Table Pack #72 Speculation Thread

[Blkthorne]

You love the game because you love pinball and a lot of these tables.

No one *loves* TPA. I put up with it because I have to but it's only my passion for pinball that keeps me coming back. It's downright garbage software and its only strength comes from the pre-existing pinball tables it attempts to simulate.

I may not "love" TPA(Farsight), but I least give them credit and enjoy the tables they released, now close to 100 tables and counting, to play in my home that I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. I never really cared about pinball during the Golden Era of arcades in the 80's or even when arcades had their second wind in the early 90's with all the fighting games, but TPA has really got my interest and is one of the few games I still play today which says a lot when other games tend to fade after a few days/weeks of play.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

They should just give us the rest of the System 11 tables that we don't have. Most of them are non-licensed themes and they've already perfected Sys11 emulation.

Grand Lizard
Road Kings
Fire!
Millionaire
Bad Cats
Big Guns
Jokerz!
Mousin' Around!
Police Force
Space Station
Transporter the Rescue
Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball
Pool Sharks
Radical!
Riverboat Gambler
Rollergames
The Bally Game Show

I mean, it's a pretty solid lineup. Other than Millionaire, Pool Sharks, BBBB (licensing headache anyway), and Game Show, I've seen at least a few requests for all of these games in the past.

 

[Kolchak357]

Would make a good poll. Plenty of good sys 11 choices there to choose from. My top three would be Rollergames, Mousin’ Around, and maybe Bad Cats. But there’s at least 7 or 8 that I really want.

 

[shutyertrap]

An entire season of System 11? Sounds like heaven.

 

[Gorgar]

I'm actually pretty surprised that Farsight went with a lot of the pre system 11 solid states for season 7 over filling up the season with system 11s. Don't get me wrong, I love the tables they included in the season (although Firepower 2 is a bit too similar to the original Firepower), but I would think that the system 11 games are the most popular among casual fans after the DMD era ones (which all of the remaining ones require licensing)

 

[shutyertrap]

I liken System 11 machines to the games that come out near the end of a console’s life cycle. Squeezing every last bit of performance out of the constraints given, often times the games become more creative than when given a seemingly unlimited power. When DMD came out, there may have been more ‘stuff’, but the focus wasn’t as refined as it was with System 11. It is kind of my gripe with the video screen games of JJP and now Stern. They’ve taken one step forward and two back. They’ll get there once again, but those early efforts are often not on par with the last of the last gen.

 

[DA5ID]

I’ve played game show, it’s not a bad table. Think it would be a solid addition

 

[rehtroboi40]

I may not "love" TPA(Farsight), but I least give them credit and enjoy the tables they released, now close to 100 tables and counting, to play in my home that I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. I never really cared about pinball during the Golden Era of arcades in the 80's or even when arcades had their second wind in the early 90's with all the fighting games, but TPA has really got my interest and is one of the few games I still play today which says a lot when other games tend to fade after a few days/weeks of play.

I had been playing this game longer than any other. But now that FarSight has taken to pathologically messing up tables, I don't play as much. Even Sorcerer (one of my most wanted tables) didn't turn out so well. As much enthusiasm as Banzai Run seems to generate, I'm not optimistic about it-FarSight can't even seem to get single-playfield tables right. And now they're taking on a double-playfield game?

Sure FarSight is closing in on 100 tables, but every new release renders at least two-more tables unplayable. How much fun is everyone having with Ghostbusters right now?

 

[Blkthorne]

I had been playing this game longer than any other. But now that FarSight has taken to pathologically messing up tables, I don't play as much. Even Sorcerer (one of my most wanted tables) didn't turn out so well. As much enthusiasm as Banzai Run seems to generate, I'm not optimistic about it-FarSight can't even seem to get single-playfield tables right. And now they're taking on a double-playfield game?

Sure FarSight is closing in on 100 tables, but every new release renders at least two-more tables unplayable. How much fun is everyone having with Ghostbusters right now?

I just play the SPA version til they get the TPA one fixed, have a ton of tables to play so I'm not in any hurry for a patch. Not saying there isn't anything to complain about, Pistol Poker patch destroyed my high scores, but really no biggie for me since I play just for the fun of it anyways.

 

[shutyertrap]

Can we please stop with the “unplayable” rhetoric? I have played this game since day one and have yet to come across a table that simply would not play. Not saying there haven’t been issues, but some have said a table was unplayable simply because an insert didn’t light up. I have had game crashes, but usually only in beta.

As for Ghostbusters, what is the problem? I can’t run it on my PC, but I just checked iOS and it’s working. If you are posting about an issue, ALWAYS state what platform you are experiencing the problem with. Describe exactly the issue, do not just speak in generalities.

 

[Citizen]

They should just give us the rest of the System 11 tables that we don't have.

+1

There are about 10 I'd really be happy to see. Especially Fire!, Jokerz!, Mousin' Around, Rollergames and Bad Cats.

When DMD came out, there may have been more ‘stuff’, but the focus wasn’t as refined as it was with System 11.

T2 was in that first batch in '91, but otherwise yeah.

 

[rehtroboi40]

Can we please stop with the “unplayable” rhetoric? I have played this game since day one and have yet to come across a table that simply would not play. Not saying there haven’t been issues, but some have said a table was unplayable simply because an insert didn’t light up. I have had game crashes, but usually only in beta.

As for Ghostbusters, what is the problem? I can’t run it on my PC, but I just checked iOS and it’s working. If you are posting about an issue, ALWAYS state what platform you are experiencing the problem with. Describe exactly the issue, do not just speak in generalities.

First off, under my devices it says PC. I use DX11 exclusively. Right now TPA is on 1.69.4.

EATPM-crashed upon starting all five times I tried to start it. Unplayable-yes. Rhetoric? NO!
Haunted House-crashed upon starting all five times I tired to start it. Unplayable-yes. Rhetoric? NO!
GB-Has a terrible stuttering frame rate not present prior to 1.68.xx. It's still playable (I'll give you that), but not very much fun, and reaction times for flippers are messed up. Rhetoric? NO!

I'll not disagree that "unplayable" is an overused term, and I'm guilty of it as well. But the first two examples are perfect.
I still play Road Show despite the horizontal line across the table (can also be seen in pro mode table exploration).

 

[shutyertrap]

Perfect, thank you. When looking at the mobile version of this site, you don’t see the devices used or any of that other info.

I will have a look at those tables myself and see if I have same issue. I’m assuming you’ve filed a support email? If I get the same crashes I’ll make sure to mention it in the podcast for this week.

 

[switch3flip]

Sorry SYT the situation is not exaggerated.

I don't know what happened to black hole on steam (dx11 and dx9) but when starting multiball the airlock remains closed so balls drain from lower playfeld instead of entering main playfield. The physics are broken too. Drop targets shoot the ball harder than any pop bumper if a ball touches them and flippers have crazy power too. Playable? Lol.

Last release goin' nuts would crash the app but they seem to have fixed it now.


However, entire dx9 app seems to be collapsing or something. It's running worse and worse. Lot's of tables that never had close to any issues are getting lag and stutter problems. I see it in other peoples streams too. At the moment for me dx11 runs better than dx9 on the same resolution and quality settings and same settings in nvidia.

I've reported the goin'nuts issue as I was curious to play it after I listened to blahcade podcast and heard goin' nuts physics had been retuned but whatever.

 

[Blkthorne]

First off, under my devices it says PC. I use DX11 exclusively. Right now TPA is on 1.69.4.

EATPM-crashed upon starting all five times I tried to start it. Unplayable-yes. Rhetoric? NO!
Haunted House-crashed upon starting all five times I tired to start it. Unplayable-yes. Rhetoric? NO!
GB-Has a terrible stuttering frame rate not present prior to 1.68.xx. It's still playable (I'll give you that), but not very much fun, and reaction times for flippers are messed up. Rhetoric? NO!

I'll not disagree that "unplayable" is an overused term, and I'm guilty of it as well. But the first two examples are perfect.
I still play Road Show despite the horizontal line across the table (can also be seen in pro mode table exploration).

Tried out EATPM on Steam DX11 and it crashed for me with the pinball.exe message not working or something to that effect, Haunted House just doesn't have the background music for me which I've seen reported on these forums, and GB still stutters a bit when playing in TPA since the Pistol Poker patch, barely see the horizontal line under the "Road Show" in the middle of the table, really didn't even notice it til you pointed it out.

 

[shutyertrap]

We made this the main topic of our podcast today. Hopefully shining a bit of a spotlight on it. As Jared pointed out though, this is a 10 year old engine with probably many years of ‘data debt’. All software gets it, which is why Zen has probably gone through the 3 versions they have.

 

[Snorzel]

I really want a next season, imho farsight have been improving the game, The new art guy Matt gives some hope for the future, I hope for a confirmation soon and will pick up the season pack on release

I too hope for more bug fixes and refinement, keep up the great work farsight guys

 

[9u1d0]

Sorry SYT the situation is not exaggerated.
I don't know what happened to black hole on steam (dx11 and dx9) but when starting multiball the airlock remains closed so balls drain from lower playfeld instead of entering main playfield.

I've noticed the same on Black Hole on iOS during the latest tournament.

 

[HotHamBoy]

+1

There are about 10 I'd really be happy to see. Especially Fire!, Jokerz!, Mousin' Around, Rollergames and Bad Cats.



T2 was in that first batch in '91, but otherwise yeah.

System 11 is probably my favorite era of machines. I don't think they're the best but there's just something about them that's so kitschy and appealing.

Rollergames, Radical & Fire are probably at the top for me of the remaining System 11s.

Mid tier: Mousin Around, Space Station, Jokerz, Big Guns, Cyclone, Game Show - though I've barely played Space Station so I'm just going by that impression. Cool design.

Bottom tier is Road Kings, Police Force, Bad Cats

#NeverBadCats

I've never played Riverboat Gambler, Millionaire, Pool Sharks or Bugs Bunny

I can't remember if I have played a Grand Lizard. I think if I did it was a rough one.

IMO all the other top-tier Sys11 tables are already in TPA.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

We already have Cyclone, lol.

Bump up Space Station to the upper tier; I've played it at ReplayFX and it was a fun game. Great music and effects too.

Grand Lizard has more or less the same layout of Solar Fire. I've played both, but I'm not sure if we want Solar Fire in here as well.

BACK FROM THE TX-SECTOR OF THE DISCO PINBALL DIMENSION!