The DioField Chronicle, a brand new IP developed by Lancarse and printed by Square Enix, is the most recent in a rising development of tactical RPG video games. While loads of these sorts of video games have come out this yr already (together with Triangle Strategy, Relayer, and Digimon Survive). The DioField Chronicle intends to place its personal spin on the style and stand out in a crowded discipline.
To get a way of how The DioField Chronicle is setting itself aside, I spoke to Lancarse improvement director and battle designer Fukui Hirofumi, Square Enix producer Shigeyuki Hirata, and artwork director Kumagai Takahiro. The staff members mentioned The DioField Chronicle’s gameplay influences, artwork route, and the way they created a newcomer-friendly technique recreation in a frightening style.
But it was me, Dio(Field)!
The DioField Chronicle was first revealed throughout PlayStation’s State of Play presentation in March. When the sport’s reveal trailer premiered, viewers thought it could possibly be a brand new Final Fantasy Tactics recreation. Then, on the finish of the trailer, the sport’s title card appeared, displaying that it was as a substitute a brand new IP totally.
Hirata says it was a shock that the viewers perceived the sport as a possible new Final Fantasy Tactics recreation. The staff is conscious that the sport is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, and that The DioField Chronicle would inevitably be in comparison with a few of its predecessors within the technique RPG style. However, Final Fantasy Tactics wasn’t really as huge of an affect on The DioField Chronicle.
“We weren’t directly conscious of the title when developing the game,” Hirata tells Digital Trends. The DioField Chronicle has shades of real-time technique (RTS) recreation influences, however its gameplay was really extra impressed by MOBA titles akin to League of Legends. MOBA video games (like Overwatch) sometimes supply a spread of various characters with their very own particular talents for gamers to regulate and are extra team-based. This suits in with the truth that The DioField Chronicle has a restrict of 4 characters with the ability to be deployed throughout battle.
In comparability, RTS video games like Starcraft and Halo Wars contain managing an financial system and sending waves of faceless items to their deaths. MOBA video games served as bigger inspirations for The DioField Chronicle as a result of the event staff was contemplating methods to include extra compact missions inside a technique RPG framework.
“With regards to the top-down field of view, perhaps Diablo served as more of an inspiration in that respect,” says Hirofumi. “Because we were building out an SRPG with real-time elements, those two served as more inspiration.”
Approaching the technique style
Lancarse has created a number of different technique RPG video games up to now, akin to Monark and Lost Dimension, the latter of which Hirofumi labored on as a battle designer. He felt like there was an absence of approachability and replay worth in latest titles within the style and wished to handle that in The DioField Chronicle.
We are hoping that it’s going to change into one of many requirements for SRPGs.
Have you ever performed a recreation the place you failed a mission, and thought to your self, “Wait, how did I lose?” Hirofumi says he believes that there’s a discrepancy between what the sport considers “game over” and what the participant believes as such.
“When factoring in real-time elements with this game, I felt that when players make a mistake, there may be a broad feeling towards this,” he continues. “Taking that, in order to increase playability with this game, we inserted checkpoints in between missions where there were good breaks.”
This permits gamers to go again to checkpoints throughout gameplay after they encounter the sport over message in order that they’ll determine what precisely went mistaken of their method, what errors they made of their techniques, after which replay it once more to determine what works.
Hirofumi explains: “We tried to increase the replayability of the game in such a way so that players can become better at the game quickly, or it’ll be easier for players to find their very own tactical strategy, and so forth.”
The DioField Chronicle has loads of visible aptitude with regards to the characters’ particular attacking expertise. However, it isn’t only for present. “We wanted to ensure that what you were doing was clearly communicated through the visual presentation,” explains Takahiro. “And so it wasn’t just for flair, per se, but ensuring that those strategic elements and strategic actions that you’re taking are clearly expressed through visual means as well.”
Setting a brand new normal
The DioField Chronicle’s improvement was dealt with principally by Lancarse. As for the artwork route, together with the 2D illustrations and cutscenes, Square Enix labored carefully with Lancarse They additionally collaborated with different corporations for hefty property akin to 3D fashions and movement seize.
Since The DioField Chronicle is a brand new IP, Hirata hopes that he can proceed increasing on its world even additional and that it is going to be obtained properly so the staff might have the chance to take action.
“We are hoping that it will become one of the standards for SRPGs. Since this is our first title, we believe that there is still room for deepening the mechanics and lore, so we would like to continue along this path,” he explains. “As for the audience reactions, we would of course like for them to find it fun and interesting, but at the same time, we would like their honest feedback on changes that they would like to see since it is our first title.”
The DioField Chronicle launches on September 22 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A demo is obtainable now on all platforms.
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