Fishtales......GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[enduser2941]

Ok, So I have sen others comment about Fishtales and shots draining, but I have to ask, is it just me, or does Fishtales just seem to be ridiculously difficult? I don't just mean with the balls draining down the center either. It seems like no matter what, the magnets always seem to steam the ball to the sides, and down she goes.... Hit the ball off to the side, and it seems like the angle always draws the ball straight down the middle.... I have never played this table for real so I was curious from those who may have played, is it really this difficult? Believe me, I'm not knocking TPA because I am quite sure based on all the other tables I have played, that this tables gravity is pure as the real thing, but if that's true, then man I hate this table! lol Though not as much as I hate El Dorado.... OOOPPPHHHHAAAA!! That table is rough!

lol Anyway, I am certainly not complaining with this thread, I was just curious how life like Fishtales was to the reel tables (get it "reel" table??) LMAO! Sorry, horrible pun I know! lol It's late, I'm tired, but addicted totally to TPA on my PS4! My first ever console, with the exception of the original PS, this is my first "Next-Gen" console, and I love the graphics! Every other table on here I love and do fairly well on, Fishtales, I can't seem to get anywhere with out the ball just going straight down the middle or getting a gutter ball! It's like the magnets are against me BIG time. Does this happen to everyone or just me?

Best Regards All!

Enduser2941 aka JSD (leaderboard initials) aka Dardwizzle (PS4 Login name)

 

[kinggo]

I don't know how it is IRL, but on android is also GRRRRRRRRRRRRR........
Slingshots are way to sensitive and way to much of those random bounces end up in the outlanes. Those fish catching targets also like to direct ball to outlines, especially left ones. On the upper part of the playfield there are 6 lines to shoot and two targets (ball included) and it looks like it's very easy for random shooting. But no, quite opposite, it's very hard even if you aim. 50% of shots end up at one of the posts.
I still didn't make it to the extra ball at 100M

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Same on iOS. Now matter how precise I make a shot I can almost never nail the spinner or captive ball unless I'm really lucky.

 

[kinggo]

captive ball is another story. A lot of good shots just bounce back out. Like in Pin-Bot. But in Pin-Bot it is waaaaaay easier to hit that.

 

[enduser2941]

Thank heavens it's not just me! For a while there I was starting to wonder if I just suck... But on the other hand, I got the highest score in the game leaderboard on Mars Attacks... Now, that's certainly not the all time leaderboard or anything, I'm merely speaking about the one that pops up at the end of the game right after you type in you initials.... I must agree, the captive ball, I can only hit when I am actually aiming for what I call the motor boat ramps, the u-turn in the middle. I have pretty much given up aiming on this board. Are the flippers further apart on this table? Or is that just an illusion? I can't really tell, and I am too lazy to get up and measure on my screen, though I almost doubt that would really work because it's all relevant to the overall size of the table and ball. One would think that they are all the same size, but I would venture to guess that there are slight relative differences in the overall table sizes, all though I could be way off in that thinking. Fishtales would actually be a fun table if it weren't so dang easy to lose the ball....

I will say though it's quite hard to complain with the awesomeness of TPA as a whole! This is by far my favorite game on any platform, and it wasn't until I saw TPA on PS4 on my 55in 4K HDTV that I truly got to see the detail of the tables!!! They are just amazing to me. I got to see one of the Zen Pinball tables in 3D and that's pretty impressive, it's just ashame that it's the only one they did in 3D. I can only hope that someday TPA does a few tables in 3D. I would imagine it would be pretty hard to do, but it would be completely awesome!

 

[Kolchak357]

No, it's not you, it's pretty tough. But the real machine is even worse. My games are very short, total drain monster in real life. I don't know if it's those dang lightning flippers or just the design of the pin.
My only complaints about the TPA version are the difficulty of hitting the fast cast skill shot, and the ball lock bricks just a bit too much IMO. (I've only played the iOS version)

 

[kinggo]

Are the flippers further apart on this table? Or is that just an illusion?

Techically no, but they are shorter (lightning flippers) so the gap is bigger. And I don't mind the gap itself but the fact that they are shorter and the maximum angle is the same as on most other games (apart from CBW) makes ball catching almost imposssible.

 

[Mayuh]

I own a FT... Fully shopped mechanics, waxed... TPA version is a cute table compared to mine yet I love the challenge... Usually my score is 10-70 mil, my high score is around 400, hitting 2 superjacks.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

FT is so hard because nearly the entire table is composed of death shots, and the lightning flippers don't help.

 

[enduser2941]

I own a FT... Fully shopped mechanics, waxed... TPA version is a cute table compared to mine yet I love the challenge... Usually my score is 10-70 mil, my high score is around 400, hitting 2 superjacks.

Oh wow! LOL I could not even imagine a score anywhere near that, though I did get 23 mil 1 time and 1 time and now that I learned something new which is that the flippers are in fact smaller, as you guys called them "Lightning Flippers" I now understand better how to play it by being a bit quicker on the draw so to speak, I hit the flippers quicker now then I used too and I just managed to pull off 22 mil. Maybe if I am lucky I can get myself on the leaderboard, though I am not pushing my luck! lol Now that I got this lightning flipper thing understood, the table isn't so bad... I guess I just thought I really sucked and that the table was normal haahaaa!!! Well like they say, you learn something new everyday!! For me, learning something new is always a good thing, keeps me young at heart!

 

[dtown8532]

Bowen mentions in his tutorial that many tournament players will not go for multiball because of how fast it ends. It's tough IRL.

http://papa.org/2012/12/03/fish-tales-tutorial/

 

[enduser2941]

Bowen mentions in his tutorial that many tournament players will not go for multiball because of how fast it ends. It's tough IRL.

http://papa.org/2012/12/03/fish-tales-tutorial/

Hey, way cool! That's a great tutorial and great site! I have never seen that before but I have a feeling that is going to be my new friend!! I will have to agree, that is what killed my last game where I mentioned hitting 22 mil! The silly multiball (which I had gotten for the first time(s) that I can recall!! I mentioned time(s) because I actually got it twice and both times it cost me my ball! I lost the balls immediately upon getting multiball both times! lol I think I hit the flippers like 3 times before I lost all the balls both times! haahaaa!!!

I will definitely be checking out more of the tutorials on that site! Thanks for sharing that!

 

[PC.Doctor]

I feel that Fish Tales has the most realistic ball physics compared to the rest. The replay is at 100,000,000 and I could barely get 25,000,000. Hey, at least it's not as easy as Scared Stiff.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Of all the season 3 tables, FT plays the hardest and is probably truest to the RL table. It's been over 20 years since I played FT, but I do recall that the Casters' Club shot, and the Fast Cast skill shot, were easier. I can't remember if the Starboard Ramp->Spinner shot was as difficult to time as it is in the TPA version. It was still a pain though.

Keep going for those Monster Fish and ignore multi-ball unless you're going for Wizard Goals.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

For some reason I think Fish Tales and Iron Man are very much alike. Both are really hard tables that have themes that appeal to kids

 

[Carl Spiby]

I have a real FT here and it can be brutal, but when it all comes together it's fantastic, current high score on the actual machine is just over 1 billion.

 

[brakel]

I've played the real pinball machine more than 20 times. I know that's not a lot but I was able to do better in my first game on TPA than I ever did on the real thing. To do well in TPA you've got to nudge well but not tilt. This is probably true in real life also but in real life I can't get the ball to move at all when I nudge. But in real life I tend to play in places where the tables are two inches apart. Hard to get a good nudge going especially if someone is playing right next to me.

 

[enduser2941]

From watching the tutorial pasted in above I noticed two things. 1. It seems that in RL, the gravity seems to be much stronger or maybe the table is just really waxed because to me the ball seems to be much faster, and the reaction of the ball off the bumbers and the flippers themselves seems to move the ball much faster, though that could just be my interpretation. And to brakel's point, yes, in FT the key to not getting the ball down the outlanes is to nudge the table though in TPA, I never seem to have luck nudging the table. I have noticed that you can nudge directionally if I am not mistaken. I am starting to like it a little more now that I understand what's going on with it. In fact, watching the tutorials by Bowen... I have never really seen anyone else play as good as him as well as be able to walk you through all the tables that he does! I am in amazement! I need to thank dtown8532 once again for sharing that link!

 

[Mark W**a]

The scariest part of the table is trying to relight multiball. That shot can come screaming down at you at full force, instant drain.

But this is exactly like Bowen describes in his Fish Tales tutorial meaning this table is very true to life. He also says that Multiball can fizzle out fast with nothing to show for it. Also true of the Farsight version. Also the lock shot lips out as well, one of the quirks that was left in and you have to appreciate that kind of attention to detail.

So I guess what I'm saying is, it's probably one of the closest to real life tables in the entire game. Farsight deserves tons of credit for that.

The trick to not losing down outlanes is to up nudge to get it to bounce off slings. This is one of the few tables where slingshots are your friends, so long as you learn to control the trajectory with up/down nudging.

It's for that reason alone that the mobile version is such a *****. My iPhone top score is like a billion whereas my PS4 score is 7.3 billion.

 

[dtown8532]

enduser, no problem. Glad that a new person has found papa's website. I can't imagine how overwhelming it must be to visit this site for the first time because I was when I found it almost three years ago and there wasn't as much content as there is now. Bowen Kerins is one of the best pinball players in the world and many wonder how he can talk and play at the same time. Bowen has said that talking while playing actually relaxes him. His tutorials are excellent but, remember, he is giving advice on how to achieve a high score which doesn't always mean going for the wizard mode. I know his STTNG tutorial has caught flack because of that.