First impressions

[krazysteve1958]

I give Farsight the highest marks for pinball recreation, however, they sure seem to miss the boat when it comes to the wizard table goals. For me anyways attaining the wizard goals pretty much ends the game's true "entertainment" value. I simply refuse to get caught up in the high score "fever" that permeates TPA (ie endless hours of grinding). The goals need to be more challenging because its getting pretty stupid to get them after a few sittings. Why not 5 of a kind, a Stunt extra ball, a 25 million point score for example. I suppose they need to cater to less skilled players but by the same token they need to find a better balance for the skilled or very skilled players as well. They do good work but they're doing the better players a huge disservice with their relatively simple goals. Making wizard goals harder would separate the elite from the very elite. Also, the special on the table is completely useless where 4 of a kind is actually worse than a straight or full house. A truly mindless concept to be sure.

 

[Lord Boron]

I give Farsight the highest marks for pinball recreation, however, they sure seem to miss the boat when it comes to the wizard table goals. For me anyways attaining the wizard goals pretty much ends the game's true "entertainment" value. I simply refuse to get caught up in the high score "fever" that permeates TPA (ie endless hours of grinding). The goals need to be more challenging because its getting pretty stupid to get them after a few sittings. Why not 5 of a kind, a Stunt extra ball, a 25 million point score for example. I suppose they need to cater to less skilled players but by the same token they need to find a better balance for the skilled or very skilled players as well. They do good work but they're doing the better players a huge disservice with their relatively simple goals. Making wizard goals harder would separate the elite from the very elite. Also, the special on the table is completely useless where 4 of a kind is actually worse than a straight or full house. A truly mindless concept to be sure.

Isn't it the highest score that separates the elite from very elite. Personally I don't get to wrapped up in the wizard goals. Most of them I achieve by dumb luck. I play pinball because I like pinball. Not for some meaningless gold star.

 

[kinggo]

+1
don't care much for goals. But I do care for scores.

 

[Storm Chaser]

what`s with all the goals that define a table ? when I started playing back in 1960`s, my group of mates only had 2 things on our minds 1. get free games and the most important 2. who had the highest score for bragging rights !!! I think this table is 1 of the best ,a bit hard and tricky,but most important it`s all fun. one word for this table FANBLOODYTASTIC !!!!

Isn't getting a free game a goal after all? I'm all with you on that but when the game is free to begin with that isn't really anything interesting. Bragging rights, I am all with you on that as well but since none of my friends play PA it's not really all that interesting anyway.

I think the PA goals are a great way of pushing yourself and they are usually well balanced and makes sense (except for Genie 3M). Measuring yourself against something or trying to reach a target is what makes you come back for more, even after all you tried everything on the table. That is also why I find it so boring that they missed out on PHOF-points, high-scores etc because once I tried everything on the table, there was just nothing left to do. Especially since leaderboards don't work either...

 

[Zaphod77]

That blockbuster special goal is hard. I broke 30 million and still didn't get it. then it randomly gave it to me for no reason 20 attempts later, even though i was nowhere near spelling it.

Here's what I think the wizard goals should have been.

1) complete the blockbuster special
2) Collect a stunt scene extra ball.
3) Collect a 5 million point jackpot. (yes, it's possible verified with ball control if that's too high then 2.5 million)
4) fire the knocker 30 times in one game. (if 30 is impossible, then make it 20, i know it will go above 11) FOr that matter special should have been set as points. If this is not possible, then there should be special scoring rules that take into account your earned specials.
5) win five gunfights on one ball (this is HARD, you only get a few milliseconds after you make four)

 

[DrainoBraino]

Just got around to getting this table. Wow I'm impressed! Plays very well. I like the speed of it, and it's challenging. Doesn't seem too easy for me on android.

 

[oqvist]

It´s unplayable on PC. That jackpot mode how is that any fun. Generally I drain just after getting that mode from the poker or gun fight shots. For whatever reason whenever they award the jackpot scene the pinball are set to drain. So I don´t even get one shot at it. And the jackpot shot it´s drain down the middle if you hit it so what is the point? At best I unlocked the jackpot but at the same point the ball went straight down the middle.

Blockbuster is not worth going for either and it´s just another bad Gottlieb table with crap toys. They don´t seem to think through their themese and layouts. I still don´t understand what the rotation field is good for and why is it that I am shooting the policeman when the text say draw the policemans gun? Isn´t it the bad guy I am supposed to shoot lol. The police can never aim his gun high enough so he can shoot anybody.

 

[canuck]

I find this table incredibly annoying. Luckily I have several dozen other tables to play!

 

[DrainoBraino]

It´s unplayable on PC. That jackpot mode how is that any fun. Generally I drain just after getting that mode from the poker or gun fight shots. For whatever reason whenever they award the jackpot scene the pinball are set to drain. So I don´t even get one shot at it. And the jackpot shot it´s drain down the middle if you hit it so what is the point? At best I unlocked the jackpot but at the same point the ball went straight down the middle.

Blockbuster is not worth going for either and it´s just another bad Gottlieb table with crap toys. They don´t seem to think through their themese and layouts. I still don´t understand what the rotation field is good for and why is it that I am shooting the policeman when the text say draw the policemans gun? Isn´t it the bad guy I am supposed to shoot lol. The police can never aim his gun high enough so he can shoot anybody.

Ok I take issue with most of this. I think this table is a step in the right direction for FS. I can understand if you don't like the theme, but this table really does play well as a recreation.

It's funny to me because the first post in this thread is about how easy it is, now you say it's impossible and unplayable. Yes, it may be easy to finish all the goals, but the table is very challenging. The drop targets in the middle are supposed to be inviting you to hit them causing a sdtm drain. That's what pinball design is all about. put some really easy shots right in front of the player so the ball will drain and you'll have to put in more money!

Some other things I have noticed: First, random kickouts. It seems FS has been listening and put some randomness into the kickouts on this table. That's great! No longer is it a predictable trap or bounce pass, you have to pay attention. Notice when it kicks out from the loop thing, definitely not the same each time.

Second, the ball doesn't seem as floaty. For the past few tables they have gone back to the floaty physics thing. Fish Tales and now LCA both, imo, have better ball physics then the rest of season 3.

 

[oqvist]

I don´t recall suggesting the table is to easy

 

[DrainoBraino]

I don´t recall suggesting the table is to easy

I didn't say you did. You said it was unplayable. Which it isn't, it's just difficult, like real pinball. It's supposed to be a challenge. I like it.

This table is up there with Fish Tales, Dr Dude, Gorgar, and Firepower as one of my favorites in TPA. Bring on the difficulty!

 

[oqvist]

To me pinball tables are supposed to be fun. The pinball machines that is getting my coins is those that is fun and rewarding to play. Challenging can be fun but this is challenging and unplayable with bad thought out audio, theme, toys and playfield which is not my definition of fun

We all have our acquired taste seeing what you like it´s quite polar

I am undecided of Dr Dude it give my eyes a spin but I will make more efforts with it. I am finished with the rest of your favourites though perhaps Fish Tales is something I could learn to like.

 

[Zaphod77]

Dr. Dude is pretty true to life, except for the impossibility of shooting gift of gab directly from a feed from the excellent ray unless you use a trick to trap the ball.

Fish Tales does seen ridiculous to me. Unnatural acceleration coming off the ramp feeds.

Jackpot Scene is actually very doable. the drop target rebounds ARE predictable, you just have to aim at the right spot.

Hint 1: if you aim from the LEFT flipper it never goes SDTM when you hit the center target. It goes to the right flipper.

Hint 2: if you hit the left target from the right flipper, the ball will go to the left flipper to be trapped. see hint 1.

Hint 3: If you aim for the center target properly it will veer towards the tip if the left flipper, bounce, and return to the right flipper for a trap and another shot.

 

[superballs]

Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually knows what unplayable means

 

[oqvist]

It means you cannot play it properly

 

[netizen]

Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually knows what unplayable means

or game breaking

 

[JPelter]

I played around some more of this table and I must say I'm not a fan at all. The table has a really simplistic ruleset, the scoring is kind of sort of concentrated on a couple of things, and the biggest problem of all is probably that the table gives out specials like candy and none of them do anything as far as I can tell. I mean at least give points for them. First poker game in history where I wish I got a full house instead of a four of a kind every time.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

I played around some more of this table and I must say I'm not a fan at all. The table has a really simplistic ruleset, the scoring is kind of sort of concentrated on a couple of things, and the biggest problem of all is probably that the table gives out specials like candy and none of them do anything as far as I can tell. I mean at least give points for them. First poker game in history where I wish I got a full house instead of a four of a kind every time.

How DO you get a 4-of-a-kind anyway? All I get is a One Pair -.-

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

How DO you get a 4-of-a-kind anyway? All I get is a One Pair -.-

Somehow manage to get lucky.

Trust me, this poker game is MUCH worse than the one that appears in High Roller Casino. In fact even HRC expanded the concept by allowing you to collect Cheat Games and actually have you play out the game instead of shooting one finicky shot over and over.

 

[MontanaFrank]

How DO you get a 4-of-a-kind anyway? All I get is a One Pair -.-

You hope that the spinner stops on an ace after you hit the ball through said spinner to collect another card in the poker hand.

As Cap'n says, "somehow manage to get lucky."