Zen Pinball FX3 Williams Pinball Volume One

[shutyertrap]

I would think that May/June 2019 would be great release window for Fastbreak, right around NBA Playoffs/Finals time.

Take my money, please. Also would be amazing if they could do annual roster updates. So you pick the year you want to play, and the roster matches. Pipe dream? Sure. But ya gotta ask!

 

[shutyertrap]

So when do we get Rollergames?

Heavy. Breathing.

 

[rehtroboi40]

It took more than six years for FarSight to release the WMS tables for TPA. Obviously I'm not expecting more than a gradual trickle of WMS property tables for PFX3.

But that said, the beta looks freakin' sweet! Everything looks sharp and the gameplay seems to be a lot more challenging (in a good way!)

Buying these again? I'm all in!

But it does bring new hope for releasing WMS not previously available. We'll see...…….

 

[scendr]

Got home & had a chance to play them. They look great! The physics are more challenging/faster than I'm used to with TPA, but I guess they also represent how badly I perform at the real arcade, sooo...

The only thing that bothers me is that it's really hard to nudge without a danger warning, which makes shots like the MM castle gate basically suicide?

 

[Nomorestalker]

First impressions...... OMG.

Things I'd like to see

1. A true cab camera. Side rails being in the screen remind me of the early non supported TPA in cabinet option of the default cameras.
2. The option to lower the nudge strength. I use buttons mapped to key bindings as a nudge. two pushes is an automatic tilt. There's still some room to nudge without a warning. would be nice to have a sensitivity slider.
3. Let us remap the menu navigation. TPA let's me use buttons to navigate the UI, I shouldn't have to go grab the mouse between every game.
4. Second monitor back box display - The button to view it is great, but I should be able to see this at all times.

overall I am VERY impressed by the effort in a presumably short amount of time and congratulations to Zen for permanently opening my wallet to them.

 

[shutyertrap]

How's everyone enjoying the challenge of these physics?

I ask because the demo I'd been playing prior to this release was a bit nastier, and I liked it. The ball was a little harder to control, outlanes more hungry if the ball bounced on the rubber. Can we all agree that this is more difficult than Pinball Arcade versions? And have you all tried the tournament setting, as that supposedly has the posts adjusted and the scoring is obviously set differently (and no extra balls). Just wondering how vicious you guys would like these to play.

 

[wilbers]

It took more than six years for FarSight to release the WMS tables for TPA. Obviously I'm not expecting more than a gradual trickle of WMS property tables for PFX3.

But that said, the beta looks freakin' sweet! Everything looks sharp and the gameplay seems to be a lot more challenging (in a good way!)

Buying these again? I'm all in!

But it does bring new hope for releasing WMS not previously available. We'll see...…….

Nobody else seems to have thought of it, so I've added a poll for that.

 

[Nomorestalker]

How's everyone enjoying the challenge of these physics?

I ask because the demo I'd been playing prior to this release was a bit nastier, and I liked it. The ball was a little harder to control, outlanes more hungry if the ball bounced on the rubber. Can we all agree that this is more difficult than Pinball Arcade versions? And have you all tried the tournament setting, as that supposedly has the posts adjusted and the scoring is obviously set differently (and no extra balls). Just wondering how vicious you guys would like these to play.

I'm loving it. I am frustrated by the 1:30 timer and didn't think I noticed too many changes in physics so I booted up mm in tpa. I can't go back.

Edit: I can't go back to that specific table, I played star trek with the real machine and tpa being my only comparison and my brain let me enjoy it.

 

[thefly0810]

Take my money, please. Also would be amazing if they could do annual roster updates. So you pick the year you want to play, and the roster matches. Pipe dream? Sure. But ya gotta ask!

An annual roster update would be awesome!! It never hurts to dream

 

[Citizen]

So when do we get Rollergames?

Who even owns that license now?

 

[shutyertrap]

Who even owns that license now?

That was the issue FarSight ran into. They were able to identify 2 different holders, but one they couldn’t find any contact info for, and the other wasn’t interested in talking.

 

[mystman12]

How's everyone enjoying the challenge of these physics?

I ask because the demo I'd been playing prior to this release was a bit nastier, and I liked it. The ball was a little harder to control, outlanes more hungry if the ball bounced on the rubber. Can we all agree that this is more difficult than Pinball Arcade versions? And have you all tried the tournament setting, as that supposedly has the posts adjusted and the scoring is obviously set differently (and no extra balls). Just wondering how vicious you guys would like these to play.

I'm loving it. Funnily enough, I actually had my best game of Fish Tales in tournament mode, managing to get two jackpots and almost a third. Last I checked I ranked #1 in tournament so that was cool! I'm excited to have these games in a sim where I won't have to worry about having and endless game every time I play.

 

[Plungemaster]

Yeaaaaaahhhh!!!! Yes! Wohoo!!! So happy with this news. Bring them on!!!

Online scoreboards and all extras from zen, really awesome.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Well I saw it with my own eyes when I visited FarSight in June.

There's a Whoa Nellie/BBH beta running on Android as we speak.

So it's definitely happening.

 

[Zaphod77]

I've been loyal to farsight, and this news really saddened me, but i have to try this.

If Fish Tales and Getaway feel right (and Junkyard pwns me as hard as the real thing does) I will be very interested. Fish Tales and getaway both felt bad to me in TPA, though Fish Tales felt far worse. and yes i've played it in real life with the lightning flippers.

That said, Zen Studios absolutely knows how to put in railroads. If you don't think so, play spider man and use the upper flipper. Nearly any reasonably aimed shot goes either up the side ramp or into the peter parker hurry up start.

I have confidence that they will exist, though if they are done right you won't notice them. When we are slaved to a 60fps refresh rate, shots become impossible without very well chosen railroads. If there are truly no railroads, i will probably get extremely frustrated. Pinball honestly needs a very high timer resolution, physical resolution, and frame rate to not use railroads. maybe say 240 fps and enough timer resolution to hit any frame.

Without that, railroads are a necessary evil to make stuff even possible, at least from the flippers.

 

[shutyertrap]

I’ll be very interested then to hear your take Zaphod. These are still not finalized, and Zen absolutely wants this forum’s feedback. I absolutely want this version to be as brutal as anything you’d find in the wild, so if Junk Yard isn’t, let them know. I’ve been looking for obvious railroads these past 3 weeks with the tables and haven’t noticed any. I’ve hit the same orbits multiple times in a row and had different ball reactions. These are not the same physics as the normal Zen tables have, but put it to the test anyway.

 

[superballs]

Licenses have never really been a huge issue for Zen. They seem to have much more financial leeway to do as they please. They've gotten Star Wars, Marvel, South Park, etc, which bodes well for possibly racking up licenses with other companies (maybe Data East if FS doesn't want to touch them).

Overall, this is bittersweet for me.

I've been playing TPA since the original 4 tables launched, and while I did burn myself out on it, I have most of what they offered (except some of the last tables as I missed the deadline).

Zen with actual tables is a great thing though, their polish is only matched by Pro Pinball.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Alright, played it a bit more. Things to keep an eye/ear out on:

1) Music and sounds seem quiet on this set of tables than on any of Zen's originals, on default settings. Hoping they'll make them louder without getting worse quality. I don't want to play a Williams table then have an original blasting my ears away.

2) Nudging needs refined badly. Since I play on keyboard, each nudge is full power--auto warning. Nudging on the Bally/Williams games needs to be a lot softer. I'll get by without death saves for now. (Also check for nudge passing, because that's not supposed to happen.)

3) Not certain if everyone will agree with me on this, but that ball can ROCKET off of a flipper sometimes. Also am not certain if flippers are still being refined for things like cradle separations, live catches, etc.

4) FAMILY MODE OPTION. The dragon animations, for instance, are currently censored on Medieval Madness.

5) Are some quotes for MM missing? Specifically, the opening quotes for Francois Du Grimm and Lord Howard Hurtz.

6) Sometimes the game doesn't recognize certain switches on the playfield when activated. Notably on Fish Tales, when plunging and firing a slingshot.

7) The music on Getaway can get off-sync.

Still, overall impression: WOW.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I actually like the nudging not being OP for a change. I’m down for some refinement, but PLEASE don’t make it as ridiculous as TPA nudging. Singlehandedly ruined the game for me years ago.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

I actually like the nudging not being OP for a change. I’m down for some refinement, but PLEASE don’t make it as ridiculous as TPA nudging. Singlehandedly ruined the game for me years ago.

It's really that much of a tricky thing, to be honest. Just getting some things off of my chest. Was thinking more along the lines of Pro Pinball nudging.

YES to no TPA-style nudging. Kind of why I hate these long games at times.