Stern Pinball Arcade first impressions

[McGuirk]

How in the hell do you launch this new product and still can't figure out how to properly enter high score initials? I didn't even get an overlay to do so on Star Trek.

Farsight, I love that you're doing your part to keep pinball alive. But I would love it even more if you were bought out by a much bigger company.

 

[Kinpin]

Its a f... disaster.....everthing is broken.....this is the final straw...never supporting these losers again.

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[Kinpin]

All the reviews on Stern Pinball Arcade are brutal...I guess its the end of my purchases...thought as much..they ignored the cab users anyway..So long Farsight....Pinball FX2 Skyrim here I come.

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[Lykaion23]

Gary would be an idiot if he allowed cab support, coz then he would give the software and would be sitting on his pinball machines. By the way this is an speculation thread for TPA and not a SPA thread

 

[HotHamBoy]

All the reviews on Stern Pinball Arcade are brutal...I guess its the end of my purchases...thought as much..they ignored the cab users anyway..So long Farsight....Pinball FX2 Skyrim here I come.

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They brought this on themselves. Releasing the game before it's ready and charging for a shoddy product just to capitolize on the holidays was a huge mistake and so was taking on more work than their team can manage.

Those reviews aren't going away and the already high table prices are going to drive away sales as it is. They needed to release a quality product that justifies the price hike, it's already a game with niche appeal. Buffoons.

It's a real shame, too, because the tables play fine. Star Trek is my favorite table they've released all year and I'm enjoying AC/DC. Mustang I could take or leave.

Zen Pinball has been excellent this year. The Bethesda pack has some of their best work yet. I really like Skyrim and Doom, strong designs that try to do something different.

 

[HotHamBoy]

They needed to release a high quality product that justifies the price hike. $10/table was already going to push potential purchases away. Instead they have messed up every launch on every platform, these are like alpha-beta quality builds, depending on the platform.

The Steam version should absolutely be labeled "Early Access."

It's a real shame that the game is going to be stigmatized with scathing reviews. Star Trek is my favorite FS release this year and I'm also enjoying AC/DC quite a bit.

It's not a good look for them. I don't think they can support TPA and SPA on all of these platforms and not have the quality suffer in both games. I don't see how they are going to be able to address the Master Issues list on TPA with all of these new SPA problems to worry about. Progress was already glacial.

Oh, and I don't understand why they are so behind on consoles, especially XB1. From my understanding they've only released 3 (!) tables from Season 5 on XB1. If I was a season pass holder I would be livid. That's unbelievable!

But, you know, at least we have all those Premieres and Alvin G's to look forward to in 2017.

 

[Heretic]

id look forward to more double em packs, some more sys11 stuff, a stablized spa and some grilled cheese

and that wasnt even a backhanded compliment

 

[HotHamBoy]

I'm extremely doubtful of getting more sys11 at this point. Double ems, sure. Stabalized SPA on certain platforms.

In reality, Ghostbusters is a game I'm looking forward to. I also really want The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, the latter for furthering my knowledge on how to play the real thing. I'm actually not a big fan of that table but I need to get better at it.

I think we will get Rollercoaster Tycoon after GB, though, which is cool because I've never played it.

If we get Batman 66 it would be a dream come true, that table is so expensive and I think it will be rather uncommon to see with the limited production. I just watched Stern's gameplay video and looks like they got a lot right (I'm a huge fan of the show). That said, I'm curious about how Farsight would handle the video on the LCD screen. I would hope it isnt super-comoressed but it's going to make the file size way bigger, regardless.

I really wish they would confirm whether or not they plan on adding more old Stern, Data East and Sega tables.

Although I could see them adding DE and Sega tables to TPA and SPA in the same month to lighten the load.

 

[Fungi]

Yay!

Patch
Community Announcements - MikeFarSight
Small patch today that fixes the following issues.

- Fixed keyboard input for gameplay
- Hide password on login screen
- Fixed config tool not remembering settings

More fixes coming over the next few weeks.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Until portrait mode, resolution/full-screen issues, and camera views are sorted out, I'm keeping away. Plenty of other things to keep me occupied.

 

[Fungi]

I guess I'm just encouraged by how quickly a patch of any kind came out. Judging by the past, one could see why I thought the worst and I'm happy at any morsel that's given.


But yeah, now that you mention it. I want my portrait mode!

 

[BostonBuckeye]

Until portrait mode, resolution/full-screen issues, and camera views are sorted out, I'm keeping away. Plenty of other things to keep me occupied.

Portrait mode on the PC was fixed with yesterday's patch for all the tables except Mustang. The top of the table is cut off with Mustang because the camera I believe is too close to the table. The home screen is still messed up in portrait though. The sides are cut off so you are unable to navigate the tables by clicking on the arrows. Though I am still able to navigate through the tables using my PS4 controller.

I have to say that AC/DC and Star Trek are two of the best pinball recreations Farsight has done for the PC and iOs. Mustang, which is very good on iOs, will be good too on the PC once they fix it in portrait. I can't stand playing pinball on the PC in landscape. On an iPad, due to different screen dimensions, I like playing in landscape occasionally for variety. I am slightly more impressed with the new tables for the iOs version (other than still only being able to enter one letter for my high score and having to let it time out to register) than the PC version. The tables really pop and are vibrant with the retina display. On the PC they look a little washed out and are not as vibrant. Could just be my monitor though as it is around 8 years old and only 720p. Farsight also did a nice job of tuning the new tables on iOs with the current physics engine. These tables will be perfect IMO if they are able to eventually add realistic ball spin and completely eliminate railroaded shots. There has never been a better time to break out Pinball Physics 4.0.

 

[Crazy Newt]

I purchased SPA on the PS4, but I almost exclusively play games on my PC. I have a 32" 2560x1440 Samsung monitor, so I was looking forward to the Steam version. I played in portrait mode (1440x2560) and recorded a game with Fraps at 60 FPS half size. I had the SPA launch utility at maximum video quality for 1440x2560 with the brighten ball disabled as it didn't seem to require it. The table settings were at 60% brightness (default) and 25% ambient lighting since I play in a poorly lit room at night.

The menu screen is a disaster using these settings, and I had to switch to windowed mode to close. My Xbox 360 controller or keyboard could not exit the game properly in this video format.

Anyway, the game played very well and I enjoyed it immensely. I've been wanting to play Star Trek as soon as I heard about it. I even considered purchasing a real table, but decided that it would only fit in my garage, and that would mean putting money into getting central air conditioning installed in the garage, as I could not let an expensive pinball machine sit in a sweltering hot garage all summer or a frozen garage in the winter. In the end, I just dreamed about owning this machine.

Here is the video I made.

 

[warh0g]

Disregarding Farsight's glaring quality problems with every release, I still support this product. Have bought table packs on PC and iOS. The mere fact that I can play AC/DC and Star Trek was way beyond my wildest imagination. Ghostbusers coming next and Whoa Nellie rumored aswell? Holy ****.
I hope they can sort up the mess of releases a bit better, but I will keep inserting coins either way

(Star Trek is so addictive, having a hard time putting it down).

I recorded some gameplay (not in portrait mode). I am not a pro player

 

[mattenno]

Is anyone here a beta tester? I've got 500+ hours on TPA and they said they didn't need beta testers. Not sure why not... and then they release the game half finished.

AC/DC plays well once you get it working. The physics are decent, the ball speed and shots feel OK.

The LED replication seems goofy. Seeing an insert turn pure blue, like the rollovers, seems silly. I'd be OK with those being clear or a white.

 

[Kolchak357]

Is anyone here a beta tester? I've got 500+ hours on TPA and they said they didn't need beta testers. Not sure why not... and then they release the game half finished.

AC/DC plays well once you get it working. The physics are decent, the ball speed and shots feel OK.

The LED replication seems goofy. Seeing an insert turn pure blue, like the rollovers, seems silly. I'd be OK with those being clear or a white.

Don't assume every bug you find wasn't already reported by a beta tester. Doesn't always work that way.
Fixes aren't always a five minute fix either.

 

[MisterVercetti]

All the reviews on Stern Pinball Arcade are brutal...I guess its the end of my purchases...thought as much..they ignored the cab users anyway..So long Farsight....Pinball FX2 Skyrim here I come.

What did it for me wasn't the reviews, but things I've heard on this very forum, such as:

A. Initial lack of keyboard support for PC (how do you screw up something so basic?)
B. Optimization horror stories, i.e. game runs slow even on high-end machines (for reference, my PC can run Overwatch on high graphical settings at 60 fps, yet TPA DX11 is slow as molasses on my rig, so I'd imagine I'd have the same problems with SPA).

Considering that PC is my primary platform for TPA (I don't trust console after the bum treatment it's been given on TPA, and my tiny screen makes mobile impractical at best for me), those types of issues are serious game-breakers. Seriously, I shouldn't have to spend thousands on a state-of-the-art gaming PC just to play a freaking pinball game. It's really a shame, too, because with my neck of the woods being a pinball desert, it's the only way I'll probably ever get to take a crack at some of the newer stuff like AC/DC and Ghostbusters.

 

[lettuce]

These table prices seem to suggest a premium product but doesnt appear to add anything new compared to TPA games, i was hoping for a better, physics. lighting and audio engine in SPA but sadly this doesnt appear to be the case

 

[Crazy Newt]

These table prices seem to suggest a premium product but doesnt appear to add anything new compared to TPA games, i was hoping for a better, physics. lighting and audio engine in SPA but sadly this doesnt appear to be the case

We are paying for the licensing more than anything else. These tables are more like recent releases of movies where the prices are typically higher.

 

[dtown8532]

My simple opinion on SPA. I'll buy them on PS4 for ten bucks a pop. BUT, not iOS. Just too much. I don't always buy every TPA release on iOS. And that's at five bucks.