The DioField Chronicle interview: Why real-time was the right choice

destructoid.com:

With just about a month until it launches, The DioField Chronicle will join a growing list of tactics games launching this year. If you’ve played the demo already though, you’ll know DioField stands out in a few ways: its art, its design, and the way it utilizes real-time strategy on the field.

We had a chance to chat with the developers behind The DioField Chronicle, to learn more about why they went this direction. The team did anticipate a few strategy RPGs to be coming out close to this game. And according to producer Shigeyuki Hirata, the plan was for DioField to stand out.

“We wanted to ensure that the title that we would be developing would be able to differentiate and kind of stand out within the pack,” said Hirata via translator. “So that it doesn’t, you know, get buried within all those other titles.”

The DioField Chronicle team wanted to ensure that it fit within both the real-time strategy and simulation RPG framework. This would, in turn, create a new SRPG.

And it certainly helps the game stand out. In our preview, I wrote about how even in a year with games like Triangle Strategy already out and Tactics Ogre Reborn on the horizon, The DioField Chronicle manages to feel fresh and interesting thanks to how different it handles.

It’s particularly notable because, when asked about inspirations, Lancarse development director and battle designer Fukui Hirofumi cites some classics. He says the team referred back to games like the Ogre Battle series, as well as Fire Emblem and Front Mission, as reference points. But when it comes to the real-time aspects, they looked elsewhere.

“But as far as real-time elements go, we would refer to [League of Legends] or Diablo for more action-based references, essentially,” said