Overrated?

[Mark W**a]

Don't get me wrong, there is alot to love about this table. Fantastic theme integration, fun missions, great shots, tons of flow.

But it's just got too many design flaws, major ones I feel, making it not as great as people make it out to be.

Lets start with the flippers. They are too small! Ugg I just can't hold it in any longer! I can't stand it! This is a wide body table, making the small flippers that much more strange. They look goofy, like you've got this giant table with these baby flippers. What the heck. It makes me so insecure to play. For a table this wide the flippers should be as long as Elvira or Theatre of Magic.

The slingshots are far, far too big. They really obstruct gameplay. What was the reason for such small flippers but obscurely large slings? I don't get it.

This ties in with the huge slings: "standard" outlanes. This is a wide body, again, what was the point if you are going to just make the outlanes exactly the same as a slimmer machine. Twilight Zone has 2 in lanes on the left that gives you a nice cusion, or get creative and do something fun like what Genie has.

Guns block outlane view. Probably less of a problem on the real machine, but, yeah, I can't see! Outlane\inlane? A complete crap shoot.

Right ramp: full power shots don't go all the way up. Huh? Maybe it's just a pba issue.

Photon torpedoes a wasted opportunity. Sure , some of the modes make use of the cannons but for the most part, they are criminally underutilized. What was up with that? Why not let us load them up during multiball, or utilize a sort of "cousin it"/phantom flip device where they will make a shot for you.. Idk.... Just seems a huge waste having these big cannons that you barely use...

Look overall, I love this table. It's just that, these flaws are pretty major. Am I alone in this opinion?

 

[smbhax]

Are you sure they aren't the regular 3" flippers? Did ST:TNG have the slightly shorter "lightning" flippers like Dracula or something? 'Cause I measured them them onscreen in pixels vs a TPA table with definitely standard flippers--this was in a thread about this some time back, maybe over in a PS3 update thread--and they came out pretty much the same; they look kind of stubbier in ST:TNG in TPA because the cameras are zoomed out more since it's a widebody table, and the camera view (3, on PS3, anyway) is slightly lower than usual, so you see more of the wide view of the side of the flipper, which makes it look chunkier and thus shorter.

Definitely don't like the cannons blocking the view of the outlane area. No problem shooting right ramp on my PS3 though!

But really the only thing that holds this table back somewhat for me so far--eh aside from a simulation ROM crash I've hit a few times in TPA--is the scoring, like how some of the modes really aren't worth the risk--Bowen at PAPA mentions this, anyway, and my limited experience hasn't been able to deny it--and how apparently grinding Borg multiball ends up being significantly more profitable than going through Final Frontier; so basically I guess really the way to play for score is to ignore most of the table's otherwise great stuff, and just do ball locks and Borg over and over. In my view, a table should make you want to do everything it has, both for fun and for score, and apparently TNG doesn't manage that in terms of scoring.

But I do need to play it more myself to find if for me Final Frontier still stands up to BorgBorgBorging it, or if I just love Borg forever and ever, so I think there's still a fair chance that this table will work out for me, which I hope it does because--aside from the darn cannons--I really like the presentation and the shots.

 

[karl]

Does Star Trek have Lightning flippers? They seem normal to me. Both on a real machine and in tpa. I just can't understand any of your complaints about this. I have no problem with the right ramp. I think if they had used the cannons even more(there is
just the right amount as there is) it would have disrupted the game flow. I agree that the slings are long but I find that having the slings to far apart(like on Indiana Jones) is more boring. I would not personally rank TNG as high as it is on IPDB (nr 2) More around nr 8 or 9 but it is still a top 10 machine. I do not want to sound like a pussy but those outlanes, I find them even more frustrating on a real machine. I enjoy the challenge of it on TPA because everything is generally much easier in Digital form but I find them insane on the real machine.

 

[Mark Miwurdz]

I love the table. It's all good.

 

[Clawhammer]

STTNG doesn't have lightning flippers so they aren't any different size wise than any other B/W game with standard flippers. Not sure if this different for some reason on TPA.

 

[pezpunk]

Disagree with op. if anything, it's underrated. One of the top two tables ever made.

 

[Chris Dunman]

Disagree with op. if anything, it's underrated. One of the top two tables ever made.

+1

 

[Fungi]

As far as the flippers go, when comparing screenshots side by side, it looks to me like the STTNG flippers are indeed shorter, but it's because the ball size itself hasn't changed. Sure distances and angles are different from table to table, but comparing "camera 1 portrait" on STTNG and TotAN, cradling the ball reveals that the ball to flipper ratio seems different.

It looks to me that the STTNG flippers are indeed correct in relation to the rest of the table, but it's the ball itself that hasn't changed size to match the table. Thus, the odd feeling ball/flipper timing.

Opinions? Am I just seeing things?

 

[Fungi]

Can somebody with talent do one of those cool picture cross-fades with the ball as the focus? If my theory is correct, the ball won't change, but the flipper will.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I pointed the flipper issue out a while back they appear smaller because the camera is zoomed out farther than the other wide bodies....WHY? 1 thing I did notice after comparing STTNG on ios and PS3, on ios you can cradle the ball alot easier on PS3 the ball doest want to stop kinda like AFM and there is the issue with the shield lights on PS3 if that got lost in translation what about the physics.

 

[Kolchak357]

The flippers seem right to me. The outlanes are killer but I find to be be fairly true to the real machine. But I find a lot more bricks from the mission hole than I get on the real machine. I seem to get a lot of mission hole bricks especially from a ball trapped on the left flipper. But overall it feels very much like the real thing to me.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I thought the ball looked the same size....wont that make it tougher to shoot the mission hole?

 

[Kolchak357]

I thought the ball looked the same size....wont that make it tougher to shoot the mission hole?

I hadn't considered that. Interesting thought.

 

[kimkom]

Can somebody with talent do one of those cool picture cross-fades with the ball as the focus? If my theory is correct, the ball won't change, but the flipper will.

No need for an animated cross fade, it's pretty obvious that the STTNG flippers are shorter. The ball is exactly the same size in both images...

I wasn't a huge fan of the original table at the time, but I'd certainly love to be able to play it on TPA!! Looks like a great addition.

 

[Fungi]

No need for an animated cross fade, it's pretty obvious that the STTNG flippers are shorter. The ball is exactly the same size in both images...

I wasn't a huge fan of the original table at the time, but I'd certainly love to be able to play it on TPA!! Looks like a great addition.

That's perfect kimkom! Thanks!

 

[Kolchak357]

So which is incorrect? The flippers or the ball? Dont forget that STTNG is a wide body.

 

[Kolchak357]

So which is incorrect? The flippers or the ball? Dont forget that STTNG is a wide body.

Fungi, are you saying the ball is too big on trek?

 

[Fungi]

So which is incorrect? The flippers or the ball? Dont forget that STTNG is a wide body.

My money's on the ball being incorrect. The wide body should make everything smaller to fit the screen, so the ball should also be smaller. Of course, that brings in the question of how does a bigger ball fit into the mission hole and wire rails.

If it's the flippers that are too small, then making them bigger would make the center drain "Zen" sized. Either way, it ain't right.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

You should compare STTNG to TZ they're both wide bodies. You all thought I was raving mad TOLD YOU!

 

[Fungi]

You should compare STTNG to TZ they're both wide bodies. You all thought I was raving mad TOLD YOU!

Care to do your magic again Kimkom?

Regardless of STTNG, we always thought you were raving mad Skill.

Hmm. Looking at these shots, it looks like the culprits are the flippers.