising!
# Aug 04 2006 at 10:24 AM Rating: Decent
26 posts
Idea's and questions

first off, no your not going to be on the chocobo, Nor can you controll the chocobo, it says that right in the letter.

secondly if they make this into a big money making thing *I.E. betting* you will see very few people taking part in this at reg. times.

where i think there should be a small amount of gil or a "Rare/EX" item that can be own for winning the race, or coming in top 3, i think it should be more about fun then gaining something from it. having random LS events where you race your chocobo for fun would be a great idea to have and would be really fun to play with, even if there is little to no reward in it, the fun and being able to say you beat your friends/linkshell would be worth it enough to me, maybe i am different from everyone else, but there are a ton of other ways to make money in game why take an event that could be fun and used on a daily/weekly/monthly bases and turn it into massive gil lost/gained you know some people out there will just spend months and months gaining the "best" type of chocobo and then just sit there winning chocobo matches for gil if that is the way it turns out, where if it is a smaller reward, only the people wanting to do it for fun and excitment will really put in the time and effort to race the chocobo's.

really do we want more things we can sit around and complain about gil sellers with? look at the casino things still on my server (not nearly as much) giving people gil just to /random - really, how lazy can you get >.>
Chocobo Raising!
# Aug 04 2006 at 10:50 AM Rating: Decent
(posted this in another topic, copying here incase no one looks at that one...)

Quote:
Currently Planned Specifications:

- The ability of raised chocobos will be reflected during Chocobo Racing.


Love it, and the different race classes/categories for each type of chocobo or how experienced the chocobo is, as previously mentioned.

Quote:
- Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.

- It is possible to give orders (i.e. sprint ahead, come from behind, etc) to riders before the race.


I really hate this idea, I feel not having the ability to control your chocobo during the race will really detract from it and will make it little more than watching the Kentucky derby. It sounds similar to what they did in FFX-2, which I ended up only racing a couple of times before I was bored out of my mind. There would be nothing worse than being forced to just sit there and watch your screen for three minutes while your chocobo makes two laps around the track in last place the whole way, knowing you can do absolutely NOTHING. Even something as simple as just giving commands (instead of full control) while they are racing would be great, and help keep up the intensity.

You mentioned commands such as "sprint ahead". Commands like these could be used as a "turbo boost" sort of, where each chocobo is allotted only one or two (or possibly a couple more) depending on that chocobo's experience, class, stats, etc. Also, with the more experience a chocobo has, the more variety, or possibly even frequency, of commands should be made available. You could make it to where it will be more advantageous to use certain commands on certain parts of the course, or in certian situations than others.

Again, I understand your reluctance for total control over the chocobo due to the possibility of it being taken advantage of. However, some player interaction will be required during the race if you don't want to bore people to death. It's like the idea of video poker. Yes, it's fun for a little while and convenient, but you know it's a computer program doing all the work, and it might just ***** you over. There is no substitute for the real thing.

Quote:
While posting your comments onto the forum, we would appreciate any ideas related to “gambling” for example, as well as any other opinions or concerns regarding Chocobo Racing.


With gambling, a couple ideas come to mind. You could just make it like horse racing, that's always fun and good. Have it so any onlookers can place a bet on any horse they want. Maybe a special section for the current racers themselves where they can bet with the other racers for that race. For those who don't want to risk too much money, you could just make it fun and allow players to pick the winners (etc.) and win a small, medium, or large prize depending on how well they did. You could make this selection free, or just charge a small fee of like 100-1000 gil or something so people don't feel like they have to spend a lot of money and just want to enjoy the experience.



For my last suggestion, I would recommend implementing tournaments that take place on a daily basis. Not every race should be a tournament, but it should be an option. Possibly have one or two short single races in-between the tournament races, or schedule a few tournament times throughout the day similar to a Ballista schedule or something.

Thank you for your time. This could be a really fun experience if implemented properly.

Blazze - Leviathan
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