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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sean DonCarlos" data-source="post: 33435" data-attributes="member: 152">On Atlantis, just keep at it, I was stuck at 5 letters for months, and then it all came together in one glorious game. Regarding the current difficulty, I agree - until it becomes adjustable through operator's menus, tournament modes, etc., it's about right where it is now.Tournament modes on most tables kill all extra balls and specials and replace them with point awards. And actually, when you play a table under tournament conditions, your focus is generally on avoiding risk at first. You take the safe modes, maybe you time out that ones that are hazardous and/or you don't like. You don't try to light the machine on fire at first; you try to "lay down a good foundation of points" as Cayle George would say. If you then find you're doing well, then you try to knock it out of the park by going after wizard modes, risky but lucrative shots, etc.I want the main game kept slightly easier for a different reason: I play a lot of real pinball and experience the frustration of missing some goal by a few shots or playing a set of way-below-average games in league regularly. Sometimes it's good to be able to fire up TPA and not have to fight a table at its full power. Sometimes I've just come home from a bad day at the office and I just want to play a few games and feel like something went right today.Now that I know the tables are tuned to reduce their difficulty, I have a feeling Twilight Zone might not turn out to be the monster I've made it out to be. Although I've not been exaggerating: the real one can be quite cruel. Even in a reduced-challenge state, TZ will still definitely rank among the hardest tables in TPA. But I agree on the whole elitism comment; I think sometimes we - myself included - forget that we're not very representative of TPA players generally, and that what is good for us might not be the right direction for TPA as a whole. Lack of time, mostly. That and I'm trying to improve my skill at real pinball currently, which is a lot harder and more time-consuming than improving one's skill at TPA.And actually, even if it was "too easy", that would affect everyone, so the relative skill (and presumably rankings) of the players would theoretically be unchanged.They've already got the major things mostly right. I'd say at least 98% of the time I am not at all surprised at what the virtual pinball is doing. There are some weird anomalies - the bizarre inlane acceleration in MM and HD, the collision issues with the flippers and table elements, and so forth - but most of the time things are as they should be. There are a few tweaks that need to happen still. We need better flipper physics, which will make the game easier. We also need a touch of randomization in kickouts and other physics to better mimic the slightly unpredictable elements of real tables, which will make the game harder. So the difficulty of TPA will vary over time as these tweaks are implemented. I think as long as we're headed in the direction of improved accuracy, even though we know it will never be 100% realistic, then I'm willing to give up some consistency and adjust to the changes along the way.</blockquote>

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