DioField Chronicles has been released and it seems to have been forgotten.this latest Square Enix Strategy RPGs are thoughtful, fun, and flawed — albeit enjoyable. It deserves better than it gets.
By the way, the feel it gets is like very classic Square Enix mini-games treat. It got a surprisingly big announcement, debuting on one of Sony’s highly anticipated State of Play broadcasts. After that, however, it appeared to be relegated to second-tier status. The promotion was minimal, and even the review code reached its 11th hour; just days before Square Enix announced that the review was ready to go live, it hit the inboxes of global media — which itself was shortly before launch. That’s why you don’t see a lot of pre-release reviews, in case you were wondering.
It’s a shame to see a game like this get this treatment because it’s so much fun. Essentially, The DioField Chronicle is a strategy RPG in the style of Final Fantasy tactics, but it’s ultimately faster and looser, and has several elements that inject a bit of the real-time tactical genre into the mix. The results are very exciting and unique – which is important because we are currently in a golden age of strategy RPG resurgence, Fire Emblem is the biggest ever, and even Square Enix has Tactics Ogre out again soon Remake.
Trying something new addresses both DioField’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. It’s a slightly sloppy game because of its extensive experimentation with the genre’s conventions, but that’s not to say it’s bad – I play it almost all the time, and the tactical combat feels both rewarding and Intriguing, and the game manages to feature characters and concept pieces from the Kings of War (Final Fantasy 10, 12, 13, and 15), creating a decent story with truly beautiful art. The soundtrack, provided by Western composers who have worked on the TV series Game of Thrones, is surprisingly understated and delightful.
The narrative isn’t the most exciting — like the less-successful Final Fantasy tactical outing, it’s a little too serious and serious at times just for its own sake. If I were to make a specific but broad criticism of it, it would be that it felt like both the story and the characters lacked depth – but actually in combat as well.
Everything is like an experiment. Combat is exciting and fun, and has depth thanks to a simple but maintainable system for character and gear progression, but it feels like the effort to try something new is draining the developer – or budget – which means it’s the most fun ever And the unique elements are already in place, there isn’t much room for growth beyond that. The result is an unquestionably leaner pack – if you want full fat, you’ll want to wait for the next Fire Emblem, or possibly the Tactical Ogre Remake.
However, one thing I really appreciate about DioField is its length. That is: it is relatively short. In any case, by strategy RPG standards – Wargaming, it’s not. You can complete the main narrative in about 20 hours, with a small amount of side content. You probably don’t want to do more side content anyway, since it’s relatively uninspired. In this regard, I think DioField is a relatively short and experimental game. I’m very good. However, for some, this may be considered worthwhile.
But, you know, I love it. I love that Square Enix is experimenting with smaller games — sometimes, this publisher has the ability to make money. Usually when it’s not gold, it’s silver – like Octopath Traveler, its narrative is immature, but the combat is brilliant and the visuals are gorgeous. In many ways, The Chronicle of Theorfield reminds me of this title.
However, where Nintendo is heavily promoting Octopath, it feels like Diofield has been thrown into a sea of marketplaces to sink or swim. This kind of game may also be less prone to float. This is a product that needs some marketing type buoyancy aid. It will never work out – now I fear it will never work out. But it’s worth a look – hopefully its ideas can be rolled out to other projects in the future. They are certainly worth revisiting.
