PS3 DLC Impressions

[Tabe]

More general thoughts on the DLC:

- the method for installing, involving having to redownload the demo, is just plain stupid. It is truly inconceivable to me that Farsight botched this. Blaming it on the "patching process" is just lame when no other company has the same issue. This one's all on you, Farsight, hate to break it to ya.

- the original four tables, as others have mentioned, are too dark. They were too dark before, now they're really too dark.

- for me, anyway, flipper lag appears to be gone. YES! That's pretty darn awesome, I must say.

- the physics of the ball appear to be vastly improved. The issues with the flipper action - other than lag - do remain. The still comes off the flippers on occasion at impossible or incorrect angles and the ball definitely still goes through flippers.


In general, I am pleased but not exactly overwhelmed.

Tabe

 

[Jeff Strong]

One word... Holy Sheet! The neon in that mode strobes. It strobes! Turn off the lights in the house and you could rave! Seizure warnings will be required. Man I hope we get BK2k.

Hahahaha.....even when the neon flashes when you just hit the ramp or summon the ringmaster, it's a thing of beauty. I just played with the yellow neon and it was lighting up the whole table, reflecting off of pretty much everything.

 

[Jeff Strong]

- When Rudy spits out the ball after you get the million point shot at midnight, it pretty much invariably drains. I know this occurs on the Kindle Fire version as well. It blows my mind that that got past QA.

- There needs to be a camera movement or angle that allows us to see what shots are lit on the Steps gate shot. We could move the camera in PHOF, why hasn't this been included in the TPA version?

Nudging almost always prevents that for me. Seems like there needs to be a bit more randomness here in the path of the ball though....and I agree about the Steps shot camera movement.

 

[Fungi]

TotAN is not too dark at all. I find it perfect. I always found the art to be so colorful and busy, that I would often lose track of the slingshots, but with the new lighting, the playfield is just dark enough to still be able to see the art, while the slingshots are lit up. The balls seem heavier tho'. I'm sure they are more true to life now, but I've been playing the floaty versions for so long, I have to readjust. All these tables are so awesome now, I may have to stop playing my iPad version altogether. Yeah right.

 

[Jeff Strong]

TotAN is not too dark at all. I find it perfect. I always found the art to be so colorful and busy, that I would often lose track of the slingshots, but with the new lighting, the playfield is just dark enough to still be able to see the art, while the slingshots are lit up. The balls seem heavier tho'. I'm sure they are more true to life now, but I've been playing the floaty versions for so long, I have to readjust. All these tables are so awesome now, I may have to stop playing my iPad version altogether. Yeah right.

I'm loving the new TOTAN physics. The ball was just a bit too quick for me before.

 

[Jan Duin]

Thanks for all the info guys. I’m still on the fence whether to get the EU version today (IF it comes out that is ) and wait for the DLC or go and buy the DLC for the US version. Does the US demo allow you to try out the DLC tables?

 

[Fungi]

Well, in my situation, I had the full paid version first, then after downloading the demo to get the update, the other four tables showed up in the menu. Choosing the new tables allow you to play for free up until a certain point value. After which, you can quit the game and start again, or buy a two pack.

They are so good. So good.

 

[bavelb]

Damn it, I'm gonna have to go and buy the PS3 DLC while waiting for the Xbox DLC to drop, won't I....

 

[Jeff Strong]

Damn it, I'm gonna have to go and buy the PS3 DLC while waiting for the Xbox DLC to drop, won't I....

Maybe your lag problem will be fixed like some people are reporting.....you could always try the demo tables.

 

[bavelb]

Maybe your lag problem will be fixed like some people are reporting.....you could always try the demo tables.

I almost hope it isn't fixed, so I don't "have" to buy the DLC 3 times (playing on PC is a bit of a pain). Will at least do the demo tonight to see the new lightshows

 

[Jan Duin]

Can't wait! Will get the US DLC tonight!

 

[Kaoru]

I wanted to play just one more game of Ripley's to see how much the table changed after the update. As it turned out that one game lasted nearly an hour. It's so much more playable and fun with all those crap drains removed. Love those new physics!

Apart from that from the new tables I mostly played the ones I already knew from PHOF. MM has become a lot more slicker and elegant... and Funhouse now plays exactly like I remember it from years ago. Chunky and noisy. *lol* I suppose I'll never get behind the appeal of Rudy's little pinball shack.

 

[The Doctor]

The new physics are astounding and I think the lighting is much better now... I always thought Ripleys was pretty garish but now that it's darkened it definitely looks better.. Black Hole looks great now.

 

[BonzoGonzo]

Yes, it's random each time you go into the table. There are 7 colors.

oh my god YES!!!

i was thinking about it, how it could be made possible and you guys actually made it on your own... YES YES YES

freaking awesome...


p.s.

after reading all teh posts so far, cant say how excited i am for the xbox update and the dlc.................

cv is one of my favourite pinball machines ever in rl (never played a red one) , and i'm just so glad i hear the lighting is great...

and the random colours? oh yes yes yes


p.p.s and the improved physics off course!!!

shame the physics engine apparently still gets wonky sometimes (ball trough flippers, ball from the playfield getting suddenly on teh ramp), but i don't mind that much... besides it will be fixed eventually right? right??

 

[ScotchYeti]

The DLCs are awsome. I can also report that the input lag is gone (or down to a minimum) which is absolutely fabulous! The old tables suddenly make much more fun. It should be enough to redownload the sw, no need to purchase the DLCs to benefit from the fixes.

"Medieval Madness" looks and plays fantastic. It's different compared to the PHoF version so I need to re-train my castle shots but I happily do this.
"Funhouse" also looks and feels great. It's easier compared to the old PHoF version, I can't remember how often the ball went to the left outlane (especially after hitting Rudy) but this doesn't happen here.

CV's right outlane is very greedy...

 

[bonch]

I'm not sure if this is a glitch or not, but twice now on Cirqus Voltaire, I've had the ball fly THROUGH the right side of the field and off the screen into space, never to be seen again (another ball then appears on the plunger)

This happened to me yesterday on the iOS version. The ringmaster was raised, and the ball hit the back side of the hole and was quickly flung to the right.

 

[Captain Rumwood]

Love the new tables, the tweaks to the originals and the new lighting.

Word.

Looking at the 360 version now compared to this is like a night and day difference. You 360 guys are going to be blown away if we get this same lighting and color balance in the next 360 update. It's just soooooo much better.

I'm actually getting distracted by the grooviness of the light show in multiball and losing balls because of it....never had that happen before today.

That has happened to me too. Now when I see that multiball's coming, I focus on the area close to the flippers. Sometimes it catches me off guard and I lose the gaming ball. . . . .

 

[Sinistar]

Thanks for the BOP and CV video Sinistar...Funhouse please...if you have time.

Also, can anyone tell me how Neon Multiball looks with the PS3 lighting? Since the mobile devices are lacking HDR lighting, you don't get the overwhelming visual effect of Neon Multiball.

More on the way , had a night's rest and some coffeee this morning and got The Bride to let me transform her , I'm not one to complain aboout the choices a game dev makes, but the ball's gravity seems set way too high , is the ball heavier or is there a new physics dynamic set in that says the tables are on a incline? Does anyone else get the same impression? Might take some getting used to , it's like the game has had difficulty notched up.

 

[JPelter]

I've been wondering about something that may or may not fit this thread, but what do people mean when they say the ball goes through the flippers? I know about the thing in the black hole lower playfield left flipper, but other than that in probably well over a hundred hours of playing the original 4 tables I've never seen any balls go through flippers. Is there some specific spot I can see this happening at or am I just blind?

 

[BonzoGonzo]

sometimes it just happens, you raise the flipper to stop the incoming ball, and the ball goes on through... like the flipper aint there at all...

and sometimes the ball gets transported from the playfield up on the ramp, when it obviously should be under it...

and sometimes the balls seem to hit eachother in multiball, even though they didn't really connect with eachother at all...

stuff like that

rarely, but it does happen

p.s. and flippers sometimes hit the ball that is underneath the flippers (usualy when its going to drain, but not always so low), even though they do not connect at all