Developed by: Square Enix, Lancarse
Published by: Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia
Platforms: PlayStation, PC, XBOX, Switch
Reviewed On: PlayStation 5
Review Code Provided By: Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia
Square Enix is no stranger to the tactical RPG genre with many under its belt. This time around, they create a game that they hope can spin off into a tabletop game in the future called The DioField Chronicle. With the game’s Collector’s Edition even coming with its own tabletop board game version, does The DioField Chronicle also work as an excellent video game? Let’s find out.
A Kingdom In Disarray
The game takes place in the fictional war-torn continent of, you guessed it, DioField. The Kingdom of Alletain, where a mercenary unit called the “Blue Foxes” are affiliated is in constant conflict with Trovelt-Schoevian Empire and the Rowetale Alliance. You start with the introduction of 4 main characters, Andrias Rhondarson, a royal bodyguard who knows ancient sorcery, Fredret Lester, his childhood friend, Iscarion Colchester, an archer and former noble, and Waltaquin Redditch, a mage noblewoman.
The game story is a political drama between the factions as you go on missions in conflict areas as mercenaries for the Kingdom of Alletain. On the way, you will recruit new members into your group and that will slowly expand the story as it goes. Though some later characters will not receive much character development, there will be a mission or two which will involve each of your team members. The game intends to portray each member with a hidden agenda as you proceed in the game with some member agendas having a great impact on the storyline.
The main storyline is straight forward but there are a few twists to the story as you play. The only thing I felt that was missing is a choice mechanism which can change how the story flows a little as I felt like I was just on a ride without much power to make any decision. Most of the stories are also told by narration and time skips so you do not play every event in the game.
Rust In The Armour
Visually, the game offers nothing much because the game is made for other last gen consoles. Animations look stiff and if you play battles at 2 times the speed, some look comical being sped up. On the other hand, character designs are good with each of them looking unique and distinguishable no matter how small there are on the battlefield.
The game does sport a soundtrack but nothing to shout out about with most of them playing on a loop as you enter the battle. Voice acting is a bit weird as the English voice actors sound a little off-putting to me like they sound robotic. This is made worse by the English voice not syncing with the character model’s lip animations. Changing to a Japanese voice is better but then you need to read the subtitles instead. There are a lot of voice lines in the game so at least there was some effort put into that.
During battles, the game sounds do get repetitive with the sound of a sword slashing on a loop and enemies dying to repeat the same voice line repeatedly. If you face the empire faction for example and kill a soldier, they all will say the same voice line which is “For the Empire”. This gets very repetitive and somewhat comical if you kill 3-4 in a row.
Performance-wise, you can select whether you want to play the game on 4K Quality to Performance mode. I tried both and to be honest I do not see any difference. I would just recommend sticking to Performance mode because Quality mode seems to have some choppy framerate during gameplay.
A Little Light On The RPG Side
The DioField Chronicle is an isometric real-time strategy role-playing game. During the story, you are given missions or side missions to handle with the members of the Blue Fox mercenary group to choose from. As you go on a mission your will gain experience and gold to upgrade your skills and weapons like in a normal RPG. There are other materials you can gain to for research or upgrade, but it is just a small amount compared to other RPG games.
Overall, I feel like the game system is very beginner friendly with simplistic levelling and upgrading mechanics. The only thing you want to farm is experience and gold. Compared to other games where you must farm various materials to craft a weapon, all equipment can be unlocked by using only gold coins. So, once you found a good mission, you will be able to grind the mission repeatedly for experience and gold.
Skill on the other hand is tied to your character’s class and weapons. There are 4 classes in the game with each having 2 to 3 subclass each so there is a total of 9 classes. You can have 4 active characters in a mission with another 4 being partnered with them as a substitute. This allows you to switch between partners during battles but what is even better is that the game allows you to use the substitute character abilities. This makes building a team easier as with the right team members, you will always have the right skills for the right situation.
Blue Foxes On The Prowl
The DioField Chronicle’s gameplay consists of you controlling members of the Blue Foxes mercenary which mostly consist of the 4 party members across a battlefield. The game runs in real-time and can be sped up to 2 times the speed if you want things to go faster. You can however freeze the gameplay to give orders or use abilities. I usually use this mechanic to plan how should I approach the mission. Traditional real-time mechanics like critical and ambush attacks (Backstab) are also present so you would want to be always attacking enemies from the back.
Missions are usually consisting of either eliminating all the enemies or protecting the barrier with sub-objective like completing it in a certain amount of time to get bonus rewards which are materials. You can complete these sub-objectives once only to get the materials and if you replay the mission, you will only be rewarded with experience and gold. Overall, these objectives are easy to complete and should not pose an issue even to beginners.
When your units engage the enemy, you can see which unit is being attacked by the enemy with a red line. This gives you the ability to plan who to engage first to get the enemy’s attention. So, you usually want to send in the tank to absorb the damage while asking your damage dealers to backstab them. Enemies will be using their skills occasionally but having certain stun skills like Stun Shot or Shield Bash will interrupt their casting and cancel off their skill.
One more thing is you can also summon in this game. Square Enix signature Bahamut, Fenrir and many more are available to help you in-game after you defeated enemies and collect blue orbs to charge the TP which are used to summon them. It is a nice feature to have but it seems unnecessary for the reason I am about to talk about.
A Different Kind Of Fun
After completing the game, I felt that it was very easy even on the hardest difficulty. With a little grinding, you can easily overpower your enemies. The game features a variety of skills but honestly, I just used about 4 skills in total. Once you get the ability to heal during battle, everything should be a breeze. You should be able to complete the whole game around level 40 easily so the question comes to, who is this game for?
The only thing that I can think off is people who just like to fully level each character and unlock every skill will be interested in this game. The game is really like a big introduction to the RPG genre with its lack of depth and straightforward storyline. It is fun to unlock stuff in the game since it is so simple and if you like collecting and unlocking everything in a game, I highly would recommend this game.
The lack of real end-game content is also an issue because once you complete the game, it just unlocks a New Game+ where you can start the story all over again with characters and items carried over from the last playthrough. Yes, you will get to complete all the mission’s objectives again to get the bonus rewards materials for upgrading but with those materials being able to be purchased from the shop, that might be not the most efficient way to do it in my opinion.
What I Liked About The DioField Chronicle
- Decent character development
- Unique game mechanic with its semi-RTS battles
- Excellent character design
- Streamline RPG which is beginner friendly
What I Wished Was Better
- Endgame content which is almost absent
- The story is too predictable and straightforward
- English Voice Acting
An Intense Political Drama With Lighthearted RPG
The DioField Chronicle has a unique RTS battle system which is rarely seen on the console. Besides that, it just feels like a generic RPG game that may feel too easy for those who are looking for a challenge. The story and character development are great with characters all having a backstory, but I felt the game is like a roller coaster ride where you are taken from one mission to another without much choice. In closing, I felt that The DioField Chronicle is a game which was released to test whether a semi-RTS RPG has a place in the current gaming market and somewhat felt incomplete.
