Pinball Arcade too easy and unchallenging

[Baron Rubik]

Please point out anything recent made by Zen that you could consider hard.

They have changed the tuning on 'a new hope' (faster slings) and stated this will become the norm going forwards. But no, you are right that Zen is not hard either unfortunately.

Oh for a game of Pinball that would fit into my lunch break at work and wasn't riddled with bugs or lag.

 

[shutyertrap]

When I play a real version of tables that are in TPA, I have to "unlearn what I have learned", because my muscle memory is expecting bounces and conditions of the digital version.

 

[Jazza]

I only play on IPad. Nudge is so inconsistent and directional is out of the question. Tilt however is a 'bonus' feature I'm familiar with...

 

[night]

It's one of the reasons I like the Zaccaria pinball app so much, it is SO frustrating hard to play, but it's exactly that what makes you come back for more. (And I like early 80s tables, but that's a personal flavour).

 

[Jeff Strong]

It's one of the reasons I like the Zaccaria pinball app so much, it is SO frustrating hard to play, but it's exactly that what makes you come back for more. (And I like early 80s tables, but that's a personal flavour).

Yes, that's what makes real pinball so addicting too. The brutality makes me want to keep trying to eek out just a few more points, much like the early arcade games. Also since the balls can drain so quickly and unpredictably, thre's more pressure to make your shots and more urgency to keep the ball in play.

Unfortunately, much of that is lost in TPA.

Pro Pinball on the other hand captures this rather beautifully. If only Farsight had licensed their physics engine...

 

[Nightwing]

That's why you'll never replace playing on a real pinball table. I love TPA,and to a lesser extent the Zaccaria app (mainly due to the fact that I have no experience with a real Zac table) BUT it's just a simulation.

I mostly play TPA on my iPad Air. I upgraded last fall from an iPad 2, and now TPA has gone from slow to medium speeds to having the ball fly around on almost every table. It seems in videos to be more stable on the consoles & PC,but it's still not the real thing.

I love TPA for what it is. One of the best segments in my Pax East interview with Norman from FS talks about how you play the game(as an aside,it's just about done,I'm just having a small problem which should be fixed tomorrow). For me between the HOF games & TPA have really helped me understand how to approach the table IRL. I've gotten noticeably better at CFTBL,TOM and some of the other physical PA pins. And I appreciate that a lot.

But it will never be the real thing. No digital pinball game will.

 

[DrainoBraino]

welcome, seansjs1973gamer.

Most of us feel the same way. The majority of the tables are way too easy. Many threads here devoted to the topic, here's some of the top gripes:

1.Nudging needs nerfed. It's too powerful and you can steer the ball.
2.Kickouts and rolldowns are predictable. Needs some type of realistic randomization.
3.Ball physics need reworked. Theres no spin, and ball is stuck to the table.
4.Flippers are clunky. No snap. Can't do drop catches or live stops.
5.Gravity is inconsistent. Ball is floaty, ramps have vacuum power.

There are a few tables that are more difficult. Check out Dr Dude, Gorgar, and Firepower for a better challenge.

All this said, I love TPA, it's my favorite game. Enjoy it most on android.

 

[Jeff Strong]

That's why you'll never replace playing on a real pinball table. I love TPA,and to a lesser extent the Zaccaria app (mainly due to the fact that I have no experience with a real Zac table) BUT it's just a simulation.

I mostly play TPA on my iPad Air. I upgraded last fall from an iPad 2, and now TPA has gone from slow to medium speeds to having the ball fly around on almost every table. It seems in videos to be more stable on the consoles & PC,but it's still not the real thing.

I love TPA for what it is. One of the best segments in my Pax East interview with Norman from FS talks about how you play the game(as an aside,it's just about done,I'm just having a small problem which should be fixed tomorrow). For me between the HOF games & TPA have really helped me understand how to approach the table IRL. I've gotten noticeably better at CFTBL,TOM and some of the other physical PA pins. And I appreciate that a lot.

But it will never be the real thing. No digital pinball game will.

Yes, but as I said there are better pinball simulations available, so there are definitely things Farsight could do to give us a simulation option in TPA.

Edit: what DB said.

Tweaking the nudging/tilt sensitivity and making the kick outs more unpredictable would go a long way.

 

[mpad]

I read in a lot of posts that there is no ball spin, but I think there definitely is! On highest settings you definitely see the ball rolling around its own axis.

And I don't think TPA is that easy. Just stop nudging.

 

[Biff]

I read in a lot of posts that there is no ball spin, but I think there definitely is! On highest settings you definitely see the ball rolling around its own axis.
And I don't think TPA is that easy. Just stop nudging.

But Bobby the King once told us that there is no ball spin. They were testing ball spin but it didn't fit.
Maybe a feature in the future though.

Correct? I think Jeff asked Bobby the question.

 

[Retro Invaders]

Please point out anything recent made by Zen that you could consider hard.

Infinity Gauntlent.

 

[mpad]

But Bobby the King once told us that there is no ball spin. They were testing ball spin but it didn't fit.
Maybe a feature in the future though.

Correct? I think Jeff asked Bobby the question.

Ok maybe it just looks that way and is not really in the physics model.

 

[Shaneus]

When I play a real version of tables that are in TPA, I have to "unlearn what I have learned", because my muscle memory is expecting bounces and conditions of the digital version.

That's why I think it helps having a real machine at home, helps you keep that in check regardless of if it's in TPA or not. Doing that has helped me learn that TPA in relation to real playing is good for rules and rules only.

I read in a lot of posts that there is no ball spin, but I think there definitely is! On highest settings you definitely see the ball rolling around its own axis.

On which platform? Using a ball skin makes it easy to see whether there's spin or not... and I can't say I've ever seen it on any of the platforms I've played.

 

[MontanaFrank]

I would love to see three settings for each table: hard - regular - easy. Yes, TPA is easier than real life pinball and a lot of pinball simulation programs; however, 98% of my games are too short.

I do not make a lot of high scores when I play TPA. From years of abuse to my mind, eyes and body, my eye-hand coordination is very poor. I haven't played much TPA lately because I get frustrated. I want an easy setting so I could have a hour long game of pinball.

I dream of hitting 20 ramps in a row on AFM. I am lucky to get three and AFM is a pretty easy table in TPA.

 

[Heretic]

cool monitie easy/nkrmal/hard

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

I read in a lot of posts that there is no ball spin, but I think there definitely is! On highest settings you definitely see the ball rolling around its own axis.

And I don't think TPA is that easy. Just stop nudging.

Visibly the ball model spins in the direction it is rolling, but it's not implemented in the physics.

 

[BonzoGonzo]

And I don't think TPA is that easy. Just stop nudging.

indeed

last monday i went to the local billiards club, which allways has three pinball machines set up in perfect working condition and there was a new table, one i never played outside of pinball arcade - black rose... so i'm familiar with the table right... find it kinda meh on tpa becouse its just too easy in the long run... so i put in some tokens and start playing and a couple of things stand out immediatly... ok the obvious one is the physics are tighter, ball is faster, the shots are more difficult to make without vacuum ramp powers and have smaller windows of opportunity to not screw up... but oh man the nudging... there is virtually none :-D i did save a couple of sdtm's, but the outlanes are just so unforgiving and fast to really react to with a nudge and the machine itself weights a ton ;-) so i play for an hour, manage to get a replay set at 89mil (did 110-somethin-mil on that run and btw the record was 1billion 110mil something ) and i go home and fire up black rose on tpa... and i say to myself that for starters i wont use nudging, becouse i wasnt able to do so irl just now... and the game actually played very similar to its real life counterpart (my scores included) even though tpa version has some ball returns/coming down the ramp/broadside clearly tweaked to not drain so much and stuff... so i tried again some other tables without nudging and hey... i liked it a lot better even if the scores were nowhere close to what i was getting before ... some tables like tz are still completely botched, but for the whole package i think a 'no-nudge-rule' is a better way to enjoy tpa... nudging is just a such damn powerfull 'tool' it completely brakes the tables becouse irl you just cant do that to a table and even if you physically can, the table wont let you abuse it so hard and you will tilt the game... hm, i seem to be really bored with plenty of spare time to write this one :-D

tl,dr: nudge in tpa is completley bonkers and overpowered, try playing without using it for some reallife-ish pinball excitement (internet leaderboards be damned) ;-)

 

[kinggo]

indeed.....not
nudging is a part of the game. The problem with nudging on PC (and probably consoles) is that if someone IRL wants to have the same effect as in TPA, that someone would have to throw the pin out of arcade.

 

[mpad]

Jup. Was in the arcade last Friday and tried it. It made a creeek noise... in my shoulder, but the ball didn't move a bit. definitely need some spinach. Or techniques.

 

[BonzoGonzo]

indeed.....not
nudging is a part of the game. The problem with nudging on PC (and probably consoles) is that if someone IRL wants to have the same effect as in TPA, that someone would have to throw the pin out of arcade.

but oh man the nudging... there is virtually none :-D i did save a couple of sdtm's (straight down the middle), but the outlanes are just so unforgiving and fast to really react to with a nudge and the machine itself weights a ton ;-)

nudging is just a such damn powerfull 'tool' it completely brakes the tables becouse irl (in real life) you just cant do that to a table and even if you physically can, the table wont let you abuse it so hard and you will tilt the game...

nudge in tpa is completley bonkers and overpowered, try playing without using it for some reallife-ish pinball excitement

spot any differences?