Revealed by Sq. Enix and developed with help from Lancarse, The DioField Chronicle seems to be and looks like most tactical RPGs out on the Swap in some ways, however with the whole lot simply barely tweaked. The characters are all undeniably stylised, however by no means fairly as a lot as Hearth Emblem: Three Homes. The politics are entrance and centre all through the sport’s story, however don’t really feel as overt as classics like Ultimate Fantasy Ways. The sport’s tackle conflict feels extra harking back to Valkyria Chronicles than the rest. The DioField Chronicle borrows liberally from different gems of the style with out feeling like a carbon copy.
The sport follows the story of a rising empire within the east that threatens to overhaul the remainder of the continent. As a response, the remaining nations banded collectively, making a battle between the Empire and the Alliance that gives the backdrop to the whole lot else that unfolds within the story. A lot of the story takes place within the nation of Alletain on the island of DioField, which is wealthy within the mineral that powers magic on this setting and due to this fact is a prize either side of the battle covet. Most of this backstory is delivered in a shotgun blast of data that hits the participant in a gap crawl. As we talked about above, the setup feels similar to 2008’s Valkyria Chronicles, although with a deal with magic fairly than expertise. It isn’t sophisticated, but it surely doesn’t should be to get the purpose throughout.
The story may not be essentially the most distinctive, however the artwork course of the sport is attractive. The DioField Chronicle is gorgeous, from the opening cutscene that evokes the opening to Recreation of Thrones to the reveal of the assorted bosses your social gathering fights. From the virtually watercolour aesthetic of the character portraits to the fluid manner they transfer in cutscenes, there may be a lot fashion on show on this recreation. The characters appear to be they’ve been pulled out of a Ultimate Fantasy XIV cutscene, full with the overly clean pores and skin textures and big armour builds. And the setting is primarily medieval fantasy, although there may be the occasional high hat on a personality’s head, generally very small and sat at a jaunty angle, to remind us of the sport’s steampunk influences.
The DioField Chronicle takes the same old tactical RPG format and offers it a slight twist. Gone are the squares or hexes to point out how far characters can transfer, as battles happen largely in real-time, with the motion solely stopping when gamers subject instructions to their items. As soon as they’re in place, they are going to proceed to assault enemies that get inside their vary till they’re informed to do one thing else. It’s a satisfying twist on the same old micromanagement that often occurs in tactical RPGs, making the battles really feel extra chaotic than most video games within the style. It isn’t an entire overhaul of what has labored earlier than, however it’s a enjoyable wrinkle meaning gamers must preserve an in depth eye on character well being and place because the battles rage on.
Characters are available 4 lessons, although completely different tools and builds can affect how they behave in battle. Troopers can use daggers to be extra like rogues, axes to inflict heavy injury and statuses on enemies, or a sword and protect to function tanks. There are related builds for every class, but it surely by no means turns into so overwhelming which you can’t handle your sources or ways. It’s scaled again in some methods however simply sturdy sufficient to maintain from being boring.
Fight provides gamers the possibility to unleash some enjoyable spells and there are moments the place making the most of the terrain can deal some bonus injury, however the recreation largely depends on positioning your items accurately and letting them struggle it out in melee. Most of the strongest spells, together with summoning Bahamut in a visually satisfying explosion of fireplace, aren’t sufficient to complete off most enemies. You’ll must ship in your melee items to mop up for you. It undermines the superior visuals of those assaults once they fail to kill even a single archer.
The most important subject with fight, although, is the best way issues scale so shortly. Having even one character decrease than the really helpful degree for a mission can lead to an entire wipe, which means that you just’ll should spend fairly a little bit of time grinding to maintain everybody on the similar tempo as your major social gathering. The price of gadgets and tools additionally signifies that you’ll spend time grinding for cash if you wish to deck your crew out in one of the best gear.
The characters of The DioField Chronicle have some appeal to them, however most of them lack sufficient depth to maintain you previous their preliminary reveal. The gritty nature of the story Sq. Enix is making an attempt to inform signifies that there are too many stoic, brooding sorts within the forged. Those that don’t match into that class are sadly very one-note. The forged would not develop a lot throughout the course of the sport, regardless of some enjoyable late-game reveals and twists. Nobody is totally abrasive and nobody actually shines, making all of it only a bit bland.
There may be additionally a little bit of a quirk controlling the sport on Swap. The DioField Chronicle feels prefer it was made with mouse and keyboard controls in thoughts. You need to transfer a cursor throughout the display to pick choices fairly than pushing the joystick rightward to pick the following merchandise. It’s a small factor but it surely makes issues like buying and levelling really feel like they take longer than they do. In any other case, the Swap model of the sport performs high quality, with quick load occasions and delightful graphics.
For all of The DioField Chronicle’s flaws, it’s an formidable try and attempt one thing completely different with the tactical RPG style, so we will forgive its shortcomings. If Sq. Enix desires to develop this recreation right into a collection, there may be the potential there to take action. Extra work on the story components of the sport would make it among the best in an more and more aggressive style.
Conclusion
Regardless of its shortcomings, The DioField Chronicle remains to be a stable tactical RPG expertise with sufficient JRPG tropes to curiosity followers of each genres. The distinctive gameplay supplies loads of problem, although it might require numerous grinding to maintain tempo with the problem curve. The artwork fashion is gorgeous each out and in of fight however the characters and plot fail to dwell as much as the identical commonplace. On this case, its ambition outstretched its means and it fell simply wanting the place it needed to be.
