Pinball FX2 is coming to Steam on May 10th!

multi

New member
Dec 5, 2012
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This is another aspect of PFX2 that doesn't sit well with me... spending hours building up a single score.

People do the same thing with Pinball Arcade, hours building up a single score. In PFX2 your game is saved whenever you quit, you could play a little each night over the course of a week instead of hours at once. A timed challenge mode would fix this, ten minutes to score as high as you can.
 
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netizen

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People do the same thing with Pinball Arcade, hours building up a single score. In PFX2 your game is saved whenever you quit, you could play a little each night over the course of a week instead of hours at once. A timed challenge mode would fix this, ten minutes to score as high as you can.

People really play like this? What is the point other than generating some unbelievable high score that can't be achieved in real world play situations.

Part of the joy/challenge of pinball is that timed challenge of doing it live, in one take, not to save up a bunch of short low risk runs to build a score that looks like you have charged wizard mode over and over.
 

Baron Rubik

New member
Mar 21, 2013
1,852
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People really play like this? What is the point other than generating some unbelievable high score that can't be achieved in real world play situations.

Part of the joy/challenge of pinball is that timed challenge of doing it live, in one take, not to save up a bunch of short low risk runs to build a score that looks like you have charged wizard mode over and over.

I don't use save function in this exact play method, but yesterday was playing Zen with my boy.
With him being young, he won't sit while I play my full turn, so I was playing 5mins, save, let him have a go on a different table, go back to my game for 5mins, save, his go again.
Just means I can enjoy a fragmented game, whilst he gets a turn without losing interest.
 

kimkom

Member
Jan 28, 2013
914
1
People really play like this? What is the point other than generating some unbelievable high score that can't be achieved in real world play situations.

Part of the joy/challenge of pinball is that timed challenge of doing it live, in one take, not to save up a bunch of short low risk runs to build a score that looks like you have charged wizard mode over and over.

Yeah, it just turns it into a complete grind. No fun at all.
 

Kolchak357

Senior Pigeon
May 31, 2012
8,102
2
The Spider-Man table looks fun. I hope they bring it to iOS. But I would never play it that long. At some point I would just let the balls drain.
 
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Baron Rubik

New member
Mar 21, 2013
1,852
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They need to add a hardcore mode or something.

They already did....
6udu3e4a.jpg


I know everyone goes on about flipper gap, physics, ect... And no, I'm not the greatest virtual pinball player in the world, but I do not find Zen any easier than TPA.
TPA is ridiculously easy compared to real life, as has been argued in many threads on here.
I personally don't play many of the DMD TPA tables despite having a full set for the simple reason, I don't have an hour to play each time I sit down. For this reason I tend to favour the older TPA tables.
 

Jeff Strong

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 19, 2012
8,144
2
No leaderboards for harder difficulty though.

I'm not the greatest player either, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's way easier to keep the ball alive in zen, no doubt about it.
 
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Baron Rubik

New member
Mar 21, 2013
1,852
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No leaderboards for harder difficulty though. No thanks.

I'm not the greatest player either, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's way easier to keep the ball alive in zen, no doubt about it.

It's a personal thing, but I don't use the leader boards, I just play against my own PB, and I'm kind of a goals person too.

Just to point out up front - I love TPA when I'm looking for a nostalgia or more simulated pinball hit, but equally love Zen for the video game, ability to pull off amazing pinball godlike shots too.

The post AFM tunings in TPA are starting to make difficulty levels more of a challenge, but I constantly catch myself restricting myself to only make shots I think I could make in real life with TPA. For example, latest pack - Centaur, I can cradle on the right, and shoot vertical, the full length of the table, to hit the 1,2,3,4 advance target consistently and accurately, try that in real life. Consequently I've now banned myself from that shot and only shoot it from the left.
Pinbot - I can cradle on the left, shoot a powerful enough shot which travels in an 11o clock direction to float above the drop targets, which I can pick off on demand using nudges. Realistic? So again I now only allow myself to shoot from the right.
I make these self restrictions because TPA is meant to be realistic, Zen isn't, it's video game fantasy in the main, but very enjoyable when you accept it for what it is.

I'd personally say the Zen tables are no more easy than certain TPA tables, unless you self throttle possible shots.
I tend to Zen on my xbox, as it does have a save (not that I always need it), and it plays great in landscape.

I only TPA on my tablet, and sadly rarely play the newer tables due to not being able to complete a full game in the time I get for my work lunch. Plus I can't play TPA in landscape, it just looks wrong to me.
 

tizerist

New member
Apr 17, 2013
25
0
What part are you guys not liking about that playstyle? Were they saving during tables? Saving is against the nature of Pinball, I agree. I do use this technique on some hard older games like Super R-Type, but not for scores, and never for pinball. It doesn't work.

And I use my PB as my target as well. I have 54 tables and each high score is saved in a .txt document. I only have a passing interest in online leaderboards because those scores are but a pipe dream for me mostly.
 
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warh0g

New member
Jan 3, 2013
618
0
The problem for me while playing Zen is that i lose interest in what is going on.
Often monotone 1 track Music that does not change during ball lost, multiball or whatever. Sparse call-outs, I think the DMD could have been done better and the list goes on and on.
 

warh0g

New member
Jan 3, 2013
618
0
They already did....
6udu3e4a.jpg


I know everyone goes on about flipper gap, physics, ect... And no, I'm not the greatest virtual pinball player in the world, but I do not find Zen any easier than TPA.
TPA is ridiculously easy compared to real life, as has been argued in many threads on here.
I personally don't play many of the DMD TPA tables despite having a full set for the simple reason, I don't have an hour to play each time I sit down. For this reason I tend to favour the older TPA tables.

What effect does this setting have on the gameplay? Is it only on PC?
 

Baron Rubik

New member
Mar 21, 2013
1,852
1
It's available on all platforms with operator menu's (all of them I believe - it's on both Android & Xbox360), op menu's are free in Zen - no extra charge.

There are several preset settings (the one shown being the most difficult) or the individual features can be custom tweaked individually.
The items changeable being...
Playfield angle.
Tilt setting.
Mode timers
Number of balls & extra balls.
Even colour of DMD.
(might be more but at work and going off memory).

Leaderboard scores only work with default config settings though.
 

warh0g

New member
Jan 3, 2013
618
0
It's available on all platforms with operator menu's (all of them I believe - it's on both Android & Xbox360), op menu's are free in Zen - no extra charge.

There are several preset settings (the one shown being the most difficult) or the individual features can be custom tweaked individually.
The items changeable being...
Playfield angle.
Tilt setting.
Mode timers
Number of balls & extra balls.
Even colour of DMD.
(might be more but at work and going off memory).

Leaderboard scores only work with default config settings though.

Cool! Will check that out when I get home, thanks :)
 

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