EldarOfSuburbia
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- Feb 8, 2014
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Ghostbusters is the deepest, most complex, table in TPA. Maybe not as complex as AC/DC.
Even if you slog through the 538(!) pages of rules in-game, you're still likely to remain a bit confused.
Let's start the conversation!
Begin At The Beginning
The skillshot is your friend, and if you do have a long game, is going to be a MAJOR source of points. There are two skillshots available:
1. The P-K-E rollovers; cycle the lit lane and award with the left flipper.
2. The left scoop, left loop, left ramp, right loop, right ramp, and right scoop; cycle the lit shot with the right flipper.
My advice: forget the P-K-E rollover skillshot. The rewards are small fry and it's difficult to hit anyway. The real rewards, especially later on, are at the right loop and right ramp.
Ball 1, take the Right Loop Skillshot to Start Scene. It's usually the one that's lit, so you don't even need to cycle. Give the ball a full plunge, dead pass from the left flipper to a catch on the right, and take the easy backhand on the right loop. This will start the "Okay Who Brought The Dog?" Scene.
... Then Go Straight To The End (of the movie)
We're going to play what are, chronologically, the latest scenes in the movie, culminating in the climax vs. Stay Puft and Gozer. These get you tons of points, and tons of points are what you want because having lots of points in this game is they way to get even more points off of skillshots later. (There's an argument to be had about late-game skillshot choice. More on that in a bit.)
After getting control of the ball, shoot the left ramp, left loop, and right loop to complete "Okay Who Brought The Dog?", and automatically start the next Scene, "Spook Central".
"Spook Central" is another straightforward Scene: left ramp to stop the hurry-up and set the shot reward for the rest of the Scene (the hurry-up will automatically stop at 1.5M, and move on to the next phase). Collect each of the 4 lit shots (left loop, left ramp, right ramp, right loop) and again finish with the right loop. This completes "Spook Central" and automatically starts "Gozer The Gozerian".
"Gozer The Gozerian" is long, complicated, and confusing. Without referring to the instructions, I think it goes something like: build the first reward with the right loop, and collect at the right ramp. Then build the second reward with the left ramp, and collect at the Gozer standup target which is at the top of the lane between the left ramp and the bumpers. Finally shoot some more lit shots (left ramp, right loop, right ramp?) and collect the final reward at the Gozer standup. Like I said, it's complicated and confusing, and even worse there are timers in each phase and if the timer runs out you fail the mode and will have to re-light scenes using the G-H-O-S-T standup and Slimer (or another skillshot to a lit Scene).
Either way, once "Gozer The Gozerian" ends - either by completing it or failing it - Extra Ball will be lit at the left scoop, so get it. The left scoop kickout is tricky to control. Keep both flippers down and the ball will usually bounce off the tip of the right flipper, and give you control on the right. Sometimes the magna-slings will intervene, but not often.
Say you complete "Gozer The Gozerian"; now "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" is lit at the right loop, so make that shot to start it.
"Stay Puft" is another multi-part Scene, but not as confusing as "Gozer". Make a shot to get into the meat of the mode, which is to make multiple lit shots to weaken the big fluffy guy. Eventually he will be lit up in red, make the right loop to destroy him. A final shot to the right loop will take out Gozer. Congratulations, you saved the world!
Now you'll notice that the left ramp is lit up like a Christmas tree; shoot it to get into the mini-wizard mode, "We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its...". Pretty standard frenzy multiball with increasing rewards at each shot. Additional balls can be launched into play from the left scoop, with Add-a-Ball re-lit by repeatedly shooting the left captive balls.
You've Saved The World, So What Next?
Well, there's a good chance some other stuff happened while you were saving the world.
Almost certainly you collected some Super Jackpots (GB loves handing out Super Jackpots like they're Halloween candy). Maybe locked a couple of balls and got into Storage Facility Multiball, another pretty straightforward affair. You might have started something called "PKE Frenzy" - more on that later. And finally you might have had a "what the *&$^ is going on?!" moment when your flippers were reversed and you probably drained very quickly.
Frankly none of the above is worth worrying about, except "PKE Frenzy". Super Jackpots will just happen, and they can be worth a lot of points, especially the Triple versions lit by taking out the Scoleri Brothers drop-targets that pop up in the middle of the playfield (think Cactus Canyon's Bad Guys), just not worth going for specifically. "PKE Frenzy", on the other hand, can be worth a LOT of points late on, and while the right ramp is a very tricky shot, mastering it - and mastering looping it - will be very beneficial.
There Are Other Scenes
Other scenes can be started at the left scoop (Library Scenes) and right ramp (Sedgewick Hotel Scenes). Neither of these tracks are as lucrative as the Apartment Building track, but they need to be completed in order to access the final Wizard Mode, "We're Ready To Believe You", which isn't all that special, to be honest: just another frenzy-style multiball.
The Real Points
In a long game, you are going to score big points in three ways:
1. Bonus. Not sure if there's a surefire way to Hold Bonus, but it's a common reward from Tobin's Spirit Guide (collect when the blue lamp is lit at the left scoop). Bonus can get to 500M+ easily on a long ball.
2. "PKE Frenzy". PKE builds up in a variety of ways as you play, and the more PKE you accumulate, the more points you can get from "PKE Frenzy". The "PKE Frenzy" jackpot is PKE x 1000 x multiplier. Late in a long game, be prepared for jackpots in excess of 400M that can be repeatedly collected at the right ramp. Just be aware that the multiplier will start going down eventually - shoot the left stand-up bank or a bunch of switches to increase the multiplier again. Starting "PKE Frenzy" isn't easy, and there are three ways to do it
a. Select "PKE Frenzy" as the skillshot award, and shoot the right ramp to start it. The most common way, but the right ramp is difficult and if you make any other shot, the skillshot award goes away.
b. Collect 80 ghosts. Collecting ghosts just happens, in a long game you'll get there eventually.
c. From a Tobin's Spirit Guide random award.
3. +10% score skillshot (at the right loop is recommended, as it's a very easy collect). This is far easier and more reliable than "PKE Frenzy", but it's a one-time thing per ball, and a good "PKE Frenzy" can easily outstrip this. If you're not hitting the right ramp that game, though, it's great. What you don't see is that every successful skillshot adds an additional +10% score, on top of the rewards it tells you about. So if your score is 1 Billion, hitting a +10% score skillshot will net you 100M (for the advertised skillshot award) + another 100M for the "invisible" skillshot award. That's 200M! Now imagine your score is 5 Billion. That +10% skillshot nets you 1B! But... a good "PKE Frenzy" might be worth 2B, 3B, or more.
Triple Super Jackpots don't scale as well as "PKE Frenzy". Maybe they'll get to about 200M or so. Not to be sniffed at, but not worth chasing either.
In Conclusion
Ghostbusters is a deep, rewarding game with may paths to a high score; but like a lot of complex games, eventually one or two modes will sprint ahead of all else and dominate your score. "PKE Frenzy" is the king of these, but the +10% skillshot isn't far behind and good ol' fashioned Bonus is going to contribute a hefty chunk o' change in the long run.
Even if you slog through the 538(!) pages of rules in-game, you're still likely to remain a bit confused.
Let's start the conversation!
Begin At The Beginning
The skillshot is your friend, and if you do have a long game, is going to be a MAJOR source of points. There are two skillshots available:
1. The P-K-E rollovers; cycle the lit lane and award with the left flipper.
2. The left scoop, left loop, left ramp, right loop, right ramp, and right scoop; cycle the lit shot with the right flipper.
My advice: forget the P-K-E rollover skillshot. The rewards are small fry and it's difficult to hit anyway. The real rewards, especially later on, are at the right loop and right ramp.
Ball 1, take the Right Loop Skillshot to Start Scene. It's usually the one that's lit, so you don't even need to cycle. Give the ball a full plunge, dead pass from the left flipper to a catch on the right, and take the easy backhand on the right loop. This will start the "Okay Who Brought The Dog?" Scene.
... Then Go Straight To The End (of the movie)
We're going to play what are, chronologically, the latest scenes in the movie, culminating in the climax vs. Stay Puft and Gozer. These get you tons of points, and tons of points are what you want because having lots of points in this game is they way to get even more points off of skillshots later. (There's an argument to be had about late-game skillshot choice. More on that in a bit.)
After getting control of the ball, shoot the left ramp, left loop, and right loop to complete "Okay Who Brought The Dog?", and automatically start the next Scene, "Spook Central".
"Spook Central" is another straightforward Scene: left ramp to stop the hurry-up and set the shot reward for the rest of the Scene (the hurry-up will automatically stop at 1.5M, and move on to the next phase). Collect each of the 4 lit shots (left loop, left ramp, right ramp, right loop) and again finish with the right loop. This completes "Spook Central" and automatically starts "Gozer The Gozerian".
"Gozer The Gozerian" is long, complicated, and confusing. Without referring to the instructions, I think it goes something like: build the first reward with the right loop, and collect at the right ramp. Then build the second reward with the left ramp, and collect at the Gozer standup target which is at the top of the lane between the left ramp and the bumpers. Finally shoot some more lit shots (left ramp, right loop, right ramp?) and collect the final reward at the Gozer standup. Like I said, it's complicated and confusing, and even worse there are timers in each phase and if the timer runs out you fail the mode and will have to re-light scenes using the G-H-O-S-T standup and Slimer (or another skillshot to a lit Scene).
Either way, once "Gozer The Gozerian" ends - either by completing it or failing it - Extra Ball will be lit at the left scoop, so get it. The left scoop kickout is tricky to control. Keep both flippers down and the ball will usually bounce off the tip of the right flipper, and give you control on the right. Sometimes the magna-slings will intervene, but not often.
Say you complete "Gozer The Gozerian"; now "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" is lit at the right loop, so make that shot to start it.
"Stay Puft" is another multi-part Scene, but not as confusing as "Gozer". Make a shot to get into the meat of the mode, which is to make multiple lit shots to weaken the big fluffy guy. Eventually he will be lit up in red, make the right loop to destroy him. A final shot to the right loop will take out Gozer. Congratulations, you saved the world!
Now you'll notice that the left ramp is lit up like a Christmas tree; shoot it to get into the mini-wizard mode, "We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its...". Pretty standard frenzy multiball with increasing rewards at each shot. Additional balls can be launched into play from the left scoop, with Add-a-Ball re-lit by repeatedly shooting the left captive balls.
You've Saved The World, So What Next?
Well, there's a good chance some other stuff happened while you were saving the world.
Almost certainly you collected some Super Jackpots (GB loves handing out Super Jackpots like they're Halloween candy). Maybe locked a couple of balls and got into Storage Facility Multiball, another pretty straightforward affair. You might have started something called "PKE Frenzy" - more on that later. And finally you might have had a "what the *&$^ is going on?!" moment when your flippers were reversed and you probably drained very quickly.
Frankly none of the above is worth worrying about, except "PKE Frenzy". Super Jackpots will just happen, and they can be worth a lot of points, especially the Triple versions lit by taking out the Scoleri Brothers drop-targets that pop up in the middle of the playfield (think Cactus Canyon's Bad Guys), just not worth going for specifically. "PKE Frenzy", on the other hand, can be worth a LOT of points late on, and while the right ramp is a very tricky shot, mastering it - and mastering looping it - will be very beneficial.
There Are Other Scenes
Other scenes can be started at the left scoop (Library Scenes) and right ramp (Sedgewick Hotel Scenes). Neither of these tracks are as lucrative as the Apartment Building track, but they need to be completed in order to access the final Wizard Mode, "We're Ready To Believe You", which isn't all that special, to be honest: just another frenzy-style multiball.
The Real Points
In a long game, you are going to score big points in three ways:
1. Bonus. Not sure if there's a surefire way to Hold Bonus, but it's a common reward from Tobin's Spirit Guide (collect when the blue lamp is lit at the left scoop). Bonus can get to 500M+ easily on a long ball.
2. "PKE Frenzy". PKE builds up in a variety of ways as you play, and the more PKE you accumulate, the more points you can get from "PKE Frenzy". The "PKE Frenzy" jackpot is PKE x 1000 x multiplier. Late in a long game, be prepared for jackpots in excess of 400M that can be repeatedly collected at the right ramp. Just be aware that the multiplier will start going down eventually - shoot the left stand-up bank or a bunch of switches to increase the multiplier again. Starting "PKE Frenzy" isn't easy, and there are three ways to do it
a. Select "PKE Frenzy" as the skillshot award, and shoot the right ramp to start it. The most common way, but the right ramp is difficult and if you make any other shot, the skillshot award goes away.
b. Collect 80 ghosts. Collecting ghosts just happens, in a long game you'll get there eventually.
c. From a Tobin's Spirit Guide random award.
3. +10% score skillshot (at the right loop is recommended, as it's a very easy collect). This is far easier and more reliable than "PKE Frenzy", but it's a one-time thing per ball, and a good "PKE Frenzy" can easily outstrip this. If you're not hitting the right ramp that game, though, it's great. What you don't see is that every successful skillshot adds an additional +10% score, on top of the rewards it tells you about. So if your score is 1 Billion, hitting a +10% score skillshot will net you 100M (for the advertised skillshot award) + another 100M for the "invisible" skillshot award. That's 200M! Now imagine your score is 5 Billion. That +10% skillshot nets you 1B! But... a good "PKE Frenzy" might be worth 2B, 3B, or more.
Triple Super Jackpots don't scale as well as "PKE Frenzy". Maybe they'll get to about 200M or so. Not to be sniffed at, but not worth chasing either.
In Conclusion
Ghostbusters is a deep, rewarding game with may paths to a high score; but like a lot of complex games, eventually one or two modes will sprint ahead of all else and dominate your score. "PKE Frenzy" is the king of these, but the +10% skillshot isn't far behind and good ol' fashioned Bonus is going to contribute a hefty chunk o' change in the long run.
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