I would give this game a 3.5-star rating.

Combat

The combat is very fun; I don't know if it's unique, but I've certainly never played a game like it before. It's sort of a cross between turn-based and real-time (a real-time tactical strategy role-playing game, I think it's called), where characters are fighting in real-time, but you can pause at will to give commands. It can be very satisfying when you get a good set up going and see your four characters just absolutely destroy an enemy unit.

Some have said that the game is too easy, but I didn't think so. It was definitely very easy at first, but it did get harder. Particularly in the middle of the game, I found myself under-leveled and overwhelmed during some of the battles. But by the end I had put together a pretty good team, and the final battle wasn't too much of a challenge.

I will say the combat got a little repetitive after a while. I did switch up my strategy several times throughout the playthrough, but just in general, I felt the gameplay loop wore on me after a while. I was definitely ready for the game to end when it did, and I didn't do all the side quests.

Customization

There's definitely a lot of customization in terms of playstyle, which was certainly overwhelming for me at first. Between characters, weapons, accessories, skills, abilities, and summons, and the limited expendable resources you have to spend on all of the foregoing, there are lot of choices to make, and making those choices can be a little time-consuming outside of combat.

I always find character development (equipping weapons, buying skills, etc.) to be the most tedious part of a tactical RPG, but it isn't too bad here. I definitely felt like my choices mattered, because any time you spend resources on one thing, you generally know that you're doing so at the expense of something else. The same applies to simply deciding which characters to play. At first, I was trying to keep everyone adequately levelled, but I found quickly that keeping my mains out of combat was making them under-levelled. By the end I decided to leave behind the characters I didn't want to develop for the sake of making my mains as powerful as possible.

Story

All of that is really great. The story, on the other hand, wasn't very interesting to me. Virtually all of it happens in exposition between battles, and I just didn't find it very captivating.

It was interesting playing this right after Triangle Strategy, the other Square game from last year. It too was a tactical RPG, and the story was even quite similar, but I felt far more invested in it. The worldbuilding was easier to follow, and one of the main mechanics was the ability to decide what story path you would follow. In DioField Chronicle, there was too much going on and too many characters/nations for me to keep track of or care about. It didn't necessarily detract from the experience, it just kept me from feeling fully invested.

Music and Visuals

Another area that keeps this from being a full four-star game. The graphics were pretty good, especially for the Switch (maybe they're even better on other systems). The art-style, however, was a little bland. Very little really stood out.

The same goes for the music. It was fine, but not memorable. I'll have to go back and listen to the soundtrack, but off the top of my head I don't think there are any tracks I would be adding to my playlist.

Passable, but not inspiring.

Playing on the Switch

I played this on the Switch, and overall it ran smoothly, but for some reason the background audio would cut in and out during some of the cut scenes. I can only assume this wouldn't happen on other systems, so if you have the choice, maybe go with another system.

Conclusion

Overall, really great game with a cool concept that I would like to see more fully fleshed and expanded upon in a sequel.