Sorry for the bump, but I just played the demo.
Short version: I wanted a Panzer Dragoon Orta ripoff, and didn't quite get it.
Taken on its own terms, I still think it's a game that could have been a lot better. On the positive side, there's a lot of great art - rail shooters consume a lot of content and they clearly built a lot. And the gameplay has a lot to recommend even if you don't want to think about how it's not just like PDO.
But the dual analog control system really is too complicated. Being able to move Yar all over the screen means she can block the user's view of the center of the screen.
The demo's tutorial is very badly structured. You're plunked right into a tunnel where you can control the reticule and enemies fly by, but you can't fly Yar. Then it pauses and tells you how to move the reticule and how to move Yar. A few more seconds, then it pauses again and now you're told how to shoot your weapons. (No mention that the railgun needs to recharge, or what the indicator is for that, or that your missile supply is very limited.) Then a few more cycles of flying/auto-pause to tell you about the shield powerup (it's not an ability so much as a power you spend and have to pick up) and other powerups.
The tutorial totally breaks the user's flow, it doesn't give really enough time to get accustomed to how things work, it doesn't explain the HUD, it doesn't explain that shooting turns the multiplier down, and on top of everything else, the tutorial is unskippable.
Also, yeah, the aiming IMO should be more forgiving.
But on the "I wish it was more like PDO" side: I really think it would have been better that way:
- Remove or severely tone down the part about player movement via left analog.
- then, having enemy projectiles that you could shoot down would put offense and defense both on the right thumbstick and reduce cognitive load.
- if the player char can move into the center of the screen, turn her to 25% opaque or less so the user can see what she'd otherwise be blocking.
- different enemies already respond better or worse to different attack types. Don't make the missile ammo so limited. In fact, just put it on a recharge system like the railgun.
- enemies shouldn't fly in from behind without more warning, and they definitely shouldn't fly right into the player char from behind with no warning.
- they should work on better colour coding of enemies and enemy projectiles.
