Sq. Enix have made an unlimited array of RPGs through the years, however not often have they ventured into the realm techniques and technique video games. A few large names come to thoughts, the apparent one being Ultimate Fantasy Techniques, Techniques Ogre should you depend their PSP remake of Quest’s SNES unique, and most just lately, Triangle Technique on the Swap. Outdoors of that, although, it is all a bit barren, which is why the real-time tactical sword-swinging of their upcoming technique RPG The DioField Chronicle is such an fascinating landgrab for them. To say they’re pushing into new territory can be an understatement.
Fortunately, judging by the sizable first chapter of the sport (at the moment out there to play for free on Steam till the sport’s launch on September twenty second), it is clear that Sq. Enix and their improvement companions at Lancarse have a variety of sensible selections right here. With its deal with particular person hero characters as a substitute of anonymous army items, combined in with the magical pizazz and flashy summons of its Ultimate Fantasy video games, The DioField Chronicle may simply be the Hearth Emblem-shaped gap PC gamers have been in search of.
The actual-time nature of its top-down diorama battles naturally offers The DioField Chronicle a barely totally different rhythm to the lengthy, drawn-out turns of current Hearth Emblem video games, however whenever you’re continually pausing the motion to direct your items the place to maneuver, assault and which particular strikes you’d prefer to deploy, its similarities go additional than you may assume. The closest comparability might be Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, which blended real-time and turn-based scraps with stunning fashion, giving gamers loads of time to assume and make selections whereas maintaining the tempo of battle using excessive.
So it’s right here in The DioField Chronicle. In basic RTS fashion, you may drag and drop your mouse to pick all 4 items directly, or you may click on them individually to relay particular orders. The motion is paused whilst you’re doing this, the display screen coming into a boring monotone to assist differentiate its ‘tactical pause’ from the principle motion. On this mode, you can too see enemy sight circles, the vary of explosive barrels, and different helpful environmental cues you may need to contemplate profiting from as you push up by its largely linear play areas.
Not all enemies are displayed directly, although, with many extra beaming in mid-mission as you attain checkpoints or seize outposts. For essentially the most half, I discovered this helped to maintain battles feeling contemporary, because it meant you could not simply predict how they’d shakeout as you progressed. That stated, there have been nonetheless a number of rug-pull moments right here and there which, if I might identified have been coming, I may not have wasted my large Bahamut summon on, for instance, or I might need made extra of an effort to collet some the leftover HP and skill level crystals scattered across the battlefield. Nonetheless, these moments have been few and much between within the three hours I spent taking part in this opening chapter, and I felt higher capable of react on the fly versus dreading the onslaught but to occur.
It helps that battles are brief and sharp, too. Most are over in 5 – 6 minutes, with some missions even rewarding you with additional gold for getting issues completed and dusted rapidly in a selected time restrict. The additional end-of-mission goodies do not cease there, both. It’s also possible to earn additional ability factors to unlock skills or enhance present ones in its intimidatingly giant ability tree by ensuring none of your heroes fall in battle, and you can too nab additional treasures by stopping to open treasure chests.
Most missions have mini-objectives alongside this type of line, however that does not imply you are continually replaying the identical type of five-minute battles time and again. Positive, The DioField Chronicle’s opening chapter does some fairly heavy tutorialising in its first clutch of missions, giving them a pure sense of selection because it introduces all of its numerous ideas, however inside these first few hours, I might completed your basic ‘get rid of each enemy on the map’ sort mission, defended a manor home from the undead, captured turret towers to unlock drawbridges and open up new areas of a map, escorted a carriage by a harmful mountain path, and fought three boss characters.
Admittedly, the bosses could be the weakest a part of The DioField Chronicle, as they’re primarily simply huge HP sponges, merely requiring you to hack away at a number of well being bars till they’re useless. Of their defence, they do have barely extra flamboyant assaults than your run of the mill infantry goons, however when their areas of impact are clearly telegraphed with large crimson hazard zones that turn out to be more and more angry-looking the nearer it’s to being enacted, merely transferring your warriors out of the best way or gorgeous them with a protect bash assault (as you’d with each different enemy sort with an AOE assault) is about as ‘tactical’ as these encounters get.
That is to not say positioning is totally unimportant, although. Producing aggro so a few of your warriors can assault from behind in lethal ‘ambush’ assaults is significant to dealing injury rapidly, as is managing your characters’ particular skills over the course of a mission. These can vary from equally devastating AOE assaults to particular person sword dances, however others with standing results could make for some notably highly effective combos that will help you manipulate the circulation of battle. Frederet, my large knight on a horse, for instance, has an enormous frontal assault cost, which not solely hits a number of enemies in an enormous straight line, but it surely additionally knocks them again into a pleasant, bunched up group, leaving them open for my archer Iscarion to put down some concentrated overlaying fireplace within the space they will be utilizing to race again towards the remainder of my squad. I do know they will be operating this manner, too, as my swordsman Andrias has simply put up his taunting protect barrier. The ultimate contact is usually an enormous fiery meteor spell from my healer mage Waltaquin, setting the bottom alight as they proceed operating blindly forwards.
Nevertheless, every character solely has so many EP factors to dole out these sorts of assaults, so one other a part of The DioField Chronicle’s strategic layer is realizing when to convey out the massive weapons, so to talk. Objects can used to prime up characters’ EP bars mid-battle, however cash to purchase new ones is fairly scarce on this war-torn island (even with finishing the gold-boosting mini aims), particularly whenever you additionally have to steadiness these funds with upgrading your warriors’ weapons, armour and stat-boosting equipment and upgrading your numerous service provider stalls again at your mercenary HQ.
As such, you will need to be sure that a personality’s EP bar lasts all the size of a mission, so you will have to steadiness them out with their common auto-attacks. It is truly very Xenoblade-like in some respects, as every ability additionally has its personal cooldown timer earlier than it may be used once more. It is in all probability an enormous purpose why I prefer it a lot, though even I am keen to confess that this hero-led fashion of RTS battling will seemingly show divisive amongst conventional technique followers.
Certainly, at first I felt like I used to be crusing by battles, and that this seeming over-reliance on large flashy skills would make The DioField Chronicle really feel too straightforward; that, actually, it was extra of an motion RPG than a correct technique sport. However as that first chapter wore on, the mixture of more durable enemies and people restricted funds for under a few selection gear upgrades meant I undoubtedly began to really feel the bounds of my characters’ EP bars by the point missions have been drawing to a detailed. Equally, a few missions required me to separate up my unit of 4 as threats poured in from totally different areas of the map abruptly, and ensuring they have been positioned accurately whereas not biting the mud within the course of was thrilling, heart-pumping stuff that put me within the chokepoint juggling mindset of my current foray into Firm Of Heroes 2.
The DioField Chronicle is a less complicated type of RTS, little question about it, but it surely’s additionally one which feels energised by its bite-sized missions and splendidly animated screen-hogging skills. Heck, I used to be even mildly intrigued by what’s left to uncover within the nonetheless partially closed off rooms of the Blue Fox’s manor-like HQ, which you’ll be able to wander round between missions like the massive college in Hearth Emblem: Three Homes. Alas, there are not any college students or different mercenaries to bat your eyelashes at (though there are character quests to additional their particular person tales), however the best way you may improve its numerous rooms to get higher stuff does have a faint whiff of XCOM about it, and I preferred having the ability to stroll round talking to my fellow squad mates, discovering new sidequests and turning this repurposed stately dwelling into a correct base of operations.
As a spot, it is definitely extra synthetic feeling than the Three Homes academy (critically, who places up iron gate railings inside their home to cease folks going up the steps?), and sure, there have been components of its story about warring clans combating over historic, treasured sources that felt like reheated leftovers of a discarded Ultimate Fantasy plot. However its central protagonists made for a successful quartet as RPG events go, and its mixture of aristocratic subterfuge, historic sorcery and Ultimate Fantasy-style summons has me itching to stay round its halls just a bit longer to search out out extra. I’d like to have extra Sq. Enix technique epics on PC, so here is hoping the total sport would not disappoint when it comes out on September twenty second.
