Are Pro versions worth it?

[goo_back]

With the game coming out soon on Steam, just a question if the Pro versions are worth the extra money.

Do I still get the rule lists with non-Pro?

There's no free moving camera to see the close ups of parts of the table either on non-Pro either?

 

[smbhax]

Non-Pro has the full table instructions, yeah, but not the free cam.

It just depends if any of the Pro features are important to you. Me, I'm going to go all-Pro (or as much as is available) once the PS4 version is out, because I want to play without extra balls (shorter game times : P), and it's a lot easier to do that by turning off Extra Balls in Pro mode than by having to tilt out every extra ball earned. : P

EDIT: Hm although according to the latest interview with Bobby King they're working on a tournament difficulty mode, which in theory would disable extra balls without needing Pro mode!

 

[danivempire]

I didn't take the pro versions, moving the camera to see the table doesn't interest me.
I've seen a lot of person wanting to turn off the extra ball and I sure don't ^^

Envoyé de mon GT-I9300 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[Zorgwon]

I would like to play tournament rules which is possible on many tables.

Unfortunately the pro versions delete the HS which I don't like, particularly when they are not on the leader boards.

 

[norbert26]

i used to purchase the pro packs until the last few builds. I no longer waste money on them. Why purchase them when any coin box tampering results in disqualification of goals . As much as changing to a five ball game is disqualified even though if nothing else is touched the factory settings raise difficulty if 5 balls are chosen.

 

[switch3flip]

I bought pro versions most of season 1 but as I never use it I don't anymore. The function where you can control the ball and see how the table works was fun a few minutes but it's kind of a spoiler so I stopped. If you change settings your score won't count for the leaderbord.
One thing that's good about pro version is that "side achievement scores" are saved, like how many martians you've hit in afm or joust champion and so on in MM.
It could be nice to be able to turn extra balls off if you play with your friends. But tournament mode would be awesome!

 

[netizen]

Tournament mode is available in most of the DMDs with pro mode options.

There is a lot more to the pro mode than has been voiced here, imo.

I wrote a blog post about the pro mode options and how to use them, if you want read it and see if it gives you anymore insight.

 

[westofrome]

Kinda bugs me that the ability to actually look at the table closely is only available in Pro mode - something so basic as being able to read what the inserts say shouldn't be "pro", it's what anyone who has every played any real-life pinball table can do. I understand the Pro mode for access to operator's menu, and any other special features not normally part of the pinball experience.

 

[netizen]

The close view of the inserts varies depending on the real life pinball experience you had though.

Where I grew up pinball machines were shoved in the back and kept with about 10 inches space between them, in a darker area. So the basic ability to read inserts freely was non-existent. Definitely not something that was freely available. This assertion that anyone had massive, well lit, spacious locations to roam and look at pinball machines freely is erroneous and patently false in its application.

 

[Espy]

I buy the Pro Mode all the time, mainly because I think the regular packs are underpriced to begin with. Farsight deserve more per table than the price of three credits on a real machine. Let's not forget it was only around 15 years ago that Pro Pinball set you back the price of a retail game for one table!

But I particularly value the ability to look at the table. For example I would never have figured out that you need to lift the upper left flipper to accurately hit the camera shot on TZ if it wasn't for that. It's probably buried in the rules somewhere but I only look at them to understand how a specific feature works. I generally learn by experimenting.

 

[infernogott]

Pro Pinball Games aren't recreations and take a lot more time to make.

 

[westofrome]

The close view of the inserts varies depending on the real life pinball experience you had though.

Where I grew up pinball machines were shoved in the back and kept with about 10 inches space between them, in a darker area. So the basic ability to read inserts freely was non-existent. Definitely not something that was freely available. This assertion that anyone had massive, well lit, spacious locations to roam and look at pinball machines freely is erroneous and patently false in its application.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but unless the GI is totally burned out, you can read inserts on machines you're playing, even in the dark, even when the machine is close to other machines. I'm not sure I can understand the experience you're talking about, and I've played plenty of crappy location machines.

 

[Espy]

Pro Pinball Games aren't recreations and take a lot more time to make.

Yes, but so are Zen's and they sell them for roughly the same price as TPA. Less if you consider the cost of a premium table pro pack. I was pointing out the difference in pricing between the past and now, which has changed a LOT.

 

[Mark W**a]

Didn't they add a new feature to Pro? I'd say it's worth the extra 3 bucks per pack. In Attack from Mars, the line "I enjoy killing these martians" really draws a laugh out of me. It's just hilarious the way she says it. For Scared Stiff, it's a must. Though hiding family settings behind the pay wall was a bit of a con job... #neverforget

And if you're serious about getting better, you can turn the extra balls off, and tweak other settings just for fun.

If you run home tournaments or vs matches, it's a must. When they add tournament software into Pro, it'll be a must buy. Can't wait to run home tournaments on my PS4!

 

[Krooze L-Roy]

One thing that's good about pro version is that "side achievement scores" are saved, like how many martians you've hit in afm or joust champion and so on in MM.

I'd like to know more on this. I'm a fiend for stats, and extensive stat tracking would be well worth the extra dough for me. How extensive are they?

 

[goo_back]

I'd like to know more on this. I'm a fiend for stats, and extensive stat tracking would be well worth the extra dough for me. How extensive are they?

Yeah me too. Is it like Pinball FX2 where they have a huge list of things you can do on the table (Bumpers hit, extra balls earned, certain times you completed X objective)?

 

[infernogott]

Yes, but so are Zen's and they sell them for roughly the same price as TPA. Less if you consider the cost of a premium table pro pack. I was pointing out the difference in pricing between the past and now, which has changed a LOT.

You can't compare Zen and Pro Pinball. Pro Pinball Tables were released Yearly not Monthly. You can't afford to release a game yearly and only charge 5 bucks for it. And those Pro Pinball Tables still look better than Zen or TPA and they are 17 years old. And People still play them to this day.

 

[infernogott]

It's kinda annyoing that leaderboards are disabled even when you only change cosmetic stuff like family mode. They should allow to change some stuff with leaderboards still active.

 

[goo_back]

You can't compare Zen and Pro Pinball. Pro Pinball Tables were released Yearly not Monthly. You can't afford to release a game yearly and only charge 5 bucks for it. And those Pro Pinball Tables still look better than Zen or TPA and they are 17 years old. And People still play them to this day.

You are delusional if you think the Pro Pinball tables still look better than Pinball FX2 tables.

 

[switch3flip]

I'd like to know more on this. I'm a fiend for stats, and extensive stat tracking would be well worth the extra dough for me. How extensive are they?

You know on some tables, if you watch the DMD in between games, not only does it show the highest scorers and their initials, it also shows other best achievements along with that players initials. On Medieval Madness you can see stuff like most damsels saved in one game, joust wins, trolls hit and so on. Monster Bash has some stuff like bash champion and so on on, different stuff on different tables. You get to enter initials if you beat a score like this even if you didn't score enough to get a place on the main high score list.
The thing is you have to have pro mode and operators mode activated for these other scores to be saved, otherswise only the regualar high score list is saved. If you only activate the operators menu and don't change any settings, your highscore will still be valid for the online leaderboard.

I don't know if there is a thread that lists all tables and the different scores they keep track of, but maybe it would be a good idea to have.