ver1.12
ボイス自体は概ね合ってる印象を受けた。棒読みで萎えるようなことは特になし。
勝利ボイスはが若干パターンもの足りず。同じセリフを大量に聞くことになる。
立ち絵のクオリティは高くここらへんはSFCやPS初期のJRPGに負けず劣らずの印象。
しかしゲーム部分についてはとにかくエンカウント率が高い上に雑魚戦難易度が低いため徒労感が募る。

以前のバージョンを知らないがver1.12でエスティが超強化されたせいか
戦闘開始→エスティのターン→敵全滅or瀕死なケースがほとんどだった。

エンカウント率にいたってはフィールドマップに切り替わって３秒程度移動すればエンカウントするほどである。
戦闘勝利ボイスが流れたまま次の戦闘開始ボイスが始まって個人のターン開始ボイスまでかぶさって同じキャラのボイス3重とかになりギャグの領域。
また、実質リソース消費なし・ターン消費なしで回復スキルを使いまくれるので凄まじく大味。こちらの誰かのターンになればだいたい全員全快状態までもっていける。
コスト１さえ残ればスキル選択まで戻れるためTPは100を超えて使うこともでき、TP不足で「これ以上回復スキルが使えない！」なんて心配が一切ない雑なバランス。
３キャラ中２キャラが全体HP割合回復スキル持ちで戦略性も何もない。
ただし同じ攻撃技を使うと同技補正で威力に大幅減衰がかかるため
雑魚相手だから・こちらが圧倒的に強いからと戦闘を連打でさくさくこなせないため苦痛。
逃走時に逃走成功確率が表示されるが全体的に低すぎるように思える。

ボス戦は一部が無茶苦茶。四天王戦は相手に一度ターン回すとそのままHP全快から全滅することすらあった。
それ以外でもこちらのHPの1/3以上を持っていかれる単発攻撃をランダム対象6回攻撃されたりかなり運ゲー化。
また、パッシブ防御系スキルや防御装備がほぼ皆無のため相手の連続全体麻痺攻撃なんかは神に祈るしかない。
死ぬと丁寧にかけたバフが全部切れるためにイラッ。ついでにバフかけなおそうにもアイコンかぶりが多く不明瞭でイライラは最高潮へ。
更にボスにだいたいHP自動回復がついてるため固いボスがひたすら苦痛だった。readme見てTP全消費の強化技使ってなお固すぎ。

また、素材を集めて武器を強化する仕様だが、その素材がどこで取れるかさっぱり検討がつかないため
「あれ？さっきマップのレアだったのかな…取り逃がした…？」と不安になる。
取り逃がしたのかとおもいきや単に次のボスドロップだったりするので過去マップ探索する気も起こらない。
同じ素材を重ねて強化するわけではないため、中間素材を見逃すと最後まで鍛えられない弱い武器を使うはめになる。
街に図書館があるんだからそこらで見れてもよかったのではないだろうか。

あとレトラの攻撃は敏捷が影響するのってreadmeのボス戦のヒントの項目でしか知れないような…ちょっとひどい。

ストーリーは目を引くものがなく「数箇所の封印を解く必要がある」でそれ解き終わったらもう最終章である。
登場人物も少なく盛り上がらない。
その封印解除も、なんの面白みもないマップを高エンカウントに耐えながら進んで最後のマップでボス戦の繰り返し。
最終的に主人公らも「はいはいボス戦ボス戦」と言い出す始末である。
まあ個人製作にありがちな極端に理解不能だったり鬱シナリオだったりするよりはいいかも知れない。

キャラ周りの良さをシステムが殺してるもったいない作品という印象だった。
買うならまず作者のサイトにある体験版をやろう。
ちなみにRPGツクールVX Ace制のためウィンドウモードでの解像度変更や、箱コン十字ボタン操作に別の外部ツールが必要（SizerとJoyToKeyなど）。

ちなみにスキル欄でキャラ切り替えを利用し何も覚えてないスペースを選択決定すると100％エラー落ちする。

戦闘システムは面白いがあまりにもボリュームがなかった。
6時間未満でクリアしたが消化不良気味でがっつりRPGをプレイしたいという人には向かない。
逆に短時間で遊びたいという人には中だるみもなくスイスイレベルも上がるので遊びやすいと思う。

Short version: Novelty of the gameplay mechanics wears off. It’s an okay game, but that’s about it.

Long version: Machina of the Planet -Planet Ruler- is a game I thought I was going to enjoy. Finding which attacks did the most damage in order to dominate the battle quick was fun. For the first few hours. Here close to the end, there are more cons than pros to keep going.

Pros!
-Custom made characters.
-Unique fighting system where every ability has attributes that are either weak or strong against enemies. (Slashing, Blunt, Magic, Lightning, Holy, Fire, etc.)
-D-skits. (Like the "Tales of" games.)
-Find broken weapons, and repair them for more play options. (More agility over attack power, or more defense, etc.)

Cons…
-Default assets are abound, from the defense shield to customers at the bar to actual enemies. Not familiar with every asset in this version of RPGMaker, but I know enough.
-Traditional “let’s call the male lead a perv” cringe humor.
-Traditional tsundere foe.
-Bosses are not balanced well. This is by far the worst thing, and it all depends on your abilities and upgraded weapons. Bosses start out as massive damage sponges taking quite a few turns to beat, then later on you’ll find a few that go down quick in a couple turns with some right combos (partly because you have more powerful abilities). One boss fight made everyone jump 2(!) levels, and it probably would have been warranted if anybody on the other side of the 5v3 fight had gotten off a single attack. As it was, Cram did close to 1.5 MILLION damage altogether in one turn, picking up Esty’s slack.
-There is slew of bosses for you to fight at the end before the final boss. For no reason I can see aside from giving you levels because they go down fast and hard at that point. (Why is this a thing? And why are there 8? Why not just 4? Games like Chrono Cross do this kind of, but the fights are spread out.)

The battle system really ruins the fun.
So, it's turn based and encourages you to plan out your attacks by having a move repetition penalty and a bonus for varied attacks.
So you DON'T want to button mash right?
No, you also have a 5 second timer for your combo, think fast!
But also, you need to account for what your opponent is weak against.
Tough crap that normally they're weak to only one attack, as if you only use the attack that actually does damage on them, you get a repetition penalty, and if you use weak attacks they resist big time.

So.. basically you're forced to think hard, button mash, vary up your attacks but not use pointless attacks.
So you lose out no matter what you do, because it's throwing several systems at you.

That alone is a hot mess. I'm not far into it but I have no idea how to fight this one boss battle when everything is being penalised.
I could just keep fighting smaller monsters until I can one shot it, but it's very strong and I don't want to spend that long when I'm clearly supposed to be in for a long thought out fight with this boss.

I don't really enjoy fighting, I do it to continue a story. So maybe someone who loves fighting might find this hot mess a unique thing to overcome, in which case go for it?

but generally, i feel like it's trying to do too much and not offering any option for personal style because it penalises everything...

I also found the sizing of the window ridiculous, it's about 1/4 the size of my screen, so I'm squinting and leaning in while trying to do thought out, fast, varied, not pointless attacks with writing so tiny and confusing layout of commands.

but that's totally fun right?

The art is what drew me in, and I'm big on RPGs normally, but this one, I feel like they tried to do something new and it flopped.

I have to admit that I did not get very far into this game. The issues that I had with it were just too big for me to want to continue playing, so this will be a short review.

First of all, the art that's been done specifically for this game is pretty good. This is a game that's been made in RPG maker, but they've made unique art for the party members, portraits and such, and what's on display here is well made. I really liked the movement of the main character's clothes when he walked.

But that's where the good parts end for me. The biggest issue I had with this game were the repeated voice lines, which were played constantly. Every time the character attacks, a voice clip plays for that specific attack, instead of the usual grunts, clangs & swoshes that tend to accompany regular attacks, and these were not short one word voice clips either. Imagine if you were playing Skyrim, and every time you attack with a sword, your character shouts "NOW I SWING MY SWORD REALLY HARD". Every single time. That's basically playing this game, you get to hear the same voice clip play time and time and time again, sometimes several times in a row as you get to make multiple attacks in a single round, and the voice lines stack on top of each other.

The writing, or what I got to see of it, was also kind of sub-par. It felt a bit like reading something a teenager would write after having played a lot of JRPGs and watched a bunch of anime. It's entirely possible that this aspect gets better later on though, but the early parts did not impress.

So in summary, nice pixel art, bad use of sound, and poor writing. So it's really not a game I would recommend.

Follow my Curator page, Fruit N Doggie Reviews, so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.

When first looking at Machina of the Planet Tree -Planet Ruler- (MP), I didn't have many RPGs in my library, which was many years ago. I've tried more than once to get into this game, but I never got very far, in part because I have a bad habit of leaving partially started games unfinished. Now that I'm more focused on wrapping up things I've begun, it's time to scratch MP off the list. 


Now that I'm more discrete about what games I want to own, an RPG Maker game doesn't quite make the cut. I'll give it some credit, as it has a few unique traits in its design. One of these is how exploring dungeons work. In almost every RPG I've played, scouring a dungeon for all of its treasures is completed after opening all of the chests, even if that requires a return trip later because you're missing a crucial tool or skill. The difference here is the inclusion of respawning item pools called excavation points, so that you can go back to earlier areas and gather more resources, with no set limit on how often you do it. Since they're areas where you've already beaten the boss, there won't be a big bad to disrupt your grinding sessions, yet will also garner more items than most conventional RPGs.

Another noticeable difference is how it handles combat. At any time, each party member can only bring four moves into battle with them, and they'll vary in what elements they contain and how many points it takes to use them. Every character has their own amount of points to use during their turns, and reaching certain levels will increase this number. Casting spells won't draw from this pool, but using items will. You'll select from your four attacks during each turn, and want to mix up the order, as using the same move consecutively reduces the damage. Attacking quickly enough will build combos that makes the last move you use even stronger, leading to some degree of strategy. Going through a routine of attacks works fine enough during most enemies, but boss battles are harder, and will require the use of spells and attentiveness in order to beat.


The store page claims that there's partial controller support for MP, but I tried playing it with both of my controllers, and it didn't recognize either of them. Navigating the dungeons and menus with the keyboard isn't too cumbersome, yet it also isn't my preferred way of playing a game. Especially when it emphasizes making quick decisions in battles to maximize my damage output.


In MP, the story takes the perspective of three individuals, none of whom know each other initially. There's Cram, who has Cronos attached to his arm, augmenting his attacks and providing information and feedback. Oddly, he doesn't tell time though. Shortly after starting the game, a neko named Retla trespasses into a restricted area, with intel too spicy for Cram to hand her over to the authorities. Taking the role of the mysterious plot device character is Esty, who is directly affiliated with Machina, the ancient object that once catapulted the advanced people of the past into paradise, until it went awry. She seems to have unusual, unclear powers, but also suffers from amnesia. I'm pretty sure that'd cover at least ten entries on an RPG story bingo card.


You can certainly tell MP is an RPG Maker game, as it draws from pre-created graphics for things such as the dungeons and enemies. The somewhat cookie cutter dungeon design doesn't bother me so much as the recycled enemies. Knowing they're pulled from a catalog makes them so dull to me. However, unless they're drawing from a resource I'm not aware of, the main characters and NPCs were made by the developers themselves. Their visual quality is an improvement compared to the pre-used assets, so it seems likely. After all, their attacks have animations, while enemies just drag across the screen and fling themselves at you.


Something that stood out with the game's music early on was this aggravating droning noise. I think it was supposed to reflect the presence of crystals or ether, but it really wasn't pleasant sounding, decreasing my desire to play all the more. The attacks that are used have some punch to them, providing enough visual and audio effects that it helps build a sense of striking enemies. If I had to guess, I'd imagine most of them come from RPG Maker, as I recognize at least some of them.


🌟 Over time, you'll acquire and upgrade your weapons using the items found in the dungeons. It's also really easy to grind for and get an excess of healing items, allowing you to sell your surplus.
🌟 I found the characters likable, and I thought the optional dialogue prompts were an organic way of delivering exposition.


❌ It's not easy to discern what attributes an attack will have simply by its name, which can make selecting and using the right ones in battle confusing. This applies to enemies as well, as their weaknesses or resistances aren't clear until after you try them. 
❌ There's no map system and you can only save the game at designated locations.


🔍 You can return to excavation points and farm them. However, you have to rest at the inn before they'll be available again. I'm sure there are certain ones that would be worth exploiting, but none are worth doing to an extreme. 
🔍 I'd sell off excess healing items, although keeping 20 or more of each is a good minimum. Otherwise, I'd hold onto the stronger ones and crafting items.


Coming back to MP after so much time allowed me to return to it with a clean slate, and I've determined that it's not worth playing through for me due to a few factors. The first pertains to my inability to play it with a controller, as I really don't want to have to play through hours of an RPG using a keyboard. Other matters that irk me pertain to a lack of certain quality of life standards I expect nowadays. In MP, you can only save at designated areas instead of being able to save and quit at your own discretion. There's no in-game map system to make navigating dungeons easier, so I'd have to either blindly stumble around or create my own maps.

Plus, even if I liked Cram and Retla, the beaten to death tropes in the story greatly diminishes my interest in what's going to happen. Having to fight against lifeless, copy and paste enemies further exacerbates the matter. If that's all the effort they can muster, why shouldn't I be apathetic about their game? I'm more than happy to move on from this game and get it out of my to do box.

Posting for a friend:

This game by all means started out wonderful but the more you play it the more it slowly becomes a monotonous experience. I’ve played the game in full and beat the game in around 18~ hours or less.

I would not recommend this game to the masses, the idea and principle that it is trying to go by in itself is very good. It is just very poorly executed to the point it just falls flat and turns into something that you cannot wait to finish.

As for the pro and cons this is what I noticed in the game.

- The combat system (idea) is very clever and neat
- The art is very well done
- The main character is not overly stereotypical
- The game does a good job at guiding
- The story was relatively ok
- Lack of npcs: Due to how the game was made I would say that this is a selling point that it proves that it was trying to make a stance. Since the game didn’t really tie into basic modern jrpg styles. They just used the fundamentals as a building block
- The crafting section is decent
- The skits are fairly funny or cute at given times

- The combat system is boring and monotonous
- In combat the screen flashes an array of colors or just goes white. I would not recommend it to anyone that easily gets sick from flashing colors.
- After every battle they chatter and say the same lines depending on who killed the mob
- They always shout their attacks while in battle which is beyond annoying after 30 minutes of game play
- Basic flat liner anime characters
- Bland story that lacks a lot of backstory to its characters so the ending has no true reward
- The game is not hard, the bosses besides the last few are merely sponges that take damage then heal. This goes on for many bosses in a row which adds to monotonous game play.
- Moving from area to area seemed like a massive chore, since you knew what was coming. As well for everytime you would go to a new area the mobs would only turn into bigger sponges.
- Hours of grinding to get where you need to be to be able to advance despite having upgraded gear
- Bosses near middle game where pretty much all the same and had all the same set ups. (even the game mocked it so at least it’s self aware.)
- The skits also at times can be very hard too read since a lot of characters are basic anime personalities.

Overall I would rate this a two out of five. The ideas that are presented are good it is just poorly constructed.

It's not really a bad game.
The main source of fun in this game is the art, cuteness of the dialogues, storyline and some music pieces.

Unfortunately the art is in 640x480, dialogues are pretty cheap, storyline isn't very innovative and good bgms are only a few.

And the majority of the game is hopelessly boring combat that would flash whitescreen every 3rd attack. And that hurts.

I hate to be a party pooper, but yeah, I'm not gonna recommend this.

I have a couple of issues with the game:
- The combo system is really clunky. It expects you to choose attacks quickly with the combo timer on it, but it also requires you to go through this really archaic battle menu first to choose your command. It encourages you to mix up your attacks to build combo damage, but when mooks resist your attack they resist it a lot, and you can't really exploit weaknesses since using the same attack twice in a row nets you a repetition penalty and decreases your damage. There's also something really weird with mashing action oriented timed combo system with a turn based battle system that encourages you to think carefully first. The game is also unclear about who your characters target next when the mook they're attacking dies mid combo. Which can really ruin your battle.

-The battle menu. Simply put, it is atrocious. It is very unclear, and there's this one submenu where ALL the commands other than Assists and Items are inside of, and it's labeled CUSTOMIZE. It has commands like RUN and CHARGE. What the bloody hell do those commands have to do with customizing?

-The art. Okay so the art for the main characters are actually nice and all, but the NPCs use stock RPG Maker mugs. This makes the game feel really jarring on the eyes sometimes. Also, the backgrounds are just horrible. This is pretty much up to your tastes, but I really disliked the backgrounds, especially the world map, which just feels lazy. They're also incredibly off scale and because of that the character sprites look like they're all Pikmins. Not literally Pikmins, just sizewise. Everything looks so much bigger compared to them in the battle screen. I wouldn't complain so much but the battle screen is literally what you see for 90% of the game, and just slapping over a background like that feels really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lazy to me. Enemy sprites are also off scale, so you can have a rat that's twice as big as your guys.

Those are all the issues that I had with this game. I don't know about anyone else's tastes, but these were deal breakers for me, and I'm getting a refund.

The game is competently made indeed, and it has a nice, if generic, plot and premise, but I just can't stomach the issues above. Shame though, I really wanted to like this game. I really did.

Feels incomplete and they add difficulty by only adding tons of health.