The DioField Chronicle Review – Kicking Fantasy Tactics Into Real Time Strategy

The JRPG genre has grown substantially in the past few years, making it harder for new IPs to stand out but here’s one game that’s determined to shake things up: The DioField Chronicle.

Developed by Square Enix and Lancarse and published by the former, The DioField Chronicle kicks the traditionally grid-based tactics RPG genre into real-time strategy allowing for faster more intense battles. The game does however have its drawbacks in the form of a rather weak story and slow beginning which stop the game from truly achieving its full potential. Still, its core is a strong one and one that’s worth discovering.

Welcome to DioField 

The game takes place on the island of Diofield within the Kingdom of Alletain, sandwiched between two warring factions The Trovelt-Schoevian Empire and the Rowetale Alliance. DioField has an abundance of jade, which in this universe powers magic so as you can imagine both factions are eyeing up for invasion. You control a group of mercenaries called the Blue Foxes led by the main character named Angrias a former servant of the crowned prince who was murdered before his eyes when they were children. They must defend the kingdom from the coming invasion.

I won’t lie, the plot of DioField is pretty weak. While it tries to go into some deeper ideas like political corruption, at its core it’s your standard Final Fantasy/Fire Emblem plot: an evil empire wants to take over and the heroes have to stop them. I’ll admit there are a couple of more subversive plot points later in the story that are more interesting but you’ll be wading through a lot of exposition and cliched fantasy dialogue before they appear.

It doesn’t help that the execution of the plot isn’t the best with it having a big major of “show don’t tell”. After every mission, the characters will get a few lines and then a narrator will take over and explain what happens next. This removes a lot of weight from what should be big plot points. For example, at the end of the first chapter, the group is told that a seemingly important character has died. The game then cuts to the narrator explaining how he died. You never get to see how the characters react to his death or how it affects the world at large. Next thing you know, Angrias is in charge and nothing more is said about the guy.

The pacing of the game is also glacially slow at the beginning with the missions meandering around fetch quests and escort missions that don’t feel like they’re progressing the actual plot. It does get better in chapter 3 when the war properly gets going but you’ll need a lot of patience to get through the early stages.

The Blue Foxes

The characters unfortunately are also pretty stock. The game seems to be going for a game of thrones style political drama but each character gets very little to say or do to make them stand out. Agrias is cool-headed and confident but doesn’t really have much character beyond that. Fredret is the straight man’s best friend, Isca is a chivalrous nobleman with a heart of gold and Rickles is adorable but also doesn’t have much depth beyond being the naive country bumpkin. They all have basic personality traits but not much depth beyond that. The same can be said for most of the other characters that you recruit throughout the game. 

There was one character that stood out, however: the beautiful white-haired Waltaquin Redditch (what a name). When you first see her she comes off as the typical stoic demure princess but it’s soon revealed she is more like a psychotic adrenaline junkie. She cackles in glee when summoning meteors to rain down on enemies, gets super excited to fight strong opponents, and gets disappointed when they’re too weak since it’s less fun for her to beat them. She’s an absolute riot throughout the game and is the main reason I stayed invested in the plot. 

War in Real-Time

The Diofield Chronicle differs from most Strategy JRPGs by being a real-time strategy game. In battle, you use a cursor to control 4 characters on the map. By hitting the circle button over a character, you pause the battle and draw a line to where each character is supposed to go, including attacking enemies. You can also mark places for them to turn which is important since hitting enemies from behind does critical damage. 

Each character fits into one of four classes: Soldiers (DPS), Cavaliers (Tank), Sharpshooters (ranged), and Magickers (healer/summoner). You can only have four primary characters in battle at a time however, you can equip your benched characters to one of the primary characters which will allow you to use their special moves in battle. The secondary character will also get some exp and ability points after the battle. 

All of your units also have special skills that can be selected by pressing the triangle button. These can hit a wide range of enemies, help a tank buff its defense, stun an enemy to prevent them from using a special attack, and so on. Each attack is performed in real-time and has a cooldown time after use meaning that knowing when to place a powerful attack is important as it can leave you wide open afterward. 

Finally, you have access to a feature called Magilumic Orbs. These act as your summons which can be unleashed for massive damage or other powerful spells. The first one you get is Bahamut on level 1. In order to balance things out however you can only use these when you fill a meter by collecting blue orbs that enemies drop and they’re not always the easiest to come by. This means you’re going to want to save the orbs until you need them the most, like for a boss. 

The gameplay is the best part of the game. The enemies attacking in real time gives a greater sense of urgency and successfully executing a series of attacks that wipe out a horde of foes is incredibly satisfying. The spells in the game feel powerful but balanced thanks to the cooldown systems.

The developers of the game have said this system was partially inspired by MOBAs like League of Legends and you can tell in the battle. It feels like it took the best elements of League and combined them with more traditional JRPGs mechanics, creating something that feels very unique and different. 

Leveling Up Your Mercenary Group

Another good aspect of the game is despite needing some strategy know-how, the battle system is pretty easy to understand. When you complete the mission you get exp, which raises your character’s stats. They will also get ability points which can be used to further unlock passive buffs for each character. 

In the hub area, you can get further buffs in the magic lab which will allow you to level up your weapons, buff your abilities and improve your magilumic orbs via different skill trees. It’s very easy to understand while still leaving room to customize the characters more to your liking.

This is also where you can accept a number of sidequests. These can vary from simply speaking to characters across your barracks, going out for new missions, and even just paying in some cash when a character asks for funds. The last one feels a little cheap but the others are interesting and help give the cast a little personality even if only a little.

Completing any of these will also upgrade your mercenary unit rank which will unlock more upgrades at the lab and weapons store. This is important as while the game is fairly easy, not bringing your rank up can leave you a little underleveled for taking on the main mission quests.

The graphics

The art style for the game is really nice. It has this diorama-like aesthetic that fits the feel of a fantasy book coming to life which works well with character artist Isamu Kamikokuryo’s (FFXII) designs. I also like the clothes of the characters who have a fashion sense somewhere between old Renaissance clothing and 1700s dress with some characters wearing full suits of knights’ armor and others in suits and top hats. It’s a nice change from the usual strictly medieval garb of other JRPGs.

While the maps are a little simple, the diverse range of colorful attacks and skills give battles a good amount of spectacle, especially when the summons comes out. Bahamut looks all imposing and you feel the crunch when he reigns fire down on your foes.

The soundtrack was done by the Game of Thrones composers Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell who do a good job giving the game a more grounded dark fantasy feel.

The Diofield Chronicle

The best aspect of The DioField Chronicle is its experimental mechanics. In a vast sea of fantasy-based JRPGS, it mixes the genre’s traditional mechanics with RTS-style gameplay, something that hasn’t really been seen before. You can tell how much developers wanted to make the game stand out and do something different. I also like the presentation, with the art style and music which creates a nice atmosphere around the game almost like a living chessboard where the pieces move on their own.

This does however make its flaws feel all the more noticeable. The story is pretty dull and while yes, you can skip through it, when combined with the slow, repetitive pacing at the beginning of the game, makes it hard to keep playing those initial missions.

How much you enjoy the game will rely on how much the core gameplay mechanics appeal to you and personally, they were addicting enough for me to keep going. It’s great to see larger companies like Square Enix still is willing to take on these smaller, more unorthodox projects that keep the genre feeling fresh and lively.

I could really see this game becoming a cult classic a few years down the line. The DioField Chronicle is an odd little fox but if you enjoy tactics RPGs and have a good amount of patience, it is one worth seeking out and seeing its new tricks. 

The DioField Chronicle is available for PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam.

For more information about the game, check out our interview with its developers: Producer Shigeyuki Hirata, Art Director Takahiro Kumagai and Battle Designer Hirofumi Fukui.

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