SPOILERS LIE HERE. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BLACK THEM OUT, SORRY.
i'm gonna be honest here, i liked soma union as an experience, but looking back on it... uh, that kinda soured my opinion on this game. sorry.
first off, pixel art is either functional or straight-up ugly, like reca's "slightly upset" sprite. i like the earthbound-like battlebacks, though, they're cool and don't take too much attention away. although the artstyle in this game is much more refined and polished than in soma spirits, it's... just not the same. enough about art, though.
onto the music: i'm not a huge fan of soma spirits' music, nor am i much of a fan of this one's music either, but i think soma union's music is better. i really like captain guidance's boss theme. however, there is a glaring problem i have with the soma union ost that was just as prevalent in soma spirits: overuse of leitmotifs. if it's not the overuse of leitmotifs, it's because of an even bigger problem: all the music feeling the same. seriously, the "world" leitmotif gets really, really tiring.
the story? really good, especially presentation. character dialogue? shaky. like, holy cungadero, i get it. friendship is magic. absolution not-so-good. do what you want.
the gameplay? it really only forced me to think near the end, in which the movesets actually start to get sophisticated. then again, i was playing on normal mode, not hard mode. i should start my first playthroughs on hard mode more. if i were to introduce rpg combat systems to anyone, i would definitely use this combat system, though.
overall, okay game. not something i'd recommend, but i don't believe i wasted my time.