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Farsight Studios
Pinball Arcade Tables
Bally Tables - Retired Tables
Twilight Zone (1993)
My impressions as a TZ machine owner
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<blockquote data-quote="3waycombo" data-source="post: 91153" data-attributes="member: 3261"><p>About 99% of my pinball playing takes place on the Twilight Zone in my basement. I've taken every single part off the playfield at one time or another for cleaning or repairs, and I'm very sensitive to subtle changes in the way the game is playing, which can be the result of many factors such as cleanliness of the playfield and rubber parts, the condition and alignment of mechanical components, outlane post adjustments, software settings and of course the slope and tilt of the table. Plus the duration of gameplay will have a noticeable effect as the machne heats up. Even the temperature and humidity of the air have an effect. </p><p></p><p>At one point last year I had the machine running as smoothly as I've ever seen it. I was able to score over 2 billion regularly with a few over 5 billion and high score of 6 billion and change. As the machine sits in my basement right now, I have to really work hard to get a billion. One important difference is that I moved the outlane bumpers to the most difficult position, but I'm fairly good at avoiding the outlanes through my strategy, so that alone can't account for the several billion points that have been slashed from my high scores. </p><p></p><p>As it turns out there is only one thing that needs to be changed to make TZ ten times harder... a crazy, erratic slot machine kicker. In short, we did some repairs on the slot scoop and solenoid bracket, that allow the machine to play but force you to react to a variety of speeds and locations that it delivers the ball. Considering how often the ball is delivered to the flippers from the slot machine, it is, in my humble opinion the most determinate factor in how difficult a particular TZ plays. If you can count on it to deliver the ball at a constant speed to the center of the flipper, you can own that machine. If it's pitching the ball like a drunken Nolan Ryan, you're going to be fighting for survival, with balls bouncing every which way off the slingshots and jet bumpers and other unintended targets. This one single factor makes all the difference.</p><p></p><p>I tell my story is in response to discussions I've read about TPA being too easy and people playing for 8 hours to achieve incredible high scores. For one, by nature a computer game is based on a set of rules written in a code that can be mastered and beaten. This does not apply to a real physical machine that is constantly changing in a constantly changing environment. A high score in pinball generally only applies to that particular machine. Even on a single machine, the high scores should be reset after a number of games, because it's not quite the same game that it was 500 games ago.</p><p></p><p>I'd like to think that Pinball Arcade is fine tuning these games based on customer feedback, so if that's the case, every so often the high scores should be reset, with only the Grand Champion Score being saved. I think it would be great if high scores for these games were in the same ballpark as their real life counterparts. I think it's a good barometer for how realistic the game actually is. </p><p></p><p>There are a couple things about TPA that annoy me thus far, like the responsiveness of the upper flippers and lack of touch on the plunger but overall I think they did an amazing job on all the tables I've played. They have already laid a great foundation and I have a feeling that it will only take a few subtle changes to make it truly feel like the real thing. Farsight appears to be quite dedicated to this project, so I have all the confidence in them, but I think the true game changer would be if they put some more editing power in the hands of the players to tweak our own tables like a true pinball owner would.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="3waycombo, post: 91153, member: 3261"] About 99% of my pinball playing takes place on the Twilight Zone in my basement. I've taken every single part off the playfield at one time or another for cleaning or repairs, and I'm very sensitive to subtle changes in the way the game is playing, which can be the result of many factors such as cleanliness of the playfield and rubber parts, the condition and alignment of mechanical components, outlane post adjustments, software settings and of course the slope and tilt of the table. Plus the duration of gameplay will have a noticeable effect as the machne heats up. Even the temperature and humidity of the air have an effect. At one point last year I had the machine running as smoothly as I've ever seen it. I was able to score over 2 billion regularly with a few over 5 billion and high score of 6 billion and change. As the machine sits in my basement right now, I have to really work hard to get a billion. One important difference is that I moved the outlane bumpers to the most difficult position, but I'm fairly good at avoiding the outlanes through my strategy, so that alone can't account for the several billion points that have been slashed from my high scores. As it turns out there is only one thing that needs to be changed to make TZ ten times harder... a crazy, erratic slot machine kicker. In short, we did some repairs on the slot scoop and solenoid bracket, that allow the machine to play but force you to react to a variety of speeds and locations that it delivers the ball. Considering how often the ball is delivered to the flippers from the slot machine, it is, in my humble opinion the most determinate factor in how difficult a particular TZ plays. If you can count on it to deliver the ball at a constant speed to the center of the flipper, you can own that machine. If it's pitching the ball like a drunken Nolan Ryan, you're going to be fighting for survival, with balls bouncing every which way off the slingshots and jet bumpers and other unintended targets. This one single factor makes all the difference. I tell my story is in response to discussions I've read about TPA being too easy and people playing for 8 hours to achieve incredible high scores. For one, by nature a computer game is based on a set of rules written in a code that can be mastered and beaten. This does not apply to a real physical machine that is constantly changing in a constantly changing environment. A high score in pinball generally only applies to that particular machine. Even on a single machine, the high scores should be reset after a number of games, because it's not quite the same game that it was 500 games ago. I'd like to think that Pinball Arcade is fine tuning these games based on customer feedback, so if that's the case, every so often the high scores should be reset, with only the Grand Champion Score being saved. I think it would be great if high scores for these games were in the same ballpark as their real life counterparts. I think it's a good barometer for how realistic the game actually is. There are a couple things about TPA that annoy me thus far, like the responsiveness of the upper flippers and lack of touch on the plunger but overall I think they did an amazing job on all the tables I've played. They have already laid a great foundation and I have a feeling that it will only take a few subtle changes to make it truly feel like the real thing. Farsight appears to be quite dedicated to this project, so I have all the confidence in them, but I think the true game changer would be if they put some more editing power in the hands of the players to tweak our own tables like a true pinball owner would. [/QUOTE]
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The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios
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Farsight Studios
Pinball Arcade Tables
Bally Tables - Retired Tables
Twilight Zone (1993)
My impressions as a TZ machine owner
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