Like "Golden Axe: Kingdom Conquest"? Yeah, that would have been cool. They're nearly there anyway in visual style, so they could have just made it a spin-off.
I've just completed the tutorial and am enjoying it. Looks like you build up your town and army by creating industry, monster farms and monster training facilities. Then, having trained your monsters, you dispatch them to nearby territories. Once the territory is taken, a tower is built and you head in yourself for some PSO style fighting.Not sure when I encounter other players, but since the game is just a few hours old it won't happen just yet.
Looks like the pay model comes into play when you want to speed up the process of something. Like buying an item will speed up production of monsters or increase your exp. I guess the more money you put in, the more powerful you will become. Hey, if SEGA makes money, I'm happy. As long as it doesn't break the game. I'll be playing for free until it really becomes necessary to drop a few bucks.