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deadfolk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,529
Okay, count me in.
Someone has to go at the bottom to make everyone else feel good!

And no, that's not false modesty. :P
 
Oct 25, 2017
85
You'll have to wake up pretty early to do worse than me! My best game was also the first 2 balls right down the middle. I'll keep going though, I love these Williams tables.

Thanks for running the Tournament HotHamBoy! :)
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Which of these Pinball FX packs has the best bundle of tables?

Alien vs Pinball
Universal Clasics Pinball
Jurassic World
Iron & Steal
Bethesda Pinball


I like Iron and Steel but Carnivals & Legends is better. Universal is poopy.


Bethesda and Jurassic World are two of the best table packs on Switch, IMO. Aliens v Pinball is also great but i enjoy the other two more.

I always recommend Bethesda over-all because of the variety of themes and design concepts.
 

Deleted member 22585

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,519
EU
I like Iron and Steel but Carnivals & Legends is better. Universal is poopy.


Bethesda and Jurassic World are two of the best table packs on Switch, IMO. Aliens v Pinball is also great but i enjoy the other two more.

I always recommend Bethesda over-all because of the variety of themes and design concepts.

Agree. I like the Bethesda tables the most, they are really good. One that music kicks in on the Doom table... just great.
 

OrakioRob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,493
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Hey, look at the so-called pinball noob… XD

Jokes aside, take a look at the Bethesda pack, it's great.

Beginner's luck ^_^

I have little pinball experience, but my reflexes are good, I guess! But I see I'm not at the top anymore. Gotta keep playing... this is really fun.

The Bethesda tables look awesome! However, HF2014 said they're more slow-paced, is that right? Coming from Zaccaria, which feels slower to me, I love the high speed of the Fish Tales table, so I think I'll grab a faster pack first. Maybe the Alien one? I see many of you seem to like it and I'm a big Alien fan.

Man, Fish Tales is such a finicky table. The for me ok score I put on that tournament almost purely came from my first ball, draining the other two balls in record time. I do really like the feel of these new physics, getting very tempted to actually pick up this Williams pack even though I don't necessarily care for these tables.

The same happens to me. Apparently, it's a bit risky aiming for the center of the table, because you might hit the... I don't know how to call that thing between Port and Starboard, but if you hit it, there is a good chance the ball will fall in a straight line between the flippers.
 

Arturo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
521
The Bethesda tables look awesome! However, HF2014 said they're more slow-paced, is that right? Coming from Zaccaria, which feels slower to me, I love the high speed of the Fish Tales table, so I think I'll grab a faster pack first. Maybe the Alien one? I see many of you seem to like it and I'm a big Alien fan.
My experience in pinball is really small too, but I guess HF2014 is right, the Bethesda pack is definitely slower-paced than Fish Tales, but I feel everything is slower-paced than Fish Tales XD Anyway, if you are an Alien fan, get that pack, it's definitely faster than Bethesda's.

Anyway, if you are not sure, take a look at some gameplay of both packs, you'll get a better idea :) In this videos there's a small gameplay of each table of both packs.



 

HighFive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,632
Beginner's luck ^_^

I have little pinball experience, but my reflexes are good, I guess! But I see I'm not at the top anymore. Gotta keep playing... this is really fun.

The Bethesda tables look awesome! However, HF2014 said they're more slow-paced, is that right? Coming from Zaccaria, which feels slower to me, I love the high speed of the Fish Tales table, so I think I'll grab a faster pack first. Maybe the Alien one? I see many of you seem to like it and I'm a big Alien fan.



The same happens to me. Apparently, it's a bit risky aiming for the center of the table, because you might hit the... I don't know how to call that thing between Port and Starboard, but if you hit it, there is a good chance the ball will fall in a straight line between the flippers.

What i ment by slow pace is that Skyrim and Fallout are like RPGs, like in Skyrim, you can continue you ' caracter' with each new game. You stop at shop, change equipment,etc, Its more toward Skyrim they did that, in Fallout, your caracter reset at each new game. Its a thing that draw my attention first, cause in a wayn, its very unique. I ment that its slow pace because of that. If we speak about the table itself, they are still fun, but found myself playing more Doom . Its a personal feeling, like as example, im very happy TheGateway is now on Switch, but i would have prefer High Speed because its a game with less ´breaks' in it. But in the end, i didnt regret buying em. Its not a bad buy.

And yeah if you want to go slowly with your purchase, i think Alien pack is very great. I really love the Aliens table!
 

MrPanic

Member
Oct 25, 2017
945
The same happens to me. Apparently, it's a bit risky aiming for the center of the table, because you might hit the... I don't know how to call that thing between Port and Starboard, but if you hit it, there is a good chance the ball will fall in a straight line between the flippers.

I was watching this video on the table just to get a general idea of what I'm actually supposed to do on this table. Definitely seems like going for the boat is one of the more safe strats on this table. Hitting the center of the boat usually puts the ball in an angle that I'm able to save it. For me that right lane spitting out the ball in weird angles is a way bigger threat, something that I might be able to avoid by nudging but nudging is pretty hard to do with the way I usually play the game these days, which is holding the Switch system sideways playing with touch controls.
 

nicoga3000

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,975
Physics on Williams feels great!

Switch players...What view and orientation are you using? Are there any grips available today that make vertical more playable?
 

Slam Tilt

Member
Jan 16, 2018
5,585
Switch players...What view and orientation are you using? Are there any grips available today that make vertical more playable?
I've got the Flip Grip on order, even though it won't come until December.
flipgrip4-fs8_1024x1024.png
 

Btmmayor

Member
Jun 4, 2018
93
Do you guys actually have any success nudging the ball on these williams tables? I swear I nudge with the left stick hard and the ball doesnt even seem to move.
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Beginner's luck ^_^

I have little pinball experience, but my reflexes are good, I guess! But I see I'm not at the top anymore. Gotta keep playing... this is really fun.

The Bethesda tables look awesome! However, HF2014 said they're more slow-paced, is that right? Coming from Zaccaria, which feels slower to me, I love the high speed of the Fish Tales table, so I think I'll grab a faster pack first. Maybe the Alien one? I see many of you seem to like it and I'm a big Alien fan.

The Doom table is really fast and really hard.

Have you not bought the Williams pack? Because that's what everyone should buy.

The same happens to me. Apparently, it's a bit risky aiming for the center of the table, because you might hit the... I don't know how to call that thing between Port and Starboard, but if you hit it, there is a good chance the ball will fall in a straight line between the flippers.

You're referring to the "captive ball" which is designed to be a risky shot.

Pinball tables are designed to punish bad shots. When people say "there was nothin I could do, the game is cheap!" they don't realize that there was something they could do - take a better shot. Posts are especially brutal.

Do you guys actually have any success nudging the ball on these williams tables? I swear I nudge with the left stick hard and the ball doesnt even seem to move.
That's because the nudging physics on the Williams tables is much closer to real life.

And yes, I have had plenty of success nudging to save the ball from the outlanes and center shot.
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423

I was watching this video on the table just to get a general idea of what I'm actually supposed to do on this table. Definitely seems like going for the boat is one of the more safe strats on this table. Hitting the center of the boat usually puts the ball in an angle that I'm able to save it. For me that right lane spitting out the ball in weird angles is a way bigger threat, something that I might be able to avoid by nudging but nudging is pretty hard to do with the way I usually play the game these days, which is holding the Switch system sideways playing with touch controls.


The big points are all in the boat combo. You alternate between port and starboard shots until the Monster Fish Hurry-Up (timer shot) is activated, then you hit the left loop spinner shot to collect the Hurry-Up. The Hurry-Up max value is worth 20 million and goes up by 10 million each time you successfully collect the shot, however the value drops by the second until it stops at 5 million and then you have about 5 more seconds to collect the shot before the Hurry-Up ends.

Multiball requires you to hit the lock to light jackpot then hit the left loop spinner shot to collect the jackpot. Hit the lock again to relight jackpot.

The center captive ball advances the awards listed above the ball. Hold Bonus (bonus multiplier carries over to next ball), video mode, rock the boat (all boat shots worth 10 million) and so on. Video Mode is worth at least 30 million if you destroy at least 15 boats. You can also sometimes snag an extra ball during video mode (one of three ways to get an extra ball) but I turned those off for the tournament.
 
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OrakioRob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,493
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
What i ment by slow pace is that Skyrim and Fallout are like RPGs, like in Skyrim, you can continue you ' caracter' with each new game. You stop at shop, change equipment,etc, Its more toward Skyrim they did that, in Fallout, your caracter reset at each new game. Its a thing that draw my attention first, cause in a wayn, its very unique. I ment that its slow pace because of that. If we speak about the table itself, they are still fun, but found myself playing more Doom . Its a personal feeling, like as example, im very happy TheGateway is now on Switch, but i would have prefer High Speed because its a game with less ´breaks' in it. But in the end, i didnt regret buying em. Its not a bad buy.

And yeah if you want to go slowly with your purchase, i think Alien pack is very great. I really love the Aliens table!

I get it, thanks! I'll probably grab Aliens first, but I'll definitely go for the Bethesda pack later.


I was watching this video on the table just to get a general idea of what I'm actually supposed to do on this table. Definitely seems like going for the boat is one of the more safe strats on this table. Hitting the center of the boat usually puts the ball in an angle that I'm able to save it. For me that right lane spitting out the ball in weird angles is a way bigger threat, something that I might be able to avoid by nudging but nudging is pretty hard to do with the way I usually play the game these days, which is holding the Switch system sideways playing with touch controls.


Oh, thanks for the video, I'll watch it right now!

And this is what I meant about the center of the boat, it just happened to me again:



Like HotHamBoy said above, it's designed to be a risky shot. There is probably a right way to hit it, I'll capture my games and analyse what I am doing wrong, but this might be too high level for me to get right. I'll keep practicing to get a better feel of the base physics and then I'll try to go deeper.

The big points are all in the boat combo. You alternate between port and starboard shots until the Monster Fish Hurry-Up (timer shot) is activated, then you hit the left loop spinner shot to collect the Hurry-Up. The Hurry-Up max value is worth 20 million and goes up by 10 million each time you successfully collect the shot, however the value drops by the second until it stops at 5 million and then you have about 5 more seconds to collect the shot before the Hurry-Up ends.

Multiball requires you to hit the lock to light jackpot then hit the left loop spinner shot to collect the jackpot. Hit the lock again to relight jackpot.

The center captive ball advances the awards listed above the ball. Hold Bonus (bonus multiplier carries over to next ball), video mode, rock the boat (all boat shots worth 10 million) and so on. Video Mode is worth at least 30 million if you destroy at least 15 boats. You can also sometimes snag an extra ball during video mode (one of three ways to get an extra ball) but I turned those off for the tournament.

Thanks for all the tips! I managed to get the jackpot and the Video Mode, but it was by sheer luck and I had no idea how I did it ^_^
 

Layth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
159
Thanks for all the responses about the recommended tables. I think I'll go ahead and download the Alien pack, as Alien and Aliens are among my favorite movies.
 

wesman

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,203
Pittsburgh
I get it, thanks! I'll probably grab Aliens first, but I'll definitely go for the Bethesda pack later.



Oh, thanks for the video, I'll watch it right now!

And this is what I meant about the center of the boat, it just happened to me again:



Like HotHamBoy said above, it's designed to be a risky shot. There is probably a right way to hit it, I'll capture my games and analyse what I am doing wrong, but this might be too high level for me to get right. I'll keep practicing to get a better feel of the base physics and then I'll try to go deeper.



Thanks for all the tips! I managed to get the jackpot and the Video Mode, but it was by sheer luck and I had no idea how I did it ^_^


Buy them ALLLLLLL! Well, you can just wait till around Xmas too. Zen usually puts their tables on sale, at least they have in other platforms regularly. The Switch is the newest sibling on the block, so it'll probably go in sake this xmas.

You're in South America, yes? I think...Brazil? Apologies if I'm wrong. Have you been able to play pinball out in the wild much? You seem to have a knack for it in video game form!
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Ok, so today I tried some back-to-back Fish Tales in TPA and PBFX3, switching between versions with each ball.

Without a doubt, the PBFX3 physics are better. There's a real Fish Tales up the road and tomorrow I'm going to bring my iPad with TPA and my Switch with PBFX3 and play the actual machine and the two digital versions in one session.
 

HighFive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,632
Ok, so today I tried some back-to-back Fish Tales in TPA and PBFX3, switching between versions with each ball.

Without a doubt, the PBFX3 physics are better. There's a real Fish Tales up the road and tomorrow I'm going to bring my iPad with TPA and my Switch with PBFX3 and play the actual machine and the two digital versions in one session.

Thats cool! Let us know how it feel compare to the real one. Your lucky to have once close to you :)
 

OrakioRob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,493
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
You're in South America, yes? I think...Brazil? Apologies if I'm wrong. Have you been able to play pinball out in the wild much? You seem to have a knack for it in video game form!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

I've seen many pinball machines over the years, but I barely played them. I was more interested in arcade games like Ghouls n' Ghosts and TMNT, and even those I preferred to watch others play. I think I lacked self-confidence as a teen and had this feeling I would lose my money pretty quickly at arcades ^_^

I remember when Street Fighter II came out. I went to a bar, saw the machine and since there was no one around to see me fail miserably, I gave it a try. As expected, I was defeated in the first fight. Then I bought a SNES with Street Fighter II and became very good at it, so I went back to that arcade machine a year later and... I was defeated in first fight again!

I tried a few pinball games on consoles, but I mostly got them for my wife, as she likes pinball and played way more than me. A few months ago, I downloaded Zaccaria Pinball for her, but then portability + TATE mode finally made me a pinball lover. I think Pinball is a perfect fit for the Switch.

In fact, I am now interested in trying a few machines. I might have the chance to do it later today. Let's see how quickly I can lose a few bucks!
 

Velasco

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,096
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

I've seen many pinball machines over the years, but I barely played them. I was more interested in arcade games like Ghouls n' Ghosts and TMNT, and even those I preferred to watch others play. I think I lacked self-confidence as a teen and had this feeling I would lose my money pretty quickly at arcades ^_^

I remember when Street Fighter II came out. I went to a bar, saw the machine and since there was no one around to see me fail miserably, I gave it a try. As expected, I was defeated in the first fight. Then I bought a SNES with Street Fighter II and became very good at it, so I went back to that arcade machine a year later and... I was defeated in first fight again!

I tried a few pinball games on consoles, but I mostly got them for my wife, as she likes pinball and played way more than me. A few months ago, I downloaded Zaccaria Pinball for her, but then portability + TATE mode finally made me a pinball lover. I think Pinball is a perfect fit for the Switch.

In fact, I am now interested in trying a few machines. I might have the chance to do it later today. Let's see how quickly I can lose a few bucks!

I don't know Portuguese, so i'm not sure about the specifics, but this place might be of interest to you (although you may already know about it).



Rio Pinball Clube reúne amantes das máquinas de fliperama no RJ
 
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Oct 27, 2017
787
I wish I had access to physical pinball tables, it's been many years since I saw one where I live (Porto, Portugal). :(

All arcades that were around closed. I know a shopping mall in the outskirts of town that has a few arcade cabs, in poor condition (racing games with pedals not working, manual shifting not working, ...), but that's it.
 

Velasco

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,096
I wish I had access to physical pinball tables, it's been many years since I saw one where I live (Porto, Portugal). :(

All arcades that were around closed. I know a shopping mall in the outskirts of town that has a few arcade cabs, in poor condition (racing games with pedals not working, manual shifting not working, ...), but that's it.
My experience is relatively similar.Although some malls have relatively recent arcade cabs, pinball tables are rare.Recently, a pinball museum opened here (Athens, Greece), so i can play classic tables.
 
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HighFive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,632
There's two in the same city

There's also a Medieval Madness, I'll do that one too.

Seriously, lucky you! In Montreal or the surronding areas, there is not much . One place have like 5 more recent Stern machine ( Metallica, Acdc, Star Wars ,Ghostbusters, Aerosmith ) and there is one place that do have some interesting older stuff.

https://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play/8614-north-star-machines-piastres-montreal-qc

There another place who got Stern Indiana Jones, but after that ( counting the 4 places in total that got ACDC .. i mean we could have more diversity ) , there is not much place to try out the best classics. God id love to play Medieval Madness for real.
 

OrakioRob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,493
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I was watching this video on the table just to get a general idea of what I'm actually supposed to do on this table. Definitely seems like going for the boat is one of the more safe strats on this table. Hitting the center of the boat usually puts the ball in an angle that I'm able to save it. For me that right lane spitting out the ball in weird angles is a way bigger threat, something that I might be able to avoid by nudging but nudging is pretty hard to do with the way I usually play the game these days, which is holding the Switch system sideways playing with touch controls.


I'm watching the video right now and it helps a lot, not only because it explains strategies for this particular table, but also because you can learn a lot watching pro players.

Of course, I always try to hit specific targets while playing, but since the game is so fast and I'm a noob, I make lots of bad shots because I'm reacting as fast I can. However, this guy frequently stops or slows down the ball with the flippers and even passes the ball from one flipper to the other, aiming carefully at the targets.

This might be very basic stuff for your guys, but I've never watched pros playing pinball and had no idea you could exercise so much control over the ball. I'll practice this a bit and see how it goes.

I don't know Portuguese, so i'm not sure about the specifics, but this place might be of interest to you (although you may already know about it).



Rio Pinball Clube reúne amantes das máquinas de fliperama no RJ


Oh, that's very interesting, I'll take a look!
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
I'm watching the video right now and it helps a lot, not only because it explains strategies for this particular table, but also because you can learn a lot watching pro players.

Of course, I always try to hit specific targets while playing, but since the game is so fast and I'm a noob, I make lots of bad shots because I'm reacting as fast I can. However, this guy frequently stops or slows down the ball with the flippers and even passes the ball from one flipper to the other, aiming carefully at the targets.

This might be very basic stuff for your guys, but I've never watched pros playing pinball and had no idea you could exercise so much control over the ball. I'll practice this a bit and see how it goes.



Oh, that's very interesting, I'll take a look!
Check out our video resources list in the Pinball OT OP ;)

You're about to discover the next level where pinball really opens up and becomes an obsession.
 

wesman

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,203
Pittsburgh
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

I've seen many pinball machines over the years, but I barely played them. I was more interested in arcade games like Ghouls n' Ghosts and TMNT, and even those I preferred to watch others play. I think I lacked self-confidence as a teen and had this feeling I would lose my money pretty quickly at arcades ^_^

I remember when Street Fighter II came out. I went to a bar, saw the machine and since there was no one around to see me fail miserably, I gave it a try. As expected, I was defeated in the first fight. Then I bought a SNES with Street Fighter II and became very good at it, so I went back to that arcade machine a year later and... I was defeated in first fight again!

I tried a few pinball games on consoles, but I mostly got them for my wife, as she likes pinball and played way more than me. A few months ago, I downloaded Zaccaria Pinball for her, but then portability + TATE mode finally made me a pinball lover. I think Pinball is a perfect fit for the Switch.

In fact, I am now interested in trying a few machines. I might have the chance to do it later today. Let's see how quickly I can lose a few bucks!

I like the way you framed your experience with Street Fighter, like a boxer training at home, only to feel frustration at the gym!

I hope you find some tables today out in the wild! As other users have said, use pinside.com or the app Pinball Map, and that will help for sure!

That Bowen guy in the Fish Tales tutorial always seems pretty chill, and awkward nerdy. I like when he's in PAPA tutorials, which are most of them.

(I just tried getting back into Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'm having a tough time with the trio in Chapter 6 though... I tried marking this as a spoiler, but ended up just losing my entire post, and rewriting it, haha!)
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

I've seen many pinball machines over the years, but I barely played them. I was more interested in arcade games like Ghouls n' Ghosts and TMNT, and even those I preferred to watch others play. I think I lacked self-confidence as a teen and had this feeling I would lose my money pretty quickly at arcades ^_^

I remember when Street Fighter II came out. I went to a bar, saw the machine and since there was no one around to see me fail miserably, I gave it a try. As expected, I was defeated in the first fight. Then I bought a SNES with Street Fighter II and became very good at it, so I went back to that arcade machine a year later and... I was defeated in first fight again!

I tried a few pinball games on consoles, but I mostly got them for my wife, as she likes pinball and played way more than me. A few months ago, I downloaded Zaccaria Pinball for her, but then portability + TATE mode finally made me a pinball lover. I think Pinball is a perfect fit for the Switch.

In fact, I am now interested in trying a few machines. I might have the chance to do it later today. Let's see how quickly I can lose a few bucks!
Please do seek out some real games and tell us all about your experience!

I think you will find the difference between Digital and Real pinball is huge and that real pinball is on a whole other level of fun. Even so, learning the ropes in digital pinball is still very useful and will better prepare you for the real thing. Most helpfully, you can learn all the ins and outs of a table like Fish Tales and then walk up to a real Fish Tales for the first time and know exactly what you need to do.

Pinside.com has a global map that can help you find pins in your area, let us know what you find!

Personally, I was the same as you growing up. I'm 33 and I took pinball for granted in the 90s when you could still find machines at any movie theater or pizza parlor or shopping mall. I was enchanted by video games and never really bothered with pins. I didn't really "discover" the joys of pinball until around 4ish years ago. Now it has taken over my life! I've played a thousand video games and nothing has been more satsifying than getting better at pinball.

The entire pinball experience is wonderful. It forces you out of the house and hunting down games brings you to cool new places. You meet lots of people who are also pinball nerds and they're all super nice and outgoing and they're happy to nerd out with you. Ive made many new friends and acquaintances in this hobby and that's tough at my age. I've watches the scene in my city explode. Just 3 years ago we had about 4-5 pins across Indianapolis and now we have about 70. We went from a couple tournaments a year that no one knew about to about 5 tournaments a month. In the last decade the world went from 1 pinball machine producer to about 8, with more boutique operations starting up all the time (and some sadly closing, but it's a risky biz!).

Stick with pinball. Keep watching videos of the pros. Better yet, find real pinball and talk to the people playing, watch them play and let them show you a few tricks.

Also, check out The Pinball Arcade on Switch and pick up Stern Bundles 1 and 2. Most of the tables in those bundles are excellent and the modern Sterns like Star Trek and Ghostbusters are the tables you're most likely to find IRL.

I would also suggest picking up the Gottlieb EM Bundle. These tables were all made before 1976 and are much less complex and are slower-paced. They're still great fun and they are good tables for beginners because of how simple they are. You can focus on fundamentals at a ball speed that's easier to follow. Personally, I think they are better than the Zaccaria tables despite being older.

Plus, you'll get Frankenstein for free and more free pinball is always nice!
 
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Kramer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
162
I've added loads of you to Friends List, please accept.

I'm so crap at Fish Tales, same as I was on TPA.
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Ok, now we might have a problem with this Zen censorship thing.


More fuel for the fire. The only real things that concerns is taking issue with gambling. That means no Jack*Bot, no card based tables, no Riverboat Gambler, etc.

Zen Studios alters classic pinball art to protect family-friendly rating [Updated]
Kirk also acknowledged that other Williams games added to Pinball FX3 in the future would probably need ratings-related alterations as well. In Champion Pub for instance, a simulated gambling mini-game might have to be removed entirely.

To say nothing of the extremely offensive asian & gay stereotypes in that game.
 

Velasco

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,096
Ok, now we might have a problem with this Zen censorship thing.


More fuel for the fire. The only real things that concerns is taking issue with gambling. That means no Jack*Bot, no card based tables, no Riverboat Gambler, etc.

Zen Studios alters classic pinball art to protect family-friendly rating [Updated]


To say nothing of the extremely offensive asian & gay stereotypes in that game.

Interesting response from Mel Kirk (Zen's VP of Publishing).It seems only in a separate game, the artwork wouldn't be altered (he says that they are discussing internally such a possibility).Any other examples of tables that would be censored in a future PFX recreation? Some quotes from Mel Kirk's response
"We pride ourselves on Pinball FX being a very family-friendly game," Kirk said. "People expect a specific type of game associated with certain types of content. I'm not going to jeopardize all those relationships, all that history, all those families that play the game for some bits of artwork."
"In extreme cases like this, something Zen has considered for a while is, is there another iteration of Pinball FX that can exist?" he said. "It's a completely different game experience, it has more mature content, it can have blood and guts, there can be more mature themes, simulated gambling. That is something we're actively talking about internally right now... It's really just a matter of how much we want to focus on this. Does it bother us enough that people are mad at us?... It's a vocal minority, but nonetheless they're very important and we want to make them happy too."
"For all the hardcore players that don't like what we've done, we have just as many people saying thank you for doing this, because now my kids can play too, and they now know these games," he said. "If the artwork and some of the things that are more mature are super important to people, we'll hear them and we'll try to make those available, maybe under a different label or a different game. But FX3 is a family-friendly game."
 
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Dash Kappei

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,841
I'm so freaking disappointed with some of the choices made by ZEN about how to balance performance on the Switch version.

They really need to fix the lighting because there is no technical reason it can't match that of the PS4/etc version and still have 60fps portable mode.

Lower the res a bit if you must or give us the choice, I got this suspicion that getting rid of the on-the-fly gfx switch with its models and animations would free up the necessary resources.

But visually the game looses a lot when missing the proper ball reflections and especially its "kinda" global illumination system.
There's a gulf between MM Switch and MM PS4 that really should not exist and leaves me bittersweet every time I fire up the game.
Yeah I'm shallow like that but for me the visuals are a big part of my love for pinball.

Damn I really need to use my dormant reddit/twitter account...
 

HighFive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,632
Not sure if this is a bug, or if its my left joycon that have some problem, but do you guys, playing Williams FX3 on Switch, see the table like nudge a bit once in a while without touching the dpad to nudge?
 

Minsc

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,123
In the age where every iOS app has IAP and gacha (gambling) coming out every crack, we censor our pinball tables left and right. Pinball!

There's not a LOL big enough for protecting the kids from pinball when the whole damn tablet/mobile marketplace is nothing but a cespool of gambling $99 IAP blind box gime-me-all your money apps.

Yeah, I get it, FX3 needs to be pure and free of anything bad, but the irony is killing me, when the bulk of everything marketed to kids is loaded with that stuff.

Ever see Disney Palace Pets? It's a free app, where you need to buy $10 virtual pets that do nothing, and come out like every month. Disney has quite a few of those gem matching games that give you limited moves like Candy Crush and sell you IAP power ups to pass the dumb RNG levels that get progressively harder.

I don't know, I feel like it's great we have licensed tables coming out in a nice, polished format, but to keep hearing over and over about how much censoring needs to be done for Pinball tables just kills me.
 

Beer Monkey

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,308
LOL Star Wars and Marvel pinball tables are total gateway drugs. Rated 'E' for everyone, and then once you start checking out those real movies and comics now that you finally know what Star Wars and Marvel is, your're consuming media that has gambling, cigar smoking, and an asston of (gasp) bare midriffs.
 

Minsc

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,123
Let's not count the number of gambling and drug references in the Star Wars movies, even stuff like The Phantom Menace was a glorified gambling movie in a way, where they bet on young kids competing on a race track where death is seems to be a common outcome at any turn, and death sticks were another popular topic (though that may be a subsequent movie).
 

wesman

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,203
Pittsburgh
They should just spin off the Zen real-life tables into a separate app, and get it rated accordingly.

I really wish they'd done that, but I imagine for brand awareness, they wanted to bring in current Zen customers, as well as, existing pinball enthusiasts.

Mel states in that article, unfortunately a valid concern, Zen had to delist their putt putt golf game for awhile due to a simple graphic poster in the background of a room, for ratings issues.

"Kirk noted that Zen Studios has been penalized for inadvertently crossing the ESRB in the past. Last year, the studio's Infinite Minigolf was removed from digital storefronts after some inappropriate placeholder artwork accidentally made its way into the VR version of the game. The ESRB raised the game's rating to a T, requiring it to be altered and resubmitted to the ESRB before it could go back on sale at the original E rating."

I think they're legitimately taking preemptive measures here, versus having the game entirely be pulled, and revenue, for ratings issues. I wish they'd just up the rating, but doing so might exclude possible or current customers. This clearly isn't being done to piss off pinball hardcore enthusiasts.
 

Xtortion

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,650
United States
I'm so freaking disappointed with some of the choices made by ZEN about how to balance performance on the Switch version.

They really need to fix the lighting because there is no technical reason it can't match that of the PS4/etc version and still have 60fps portable mode.

Lower the res a bit if you must or give us the choice, I got this suspicion that getting rid of the on-the-fly gfx switch with its models and animations would free up the necessary resources.

But visually the game looses a lot when missing the proper ball reflections and especially its "kinda" global illumination system.
There's a gulf between MM Switch and MM PS4 that really should not exist and leaves me bittersweet every time I fire up the game.
Yeah I'm shallow like that but for me the visuals are a big part of my love for pinball.

Damn I really need to use my dormant reddit/twitter account...

If possible, 900p docked with PS4's lighting would be better imo.
 

HighFive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,632
I'm so freaking disappointed with some of the choices made by ZEN about how to balance performance on the Switch version.

They really need to fix the lighting because there is no technical reason it can't match that of the PS4/etc version and still have 60fps portable mode.

Lower the res a bit if you must or give us the choice, I got this suspicion that getting rid of the on-the-fly gfx switch with its models and animations would free up the necessary resources.

But visually the game looses a lot when missing the proper ball reflections and especially its "kinda" global illumination system.
There's a gulf between MM Switch and MM PS4 that really should not exist and leaves me bittersweet every time I fire up the game.
Yeah I'm shallow like that but for me the visuals are a big part of my love for pinball.

Damn I really need to use my dormant reddit/twitter account...

Was curious and download the trial on PS4 to see the difference, and yeah, there is definitivly one. But at the same time, i decide to booth TPA on PS4 to see like how Medieval Madness compare, and its night and day, not only for graphic comparison, but for gameplay also, It just feel better in FX, i found it slow in TPA.

Yeah, suck that the Switch there was a sacrifice that need to be done in the shadow reflection and lightning, but its really not bad at all. I wouldn say no if they can improve it, but im happy as is it.
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Interesting response from Mel Kirk (Zen's VP of Publishing).It seems only in a separate game, the artwork wouldn't be altered (he says that they are discussing internally such a possibility).Any other examples of tables that would be censored in a future PFX recreation? Some quotes from Mel Kirk's response
Too many examples to count, it's not even worth writing them out.

Like, I honestly think the vast majority of pins would need to be altered in some way to meet their standards.

I mean, I don't even know how they would approach Bride of Pinbot without totally gutting the charm. And what's Elvira without her over-the-top cleavage and innuendo? You just gonna trash the artwork for Xenon?

I don't consider things like the Fisherman's cigar or the Mermaid's belly to be integral to the aesthetic identity of Fish Tales, but there's a lot of pinball art that absolutely is that I don't want to see messed with.

That said, the gameplay-effecting stuff is the biggest worry, along with them choosing to just not do certain games at all due to the amount of altering that would need to be done.

If they really want to do this right then they need to spin this off into an app that can get a higher rating. This should be seen as more than just a business opportunity, they are being given the exclusive rights to preserve pinball's legacy and introduce the work of hundreds of other people to new players around the globe.
 
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BlockABoots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,548
They should just spin off the Zen real-life tables into a separate app, and get it rated accordingly.

Can they still not do this, like Farsight does with SPA and TPA?

They could have the censored version in there main game and then uncensored in the Real Life game??........this wouldn't help console owners though as i doubt they'd do a separate game for the consoles due to costs getting the game on the marketplace