TPA on the PS4 - First Impressions

[brakel]

My wife picked up the disc for me today. For convenience I'm also going to buy the digital version but if there's one game that I might want to play in 20 years its TPA. So now I have the disc.

I'm just going to make a list of my first impressions.

Lighting - looks great on some tables like ST:TNG but misses the mark a little on some like Medieval Madness. It's still better than the PS3 but there are bloom areas on MM and an even stranger dark void. The light shows on every table I've tried though are fantastic!

Textures - better than those screen shots we first saw. Monster Bash I can read the CD titles better than the PS3 version. There are going to be people who say that it should be even better than it is but at least it is better than the PS3 version.

Physics - I need to play more to decide if I think it has changed. Flipper physics seem to be the same.

Flipper lag - I couldn't detect any flipper lag. I was looking at the flipper and flipping just when I was seeing the ball start to roll off the end and I was still hitting the ball. The tighter triggers help with a better feel also. I don't think flipper lag will be an issue anymore.

Multiplayer/multiple controller - TPA on the PS4 does not support multiple controllers just like on the PS3. I'm a bit disappointed in that. My wife and I played two player tonight and I guess the good news is that it's easier to switch control to the second controller on the PS4. You only keep one controller on. When its the next person's turn they turn on their controller and log in as the same person who started the game (no multi controller support so no per controller login support either) when they choose the same login the PS4 automatically turns the other controller off. Easier than switching with the PS3. I can live with this even though it's still stupid!

Overall this version looks great and plays better!

 

[smbhax]

Thanks man, you're feeding my jonesing for tomorrow. : D Too bad multi-controller support wasn't on Sony's must-have checklist I guess, dang. You're right about the PS4 controller switching, I've already been doing that by accident with my friends on other stuff. : P

How's Black Knight??

 

[joeblow]

Thanks for the impressions. The first thing I'm testing with my PS4 digital version tomorrow is if they ported in the right orbit glitch from the PS3 version of Attack from Mars. If that issue is absent, then the upgrade will have already scored an 'A' in my book.

 

[PiN WiZ]

Thanks man, you're feeding my jonesing for tomorrow. : D Too bad multi-controller support wasn't on Sony's must-have checklist I guess, dang. You're right about the PS4 controller switching, I've already been doing that by accident with my friends on other stuff. : P

How's Black Knight??

Black Knight isn't ROM emulated on the retail version, but on the digital version...

 

[Tabe]

It is unbelievable to me that Farsight still doesn't support multiple controllers despite supporting it in PHOF and having it requested in TPA well over a year ago.

 

[smbhax]

Black Knight isn't ROM emulated on the retail version, but on the digital version...

Whoa so you're saying they're different?? Hadn't even thought about that, I guess I was wondering mostly what it looks like on PS4, I can't remember seeing it yet.

 

[smbhax]

Thanks for the impressions. The first thing I'm testing with my PS4 digital version tomorrow is if they ported in the right orbit glitch from the PS3 version of Attack from Mars. If that issue is absent, then the upgrade will have already scored an 'A' in my book.

The AFM orbit thing *should* be corrected, along with all the other "megapatch" fixes. We'll see though!!

 

[PiN WiZ]

Everyone please keep in mind that the retail version was submitted months ago so that it could get approved by Alliance Digital Media/Sony and have the discs pressed/shipped in time for release during the PS4 launch window. This means that the retail version will require a patch to bring it up to the standard of the digital version.

 

[brakel]

Thanks for the impressions. The first thing I'm testing with my PS4 digital version tomorrow is if they ported in the right orbit glitch from the PS3 version of Attack from Mars. If that issue is absent, then the upgrade will have already scored an 'A' in my book.

That's the first table I played but I only played one ball. I probably hit the right orbit three times and didn't get the SDTM glitch. Would need more play to confirm.

Everyone please keep in mind that the retail version was submitted months ago so that it could get approved by Alliance Digital Media/Sony and have the discs pressed/shipped in time for release during the PS4 launch window. This means that the retail version will require a patch to bring it up to the standard of the digital version.

Yes, I thought of this when my wife asked me if she should buy it. But we were at least $34 curious about the differences! It's going to be strange to have two different versions of the same tables on the same platform. I was also curious if the disc version will get any fixes or UI updates or the like. The PHoF for the PS3 could have used some updates and fixes but it never got any despite that fixes and updates to PS3 disc based games were pretty common even back when PHoF came out. I would think that the same patches and DLC couldn't be used for both the disc and digital versions because they are different SKUs. Would it fall on Alliance to submit updates for the disc version?

 

[Dumahim]

MM and an even stranger dark void.

Not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I was watching the Twitch stream last night and the guy pointed out a black circle that sort of spun around near the top of the table. He exited out of the table and went back and it seemed smaller, but was still there. Being on the Star Trek table, I joked about it being a black hole. It did look like a little black hole moving around a bit.

 

[brakel]

An update on lighting. I thought I was going to like the dark setting the most since that replicates my real life pinball experiences the most. After playing around some more I've found that the tables that I didn't like the lighting so much (MM and CV) look better to me in the neutral setting. Cirqus Voltaire looks absolutely amazing in neutral. Great light show! This one is the table where you actually see the DMD in the table view and the DMD looks kind of fuzzy. I'm hoping that's fixed along with some of my lighting issues on the digital version. I don't remember seeing those in the version that I played at the Chicago show.

 

[MegaDrive (Mark Wyda)]

Thanks for the impressions. The first thing I'm testing with my PS4 digital version tomorrow is if they ported in the right orbit glitch from the PS3 version of Attack from Mars. If that issue is absent, then the upgrade will have already scored an 'A' in my book.

It's gone and the pop bumpers are powerful. Big improvement over the PS3.

 

[Dinosaur Toy]

I may have found a bug: table nudge in Black Hole is not working. The left stick is dead while playing that table. I'm on the PS4 digital download version. Nudge on every other table tested so far is working.

I guess any scores set on Black Hole will be, for now, incredibly legit!

 

[smbhax]

Very first impressions:

- Black Knight looks keen
- BK might still be a bit glitchy though, I had one ball come through the bottom of the top ball lock instead of locking, I don't think it was supposed to do that--could be wrong though; also had the second score HUD thing appear flickering for a moment, was weird unless that's some kind of momentary bonus display I've forgotten about?
- Dark lighting setting seems to be the way to go; Neutral a bit dull, Bright is *VERY* bright, think Genie PS3 ; )
- No flipper lag, yay yay yay
- Still no volume setting, grrr (EDIT: have since requested it on their FB here)
- Gold ball finally has textures right (vs PS3 version), probably a little too yellowy for me though, think I'll stick with Silver
- Oh yeah and the Pro bundle comes with the custom premium table balls, that's nice I guess
- Flyer scans are decent resolution now : )

 

[smbhax]

I may have found a bug: table nudge in Black Hole is not working.

Uh there is also no nudge in Big Shot. : o

EDIT: Can't nudge in Genie and Gorgar, either. Looks like all the older tables? Oh you can nudge in Black Knight and Taxi, though. But this does kinda make BH, BS, Genie and Gorgar (maybe more, haven't tried all tables yet) sorta unplayable. : P

 

[brakel]

Very first impressions:

- Black Knight looks keen
- BK might still be a bit glitchy though, I had one ball come through the bottom of the top ball lock instead of locking, I don't think it was supposed to do that--could be wrong though; also had the second score HUD thing appear flickering for a moment, was weird unless that's some kind of momentary bonus display I've forgotten about?
- Dark lighting setting seems to be the way to go; Neutral a bit dull, Bright is *VERY* bright, think Genie PS3 ; )
- No flipper lag, yay yay yay
- Still no volume setting, grrr
- Gold ball finally has textures right (vs PS3 version), probably a little too yellowy for me though, think I'll stick with Silver
- Oh yeah and the Pro bundle comes with the custom premium table balls, that's nice I guess
- Flyer scans are decent resolution now : )

The ball will come out of the bottom of the top lock if you haven't earned the lock yet. If I'm remembering the real table correctly you can lock balls right out of the plunge but if you drain you need to complete something that I don't remember to earn the lock.

 

[smbhax]

The ball will come out of the bottom of the top lock if you haven't earned the lock yet. If I'm remembering the real table correctly you can lock balls right out of the plunge but if you drain you need to complete something that I don't remember to earn the lock.

Ah okay that's probably all right then.

 

[Dinosaur Toy]

Uh there is also no nudge in Big Shot. : o

EDIT: Can't nudge in Genie and Gorgar, either. Looks like all the older tables? Oh you can nudge in Black Knight and Taxi, though. But this does kinda make BH, BS, Genie and Gorgar (maybe more, haven't tried all tables yet) sorta unplayable. : P

LOL! Welp, until they patch it I guess these count as the "hardcore" tables.

 

[smbhax]

Not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I was watching the Twitch stream last night and the guy pointed out a black circle that sort of spun around near the top of the table. He exited out of the table and went back and it seemed smaller, but was still there. Being on the Star Trek table, I joked about it being a black hole. It did look like a little black hole moving around a bit.

I think that might be the ball shadow. There've been two times now on two other tables (Black Knight and Big Shot, I think maybe) where just after launching the ball, I noticed the shadow flickering near the plunger lane, kinda by itself for a moment.

 

[smbhax]

An update on lighting. I thought I was going to like the dark setting the most since that replicates my real life pinball experiences the most. After playing around some more I've found that the tables that I didn't like the lighting so much (MM and CV) look better to me in the neutral setting. Cirqus Voltaire looks absolutely amazing in neutral. Great light show! This one is the table where you actually see the DMD in the table view and the DMD looks kind of fuzzy. I'm hoping that's fixed along with some of my lighting issues on the digital version. I don't remember seeing those in the version that I played at the Chicago show.

The DMDs you see on other tables too when the camera scrolls up to show the back-box (in attract mode or Pro menu editing mode, for instance) are also lacking dots, or the dots are all merged together I mean so it looks like a LCD screen or something rather than a proper DMD.