What a challenge!

[Chris Dunman]

I'm with you Fungi, CV isn't worth the trouble but ST:TNG; absolutely brilliant.

Brutal punishment for poor shots, but real reward when accuracy improves with practice. Just as I remember the real mccoy if you'll excuse the pun.

I'm finding view 1 miles easier than any of the others, anyone agree?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I never had any problem with the ui but the fan hive said we needed a new one. Got their wish and it's awful.

Never had an issue with table difficulty. Fan hive did so now we got this and it is brutally hard, harder than the real table which I said would happen.

Pinball arcade fans: making the game worse since 2012.

Sorry if I'm bitter but yea, I'm bitter.

And by fan hive I basically mean the same two people.

I can only assume you're referring to me. Guilty as charged on the difficulty adjustment, although I wanted it to be an optional feature, not something forced on everyone. I never asked for a new UI, though.

 

[Fungi]

I can only assume you're referring to me. Guilty as charged on the difficulty adjustment, although I wanted it to be an optional feature, not something forced on everyone. I never asked for a new UI, though.

I don't think he was talking about you. I think he was talking about SerenSeven. Hah! I kill me!

 

[pezpunk]

i love it. i think they got it just right. and i totally agree about CV -- that one annoys me, but TNG feels just right.

 

[Jeff Strong]

The outlanes are by far the most brutal of any tpa table including unpatched CV.

The real ST:TNG is notorious for having some of the toughest outlanes in all of pinball. I honestly don't think any thread here had very much bearing on ST:TNG's difficulty because as a moderator I can see who has read threads, and Bobby hasn't even read the difficulty threads, and he's the guy who tunes the difficulty.

And as far as the UI/menu goes, Farsight said from the beginning that the original menu was only temporary until they added more tables and had time to update it, so it would've happened with or without our requests for a new menu. Plus, you can't blame the fans for their specific design decisions.

 

[Kolchak357]

I play a real one fairly often and it's a tough pin. But I find the outlanes a little too vacuum like and the flippers need a bit more friction on them (too slick). Other than that I think it plays and sounds great.

 

[Fungi]

Sheesh I suck at this table big time. But the audio alone just makes me smile so much, I'm having a hard time getting pissed.

 

[Mark W**a]

The more I cool off the more I'm ok with it.

I guess I'll just buy Pro Mode and set it to 5 balls since I suck so damn bad.

Like I said I know on Xbox I'll do great with it, and I'll probably be up in arms about how easy Twilight Zone is on Xbox. I just got MM and since it's kicking my ass too I guess it's just my lack of iOS skills that has alot to do with this. Still this has got to be eating casual players alive, and I'm not sure it's a good move for the product to make it this hard, but whatever, I got outweighed heavily in the arguments and this is the consensus on what people wanted.

I agree about what someone said about how this is not as annoying as CV. You're right. Star Trek, despite unabashedly destroying my ass, has me coming back for more and more.

As for the UI that's not the fault of anyone here.

 

[Fungi]

I like what you said about buying Pro Mode. I've been avoiding Pro Mode like a "Cirqus" but ST is kicking my butt so much, I like the idea of picking it up just to up the ball count.

Can you... up the ball count btw? I'd like to know before I plunk down the cash money.

 

[Mark W**a]

You can on Scared Stiff, the only pro mode I (was ever going to) own. I've never used the setting though.

Don't you think we both look like tools? I mean were you ever even CONSIDERING buying pro mode otherwise? We have to buy it because the table is too damn hard. Now I mean seriously think about that for a few seconds. That's not right dude.

But I am buying it and I am admitting defeat. Life's to short too worry about this stuff. I've put too much energy into this as it stands. At the end of the day it's a damn pinball video game and I no longer care I'm sorry to say. You wanna embarass yourselves Farsight with this buggy UI that looks like its from a chinese DVD player or car GPS, playing stock music that even local small town car dealerships would be ashamed to use in their advertisements, fine. Make the tables too easy, fine. Too hard, fine. I'm tapped out. I'm out for the count. I never had any problems with the game until I started gaming on my Iphone. On Xbox they were fine save Cirqus Voltaire and it's extreme bugginess and retarded difficulty. I was happy and I never felt like I was just part of some crappy beta test. I also didn't post here. Ignorance is bliss. It's the end I'm out.

Screw you Farsight, I'm going home.

 

[Lord Boron]

I don't mind the difficulty, with the exception that its compounded by nudging issues on the iOS. If the ball lands anywhere on top of the slingshots, its 99% guaranteed to go down the outlane. But that's pinball. It's not ment to be easy. Ad for those complaining about the music, you do realize its a nod to to the original PHOF.

 

[Mark W**a]

I don't mind the difficulty, with the exception that its compounded by nudging issues on the iOS. If the ball lands anywhere on top of the slingshots, its 99% guaranteed to go down the outlane. But that's pinball. It's not ment to be easy. Ad for those complaining about the music, you do realize its a nod to to the original PHOF.

And it was just as embarassing in 2009 as it is now. I bought the game just so I could show my buddy Whirlwind and Gofers, and he would not stop laughing at the background music and the announcers voice.

I play real pinball and when you miss shots, you are in danger. If you miss shots on Star Trek it's an instant drain. There's a big difference. That's why I said before if you try to make it as difficult as real pinball, it's a fail for the entire product. Like you said compounded with the nudging problems on mobile and it's one big exercise in annoyance.

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

I have no problems with mobile nudging. Place your thumbs near the middle of the screen and use "touchscreen" for nudging = problems solved.

 

[Fungi]

You can on Scared Stiff, the only pro mode I (was ever going to) own. I've never used the setting though.

Don't you think we both look like tools?

Yes... Yes I do.

I mean were you ever even CONSIDERING buying pro mode otherwise?

No... No I wasn't.

We have to buy it because the table is too damn hard. Now I mean seriously think about that for a few seconds.

Hold on.......... K.


Yeah, I'm buying it. It's hard, but it's fun.

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

I'm kinda with you Mark, and maybe again, this is just my personal view, but I prefer REAL pinball. For me, TPA is a great distraction and the best companion to playing the real thing. I never really minded that the tables were much easier than real life because it at least exposes new players to all of the potential of the real thing. I've found that while many of the shots in TPA are much easier to hit consistently, it's great practice for your timing. For example, I can hit the ramps on CFTBL all day on iPad, which in turn translated to hitting those same shots repeatedly about 75% more when playing the real table. So with that said, I really look at TPA as more of an interactive pinball learning tutorial. With that said, I still appreciate the difficulty of Big Shot, Medieval Maddness, and Ripley's Believe it or Not. Although I do agree, if the ultimate goal of TPA is the simulate the real thing as close as possible, I think they should do just that, and tune more towards realism. But if they're finding that their audience is split, maybe adding in a difficulty settings for those that want a more novice mode or a more PAPA tournament level of difficulty would be the best solution. As of right now, with the exception of the Twilight Zone, and with my personal level of satisfaction using TPA as an enhancement to playing real pinball, I feel like everything is at a nice happy medium.

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

addendum:
I think the Pro modes are great for everyone! And I plan on buying and using all of them. When I go to pinball shows, I always appreciate it when there are multiples of a certain table with one machine set to 3 ball and hard settings, and another with 5 balls and easier settings. It gives everyone a chance to play and appreciate the depth of a given table without the unforgiving restrictions of tournament play. When I'm playing for scores 3 balls is really a challenge, but when I'm playing for fun, 5 balls is definitely best. And with all of that said, Mark, I think you'll find that some tables in real life are just damn unforgiving. I know it feels like some tables on TPA are tuned with Auto Drain on the out lanes, but to me the problem would be that there simply isn't enough randomness to those probabilities. I would feel better about about it if it didn't feel like the ball is following one of only two predetermined paths. Anyhow, sorry to ramble on. But overall I'm happy with the level of difficulty, Twilight Zone aside. However, I just think the physics need a bit more randomness.

 

[karl]

What makes TNG a good challenge for me is that there is no easy shots. On TZ I can hit every ramp all to easy, but it is much harder on TNG. The ball is faster and the shots is tighter, but some how it feels like it is my mistake and not the game when I miss something and as long as that is the case it will motivate me to come back for another beating. PS! This must be the table with the least amount of bugs from the get go. The UI is far far away from perfect but I just do not understand all the strong feelings against it. I play tables not UIs. Maybe WIIUIS later. Did I just say that

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

I guess the point I was meandering about with is this:
If you play real pinball out in the wild, you've got no choice but to play at whatever settings the operator has set. The only way to control your preferred table settings is to buy your own table. So with that perspective, paying a bit more for Pro mode to adjust your preferred operator settings is really quite reasonable.

And yes, the UI is dreadful, but doesn't bother me as much since the tables are really what my eyes spend the most time on.

 

[Fungi]

Ok, I did it. I went "Pro" on TNG. I upped the ball count to 10 and immediately felt... cheap. The pressure no longer existed due to the lack of leaderboard potential. The game lasted way too long, and it wasn't due to skill, so no satisfaction. And now I have a local top score that I'm going to have a hard time surpassing while playing legitimately. I guess it's good for figuring out the dangerous shots, but I think I could've done that without going "Pro".

That's $4.99 gone.

You're welcome.

 

[pezpunk]

Eh don't sweat it, you can barely get a crappy lunch at McDonald's $5.

Farsight must feel like it can't win. They make the game easy and everyone whines. They make the game (realistically) hard and they still get complaints. Personally, I love the tuning of TNG ... It feels a more fair than CV and for that matter Big Shot, and it does line up with what little real-world experience I have with the table.