Why don't players like Gorgar?

[night]

I know some of you won't relate but..Gorgar is such a satanic looking table, isn't it?. I mean...could it look any more evil? I feel like I'm being a bad Christian when I play that table... Like I would never play that one in front of my mom.

When you spin a Beatles records backwards you hear satan's voice. Or do you 'think' you hear it? People seem to have a very primitive opinion about the looks of evil. I bet Ted Bundy had a very friendly face.. it must be otherwise he would have been a very unsuccessful killer.
The image of 'Satan' is created by humans, just as the image of Christ is created by humans. No one will ever know how Jesus looked like, yet every church seems to have an opinion about that.
To think that evil looks like a red guy with horns and sharp teeth is truly an illusion that only lives in the human brain. In the middle ages images of good and evil where used by the Church to scare people and gain control. I doubt if this point of view has changed during time. The same symbols are used today by these holy institutions. We will become like Gorgar when we play with Gorgar! You should think twice before you start to believe in the good or bad of such fabricated images. Jesus on a crucifix or a scary devil are just artists impressions. Gorgar is as good or evil as you want to see it.

 

[mmmagnetic]

I think another element of why I find Gorgar so compelling is that it looks so simple, and yet can be over so quickly. Even well scoring runs don't last that long, and the ball is in always going somewhere, not stuck while some complex audiovisual fireworks is going off. "Well, THAT credit was just to warm myself up, I can do this much better." And boom, the next three balls gone.

I only got his heartbeat really fast once so far, and it really seems to plug into the human subconscious - because it really made much more nervous as well. It feels like a "fever mode" - in the most literal sense of the word.

But yeah, the glitch when the beat suddenly cuts out really breaks the immersion. At first I thought I had killed Gorgar

 

[bonch]

Though the older tables were before my time, they're a refreshing change of pace and better if you just want to play a quick game without devoting yourself to a complicated ruleset. I enjoy the manic variation in ball speed, from very slow to suddenly slamming around the play field. After playing the modern tables for a while, the ball behavior can start to feel a little too predictable.

I also really like Black Hole's satisfying klickety-klack bumper sounds. I wish the mechanical sound effects of the machines were louder on all the tables.

 

[bonch]

I think it's hilarious, myself. It's so Seventies over-the-top, like something you'd have seen painted on the side of a van, with the mostly-naked barbarians facing the big goofy devil guy with the seven-word vocabulary.

The most 70s pinball table I've seen is Future Spa. I desperately want to play it. What do you say, Farsight? Delay Twilight Zone so we can all enjoy some Future Spa...

 

[an ox]

haha Future Spa is one of the tables I remember from when I was at Uni. Future Spa, Gorgar, Black Knight and Kirk-era Star Trek are the ones I remember. Future Spa was weird, extra-wide .

As for Gorgar I think he's just misunderstood. The fact that Gorgar speaks means he wants to communicate with you, he wouldn't have gone to the considerable effort of learning 7 words otherwise. Maybe he's just trying to rescue those ladies. I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt when he cries out ME HURT. Maybe he's just having a bad day, poor thing. And those horns are kind of cute .

 

[RetroBlast]

By no means am I legally blind but I like things that are easy to see and pop out at you, take my avatar for example, simple, visually stimulating, and beautiful. I'm with Jeff when it comes to pinball tables, I like ones that are less cluttered and with harder shots. I honestly can not even see half the things on some of these pinball tables ... there is just too much going on on the table and because there is so much on the table, graphically, the images of each item are smaller so that everything can fit in the correct perspective on the screen. Mind you most of my pinballing is done on the Vita and on the go for TPA and that is mainly because when I am home I prefer to work on games that can be completed because at this point I have too many games I have not finished. Once I finish a few of my games, I will play more tables on my PS3 ... it really is a treat to see them on a big screen and once TPA is offered on PC with cabinet options .... That will be the ultimate way to go for me .... I will be able to see everything in its intended view. So even though I have not played Gorgar yet, it looks like I will like it considering my two favorite tables at this point are The Black Hole and Bride of Pin*Bot.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

I only got his heartbeat really fast once so far, and it really seems to plug into the human subconscious - because it really made much more nervous as well. It feels like a "fever mode" - in the most literal sense of the word.

The audio on some pinball tables can actually do a lot to unnerve me. Gorgar and Funhouse are both cases where I can get higher scores with the sound off. But it's not quite the same...

 

[Matt McIrvin]

Gorgar has a relatively simple, uncluttered layout, but, on the other hand, the graphics on the playfield are incredibly busy and the detail can be distracting. When I was first playing it in PHoF on the Wii, I had to learn to filter that out. One thing that helped in PHoF was that when you complete the wizard goals on a table, you can customize the appearance of the ball, and I could use a light-colored one that stood out more.

 

[Fungi]

Yeah, I always got a kick out of using the happy face in Gorgar. Just seems wrong.

 

[bavelb]

I don't like gorgar because I like complexity, tricks and strategies in my pinball to score high, or get a cool mode starting, with a good balance between risk and reward. The lamp in TOTAN is a perfect example of this for me. Even the simpler Black Hole has these more complex strategies and a build up to good scores.

That's not to say I only like 90's DMD. Funhouse and Taxi are in my personal TOP 5.

Gorgar is far more pure, and I can appreciate it because of that, but where the fan says "pure" I pronounce it "barebones". When I play it by todays standards I keep thinking, for the love of god give this table a third flipper, lanechange and a multiball. Also, the heartbeat is annoying as crap, and I think the art is ugly.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Woohoo: just broke the 1 million barrier! Good enough for #6 on the overall leaderboard....but I know that won't last once the console versions make their debut....but hopefully my score will be better on consoles too.

 

[Richard B]

People don't like Gorgar because it isn't emulated, so it doesn't play properly.

 

[Richard B]

Woohoo: just broke the 1 million barrier! Good enough for #6 on the overall leaderboard....but I know that won't last once the console versions make their debut....but hopefully my score will be better on consoles too.

The 360 has separate leaderboards, so only PS3 (and Vita) owners will enter the arena. However, many console owners complain that the Android and other portable versions are easier, and apparently have all the top records.

 

[Jeff Strong]

The 360 has separate leaderboards, so only PS3 (and Vita) owners will enter the arena. However, many console owners complain that the Android and other portable versions are easier, and apparently have all the top records.

True, but then others complain that the touchscreen versions are harder because of the lack of precision with the controls and trickier nudging.

 

[Chris Dunman]

I have to say I wasn't looking forward to this table. I dimly remember playing it when I was a kid on the isle of wight way back when.

Now, I'm a huge fan. This is one of the best tables in TPA for me. Would love to see more of the same ilk

 

[FurVid]

Love this table and love Gorgar. Not at all Satanic, unless you're counting the sympathetic portrayal in South Park. Could you imagine doing battle against Satan and having him whimper "You hurt Satan". I can't.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah, I definitely want more early SS machines.

 

[Brian Clark]

I like how some of the early Williams SS machines like Gorgar have the same sound effects as some of the early 80s Williams games.

 

[Fungi]

I like how some of the early Williams SS machines like Gorgar have the same sound effects as some of the early 80s Williams games.

Oh yeah. Gorgar, Firepower, Defender, Stargate, Joust, Robotron, and Blaster all share various sound bites.

 

[Fuseball]

Oh yeah. Gorgar, Firepower, Defender, Stargate, Joust, Robotron, and Blaster all share various sound bites.

Very similar sound boards... and more importantly, Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar (the guys who created Defender, Robotron, Stargate and Blaster) were involved in the programming of those pinballs. Black Knight too.