Galak-Z: The Dimensional Catch All!

From the related wikipedia article:

Galak-Z: The Dimensional is a shooter video game by 17-BIT for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. It was announced during Sony's pre-E3 2013 press conference in June 2013. 17-BIT previously released Skulls of the Shogun earlier in 2013. CEO Jake Kazdal describes it as "modern Halo and Far Cry 3 combat in a 2-dimensional shell."[1] Reflecting it's inspiration (in part) by Japanese anime, the game is also known officially by the Japanese title of Uchuu Senshi Galak-Z

Comes out August 4th, 2015 on PSN for PS4. Later in the year for PC.

YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!

Looks cool. Looking forward to the PC release.

I preordered this, and I hope I like it. All the journalists loved Skulls of the Shoguns, but I found it really boring.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I preordered this, and I hope I like it. All the journalists loved Skulls of the Shoguns, but I found it really boring.

Huh, I recall Skulls of the Shoguns getting pretty mixed reception overall. I agree with you that Skulls was bone dry. This seems like a much more fleshed out game, though.

Depends on perspective, I guess. At a glance it averaged 82 or so, and that usually seems like a safe bet to me.

imbiginjapan wrote:

I agree with you that Skulls was bone dry.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Y8PAS06.gif)

CptDomano wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

I agree with you that Skulls was bone dry.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Y8PAS06.gif)

You didn't even get to the follow up pun.

I didn't need to. That first one was enough

Controls were different than I expected, but I'm doing a lot better now. I still keep thinking the rear boost is a brake, which is causing havoc (not a lot, but enough).

Starting in on season 2 tonight - then I can start playing with the mech!

Really can't wait to see if (and how) they introduce a daily challenge.

trueheart78 wrote:

Controls were different than I expected, but I'm doing a lot better now. I still keep thinking the rear boost is a brake, which is causing havoc (not a lot, but enough).

Starting in on season 2 tonight - then I can start playing with the mech!

Really can't wait to see if (and how) they introduce a daily challenge.

I'm on my 4th try in Season 1 now. I find myself getting into trouble on 1-3. I'll be doing just fine, full shields, full health and then one random engagement will just wipe me. A lot of it is getting used to the controls. I have a hard time hitting the juke button while applying thrust and that trouble has been the primary cause of my deaths. I know what I want to do, but the execution just isn't happening.

One thing that is incredibly annoying in Season 1 are the plant pods that blow your shields. What drives me crazy about them is that the temp shield boosts are so useful under normal circumstances but they are lost the instant one of those little pods touch you. One stray floating pixel and it's 300 scrap down the drain and back to 2 shields. That is a bit unfairly harsh considering the level of chaos involved.

I finished Season 1 and might wait a bit before continuing, as I'd like to see if they can clean up some of the odd engine glitches I keep seeing. I'm getting a lot of strange graphical anomalies and audio hitching that detract from the smoothness of the experience. Even the Season 1 "end credits" were marred by constant audio hitches.

I should note that the aesthetic and feel of movement are really good. It's just that there is a lack of smoothness in the presentation that is quite distracting. I wonder if Unity itself is to blame in some way. There are a lot of Unity based games that seem to perform less than gracefully out in the wild.

imbiginjapan wrote:

One thing that is incredibly annoying in Season 1 are the plant pods that blow your shields. What drives me crazy about them is that the temp shield boosts are so useful under normal circumstances but they are lost the instant one of those little pods touch you. One stray floating pixel and it's 300 scrap down the drain and back to 2 shields. That is a bit unfairly harsh considering the level of chaos involved.

I hate them too because it can be tough to see,* but they're great to draw enemies into.

*It's one of the ways you can tell devs and testers likely spent most of their time playing two feet from their screens and not 8 or 10 feet away.

Austin Walker over at Giant Bomb wrote a really great review of Galak-Z.

I'm becoming slowly sold on this game after all of the great press. So tempted to pick it up...

I need dis. Can't wait for the PC release

I was going to hold off until post-Shadowrun:Hong Kong but I just learned one of my super talented friends has a fairly substantial voice acting role in this game, so it is immediately moved to the top of the list. I've been warned that it is super hard, but I survived Bloodborne so...

I got real pissed off at this game this weekend. I made it to 2-5 and for some reason, every single upgrade I gathered was just... gone. I went into 2-5 with 1 health, no scrap and and no upgrades. Needless to say it did not end well.

I think what may have happened was that I 'died' while warping out from 2-4, as there was one of those blue mechs with the giant gun warming up a shot as I warped out and I was low enough that the shot would have killed me. I was definitely already faded to black by the time he would have fired, though.

That's a momentum killer right there.

AND I just learned this game is only $20. I was expecting a full $60 for some reason. There are times where I really like being wildly wrong!

I see this game is on sale on PSN. How's it holding up a few months into its life?
I'm enjoying Nuclear Throne On PS 4 and wondering whether Galak-Z is another different rogue like game to try out.
I loved Rouge Legacy and enjoyed Spellunky.

Thoughts on the game?

Thanks,
Chad

I love it, but replayability isn't where I was hoping. You can easily lose an hour of your life in a crushing defeat and have to start the set of stages over. Spelunky & Nuclear Throne are more forgiving/less intense/require less energy to play.

It is a great game, but I still haven't put it into any of "daily challenge " rotation.

Free DLC The Void is out on PC and will be out on PS4 soon(ish). It adds an endless mode that I honestly think will be better than the base game as it's a score chase and not part of the story. Oh, and daily challenges a la Spelunky and Isaac.

Doesn't sound like Season 5 will be materializing anytime soon due to lack of sales.

garion333 wrote:

Doesn't sound like Season 5 will be materializing anytime soon due to lack of sales.

From what I'd understood from one of the devs being on 8-4 Play recently, this is season 5? The endless mode is just accessible from the main menu in addition to it.

J.C. wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Doesn't sound like Season 5 will be materializing anytime soon due to lack of sales.

From what I'd understood from one of the devs being on 8-4 Play recently, this is season 5? The endless mode is just accessible from the main menu in addition to it.

Which is just marketing spin that there won't be a proper Season 5 with a conclusion to the story. Or that's how I take it.