Drain Monsters

[Tann]

On the other hand, people on this forum have been complaining about TPA being too easy.

Right... but nobody have requested unrealistic outlanes (whatever shot = straight in an outlane with weird path/behavior). I spoke for some tables in the 2nd season, I don't know for the last released tables.

I'm still OK with that though, I just nudge even more than before! It's a shaking simulation now.

 

[Epsilon]

There is really a strong tension between the desire for realism and a desire to have an enjoyable fair experience for a "home" player. Partly that's the nature of the beast with a product like this, and finding a happy medium on each table has to be extremely difficult. Personally I would agree that generally TPA tables are significantly easier than real-life counterparts, but at the same time, these machines were developed for a different purpose than people endlessly playing them ad nauseum at home. There are times when I feel frustrated by the coin-gobbling design, but then again, a pinball simulator of this sort is supposed to ideally replicate the real experience as closely as possible. I think adding an option to block the outlanes in Pro mode (and disable goals/leaderboards, of course) would be an ideal solution. That way the advanced players could keep their realism and others could make their own games more "fair" to their liking.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

On the other hand... can you imagine if people who've never played real pinball before, only TPA (and maybe other sims), suddenly were confronted with a real table, and one that eats quarters and isn't set on free play? I think a lot of players would suddenly stop complaining about how nasty the TPA outlanes are on some tables. If everyone could play for a half hour on $0.25 (or whatever a single credit is in local currency) the operators wouldn't make any money. Real pinball tables are expensive both in initial outlay, and in maintenance, and they take up two or three times the space of a "regular" arcade cabinet. A non-functional pinball table - either actually switched off, or in such bad shape that nobody plays it - is a total waste of space. That's why the market suddenly dried up. It wasn't profitable for the operators.

 

[Iguana]

And let's not forget the newbie... Diner has me frustrated to no end as far as being a drain monster.

Pause, quit, yes, start.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

And let's not forget the newbie... Diner has me frustrated to no end as far as being a drain monster.

Pause, quit, yes, start.

Persevere I've had many games that have seemed to be fizzling out on balls 1/2, only to bounce back spectacularly on ball 3.

And in Big Shot, the biggest scoring opportunities are on balls 4/5, so quitting after a bad ball 1 is counterproductive.

 

[Epsilon]

Persevere I've had many games that have seemed to be fizzling out on balls 1/2, only to bounce back spectacularly on ball 3.

And in Big Shot, the biggest scoring opportunities are on balls 4/5, so quitting after a bad ball 1 is counterproductive.

It's interesting that you specified Big Shot, because it's pretty rare that machines have a scoring effect that literally is affected by the ball number in play. I think the logic of most people who quit after bad first balls is that anything they could have possibly done on Balls 2 or 3 would still have been better if it were on Ball 1 or 2. Usually, I can't really argue with that, but Big Shot is a rare counterpoint. Since a ball is generally a ball no matter what number it is, all you've accomplished with a fruitless first ball is increase the likelihood that you'll run out of balls close to a particular feat or goal.

That said, I usually play out the string on my games unless it's REALLY ridiculous (like a drain before even flipping on a modern Stern with no ball-saver) in part because I like to "simulate" playing like I would in a real arcade. It's a little less frustrating pumping virtual quarters into these tables when you realize the $10 you just spent doesn't actually come out of your bank account. ;-)

 

[Zorgwon]

On some tables jackpots are built up and carried over from game to game. Starting over resets them. Affected are late 80s and early 90s tables. This is only important if you have lower scores because you can collect them only once. After that they reset anyways.

EDIT: On many tables the first ball is the most important bacause you can e.g. achieve multipliers that are used on every ball after (e.g. F2K). Bonuses like Rudy Hits or illusions (TOM) are eventually given 15+ times if you get them on the first ball.

 

[Potrzebie]

ST:TNG. Out-lane drains you could drive a truck through.

 

[kinggo]

...and those stupid cannons only make it worst. It was terrible on the real thing but there one could move head and adjust view on the fly instantly. On TPA it is just a bad choice for a table, a wasted kickstarter.

 

[Extork]

...and those stupid cannons only make it worst. It was terrible on the real thing but there one could move head and adjust view on the fly instantly. On TPA it is just a bad choice for a table, a wasted kickstarter.

Right, but let's not discount ST:TNG altogether. Didn't even know about the Bacardi maneuver til I watched Bowen's video. After nailing a couple of those, and just trying to repeat the pattern of right ramp, spinner, left ramp (especially while a mode is going), it can be pretty satisfying. Cool theme, music, voices.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that for the 3 seconds the ball hasn't been sucked into the black hole outlanes, it can be a great table

 

[Extork]

Anyone know if this is a thread yet? (Most common drain shots) #1 could be ST:TNG - left flipper to right ramp (a little too soon).

 

[Kolchak357]

Get ready to add several Dracula shots to this list.

 

[Naildriver74]

If it was easy then it wouldn't be any fun

 

[soundwave106]

...and those stupid cannons only make it worst. It was terrible on the real thing but there one could move head and adjust view on the fly instantly. On TPA it is just a bad choice for a table, a wasted kickstarter.

Well, if you make it too much easier than the real table (eg Twilight Zone) people also complain.

Especially with nudges, ST:TNG is actually easier than the real life table, to be honest. (Never got more than one Final Frontier on a real table, on TPA I've had a few sessions where I've scored two.) But it's definitely not a walk in the park compared to certain TPA pins, to me the difficulty is tuned about where you want it. (I don't play Scared Stiff for instance unless I have a few hours to spare. )

 

[Extork]

Get ready to add several Dracula shots to this list.

Bring it on!!! Can't wait

 

[kinggo]

Well, if you make it too much easier than the real table (eg Twilight Zone) people also complain.

the problem is that TPA expeirence is quite different from platform to platform. I play on mobile (tablet) only. I don't have analog sticks, I don't have 47 dedicated buttons, I don't have 20+" screen........ I have 6 predefined touch schemes that are good for 5" screen but sucks on 7" in portrait. I'm tired of switching back and forth between touch nugde and shake nudge for each table. Shake nudge would be OK if it would be equaly sensitive for all tables (but it is far from that) and if it would switch of for all DMD tables when video mode kicks in. As it is now, it isn't good enough. So yes, I'm complaining. I can't do slap save, I can't nudge as fast as guys with keyboards/controllers, I can't do a lot of thing that makes a difference on the real thing. So, for me, drainers are mostly just that, drainers and there isn't much I can do about it.

 

[Dedpop]

Bring it on!!! Can't wait

Yes you can.

 

[Extork]

Yes you can.

But, but,... Ok I'll wait

 

[Extork]

No one noticed I said 'Bacardi' maneuver

 

[rehtroboi40]

The left outlane "death zone" in Genie.

True story (from when I played it on PS4 back in March):

Score going into ball 3: 2,930,000 + death zone = a final score of 2,952,000.

Though it was my highest score ever, I was (figuratively) sick for a week after that.

No hate for Mr. Krynski, but I will forever hate that outlane!