Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
User avatar
Sima Tuna
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:26 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sima Tuna »

Did a quick cheater runthrough using rewind so I could get an idea of the number of stages and bosses. 11 stages. Pretty decently long. I stand by my statement that there's a little too much obstacle dodging in the game. Stages are quite narrow overall, to the point the options often don't have room to fire. The final boss is ridiculously hard. I did my cheater run on Normal, so maybe Easy would be more doable legit. Some of the powerups are mega trash and can screw you over if you accidentally grab them. I used Search options the entire time, but I think the standard "rolling gun" style might be better for later levels. Search has a bad habit of locking onto the wrong enemies and thus allowing other enemies to fill the screen with projectiles. Speed 3 was most comfortable for me and I think it's the best overall for general play.

I still prefer Thunder Force AC. I think the memo obstacle stuff in that game is easier, and there's less of it. But Grey Lancer is a super cool game for those (like me) who love Thunder Force. Keep in mind this game uses checkpoints and doesn't have shields, so doing a legit 1cc seems quite a bit harder than in Thunder Force AC. I hope a lot of people buy this port and this team continue to produce more quality ports. I'm playing Switch version and have no complaints.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8859
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Gleylancer | New home ports?

Post by BrianC »

Steven wrote:
BrianC wrote:Isn't 320 mode already square pixels at DAR? Firebrand X recommends disabling interpolation at 3x, 4x, and 5x resolution on mega sg.
320 DAR pixels should be taller than they are wide, not square.
I'm a bit confused. Firebrandx refers to 1360x960 as square pixels and the mega sg lists it as 4x320, though 1360 doesn't divide evenly into 320.
Steven
Posts: 2874
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Gleylancer | New home ports?

Post by Steven »

BrianC wrote:
Steven wrote:
BrianC wrote:Isn't 320 mode already square pixels at DAR? Firebrand X recommends disabling interpolation at 3x, 4x, and 5x resolution on mega sg.
320 DAR pixels should be taller than they are wide, not square.
I'm a bit confused. Firebrandx refers to 1360x320 as square pixels and the mega sg lists it as 4x320, though 1360 doesn't divide evenly into 320.
So basically if you play Sonic 1 and go to Green Hill Act 1's loop, it will look closer to this 0 on a 4:3 CRT, but it will look closer to O if you use square pixels. Gleylancer, like Sonic 1, runs in the system's 320x224 mode, so the same thing applies.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8859
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Gleylancer | New home ports?

Post by BrianC »

Steven wrote: So basically if you play Sonic 1 and go to Green Hill Act 1's loop, it will look closer to this 0 on a 4:3 CRT, but it will look closer to O if you use square pixels. Gleylancer, like Sonic 1, runs in the system's 320x224 mode, so the same thing applies.
No, that's not what I'm confused about. I'm confused at why Firebrand X and mega sg say the 4:3 DAR ratio is square pixels. Also, what you are saying isn't entirely accurate. I assume that DAR is the original aspect ratio stretched out to 4:3. On MiSTer, the thinner square pixels and the 4:3 with interpolation are about the same size using the Genesis 320 mode.
Steven
Posts: 2874
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Gleylancer | New home ports?

Post by Steven »

BrianC wrote:
Steven wrote: So basically if you play Sonic 1 and go to Green Hill Act 1's loop, it will look closer to this 0 on a 4:3 CRT, but it will look closer to O if you use square pixels. Gleylancer, like Sonic 1, runs in the system's 320x224 mode, so the same thing applies.
No, that's not what I'm confused about. I'm confused at why Firebrand X and mega sg say the 4:3 DAR ratio is square pixels. Also, what you are saying isn't entirely accurate. I assume that DAR is the original aspect ratio stretched out to 4:3. On MiSTer, the thinner square pixels and the 4:3 with interpolation are about the same size using the Genesis 320 mode.
Okay. Now I'm confused. I don't know how the MiSTer works though, so I can't say anything about that. Anyway, Gleylancer is a nice game and people should buy it.
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Rastan78 »

For those who need a deep and informative review of Gleylancer to make up their minds, check out this doozy from Eurogamer. They gave it 4/10 back when it released on VC.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/virt ... -roundup_3
User avatar
Sima Tuna
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:26 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sima Tuna »

Rastan78 wrote:For those who need a deep and informative review of Gleylancer to make up their minds, check out this doozy from Eurogamer. They gave it 4/10 back when it released on VC.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/virt ... -roundup_3
I saw that shit.

I'm gonna quote it because their website is another of those annoying ones that gives you pop ups crying about adblock, and also so I can point out some of the extra-stupid parts.
Do you know how hard it is to do this every week without resorting to sarcastic "Oh look, another shoot-'em-up" quips? It's really hard. This week certainly doesn't help matters, adding another two cult Japanese shooters to the Virtual Console's already groaning pile.
1

This one goes lefty-right, not upply-down, and is another from that little shmup sub-genre where you get to choose your attack pattern before the game starts. This screen is in English, and has been translated in a very chatty informal style. It's also refreshingly honest. "You can aim at enemies automatically," it says of a configuration that aims your remote pods at the bad guys for you, "But it does not necessarily move as you like. Do not count on it too much." Yes, that's right. The shooting game just told you not to rely on your weapons too much.

The other options (there are seven in all) tend to require you to rotate your fire manually, or follow in the footsteps of games like R-Type by having auxiliary attack drones follow you around the screen. Either way, there's not much here to distinguish it from the multitude of similar shooters already available cheaper on the VC.

The speed is sluggish, at least on the default setting, and you need to ramp it up in the options for the game to feel remotely playable. Even then, frustration rears its head all too soon, with an opening level that takes place against a scrolling parallax asteroid field that sends you cross-eyed. Mix in a one-hit-kill element with some enemies that are exactly the same colour as the hypnotic backdrop, and you've got a game that really doesn't command 900 points.

4/10
"Not much here to distinguish it from the multitude of similar shooters already available cheaper on the VC." Like what? Shovelware?

"The speed is sluggish on the default setting." No shit. The game gives you total control over your ship speed. Two button presses will put you at level 3, which is fast as heck. The slower speed is there for super specific movements when weaving through patterns. I'm convinced the last boss is impossible without modifying your speed during the fight. Unless you have godlike stick skills.

"Scrolling parallax asteroid field that sends you cross-eyed" so now looking at parallax scrolling harms your vision? I thought jerking off did that. He claims the enemies were the same color as the backdrop, but that's really only true for level 1. Level 1 is the worst level in terms of bullet visibility. I did have some other issues with bullets later in the game, but none were as slippery as in the first level. Maybe if he played past level 1...

"The shooting game told you not to rely on your weapons too much." They meant don't rely on Search to kill everything for you. Search just points your options in the general direction of an enemy. You have to fine-tune the aim yourself.

This review is short, yet full of every arrogant attitude one could imagine encountering regarding shmups.
User avatar
DenimDemon
Posts: 315
Joined: Sun May 02, 2021 6:15 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by DenimDemon »

Rastan78 wrote:For those who need a deep and informative review of Gleylancer to make up their minds, check out this doozy from Eurogamer. They gave it 4/10 back when it released on VC.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/virt ... -roundup_3
Thanks for this. Almost spill my beer. And i have been registered there for 15 years. They have become a shadow of their original self.

Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8859
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by BrianC »

I find it funny that the option select screen is completely in English (even on the original cart), but the cutscenes are in Japanese.
velo
Posts: 285
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:09 pm

Re: Gleylancer | New home ports?

Post by velo »

Steven wrote: You can still play it like normal and just use the buttons to shoot if you want, but you can't map the individual fire directions to specific buttons and the right stick seems to only let you fire in 8 directions. Pretty sure they didn't add leaderboards, but I believe that modern mode actually saves your high scores now, as the original cart does not.
Thanks for the info. I picked the game up. I strongly prefer using a dpad/cross buttons for 8-way directional controls, but hey I'll deal. (The "Select Mover" screen claims that Normal can shoot in 16 directions, but looks like they miscounted. Same text is in the original.) The gun at least has to spin from one direction to another and travel through the full range of motion. So on first impression, the twin stick option doesn't seem so overpowered that it trivializes the game.

In retrospect maybe the Sega Ages Thunder Force games could have slightly benefited from improved options for changing weapons/speed.
Sima Tuna wrote: "The shooting game told you not to rely on your weapons too much." They meant don't rely on Search to kill everything for you. Search just points your options in the general direction of an enemy. You have to fine-tune the aim yourself.
I myself was pretty amused myself that the game practically apologizes for the Search gun. It seems very strong when combined with the twin stick option, though.
BrianC wrote:I find it funny that the option select screen is completely in English (even on the original cart), but the cutscenes are in Japanese.
I noticed that "Scenario Mode" was changed to "Story Mode"... guess that was bugging somebody.
User avatar
Yoshinoya
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:48 am
Location: Amsterdam/Tokyo

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Yoshinoya »

I picked the game up yesterday and what a great release!
Was really surprised how much effort went into it with the modern and classic controls, save states and screen options.
Its a steal for this price!! and wish it got more coverage with how much well handled this release is, to get more people try it.

Game itself is still super fun! (^ω^)
Makes me remember the good old days when my neighborhood friend and me were playing this one till late on Friday evenings.
- I'll buy that for a Dollar! -
User avatar
Herr Schatten
Posts: 3259
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:14 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Herr Schatten »

I remember I had the VC release on the Wii. I like the game, it's solid but really not all that special. Can't really go wrong with it at that price point, though.
User avatar
Sengoku Strider
Posts: 2205
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sengoku Strider »

The last thing I need is yet another shmup in my Switch backlog. But I saw it was cheap, 20% off on the eShop and I had a few hundred coins, so I was able to get it for a couple of bucks. I impulse purchased it at like 2am and it kept me glued to it for an hour before I passed out; I was playing it on my Switch Lite and it's perfectly at home there. Altogether an awesome buy, considering how crazy its value has gotten on the retro market. I could totally see how this would have been a great game to own back in the day, with all the different control styles giving you different levels of challenge and almost a different game to beat each time. I do wish the ship had a speed between 2 & 3. 2 is a bit slower than I'd like, 3 a bit faster. I'll adapt though.
TransatlanticFoe wrote:The boss that gradually boxes you in can die in a fire though.
For whatever reason I had a big goofy smile on my face at that part, I thought it was a fun twist.

Hint:
Spoiler
If you have to restart at the check point, grab the bouncer power up first then the sabre, and you'll have dual light sabres. Just jam those in the turrets wherever they appear, they'll only last a couple of seconds under that. And the sabres can destroy the balls the boss fires quickly too. You can finish the boss off before it's boxed in half the screen.
Jonpachi wrote:Where do you stand on the Layer Section/Crisis debate? #makeshmupsshootersagain
I think Layer Section is such an awful name that is evocative of nothing (which is of course the version I ended up owning). But Galactic Attack also sounds like a generic fixed shooter from 1981. Gunlock is Guile's pro wrestler brother. RayForce/Storm is easily the coolest version of the title, but I can certainly imagine some other property snapped it up first.
User avatar
To Far Away Times
Posts: 1661
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:42 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by To Far Away Times »

This sorta Thunderforce-ish type of game is my jam. Wish it was a bit harder though. I think I beat the game on my third attempt (though I did savestate practice a few of the later levels.) This was years ago but it probably took ~3 hours or so to bag the 1CC from going in blind.
User avatar
Sima Tuna
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:26 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sima Tuna »

To Far Away Times wrote:This sorta Thunderforce-ish type of game is my jam. Wish it was a bit harder though. I think I beat the game on my third attempt (though I did savestate practice a few of the later levels.) This was years ago but it probably took ~3 hours or so to bag the 1CC from going in blind.
What did you do for the final boss with the spinning lasers? I couldn't find a speed setting that worked for me and died a billion times.
User avatar
Klatrymadon
Posts: 2181
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:39 pm
Location: Liverpool
Contact:

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Klatrymadon »

I 1LC'd this last night and found those lasers were easy enough to dodge on speed settings 2 and 3. IIRC there are two of them that have a wider spacing than the rest, and you can slip into this space before they fully extend and close off the edges of the screen. Whatever speed you use, just remember to quickly crank it up to 4 when the boss enters his final phase and becomes a shiny green orb sending other green orbs at you - they can descend on you faster than you can dodge on anything lower than 4.

The highlight of this port is the highly malleable CRT shader. Gamma, sharpness, curvature, mask type and scanline intensity can all be tweaked very precisely. You can probably come up with some almost impossible configurations - everything I tried looked amazing. The game itself is decent and certainly visually and aurally compelling, but rather plodding and middle-of-the-road in its gameplay and pacing, suffering from the usual home-user-oriented balancing of the console shmup, from being slightly too long and taking too long to throw a challenge at you. I still enjoyed it (though perhaps not as much as I used to), but I think the way to wrest some real longevity out of it would be to put it on Hard difficulty and use the 'Reverse Mover' option to turn it into Image Fight. The 'Search' option is the obvious best choice in nearly all situations and it would likely transform the game to ignore it entirely.

(By the way, there's an option in the menu which lets you just play the original ROM, without any HD overlays and without the expanded control options. I'm not sure if rewinding and savestates are still available, though...)
Bassa-Bassa
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Klatrymadon wrote:By the way, there's an option in the menu which lets you just play the original ROM, without any HD overlays and without the expanded control options.
Have you noticed the game more responsive this way? Usually (always?) the trade off with CRT filters is additional input lag.

The developer's apparently European, I guess that had to do in getting such a configurable shader. Japan's still to put enough effort into this matter, I wonder if it's because they're more concerned about latency.
User avatar
Klatrymadon
Posts: 2181
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:39 pm
Location: Liverpool
Contact:

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Klatrymadon »

Ah, sorry, I was referring to the HD fonts used in the cutscenes and whatnot. I haven't actually tried it with the shader off yet, but the lag was negligible on my setup. I'll give it a go later, anyway!
User avatar
Sengoku Strider
Posts: 2205
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sengoku Strider »

To Far Away Times wrote:This sorta Thunderforce-ish type of game is my jam. Wish it was a bit harder though. I think I beat the game on my third attempt (though I did savestate practice a few of the later levels.) This was years ago but it probably took ~3 hours or so to bag the 1CC from going in blind.
Like Klatrymadon mentions, the challenge is really scalable. The homing options trivialize a lot of the game, while the more mechanically interesting setups require a fair bit of learning unless you're really adept at that sort of thing.
velo
Posts: 285
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:09 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by velo »

I didn't notice cheat mode at first, do you have to unlock that? Anyway, it lets you level skip and change difficulty at any time, among other things. I thought that guns-on-rails level near the end was the toughest. Looks like difficulty might only affect bullet speed but it does make a big difference.
User avatar
heli
Posts: 585
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:58 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by heli »

The year 2025.
User avatar
Sengoku Strider
Posts: 2205
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Is there any way to disable right trigger as reset while paused without playing in original mode? Multiple times now I've paused, put the console down & the game's reset itself.
User avatar
evil_ash_xero
Posts: 6181
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:33 am
Location: Where the fish lives

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by evil_ash_xero »

Feels laggy to me. Compared to M2 and Hamster ports, anyway.
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by SPM »

Sengoku Strider wrote:Is there any way to disable right trigger as reset while paused without playing in original mode? Multiple times now I've paused, put the console down & the game's reset itself.
Weird that they added that option in modern mode. I checked and it's not mapped to the trigger itself, but to "speed up". The only workaround I can think of is unmapping "speed up" and using "speed cycle" instead.

Btw, I love the options modern mode gives, but I'm having a better time playing in vintage mode. The game is more thrilling that way knowing every mistake counts (you'll still have save states, but I was rewinding a lot in modern).
velo wrote:Looks like difficulty might only affect bullet speed but it does make a big difference.
Makes everything more aggressive and fast. More enemies, more bullets, harder bosses...
Last edited by SPM on Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Rastan78 »

evil_ash_xero wrote:Feels laggy to me. Compared to M2 and Hamster ports, anyway.
Apparently their last port, the Turrican Flashback Collection, had 8 frames of lag and the devs stated there was nothing they could do about it.

I would think low lag shouldn't be much of a problem on a MD port though. Anyone actually tested it?

Been meaning to get around to DL this and give it a try, but haven't found the time. :cry:

Did they include leaderboards and/or replays? I know 16 bit console shmups aren't always the best for score runs since they can be long and often have infinite milk spots etc. This was one of the cool things about Thunder Force IV on Switch. They actually removed the infinite milking and added leaderboards making TFIV playable as a score based game for the first time.
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by SPM »

^ Local leaderboards. In modern mode they keep your highscores. But in vintage mode once you close the game it's removed (so take a screenshot). No replays afaik.
Rastan78 wrote: Thunder Force IV on Switch. They actually removed the infinite milking and added leaderboards making TFIV playable as a score based game for the first time.
They did what? :shock:
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Rastan78 »

SPM wrote:They did what? :shock:
The destructible bullets that can be infinitely milked for points no longer give any score in the Switch version. Might still be an exploit or two in there though. To play the original MD game for score requires a bit of a gentlemens agreement to not do too much milking. It's the type of game you can basically tape down the controller walk away and come back to a counterstop in the first stage if you wanted to wait around long enough.

Since there are replays and global leaderboards you can also watch the top players runs.
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by SPM »

Rastan78 wrote:
SPM wrote:They did what? :shock:
The destructible bullets that can be infinitely milked for points no longer give any score in the Switch version. Might still be an exploit or two in there though. To play the original MD game for score requires a bit of a gentlemens agreement to not do too much milking. It's the type of game you can basically tape down the controller walk away and come back to a counterstop in the first stage if you wanted to wait around long enough.

Since there are replays and global leaderboards you can also watch the top players runs.
Great! I'll check the top replay :D (M2 sure did a great port for the price).

On that note though...
Spoiler
I've found the same problem in Gleylancer. Scoring is ruined in every difficulty...

6th boss endless milking:

https://twitter.com/SPM_NSW/status/1450 ... 36513?s=20
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by Rastan78 »

I had a strong hunch that would be the case for Gleylancer since a lot of these old MD games, MUSHA etc, have the same issue.

Wasn't TFIV supposed to get an arcade rebalancing like TF AC that never happened? Actually unlimited milking spots could even be a problem in many of the arcade games of the day.
User avatar
To Far Away Times
Posts: 1661
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:42 am

Re: Gleylancer | Playstation, Switch, Xbox | Out Now!

Post by To Far Away Times »

Sima Tuna wrote:
To Far Away Times wrote:This sorta Thunderforce-ish type of game is my jam. Wish it was a bit harder though. I think I beat the game on my third attempt (though I did savestate practice a few of the later levels.) This was years ago but it probably took ~3 hours or so to bag the 1CC from going in blind.
What did you do for the final boss with the spinning lasers? I couldn't find a speed setting that worked for me and died a billion times.
Honestly I can't remember since it was so many years ago. I remember toggling between speed 2 and 3 a lot though. I think my preferred speed would have been somewhere in the middle. And I definitely remember toggling speed on bosses.
Post Reply