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Any recommendations for good beginner or lower intermediate tables (for actual physical pinball)? I've played a fair bit of video pinball off and on over the years, but haven't touched a real machine in a very long time. We have a great pinball focused arcade here and I want to start taking advantage, but I don't really know a whole lot about real tables. Any ideas would be great, but even better if it's on their list here. I know real machines are much tougher than the games, but something that's not too brutal and not super complicated would be great.
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Jul 31, 2013 06:43
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japtor posted:I'm always amazed at huge lists like that, and subsequently disappointed that I'm no where near whatever location. Considering the only physical one I've played recently is the Dark Knight one, I'll just say it's not too hard* or complex to figure out, and the crane gimmick is pretty neat/fun. Clouseau posted:If you're interested in playing but the rulesets and such seem a bit intimidating, I'd recommend playing a bunch of the eighties alphanumeric tables (e.g. Big Guns) they have there. The rules are generally straightforward, and you'll pick up what to do within a couple plays. Starship Troopers is pretty easy to learn too, hit each target however many times the display in the center of the table tells you to, and then you get a lot of points. Thanks guys! I had a chance to go by there today and played a bunch of tables, I really liked the Dark Knight in particular so thanks for that. It seemed pretty comprehensible though I don't totally understand everything on it yet. I liked Starship Troopers also though it did seem to be worse for drains. Nudging especially is so much different on a real table, that will take a lot of getting used to!
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Aug 2, 2013 23:07
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Even if the gameplay was good on the VP/FP games (Future Pinball physics in particular are absolute garbage), they still wouldn't be competition because the UX is unbelievably loving awful. It takes literally dozens of clicks, signups on obscure message boards some of which have donation-limited downloads and so on and so forth just to get the things installed, much less play a table.
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Aug 14, 2013 05:54
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Last I read on their forums is that portrait mode won't be there for launch.
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Sep 3, 2013 01:03
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I'm not a fan of it either, I think Tron is a much better hard pin. There seem to be plenty of experienced players who like IM though, and I am green as hell, so it's possible that I just don't know what I'm talking about!
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Sep 4, 2013 08:20
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I friended you three dudes who linked your Steam pages, if anyone else wants to add me I could use some more pin friends! FX2 and I'm sure I'll get a few TPA tables whenever it finally comes out on Steam. http://steamcommunity.com/id/sometymes
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Sep 24, 2013 06:15
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Terminally Bored posted:Crossposting from Steam thread, a brief Star Wars: Balance of the Force pack for PinballFX2 report. After a couple games on each, I think Vader is my initial favorite. Some fun shots, lots of points, nothing that was really annoying me. Don't know about that Starfighter table, seems to be a lot of extraneous BS going on with the Galaga mode and things flying all over the table, flashing stuff seemed a little misleading, and I found the art to be a bit blendy/unclear especially the slings. The tables I don't like often grow on me so I will have to give it some more time. Ep 6 seems good so far, just played through a couple scenes and not much else though. Funny that they stole the outlane nudge area from WOZ, it seems to activate the ball saver really easily though. I guess I could have just gotten lucky all 4 times I sent a ball down there.
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Oct 17, 2013 04:49
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I think it's more because of the analog stick than the game itself. Subtle nudges are tough and I can't even imagine shaking out of an outlane with it. As far as the hard nudge strength, I think it's about right, though you definitely can get away with more on a real machine sometimes (or often on the less tilty ones). They are really just totally different things though. On FX2 you basically get what it considers to be a full strength nudge every X seconds, it's totally predictable, but you (or at least I) never do any subtle stuff. Whereas on real tables, there's an endless series of little slaps and shoves to try to get the ball to go where you want it, and the interaction of hard shoves, the tilt bob, and time is much less predictable.
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Oct 17, 2013 06:07
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Naw I don't agree with that, you can definitely save it from going down the middle with a nudge. It's not too hard since there is so little room for the ball there to begin with. But I probably use it most often for passing to the opposite flipper when the ball is coming down the inlanes, which without the nudge I generally find more difficult on FX2 than on real tables.
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Oct 17, 2013 06:19
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Nah their next one is The Hobbit and they are obligated to have it out at the same time as the movie. I think they've got their hands full with those two.
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Oct 20, 2013 20:32
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chesh posted:Did you guys see the worst announcement at Expo? Man, if I had spent 8 grand on WOZ, which still doesn't even have complete code, I would be loving livid about that.
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Oct 20, 2013 21:55
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I think the third, larger one is for having the high score amongst your friends on that table.
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Oct 20, 2013 22:24
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roffels posted:I don't claim to be a good pinball player, and I don't even know if this is a good score. All I know is I've been working to be grand champion on this machine for months, and I finally hit it. And it's exhausting. I put in a good 40-50 minutes and I was literally shaking and sweating at the end. I truly had a moment and looked for a like button on this post and was disappointed when I couldn't find it. Nice job dude.
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Oct 27, 2013 07:00
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Eegah posted:Farsight teased their new project and uh... they may want to stick with pinball. It's like when somebody else's little kid shows you a picture they drew and your eyes get a little wider and you say "ohhh, that's wonderful," while you're thinking "holy gently caress what the hell is this supposed to be, what am I supposed to say about this?"
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Dec 23, 2013 00:01
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Farsight employee spotted.
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Dec 23, 2013 00:04
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For me it's always ball three after I totally poo poo up the first two, and then I just end up thinking about what could have been...
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Jan 15, 2014 07:13
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Yeah - on the real machine, at least the one I play on, the ball definitely can drop in to the back/side of the box and end up triggering the front sensor. I'm not totally sure if it's happened on a skill shot, but it's awarded from the front sensor so I don't see why not. I don't think it's a rules issue as much as it's a matter of the setup of the sensors in/around the box.
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Feb 11, 2014 07:37
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ReverendHammer posted:Thanks for confirming. On a real machine I can see where it's possibly a mechanical reason. But since we're talking PA I wasn't sure if they were replicating a real world situation or if the code was specifically meant to allow that. As far as I know all the TPA DMDs are running ROM emulations; the code for the game itself is exactly the same as the arcade version. TPA simulates the processor(s) and I/O and so on. Of course the actual TPA "sensors" are just bits of code and are unlikely to behave exactly the way a real one does, but Farsight or not I'm sure they took note of the weird arrangement around the box and somewhat recreated it.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:35
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My kingdom for Lord of the Rings or ACDC or SPP in digital form.
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Feb 14, 2014 19:19
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Kind of conflicted about this soccer table, seems too easy to keep the ball alive and too tight on a lot of the shots, though that's probably just my awful aim at work. On the other hand the rules seem pretty neat. Feel free to add me for scores and so on, always looking for more pin friends on steam! http://steamcommunity.com/id/sometymes
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Feb 20, 2014 05:20
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The defense hurryup is actually not so bad. The more time shot is easy to hit and adds about 10 seconds? So you can just whack it every time the ball is on the right flipper and it gives you quite a long time to finish it. I think it's also ok value, they are at least half-jackpots, but for real scoring on this table it's super jacks all day. Getting the 3 player locks and removing all the defender targets before shooting the goal is crucial for big points, I just let the ball drain out if I accidentally put it up there with more than 1 defender target standing. Get locked in on that left orbit shot since you can infinitely loop that and the side ramp to clear out the defenders, and also the top player lock is easiest to hit when the ball is coming onto the top right flipper from the left orbit. I still find the right ramp to be pretty tough for such an easy looking shot, constantly banging off the posts for that one. Once you understand the rules for this one there aren't a whole lot of choices to be made as far as what to shoot. It's a long enough sequence of stuff that it's not a bad table, but I think rulesets like this work a lot better in real life, where knocking the ball around the playfield has a lot more inherent fun to it. Still, it's an alright table. breaks fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Feb 22, 2014 |
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Feb 22, 2014 20:27
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The main thing there is to take advantage of the long ball save at the start and let some balls drain out to clear some space and hopefully get a couple supers right off the bat. Still, don't let too many drain, you want to be collecting as many normal jackpots as you can since supers are only 2x. Once it runs out I tend to just kind of flail away for a bit concentrating on regular jackpots until I'm down to 2 or 3 balls. After that, I try to trap one or two balls on the left flipper, and from the right flipper collect the two left jackpots and the side ramp super... This way you only have to manage a separation from the left flipper, assuming you don't miss. Due to the lack of flipper staging you cannot do the same thing with the right side jackpots, the upper right flipper blocks the right orbit/lane thing. It's the only Zen table without staging I think; I can only assume they took it out because they felt the right side supers were too easy.
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Feb 23, 2014 04:40
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Same Great Paste posted:Score ten goals in one game (of pinball) to get wizard. The wizard mode is actually obtained by lighting all 11 player lights, which you do by shooting the locks (and as random reward from the manager hole, etc). Once all 11 are lit, the next goal will start the golden goal multiball, which is the same as regular celebration except that points are doubled and you always get 4 balls, I believe. Also all the balls are gold-colored. I think the wizard mode will start even if you have no locks. You do get a trophy for scoring 10 goals in one match (as in soccer opponent, not pinball game), not sure if there is any other reward for it. The rest of what you wrote looks right to me though, good summary of the main rules.
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Feb 27, 2014 00:22
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Starhawk posted:Anybody figured out what the point of Super League Football's halftime multiball is? Yeah there are not a lot of points to be had there. If there's something more worthwhile to do than spamming the scoop and jets for rewards and bumper hits, I haven't found it. There are jackpots enabled from the holes you shoot with a ball going down an outlane, but they are tough to start, don't last very long, and aren't worth very much.
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Mar 1, 2014 20:21
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Most of pinside takes a preemptive dump on every release, unfortunately.
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Mar 6, 2014 06:22
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I mostly think of nudging as trying to hit the ball with some part of the table.
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Mar 15, 2014 23:41
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Ernie Muppari posted:Thinking about it some more, you're right, I haven't really ever seen the ball slllloooowly roll up a flipper and down the drain on an IRL table the way I've seen a lot in TPA. Also gonna' agree with you about the flipper tip physics, they're insanely frustrating, Who Dunnit and Twilight Zone are the tables I've had the most trouble with this on. It happens sometimes, but usually because of things like spin, leaning tables, some older tables that are relatively flat (and might also lean a bit), stuff like that. Definitely though, none of the video games even come close to getting the physics right for things like live catches, drop catches, really quick flipper flutters, spin, etc.
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Mar 19, 2014 06:21
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I don't know that you can really call the DMD a physical element? The LCD on WOZ is nice. Even Stern is switching to LCDs before too much longer, supposedly. I don't get the Multimorphic thing either, but it's nothing like WOZ, which is a fine table, though yet another example of the code not being done before release, at least it's pretty close now.
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Apr 15, 2014 04:04
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I mean Medieval Madness is great and all but for $8k you have your pick of almost anything, and I think there are tables with a lot more staying power than that. Also the new FX2 Star Wars pack is pretty good, definitely recommend it for anyone that's not an FX2 hater. At first glance the two Zoltan tables seem really good. Ep IV is probably the worst of the movie tables due to really boring fan layout but Deep always does good rulesets - not too sure about it but certainly a valiant effort to make something out of nothing. I can't play Droids because holy poo poo that R2D2 moving noise shut the gently caress up, but whatever.
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May 2, 2014 07:44
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Sounds like the machine just has the flippers set weak, I think all the modern Sterns have a software setting for flipper strength. Or could be a weak or bad coil.
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May 11, 2014 01:31
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They need to fix the goddamn flippers on Whirlwind because that right one especially is a pillow. At least they finally got all the leaning tables sorted out though, or so it seems. I haven't run into one in a while. Actually the one thing I really wish they had was some useful way to report problems with machines other than finding some random attendant dude, they should put a form on the website or something.
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Jun 3, 2014 04:44
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Deadpool came out for FX2 today and I've been playing it a bit this evening. It has two upper flippers and a behind-the-flipper shot for each one, which got me wondering, was there a behind-the-flipper shot on any pin before (RL, not Zen) Spiderman, or was that the first one? Hurf durf, Twilight Zone! A little bit different but close enough. Any before that one? breaks fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 08:57
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Lockback posted:Thoughts on the Deadpool Zen game? It looked interesting and the design was appealing. It looks gimmick heavy, which is fine but I was wondering if it got too distracting. So far, I think it's one of their better tables. It's actually not all that gimmicky. There are a few as there always are, but the gameplay is pretty pinball oriented. A bit more like a real table in terms of sling strength and things being aimed to put you in a bit more danger than is typical for an FX2 table, which I like. I've mostly been playing to complete issues and haven't gotten too much into the other modes and multiballs, but the ones I've started along the way have been mostly normal. I did do the "blind" one where everything goes dark, but aside from the reduced visibility it's still just playing pinball, so I think it works well. I ended up disabling voiceover in the operator menu because Deadpool never really shuts up, but other than that I don't have many complaints.
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Jun 27, 2014 03:29
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I'm playing on the PC. The skill shot can drain, but you can nudge it to safety, or the ball saver will help you. The middle shot does return in a dangerous way sometimes, but I haven't had one come back that I thought couldn't be saved. Sometimes a nudge is required, but most of the time just holding up a flipper will get it. If it can't be saved on the 360 it ought to be tweaked a bit. But on the PC at least, I think it puts you in danger pretty often (for a Zen table) but it's fair.
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Jun 27, 2014 06:07
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There aren't THAT many horror games, I think it just seems that way because several of the all time great tables were horror themes. Monster Bash, Twilight Zone, Addams Family, Creature, AFM sort of; to many people that's half the top ten. I second the recommendation for Zen. Lots of scifi tables, and though a lot of people around here disagree, I think it is the better of the two games. Of what's available in Pinball Arcade Attack from Mars is probably the way to go. STTNG is also a very good table but, at least in real life, it is quite difficult. As you say it is also fairly complicated, though the "shoot what's lit" rule of thumb works reasonably well on it. The main thing with multiballs is that your risk of draining is very high if you don't play them in a controlled way. Trapping up and shooting one ball at a time is a good idea on most games. There are also often shots you can make that will keep a ball out of the way and away from the flippers for a while. Commonly, a shot around a loop and into the pops, but it depends on the game. Definitely learn to bounce pass and trap if you want to play well, the basics of both are very easy, and they are probably the two most important skills other than aim.
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Jul 13, 2014 21:34
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If I was only going to buy one FX2 pack it would probably be Avengers Chronicles or Heroes Within, but the Heroes Within tables are a bit more controversial I think.
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Jul 15, 2014 03:04
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On most tables, don't miss and it won't go SDTM.  If the ball looks to be going SDTM and is along a wall or can be hit with some part of the playfield to get it to a safer place, nudging to accomplish that is usually the best idea. Any other preventative measures you can take are also good. Some shots tend to go SDTM if you miss from one flipper but are much safer with the other. Some you just never want to shoot at all unless you really have to or it's worth a shitload of points. You just have to learn that stuff on a table by table basis. If all else has failed you can try to nudge to save it. On the video games you usually just want to flip the left flipper and nudge right or flip the right flipper and nudge left, trying to time it so that you whack the ball with the flipper. On a real machine there is more of a judgement to make about how much of a nudge you need. If possible you'd really rather slap save, basically flipping and giving the machine a whack to move the flipper over a bit without moving the tilt bob around much. If it's too close to the middle you may need to slide the machine and hope it goes smoothly enough not to get the bob going too much. Don't halfass it and end up rocking the machine. It's more likely to tilt than a smooth slide and less effective. breaks fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 03:34
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Was that the one at buffalo billiards? I wanted to go but couldn't make it, hoping to next month. How was it?
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Jul 15, 2014 17:52
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Future Pinball is worse, if anything. Better physics are being implemented for VP10. There is a thread on their forums with a VP9 build that has the new physics and a CFTBL table modified to support it. They are pretty good, still not totally like the real thing but much closer than FX2, TPA, FP, older VPs, etc. I am actually really looking forward to VP10 whenever it finally comes out and stabilizes enough for people to start making tables for it. There is also Unit3d, which also supposedly has better physics, but I have not tried it.
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Jul 16, 2014 18:04
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Captain Cool posted:Do most of the modes in Star Trek come down to "shoot all ramps" or did I just not see very many of them? The second and third level modes are a little more interesting than the first level ones, but the way the rules are right now, there's not much reason to play them until you've cleared out all the level one stuff. It is due at least one more update so hopefully that will include some rules improvements.
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Jul 21, 2014 20:32
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