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Message: <blockquote data-quote="zsciaeount" data-source="post: 18919" data-attributes="member: 954">I have to step into this debate, because I'm baffled by what I see here.I own 14 pinball machines and play real pinball every single day.  I own many of the games that are re-created on TPA, so I have a direct comparison to evaluate the physics of both TPA and Zen.  I can say, beyond any shadow of a doubt, Zen has the more realistic physics by far.TPA's physics are very floaty, and there are tons of things with it that annoy the living crap out of me, like the ball bouncing halfway up the playfield from a raised flipper and the odd moments where a poorly-hit ball will suddenly correct course and accelerate up a ramp (this is especially bad on TPA's CFTBL).  The inability to perform drop catches and live catches in TPA is maddening, since they are critical for control in real-life pinball.  Cradle separations don't work, post transfers are too difficult, and alley passes are too easy.  The flippers seem to have no elasticity and the ball seems to have no spin in TPA.  That means that you can forget about controlling the ball, and are relegated to a run-and-gun style of play.  That's fine for games like Black Hole and Medieval Madness, but it simply kills the gameplay on games like TOTAN and RBION, which require more control and stop-and-go play.Zen, on the other hand, has much more realistic physics.  You can drop catch, you can live catch, you can cradle separate, you can flick pass, post transfer.  Basically, if you can do it in real life, you can do it in Zen.  Case in point is the kickout scoops.  Take, for instance, Epic Quest in Zen.  It fires the ball hard at the flipper, but you can control it with a drop catch, and the ball rolls up the flipper just into the inlane and stops.  That's more or less how I can control the kickouts on my real TZ, TAF, MM, WW, NGG and FH machines, for instance.  What about TPA?  Let's look at TOM.  The ball fires out of the scoop, and no matter what you do, the ball will bounce crazily off the flipper halfway up the playfield.  And, if it gets near a ramp, it will inexplicably roll up and around the ramp!As for those who say the ball is too heavy and spins too much on Zen, I ask you: have you ever held a real pinball in your hands??  It's a steel ball bearing that is very heavy for its size.  It also spins quite a bit during real gameplay, and that spin is critical to controlling the ball and selecting shots.  Zen may feel "off" to some of you, because the physics are much more realistic than any simulation that has come before it.As far as I'm concerned, there's room in town for both games.  I wish the flipper spacing on Zen were a little wider, and that the nudging on the iPad were a bit better.  It's great to see Farsight re-creating the real pins of yesteryear, and I applaud their attention to detail in terms of playfield modeling and software emulation (although why does every machine in TPA show a credit dot?).  If TPA could have Zen's physics, life would be good.  As it stands, as someone with unfettered access to the real thing, I much prefer Zen to TPA.</blockquote>

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