Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn will implement tweaks to its materia system and how players can customize their Chocobos' appearance and abilities, according to the latest development video from producer Naoki Yoshida.
According to Yoshida, players will be able to customize their Chocobos' abilities to best assist them in battle, honing them into "tank" or "caster" niches, among others. Players are free to change their job class at will, which result in fluctuating skill levels and in turn affect their ability to control their Chocobo. A Realm Reborn will tie Chocobo levels to that of the player, keeping player and mount in sync.
Players can also level up Chocobos and teach them new skills through a system "a lot like a skill tree," said Yoshida. Chocobos can be set in offensive, defensive or supporting roles, which can also be switched at any time. Stats and attributions have also been removed from Chocobo gear, or "bardings," so players can choose the most aesthetically pleasing gear without sacrificing power.
"We've decided that we'd like players to choose bardings based only on how they want their Chocobo to look," Yoshida said. "By adding stats to Chocobo armor, we feared everyone would choose the same gear, so we decided to remove attributes from barding completely. We'd like you to pick what you think looks best."
Yoshida added that the materia system, the addition of special elemental items to customize and upgrade gear, will also be changed. All gear will have a certain number of sockets for fitting materia, and if player swant to add more than the allotted number they will have to "meld" the item. Melding comes with a risk of failure, and in the past this meant the item would break. Failed melding in A Realm Reborn will no longer result in loss of the item, but just the used materia. Materia will also no longer be restricted to a certain set of weapons, and can be melded to all gear.
Yoshida promised an announcement explaining the full changes to the materia system is coming soon. Watch the full presentation in the video above.
