Yes all the locking up controls in Mech form have been addressed, we're hammering on the build now to make sure we didn't miss anything.
A lot of feedback about the game being too difficult has been actually really surprising for us. I think I made a grave mistake by bringing in other game dev friends to playtest, I've seen multiple people blow through Season 1 in their first go, some even Season 2, not needing to slow down until Season 3. I think my testers were.. perhaps not the right fit. Its great watching them for high level players input, but I should have brought in more casual gamers and done a thorough couple of weeks of tuning based on that feedback.
I'm also really surprised at how cautiously people are playing, but I guess it makes sense. The whole team plays everyday and its just become a giant toy, we don't really care that much if we live or die, we just go balls out and have an absolute blast, and your skills get better quickly playing that way. Its an endless arcade game! Every time you die you are handed a bunch of brand new levels! Its great! As the creators of the game the fact that we aren't testing the same levels over and over and over again until your eyes are just dull, but playing brand new content with crazy outcomes every time has just been the greatest gift, and easily the funnest game I've ever made in my 20+ year career!
I realize its not for everyone, but I honestly think Bloodborne and the Souls games are way harder, and you have to redo things so many times in the same place, the same way.. thats just not really my thing I guess.
My ultimate advice for people who think its too hard would be to just play the simpler seasons of difficulty and just *enjoy* the process, practicing your skills and just have fun! Once you unlock the mech you can go back and play Season 1 with it, just take your trime and play with it. Its nothing but an endless arcade game! A giant toy, with sick-ass organic combat and as many quarters in your pocket as you could possibly need!
I think it's just a case of becoming accustomed to the controls and tactics. The learning curve is slightly higher in Galak-Z, even compared to something like Bloodborne, not necessarily because it's a harder game, but because you're using combinations of buttons that require far more simultaneous inputs, so the process requires more multi tasking and multi input muscle memory. Like any other game, it takes a bit of time to figure out which attacks, moves etc are effective against what, and I think people playing cautiously is just a side result of deaths leading to losing all season progress and abilities. Dying in most games, means re-doing only 5 mins to say, 45mins worth of gameplay, even games like Dark Souls or Bloodborne. In Galak-Z, it can mean re-doing longer than that, depending of course on which mission you died in, and how far you are in to the game.
Personally I'm not sure you should necessarily make the regular game easier, but I do feel using 5 purple coins, you should not lose your abilities upon restart.
It is fun re-doing missions and having that dynamic procedural element, especially as you're still learning tactics etc, but ultimately the competitive gamer instinct is all about progressing, and trying to beat the game sooner rather than later. I think that's where some may get frustrated in dying more often.
Personally I'm having an absolute blast and love the game. I feel you've replicated Macross Plus space battle opera almost perfectly, and it plays pretty much as I imagined it would from seeing all the gameplay vids, previews etc. It does also seem as though the critics really enjoyed it too.
Side note, I think the idea of a horde or survival mode sounds amazing too, and do hope you implement it. In terms of risk reward, it's a great way to extend play time and give people more incentive to play. Unlike the campaign where there's a set objective, in these types of modes being more about high scores and how long you can last, adds it's own novelty.