Share your first impressions!

[RhodyDave]

My 1st impression is not very favorable. I find the table horribly cluttered and the ball is almost impossible to see in the upper areas. It's difficult to see anything really, as far as where you're trying to shoot and what goes where. The sound problems have been addressed by others and I second those feelings.

I appreciate the job FarSight has done with this table - the issues I have with it are the designers of the table. I would however like to see less of tables like this.

 

[alexk3954]

I am liking the table now, but it will get old quickly. It is exactly like BoP in that there is a 2 ball multiball with such ridiculous scoring that it makes anything else on the table not worth your time. Just hit the center lane 50 times and crank up that jackpot value to a few hundred million, then get as many super jackpots as possible. At least the multiball is a bit more interesting than BoP. It is fun getting a super jackpot of 5 billion or more though!

 

[Kaoru]

Not exactly my first impression (it's rather the 10th or so), but an impression nonetheless... I'm not too big on this table, or pack #4 as a whole for that matter. All bugs and looks aside "Black Knight" is IMO a terrible table to begin with and it's not really fun to play... and "Creature" gets boring quickly. It's just too repetitive and there's not much going on on it in the end. Most of the time you're just busy collecting 16 million combos, or at least so it seems. And the left flipper sees way too little action. There was one game in which I had scored something like 500+ millions... and the ball never went into the right ramp/orbit even once!

Not my cup of tea this pack, I'm afraid. Finally bring on oooh-oooh-oooh-Taxi! Can't wait for picking up Lola and Gorby!

 

[shutyertrap]

So here's the thing. I'm still not impressed by CFTBL, but it turns out I can play the crap outta it and score big. So here I am playing a table I'm not that stoked on because I'm now chasing down leaderboard scores. Apparently I'm a masochist and didn't know it!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

And the left flipper sees way too little action. There was one game in which I had scored something like 500+ millions... and the ball never went into the right ramp/orbit even once!

Start shooting that right ramp. Four ramps is Snack Attack, a 20M hurryup at the snackbar. Eight ramps is Video Mode for 15M. These are not too exciting.

However, 12 ramps (plus a shot into the Snackbar before it times out) is Super Scoring, which runs Big Millions (5M+5M for the right ramp, no limit), Mega Menu (5M+5M on the menu targets, limit four), Intermission Time (a flat 5M on either ramp, no limit) and Super Creature Feature (5M+5M on whirlpool spins, limit seven) simultaneously. It's not as big a deal as a multiplied Super Jackpot, but it's a nice award to go for in between multiballs.

Plus, if you start multiball during Super Scoring, its timer pauses. (It's not like Monster Bash where the mode keeps running.) But, after you come out of multiball, Super Scoring starts up again with the timer reset!

 

[Kaoru]

Start shooting that right ramp. Four ramps is Snack Attack, a 20M hurryup at the snackbar. Eight ramps is Video Mode for 15M. These are not too exciting.

However, 12 ramps (plus a shot into the Snackbar before it times out) is Super Scoring, which runs Big Millions (5M+5M for the right ramp, no limit), Mega Menu (5M+5M on the menu targets, limit four), Intermission Time (a flat 5M on either ramp, no limit) and Super Creature Feature (5M+5M on whirlpool spins, limit seven) simultaneously. It's not as big a deal as a multiplied Super Jackpot, but it's a nice award to go for in between multiballs.

I know of this! My point was though that I had a pretty long game in which the ball barely touched the left flipper.

 

[shutyertrap]

When I'm playing mutiball, I trap one of the balls with the left flipper immediately and unless I need to shoot the right 'cave' to find the girl, I can play all the way to super jackpot without ever using the left flipper. So yeeeaahhhhh....

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I know of this! My point was though that I had a pretty long game in which the ball barely touched the left flipper.

Oh, my bad, I thought you were implying you weren't hitting the right ramp because you saw no value in it.

 

[shutyertrap]

Oh, my bad, I thought you were implying you weren't hitting the right ramp because you saw no value in it.

Well actually, there is no value in risking balls for it! This table is very much like BoP, in that once you realize where the points are, shooting everything else (except by accident) is a waste of time.

Its all about the multiball. Collect F-I-L-M, shoot the (what do we call these?) outer capture lane, start multiball. I try to shoot the right lane so that when I launch the ball, I let it dead bounce from left to right flipper and hold. The second ball launches and I leave my left flipper up and catch that ball. With my right flipper, I shoot the snack bar to look for the girl there. If she is, once the ball ejects down the left inlane, I shoot the creature ramp and continue to do so till I've reached 4x bonus. If she wasn't at the snack bar, I live shoot for the left capture lane. I don't always hit it immediately, but when I miss it tends to go up the creature ramp, which I'm gonna need anyway! If she's not there either, things get tricky.

First I'll shoot the creature ramp again, and while that ball is busy, I'll shoot the right capture lane with that ball I've been cradling in the left flipper this entire time. Hopefully I make it, cause if I don't, more often than not I'm screwed! Anyways, say I hit it. Once again it'll eject around the top and back to the left flipper where I once again leave the flipper up and let the ball bounce and settle. Meanwhile, that right flipper I'm continuing to shoot the creature ramp.

Note...often the ball will bounce on your left raised flipper, but more often than not, so long as you don't flip, the ball will either land on that flipper, or bounce safely somewhere else. If you do find yourself with 2 ball on that left flipper, just give a quick flip, don't even aim, and leave that flipper up! one ball will go its merry way, the other will probably settle nicely back into your cradle.

Okay, the point of all this prep. Hopefully you've gotten good at hitting both the creature ramp and the center lane up to P-A-I-D. Once you've collected your 4x bonus, shoot the center lane, and catch the ball once it comes down. Now shoot the Snack Bar to rescue the girl. You'll nab 40 mil for this cause of the bonus. It'll eject and immediately shoot the center lane again so you can once again catch and shoot the Snack Bar for jackpot. At the minimum, because of that 4x bonus, you're gonna score 150 million +. Again, hope you're good at hitting the center lane from a ball eject, cause now you need to send it up to the bumpers for a certain number of hits. That 4x bonus works on EVERY shot on the table now, so points rack up. Hit the required number, catch the ball as it comes down, shoot the Snack Bar for Super Jackpot. This will be double (or is it quadruple? never can tell) whatever the jackpot was.

Now you gotta find the girl again, but the 4x bonus holds. Rinse and repeat, only each time you do this (so long as you're on the same ball), the jackpot grows and it grows fast. I one time managed to do 3 cycles of this, and the 3rd cycle my super jackpot was worth over 3 billion points!

So like I said, who cares about risking balls for 5 million points? I risk my balls for starting multiball.

A second note...should you lose one of your balls in multiball after scoring a jackpot, the next time you start up multiball (if this is still the same ball), you can't get the 4x bonus. I'm not positive, but it may even be if you rescue the girl. Only a fresh ball (and yes, it can be an extra ball) will allow you to once again get that bonus. But even without the bonus, you're looking at collecting a hundred million easy if you hit the jackpot.

So yeah, I ignore all the hurry ups and concentrate usually on collecting the 4 targets to open the Snack Bar and give me that "I" in FILM. Unless my game is really a train wreck, I'm scoring at least a billion every time. If I could only get some consistency in my aiming for the two capture lanes...but I can hit that creature ramp and center lane at will with a live ball, and the snack bar 99% with a captured ball in the right flipper.

Anybody else care to share their strategies?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

There is some value in it. The right ramp is nice and wide, and easily looped. If your next multiball is going to be locked at 1X, you may as well get in a round of Super Scoring before and after. Three left ramps and three right ramps during each "half" potentially adds up to a quick 400M. (30M for Intermission Time, 140M for Super Creature Feature, 30M for Big Millions in each half.)

Again, not as much as a multiplied Super Jackpot, especially in later multiballs when the base has been doubled a few times. But 400M is not negligible either, and there's not all that much risk involved.

 

[neglectoid]

quote from FUNGI
"Is it ok to share my second impression? Being that I've never played this table ever before, I was totally unfamiliar with the actual physical makeup of the machine. So looking at it in video game form was really confusing. Is that a ramp or a chute? Oh, that's a scoop, not a target. Wait, where'd the ball go? And so on... So my first impression was that of me hitting the ball into an upper half full of junk and just hoping I'm hitting targets that do something. I might as well have been playing a horizontal pachinko."

i feel the same way fungi. i have seen this table IRL, but it was so long ago and i never played it. seems like everyone loves this table so i am gonna give it a solid hour of my time (after watching some tutorials you youtube).

 

[androidlove]

The left ramp is way too easy to go up. It's like there's a vacuum by it. I can even rebound up it.

It's really difficult to lose the ball in this game. Stupid mistakes or boredom end this game for me. I don't see me getting the high score, as I find myself wondering when the game will end, and then my mind just wanders off.

Despite all that, I like the theme. I'll go to it when I need a light diversion.

 

[ScotchYeti]

Hitting one of the center targets with the left flipper can cause an instant drain. If you avoid this shot you can keep playing for a long time.

 

[Dont Troll Me]

this table feels so right me likes alot
it is odd that i can hit that left ramp for ever is this the case on the real table too i don't think so

 

[pezpunk]

haha yeah i tend to just mindlessly send the ball looping around the left ramp for a few laps while i strategize my next move. it's about as easy as holding it.