EccentricFlower
New member
- May 4, 2015
- 172
- 0
The comments in the "most overrated table" thread and my REALLY bad reaction to F-14 today made me aware of something. I probably should have figured it out sooner, but I'm slow.
A lot of the tables I dislike the most in TPA - many of which are the ones a lot of y'all seem to love the most - are Steve Ritchie designs. Notably: Firepower, Black Knight, T2, and this F-14. What I should have figured out is that I dislike all these tables for the same reason.
The ball moves too damned fast.
These tables move the ball at such speeds that I can't actually keep track of where it is. I'm a lousy pinball player, but these are the only tables in here where I make mistakes not because of lousy play but because I can't keep pace with the ball. F-14 shoots balls past the flippers so fast that by the time I react it's already gone.
I'm not actually ninety years old. I may not have the reflexes of some overheated 14-year-old, but I ain't THAT slow. These tables are just geared for nothing but speed speed speed. And when you get past the speed, they're ... kinda dull.
So that's the classic Steve Ritchie design, then? All about moving the ball fast and not so much about providing interesting things to do with it.
(Ironically, the two High Speed tables - which are ABOUT his need for speed - and his speeding tickets, heh - are the two I can usually manage to play, but I still don't find them very interesting.)
It occurred to me - when reading about people disliking Lawlor tables - that Lawlor tables are kind of the opposite. They don't play super fast, but they have lots of noises and gimmicks and fun trickery and things to do. Most of my favorites in TPA are Lawlor designs.
Of course, the difference could be an even simpler one: Lawlor tables are fun to play even for hacks like me who aren't very good; but Ritchie tables are no fun until/unless you get very good at them.
Flame away. I can take it.
A lot of the tables I dislike the most in TPA - many of which are the ones a lot of y'all seem to love the most - are Steve Ritchie designs. Notably: Firepower, Black Knight, T2, and this F-14. What I should have figured out is that I dislike all these tables for the same reason.
The ball moves too damned fast.
These tables move the ball at such speeds that I can't actually keep track of where it is. I'm a lousy pinball player, but these are the only tables in here where I make mistakes not because of lousy play but because I can't keep pace with the ball. F-14 shoots balls past the flippers so fast that by the time I react it's already gone.
I'm not actually ninety years old. I may not have the reflexes of some overheated 14-year-old, but I ain't THAT slow. These tables are just geared for nothing but speed speed speed. And when you get past the speed, they're ... kinda dull.
So that's the classic Steve Ritchie design, then? All about moving the ball fast and not so much about providing interesting things to do with it.
(Ironically, the two High Speed tables - which are ABOUT his need for speed - and his speeding tickets, heh - are the two I can usually manage to play, but I still don't find them very interesting.)
It occurred to me - when reading about people disliking Lawlor tables - that Lawlor tables are kind of the opposite. They don't play super fast, but they have lots of noises and gimmicks and fun trickery and things to do. Most of my favorites in TPA are Lawlor designs.
Of course, the difference could be an even simpler one: Lawlor tables are fun to play even for hacks like me who aren't very good; but Ritchie tables are no fun until/unless you get very good at them.
Flame away. I can take it.
