MithraPride

The version update scheduled for Thursday, March 29th will finally unlock the gates to the exciting world of chocobo racing! Now, players from across the globe will have the opportunity to test their chocobo's abilities on the racetrack against some of Vana'diel's most skilled riders.

Click here to review the details of this all-new feature.
You can also click here to download exclusive footage of the races!


Details Below


The version update scheduled for Thursday, March 29th will finally unlock the gates to the exciting world of chocobo racing! Now, players from across the globe will have the opportunity to test their chocobo's abilities on the racetrack against some of Vana'diel's most skilled riders.


Development Concept

Last summer and fall, several surveys regarding chocobo racing were conducted from premiere FINAL FANTASY XI sites in Japan, North America, and Europe. The development team then took these valuable opinions and used them to create exciting new content that focused on what the players wanted most.

Due to the fact that chocobo racing is completely new to FINAL FANTASY XI, much time has been necessary for development and testing. Because of this, we have determined that rather than delaying the release of the content, it is better to release portions of it at a time, thus allowing players to experience some of the features right away.

Then, in future patches, a variety of new features will be added to turn up the excitement. The following is a tentative schedule of the updates and their content:

Summer, 2007: Player vs. player races, betting
Fall/Winter, 2007: New official races, practice races (player vs. player)
2008: Final official races


Basic Information

- What is Chocobo Racing?
The newly added racetracks are the perfect place to test out and show off your very own chocobo's skills. These automated races will require you to piece together a picture-perfect plan based on variables such as chocobo condition and the weather, using options consisting of orders given to your jockey and items to be utilized on the track. But that's not all. Performing well in these races will earn you gil or VCS-mint chocobucks, which can be used to purchase items or services that will assist you in breeding.

- How to Participate
First, you must be raising an adult chocobo or have one out to pasture and possess its VCS registration card. Next, you must visit one of the CRA's (Chocobo Racing Association) branches located in San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst, and register your chocobo to race.

- What are Chocobucks?
Chocobucks are a special type of currency for use at CRA-sanctioned establishments. Chocobucks can be earned by winning special races and can be exchanged for items and services used in chocobo breeding. Chocobucks are also required to participate in certain official races.

- Types of Races
The following are the two types of races available at this time:

Official Race
By successfully completing the objectives of these "mission-style" races, more challenging races will be unlocked. Can you clear them all?

Free Run
Free runs are "practice" races that may be run at any time (for a small gil fee). By placing in these races, you will receive chocobucks that can be used to purchase items or participate in higher-level official races. Use these practice races to hone your skills and save up funds.


Click here to download exclusive footage of the races!

oh my god...I hope that was offical music... that sounded so much like race music from FFVII :p

Looks like NoirPhoenix got to First Class STR and END just in time

Official Race seems interesting, shame my Violet has crappy strength and endurance

mmm mine is still only 12....well today will be 13 days old :p but I am trying ^.^

that settles it... i now offically HAVE to get back on ffxi and see how my chocobo would fare...


I so hope i get a job soon...

Kailea wrote:oh my god...I hope that was offical music... that sounded so much like race music from FFVII :p

Nah, trust me, its completely different. FFVII has that... more "Pacific surfing" sound, while this has more of a quick tempo run.

Anyone else not looking forward to the choco racing at all?

I dont know. This actually looks fun!!

I've been told it sucks I'll try it out next time I'm in Windy.

Its pretty cute. I spent about an hour last night doing it. Its pretty much one big cutscene. Each race takes about 5 or so minutes. The choco race music and scenes of the actual race in the movie are the same.

Before the race you can give instructions and items to the jockey, equip any items you might have for your choco and see the other competitors' stats.

You need to do 3 Official Races before getting the chance to run in a "free run." The Official Races have a purse for winning. I (well, my choco) placed first in the 3 it ran. I got a total of 3.5k and 3 chocobucks.

Free runs apparently only reward chocobucks. NoirPhoenix placed 2nd 2x and 1st once. I received 11 chocobucks total from those races. The free runs do cost to enter, no more than a rental choco so far, but the price keeps going up. I paid 100, 150 and 200 gil to enter those races.

Also, in the free runs your jockey and the to others can sabotage each others birds. "Fire biscuits" will slow down one opponent (that one sucks, got hit with one), "gyhsal bombs" will slow down the entire pack and "speed apples" will give you a boost of speed. The two races my bird placed 2nd in, he got hit with either a g. bomb or a fire biscuit (both in one race).

You can buy choco food and meds with the chocobucks you get (1 for a single and I want to say 30 for a stack. More for the elixirs and salads) as well as buying semi-permanent feather dye to temporarily change your bird's color. An interesting purchase option is that for 70 CBs you can have one of your bird's attributes raised randomly. For 80 CBs you can choose which attribute to raise.

Only downside I see to being able to purchase choco food/meds it that the market for those is probably going to drop heavily and that's been a steady income for me. grrrr.

Tried it once; told Violet to do a last minute dash and it seemed to work at first, she came from behind to take 3rd then was pushing for second but when it cut scenes she was back in last again

If anyone is wondering what Sakura says it's "piyo" in katakana. I'm guessing it's just a cute noise she says over and over.

I was wondering about that actually, thanks. Since her "translator" stepped in to "translate" for her every time she said something, I just figured it was her "speech."

Weds night the "Chocobo Races" and "1, 2, 3 START" graphics for the races were fine, but then Thurs morning and today the graphics are too big. My TV is cutting them off. I haven't changed any of the settings (either game or TV) and I can't figure it out. The cutscene is fine, its just the lettering at the beginning and "GOAL" at the end that are oversized.

Has this happened to anyone else, or am I just lucky?

Piyo piyo!

Can't be bothered to raise another choco, doubt I'll ever try this again.

I've pretty well satisfied with N. Phoenix right now, but I still have a (hopefully) red chocobo waiting to be hatched. As soon as I'm finished raising N.P's endurance stat to where I want it, I think I'll retire him and raise my next one while continuing to race NP.

If this next egg does end up being a red one I think it'll be my last one. I've wanted a red choco since they were introduced