Your 5 least-liked tables in TPA

[Ben Logan]

I have long felt that the following is an easy way to improve pinball sim sound: simply record more than one sample of each effect (flipper flip, ball falling in scoop, bumper, etc.), and choose a random one when it's time to play one. I think having, say, the ball-falling-in-scoop sound be exactly the same every time, hundreds of times per game, detracts from "immersiveness" (immersitivity?). I'm not saying this is the best solution, just a (probably?) very easy one.

Totally agree. FS recycles the same "chicklet" sounding effects at super low and crunchy bit rate for all tables. No love. I find myself posting almost exclusively negative comments here, only because TPA could be so much better if they put in just ten percent more effort!

(And a complete ball physics engine rewrite)

 

[wolfson]

the only thing that annoys me is the bloody music on Goin Nuts,El Dorado City Of Gold ,HAUNTED HOUSE .

 

[Pinballfan69]

For me any table that doesn't any multi-ball feature. I don't recall how many there are.

From the top of my head.

Gorgar

Big shot

Central Park

Genie

El dorado(s)

Upcoming 8 ball deluxe comes to mind too.

I just love Multi-ball tables and can't stand playing tables without them.

 

[invitro]

For me any table that doesn't any multi-ball feature. I don't recall how many there are.
Gorgar
Big shot
Central Park
Genie
El dorado(s)
Upcoming 8 ball deluxe comes to mind too.

Victory, Haunted House, Cyclone. I think that's all.

 

[Kolchak357]

On a real Central Park you can plunge all the balls at once and have all 5 zinging around if you wish. Not on TPA though.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

TX-Sector - This table still puzzles me. I just don't understand the appeal or popularity of this game at all. Bad layout, bad rules, bad gameplay. There's just no redeeming qualities.
Cue Ball Wizard - Maybe if this game didn't have such awful scoring and the worst video modes in history, it wouldn't be quite so bad.
Black Knight 2000 - Here comes the unpopular opinion. I never liked this game at all. Right Flipper Fest 1989. Boring as hell after the first few games. Grand Lizard is the true successor to Black Knight.
Phantom of the Opera - I wanted to like this game, but it just doesn't have anything going for it. My opinion of it actually got worse once I played it in real life because of that Data East build quality.
Safe Cracker - I don't hate this game, but I don't really feel like it belongs in TPA. I consider it more of a novelty game than anything else.

 

[invitro]

TX-Sector - This table still puzzles me. I just don't understand the appeal or popularity of this game at all. Bad layout, bad rules, bad gameplay. There's just no redeeming qualities.
Black Knight 2000 - Here comes the unpopular opinion. I never liked this game at all. Right Flipper Fest 1989. Boring as hell after the first few games. Grand Lizard is the true successor to Black Knight.
Safe Cracker - I don't hate this game, but I don't really feel like it belongs in TPA. I consider it more of a novelty game than anything else.

The opinions that are unpopular are actually of TXS and SC... they're rated higher than BK2K. TX-Sector is actually the highest rated of all the Gottlieb/Premiers. Indeed, higher than all the pre-DMD Ballys, all the pre-DMD non-Williams tables. Anyway, you didn't mention sound. That's the key to its popularity.

I have kind of the opposite opinion on SC. I don't like it much, but I do think it needs to be in TPA. I think finding a real SC that gave out tokens would be very, very hard. (If I ever came across one, I would play it until it no longer gave out tokens.)

 

[Snorzel]

Last Auction 0$ (credit for apt name goes to @Captain Bizarre)
LCA terrible art theme and "humor" imho
Black Knight rules in real life, unapologetically jacked up in game
HD (followed closely by CBW then HRC) too 'Sternish'
El Dorado City of Gold why release this version when literally every single pin with the same layout would be a better choice

the lack of bug fixing on ToM and MB are pushing them into Black Knight territory unfortunately. Check in annother day and I may feel spite towards an entrely different group of tables, that said I still want all of them in game

I love the EMs 1 ball games and SC TXS and BK2000 so to each their own

 

[Kolchak357]

Too "Sternish" ^
Love that

 

[invitro]

Too "Sternish" ^
Love that

Sternish bad, Sterno GOOD.

 

[vikingerik]

the lack of bug fixing on ToM and MB are pushing them into Black Knight territory unfortunately.

What's wrong with these? They have the cruder season 1 feel to the physics, but I'm not aware of any outright bugs with them. The camera on MB behaves fine for me on PC.

 

[David T. Melnick]

What's wrong with these? They have the cruder season 1 feel to the physics, but I'm not aware of any outright bugs with them. The camera on MB behaves fine for me on PC.

---------
no problem with these 2. However, I hate BK2K.

 

[Snorzel]

What's wrong with these? They have the cruder season 1 feel to the physics, but I'm not aware of any outright bugs with them. The camera on MB behaves fine for me on PC.

ToM mirror is outa commish still and I get the MB multiball cam bug with every multiball. I tried checking the game files through steam and it found and fixed 2 files but no change in DX11

 

[invitro]

ToM mirror is outa commish still and I get the MB multiball cam bug with every multiball. I tried checking the game files through steam and it found and fixed 2 files but no change in DX11

Do you mean when multiball starts in MB, the camera zooms out for a second, then back? Because if so, that's more of a design feature than a bug . The bug is when it zooms out and stays that way until multiball is over. (No, I don't know why Farsight is so stupid about cameras & views, either.)

 

[invitro]

What's wrong with these? They have the cruder season 1 feel to the physics, but I'm not aware of any outright bugs with them. The camera on MB behaves fine for me on PC.

The mirror above the Bonus X lanes went missing on the DX11 version, some time ago, I don't know if it's back.

 

[Fungi]

The bug is when it zooms out and stays that way until multiball is over.

I got this the last time I played ST:TNG on iPad. Does anyone know if it still does that? I haven't touched it since.

 

[Snorzel]

Do you mean when multiball starts in MB, the camera zooms out for a second, then back? Because if so, that's more of a design feature than a bug . The bug is when it zooms out and stays that way until multiball is over. (No, I don't know why Farsight is so stupid about cameras & views, either.)

Yeah it zooms out and just stays. I tried activating/deactivating event and multiball cam none of that helps. It would be awesome if farsight could add an option to turn off the plunger cam completely

 

[Zevious Zoquis]

Yeah it zooms out and just stays. I tried activating/deactivating event and multiball cam none of that helps. It would be awesome if farsight could add an option to turn off the plunger cam completely

Very much in agreement there. Who's idea was it to include 3 plunger cams when you could simply stay in whatever your usual camera view is and shoot from that??? And the 3 plunger cams are all terrible to boot! Almost useless...

 

[vikingerik]

Do you mean when multiball starts in MB, the camera zooms out for a second, then back? Because if so, that's more of a design feature than a bug

What it's really doing is zooming to the plunger view. (If it's zooming out, that's because you have the zoom-out plunger cam selected.) It's doing that because, briefly, there is only one ball in play (before the ball locked on the Franky ramp to start multiball gets going) and TPA doesn't yet know you're in a multiball and can't tell the difference between this situation or any ball-start in the plunger. The same thing happens for Monster Bach/MoR before the ball in the scoop comes out.

The bug is failing to return to the regular view. It never happens to me on PC though. Heck, it's a misfeature that MB has a plunger cam at all, it's totally unnecessary with a fully automatic plunger and the skill shot target in full view from the regular position.

And yes, it's an oversight that by now TPA should just have an option "stay on the goddamned regular camera no matter what!"

 

[invitro]

What it's really doing is zooming to the plunger view. (If it's zooming out, that's because you have the zoom-out plunger cam selected.)

The bug is failing to return to the regular view. It never happens to me on PC though.

I didn't think I needed to mention that the camera change was to plunger view because I thought that was well-known, sorry for any confusion .

FWIW, the zoom-out plunger view is the correct one to choose for any table in which (a) broken multiball camera is a possibility and (b) there is no particular reason to choose one plunger view over another. This is because it minimizes the damage caused when the multiball camera breaks; on MB, it actually doesn't cause a great deal of damage IMO with the correct camera view selected.

The new GUI has acerbated these camera problems because the check and barred-circle options seem to be reversed some of the time.