Season Two - Your thoughts so far?

[pinbot-76]

I'm glad to see some classic 80's stern on the list... looking forward to Flight 2000. Space Shuttle seems a bit harder than on PHOF but they've improved it. Centaur is really sweet and a welcome addition. Makes me think they aught to add more tables that people vote for.

 

[alexk3954]

Any update on the flipper lag in season 2? I played this game way too much in season 1 and loved it. I played some zen pinball when I was waiting for some new tables and then for whatever reason when I booted up TPA the flipper lag was just unbearable, I guess I was so used to it before that I didnt notice, but now I cant stand to play even one game. Now I just havent been playing much virtual pinball at all

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

More than you could ever want to know about flipper lag: Flipper lag theory.

The short version is that there is 1 frame of lag at 1080p caused by the lighting post-processing. Any lag beyond that 1 frame is likely caused by something other than the game.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

Season 2 has been particularly great for 1980s pre-DMD solid-state machines, including my favorites from PHoF: The Williams Collection. The TPA adaptations of these have generally been better-done than in Season 1 (compare with Black Knight).

Firepower and Pin*Bot are among my favorite pinballs of all time, both in simulation and in real life, and having them here with better, generally harder ball physics is a joy. The persistent undetected-drain bug in Firepower is annoying, but tilting is an OK workaround.

Space Shuttle is a huge improvement over the PHoF version of the same table. I never warmed to Whirlwind in PHoF, I suspect because the Wii version's low-res graphics turned it into a messy blur, but it seems more fun in TPA as well.

Centaur and Flight 2000 are new to me, but they're terrific games from the same era, from manufacturers we really haven't seen in TPA before (early Bally and Stern are not the same as late Bally and Stern).

Probably my least favorite pack is Cactus Canyon/Central Park: Cactus Canyon doesn't really grab me (Champion Pub has a similar feel but somehow works much better), and while Central Park can be oddly addicting, it's less so than Big Shot. The pedant in me feels slightly annoyed that part of what makes it fun is the interpretation of specials as extra balls, which is a bit of a cheat.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Probably my least favorite pack is Cactus Canyon/Central Park: Cactus Canyon doesn't really grab me (Champion Pub has a similar feel but somehow works much better), and while Central Park can be oddly addicting, it's less so than Big Shot. The pedant in me feels slightly annoyed that part of what makes it fun is the interpretation of specials as extra balls, which is a bit of a cheat.

Many machines from the 50s and 60s came in both "replay" (special = credit) and "add-a-ball" (special = extra ball) versions. Sometimes the two versions shared the same name and art; other times they shared only their playfield. The add-a-ball versions were sold in locations where awarding free games was forbidden as "gambling".

EDIT: That being said, Central Park is the replay version of Hurdy Gurdy, yet the TPA version behaves as an add-a-ball machine. (Thanks Matt for the correction!)

 

[Matt McIrvin]

Central Park is the add-a-ball version of Hurdy Gurdy. Central Park's shots also score less than Hurdy Gurdy's, on the assumption that a game of Central Park will involve a lot more balls than one of Hurdy Gurdy.

Isn't it the other way around? According to IPDB, Hurdy Gurdy is the add-a-ball version, and Central Park is the replay version.

 

[Sumez]

The extra balls make going for specials a part of the strategy. So while it's not comparable to a real table set on replay, it really only improves the game.
Maybe there should be separate high score lists for tables on tournament setting with no extra balls at all?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Isn't it the other way around? According to IPDB, Hurdy Gurdy is the add-a-ball version, and Central Park is the replay version.

Oops! You are correct; thanks.

 

[brakel]

I didn't see the point in yet ANOTHER space game (Flight 2000).

Why does it matter what the theme is about? Just as long as it looks good and is fun, I don't have a problem with it. In real life many machines have a card theme (usually poker) or a pool (billiards) theme. We're bound to have a lot of overlap when it comes to themes as there are more and more tables. I would hate for FS to arbitrarily limit tables to completely unique themes. That would be weird.

 

[Ark Malmeida]

I love when people get snippy about an opposing opinion in a thread ASKING for people's opinions. Hahahaha

I play on PS3, so "The Champion Pub" and "Whirlwind" aren't available to me yet. I mentioned "Flight 2000" because I know I'm already "spaced" out. How many space themed pin tables do we have now? It's just repetitive at this point.

As for the rest, like I said, I wasn't that impressed. I had never played "Whitewater" before, so I was excited to try it out... but the game play got old real fast.

"Canyon" and "Dude" were neat, but again, they just didn't keep my attention very long. I'm ready for more of the Pins I grew up on, like "The Addams Family", "Bram Stoker's Dracula", "T2", etc etc. I will say that I enjoyed most of the tables in Season 1, however. I had never played a lot of those games, so it was a real treat.

Now I'm ready for tables I grew up on.

How was I getting 'snippy'? Seems like as a fan of TPA and pinball in general you would be able to find at least ONE table that held your interest. Hence the hard to please comment.

 

[ravager]

The extra balls make going for specials a part of the strategy. So while it's not comparable to a real table set on replay, it really only improves the game.
Maybe there should be separate high score lists for tables on tournament setting with no extra balls at all?

I totally agree with that. I also think there could be SOME kind of implementation of a credit system, so that specials are tallied, and not automatically extra balls. Since multiplayer is implemented so poorly on TPA, undeserving players get the multiball perks on say, Central Park, if you forget to turn off extra balls. But at least you CAN turn off extra balls on that table. That should be a universal setting: Specials Reward Extra Balls - on/off

edit: I just got promoted to senior member! Yay me! I want to thank my agent, manager, and team of lawyers, for without them I never could have accomplished this feat.

 

[superballs]

With all the Lawlor tables in season 1, the addition of Addams Family is actually not that interesting to me anymore.
It's a great fun table, but to me, half of it is in the theme. In terms of rules and playability, I consider No Good Gofers, TZ and RBION clearly better tables (or maybe I just don't know TAF well enough, but it does seem like a fairly simple table to me)

That said, TPA HAS to get TAF, it's such a definitive pinball table that everyone knows. It would be a huge gap in an otherwise near-perfect list to never get it.


I'm so hooked on LOTR lately! Played it a lot just yesterday, and while I'm still nowhere any good at it, I got dangerously close to destroying the ring last night. The rule set is so spot on, and the shots feel good - it has that quality that I also feel in ST:TNG, that whenever you do fail, it feels so obvious what you did wrong, and you blame yourself much more often than the table.

I'm not nuts about TAF but it really would be a definitive table and lend HEAVILY to FS's credebility with a more casual audience.
LOTR is an amazing table with a really good sense of progression. I love moving through the movies and getting multiball for the trilogy.

Honestly, not that impressed so far.

There's much better and higher rated tables that haven't been put out yet. I didn't see the point in yet ANOTHER space game (Flight 2000).

Terminator 2 will be the first time this season where I'd be happy with a table.

The point is, Farsight put it up to community vote, community voted and they listened. Other than that, I hope you don't think that we should only have one, say, movie themed table. After T2, we'll be done with that.

I totally agree with that. I also think there could be SOME kind of implementation of a credit system, so that specials are tallied, and not automatically extra balls. Since multiplayer is implemented so poorly on TPA, undeserving players get the multiball perks on say, Central Park, if you forget to turn off extra balls. But at least you CAN turn off extra balls on that table. That should be a universal setting: Specials Reward Extra Balls - on/off

edit: I just got promoted to senior member! Yay me! I want to thank my agent, manager, and team of lawyers, for without them I never could have accomplished this feat.

I agree with the credit system.

Honestly, I think the way it's implemented now should net you credits, which you can then use to compete for leaderboard high scores under tournament rules. With PAPA settings even.

 

[netizen]

undeserving players?

are those the useless eaters of pinball

 

[LanceBoyle]

I agree with the credit system.

Honestly, I think the way it's implemented now should net you credits, which you can then use to compete for leaderboard high scores under tournament rules. With PAPA settings even.

Kinda like with Pac-Man+Tournaments?

 

[wolfson]

i enjoy every table !!!!

Here is a quick rundown of what I think, but I'd like to hear what you guys think.

11 Dr. Dude + Firepower:
DR. DUDE looks and plays well. The sound quality is good and the table art is sharp and colorful.
FIREPOWER looks OK. The pop bumpers are not as strong as they should be and the game ending loop bug kills the fun when you are worrying about it. It should have been addressed by now.

12 Cactus Canyon + Central Park
CACTUS CANYON'S outlanes, the right one in particular, is too hard to see and this results in many unfair drains.
The ball also moves erratically and doesn't feel natural (sort of like the problem with AFM).
CENTRAL PARK looks nice, but the wizard goals are set a little insane IMO. NOT much to say about the audio here except that it's another table that would benefit from the ability to play BGM.

13 White Water + Space Shuttle
WHITE WATER's visuals seem blurry and lack detail. The ramps don't look as good as they should (see TOTAN for an example of how great they can look!). The music also seems more muffled than I recall.
SPACE SHUTTLE: I love....LOVE! how this looks and sounds here. It's as if the Farsight team rescanned all of the table art at a higher resolution and put extra polish on it. The table detail is crisp, colorful, and contains no blurry textures. The sound is clear as well, and it plays like a dream.

14 Centaur + Pin•Bot
CENTAUR is another winner for Season Two. The red/black colors really pop on here and the voices and other sound effects have some awesome bass and sound clear. I enjoyed this one with headphones!
PIN•BOT unfortunately did not impress me. The graphics were on the blurry and washed out side. I was hoping for something close to the detail of BOP, but it didn't come through for me.

So those are my thoughts for now.

 

[Gorgar]

How are the wizard goals on Central Park insane? I got them all on the first game after unlocking them. I actually thought that this was one of the easiest ones to complete.

 

[Kolchak357]

How are the wizard goals on Central Park insane? I got them all on the first game after unlocking them. I actually thought that this was one of the easiest ones to complete.

1,000 on a single ball is the only one that took me some time to get. That doesn't happen too often for most players.

 

[superballs]

1,000 on a single ball is the only one that took me some time to get. That doesn't happen too often for most players.

While this goal is proving to be a total pain in the behind for me. Well, it makes sense really, It's a wizard goal...I could see people not liking it if it was a standard goal, but at least one wizard goal should be really tough to achieve...i mean we're not all pinball wizards, so attaining them should be you know..an actual achievement.

 

[brakel]

1,000 on a single ball is the only one that took me some time to get. That doesn't happen too often for most players.

Its a tough one. I think the most I have gotten is about 750 on one ball.

 

[wolfson]

I am still trying, it has been fun going for the 1,000. I give myself a clip around the ear every time I fail !!!!! if I keep on failing I will end up with cauliflower ear haha !!!