Machina of the Planet Tree -Unity Unions- [星樹の機神 ユニティユニオンズ] Game Sample - PC/Doujin

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Published on May 25, 2020 10:17:38 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwxtGLOV6Q

Game:

Machina of the Planet Tree -Unity Unions- (2020)

Duration: 47:44

1,538 views

46

Huh... it's so weird that this game was recently released as I was thinking about its predecessor, "Machina of the Planet Tree -Planet Ruler-" just a few days ago. Developed by the promising Doujin team, "Denneko Yuugi", this game is a spin-off of their 2013 RPG Maker VX Ace title and developed with original assets in the Unity Engine that takes place shortly after -Planet Ruler-. The game is a short (roughly 2hrs) action/shooter where you play with a "Jewelmancer" (spellcaster) named Corona Megistos who is practicing her magic when she goes into the woods to blow off some steam. After slaying a few weak monsters, she feels a strong foreboding Ether presence near a shrine where her mother's most powerful jewel is stored, and heads there to claim the jewel before it's too late. She narrowly gains possession of the jewel which was a vessel for the legendary Machina, Arcturus Noah, and the two get wrapped up in an adventure to save the land.

Unity Unions had quite a bit of potential but suffers in some significant ways and ends as quickly as it starts, though the game's excessive post-game grind and multitude of weapons and enchantments allude to a game that should've been much longer. It is, at best, a mild diversion and teaser for an eventual proper sequel (as the one originally in the works, Flying Dreamer, was suspended in 2016). At worst, it's a clunky and somewhat empty experience with a few hints of originality that just don't pan out in a particularly meaningful way. The goal of the game is simply to move from Point A to Point B while killing all enemies along the way. You can collect gems to restore your health or allow you to summon minions (more in a bit) as well as get randomized staves that have a multitude of properties and titles which alter their range, firing capacity, cooldown, trajectory, damage, etc.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this setup. Actually, since the game allows you to use three different weapons at one time as well as the ability to later synthesize your weapons to customize their traits on top of raising the parameters of yourself and your allies, this is actually the most enjoyable aspect of the game. You even get some extra skills and an ultimate skill that changes based on what amulet you have a little ways into the game and trying to farm rare goods with full skill slots becomes a mindless but addicting time sink. Your minions are unlocked when you find Arcturus and they are basically golems you can employ to help defend you and come in four roles: Close Range, Long Range, Defense and Support. They can eventually be powered up where they grow massively more powerful, but even their base forms are plenty useful and you can pretty much spam an army of long range attackers with one or two healers for pretty much the whole game.

The audio and visuals are reasonably good coming from a independent team who previously worked on 2D titles and their main illustrator is as talented as ever with their bold character designs and... "flashy" protagonist. Her 3D model also looks good when stationary, but her walking animation is somewhat peculiar. The game's actual shortcomings are not major at a glance, but raise more questions than answers. For example, the game has fairly large fields that you can even explore to some extent, but there is no incentive for doing so. Enemies are almost always put within your line of sight as you progress because there is no in-game map to lead you where to go otherwise. The game is not challenging but the almost unwieldy aiming still creates more frustration than necessary. Some attacks and enemies are relatively fast and can be tricky to avoid, but there are no abilities to properly evade. The enemy and stage variety is almost non-existent but the devs felt the need to hide achievements through playing the game three additional times while the enemies scale tremendously in level with no variation in how the game is played. Story scenes can only be viewed once. Things of this nature...

Unity Unions might be about Jewelmancy, but it's no gem. There's just enough here to pick it up on sale, but I'm a little disappointed by the title as a whole. It's got a pretty good English translation though, so that's something. This is a video showing some of the things in the game. You can get this game at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209720/Machina_of_the_Planet_Tree_Unity_Unions/

Enjoy.

- ADDITION -

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