Thread 725682042

Are pinball games cringe or are they cool and fun?

depends how much you like balls

>>725682604
I love balls

worms pinball is the only pinball game I'll ever need

Pinball FX in VR is probably the best experience although they pretty much abandoned it.

>>725682042 (OP)
pinball games are cool and fun but xenotilt fried my brain so it's hard to go back to regular ones now

>>725682042 (OP)
I dont see how anyone could ever think its cringe even if they arent interested in it.

>>725682042 (OP)
It's a phase. You'll grow out of it.

it's fun, i got almost every table in Pinball FX just waiting for the Elvira tables to go on sale.

old pinball games can be pretty good too, Alien Crush, Devil Crush, ect.

>>725688339
i've been into these games for a few decades now and been casually looking into buying a table or two, just being cheap about it since i don't mind doing repairs. (almost dropped $28,000 on 8 tables earlier in the year)

>>725688651
Is the TNG table worth getting even if it's not on sale?

Pinball would be a lot more fun if the gutters and gap between the flippers were smaller or just gone entirely. That shit exists because of quarter gobbling in the old days, but there's no reason why it has to exist in simulated tables. And a lot of video game tables specifically have a "fuck you, lose a ball" setting that will make the ball magnetize to the gutters if you're doing too well.

>>725688887
it is pretty fun an easy to understand, it has two launchers that pivot and you shoot them like a gun to hit targets, particularly the shot under the borg ship.

an added bonus the modes are very easy to activate to it is a varied table to play.

After a whole lot of time on Pinball FX2 and FX3, they're alright. I like their exaggerated physics and old tables, even though I got a little tired of the Marvel license tables. Some of the Star Wars and Marvel ones are downright excellent. At this point, though, I'm fucking sick of the Williams tables they're recreating virtually. I liked seeing Wizards casting spells on my balls, not realistic mechanisms for (actual) boomers. If you want to play the game in portrait mode, they'll make you send an email begging for a code to some compliance checker. It's fucking weird.

It plays okay on Steam Deck.

>can't transfer my alien(s), portal and avp tables from fx3 to fx
>same deal with epic quest despite the pin still being available in the game's list

what's up with this jewish shit? And why is the switch getting less pins than pc?

>>725682042 (OP)
I got into pinball in the last couple years after never playing any other than pokemon pinball on game boy 300 years ago
I find it very addictive and fun even if all you can ever play are virtual ones, nudging makes the game deeper than youd expect and never being 100% sure if your shot will go where you want makes it exciting as you can never relax
The one thing that will likely drive you away form the game after a short time initially is if you just flip the ball up at random and shoot at any target with no strategy, you have to learn the rules of the table first, then it becomes fun as you always have an objective in mind, things actually should be shot in a certain order depending on what you are going for.

>>725688651
I bought the elvira one for the fomo statue, Im nor proud of myself, but the statue is sweet

>>725689170
the newer FX games just let you play in portrait mode out of the box even on console.

>>725689275
they got crucified in reviews for not letting you move over tables from old versions, their reasoning is they had to completely remake them to work in the new engine, the new physics for Williams tables at least feels fairly nice.

the less games on switch thing is entirely due to just releasing later than other platforms it is quickly catching up.

>>725689279
dunno about party monsters but Scared Stiff looks like a fun table at least.

>>725682042 (OP)
i like pinball games but i have never played them the way they are intended to (aka cradling balls and carefully aiming for every shot)

>>725682042 (OP)
There's a lot of shitty pinball games out there. Some are alright.

If you can find a decent pinball game and don't have access to an actual pinball machine, they're fine I guess. But I lean more towards cringe.

>>725689016
Nah you learn your shots and avoid areas leading to gutters. That's not an issue.
However
>toy that's essential to completing missions bounces you all the way down to central drain town if you direct hit the thing
fuck off
that's why I prefer pins looping around in a constant flow of swirling balls like fish tales

>>725689016
If you lose the ball from the gutters is because you failed a shot, no successful shot will send a ball there, its a punishment
If you are losing the ball in between the flippers you arent nudging, you can save the ball 90% of the time when it tries to go in between unless its a bad shot that makes it go straight down the midde and no nudging will save you

> And a lot of video game tables specifically have a "fuck you, lose a ball" setting that will make the ball magnetize to the gutters if you're doing too well.
First time Ive ever heard of thar, what would be the point of that in an environment where you have infinite free plays

>>725689530
That's nice. I got an IPS panel monitor and swiveling monitor mount just for it. This was perhaps 10 years ago for FX2. I miss Butters and Arsenal/football tables.

>>725689530
>they got crucified in reviews for not letting you move over tables from old versions, their reasoning is they had to completely remake them to work in the new engine, the new physics for Williams tables at least feels fairly nice.

yeah this is why I reluctantly installed fx. The getaway, fish tales, white water, and that dreadful hurricane table feel like shit on fx3.

>>725689638
>aim carefully in order to lock three balls
>when the multi ball is triggered cluelessly send balls wherever and get the jackpot out of sheer luck
>repeat

>>725689680
>First time Ive ever heard of thar, what would be the point of that in an environment where you have infinite free plays

Slow torture aimed at targeted individuals. It's insidious and nobody will believe them.

>>725682042 (OP)
aside from bad omen i cant think of to many notable ones.

i plan on going out to a real pinball arcade to play black knight 2000 soon id highly recommend trying the ones you want before theyre gone

I think it depends on if you're able to find some tables that really click for you. If there isn't something about a table that hooks me whether it's the visual design, sound design, scoring or the gimmicks, then I don't really have that much fun playing it.
I discovered a handful of favorites via a torrent of Pinball Arcade an anon linked in a thread a long time ago and I'm lucky enough to have played some of them on real tables at a pinball convention that isn't too far from where I live. I'd love to have at least one of them (Probably Centaur or Xenon) but if not for the fucking staggering cost of buying/maintaining it I know that after not too long it would start collecting dust. I'm content with just playing virtual recreation tables and fully gameified stuff like Xenotilt for the time being. If you want something free to try out, look into Visual Pinball. It's finnicky to set up, but there are tons of tables pinball nerds have recreated and released themselves to use on virtual pinball tables but you can also just play them on your computer, ideally with a portrait monitor.

Still hasn't been topped

>>725692249
Xenon is a real looker but the gameplay its too simple sadly.
And yeah maintenance is like half the hobby, if you dont like tinkering with them and learning how they actually work its not really worth the investment to own imo

>>725692421
Remake when?

>>725692709
Xenon isn't the best, I like the gimmick concept of firing up and progressing the incubator or whatever the fuck is going on, but when I last looked at table listings online it was more affordable than others. Centaur is the most fun table I've ever played. Good progression gimmicks, forgiving outlanes with bumper gaps you can save a dead ball with, great visual and sound design. There was some Australian company called Haggis that did a reproduction of it and they looked amazing but the price was ridiculous. Apparently they went out of business so I don't know what the original sale price was, but this is what it is now for premium version of the table.

>>725693598
Actually I was confusing Xenon with Embryon. Yeah Xenon isn't a very fun table. Embryon is frustrating and the sound design isn't great but the concept and gimmick is really cool.

>>725689275
>don't get Smash Bros Ultimate for free because I payed for Smash Bros Brawl
I mean, yeah...

i forgot i made another one of these, guess ill drop it here

>>725694172
>payed
Dumb ESL should had PAID for English classes.

as much as i like physical pinball, i haven't played a good video game one besides maybe sonic adventures minigame

>>725694291
no one cares, Melvin.
I probably learned those words 30 years ago, and immediately forgot what the difference was.

>>725694203
>you put your balls in her mouth
A stroke of pinball design genius

>>725694497
bride of pinbot was quite the horny table in general, for example the rocket by the flippers, as well as some of the audio clips.

a fun Easter egg this table has is you can get it to do "Old Mcdonald" by doing a flipper combination to the beat of the song, mostly as a test as this was an early digitized audio table.

>>725694203
Bride of Pinbot kicks ass, I've never completed her transformation though.
If there are any anons here who live in California, try and go to the Golden State Pinball Festival next year. They have so many good tables, getting to play all of the tables I grew to enjoy playing The Pinball Arcade was awesome.

>>725694714
completing her transformation is a big deal and worth actively doing, if you can transform her and return both balls back up the ramp without losing one you get the big wheel where you can get the one billion point reward from.

So what's the best and easiest way to play?

Zen Studios who make original digital tables are pretty good. They can be hit or miss though. When a table is good it's good. When it's shit it's really shit. It seems like they put different amounts of effort into different licensed IP. That or the different people who design them are of different levels of quality in terms of design.

Their original table output has been fucking huge over the last 2 years but the overall quality has taken a major drop. Some of the recent table packs were complete garbage like the 3 board game tables and the 3 star trek tables.

>13 tables in 6 years in FX3
>45 tables in 3 years in FX

>>725695286
easiest is likely Pinball FX, it is a free to play title where you purchase additional table packs if you wish, it comes with Williams Fish Tables and two Zen original tables for free to try it out.

best is to play on actual tables but that isn't always an option.

>>725695375
I dont know what the rush is, I know pinball is seeing a bit of a resurgence but thats no reason to go insane.

>>725695375
if i'm not mistaken didn't they get effectively bought out in recent years? maybe they were told to up the output.

>>725682042 (OP)
i feel like pinball games are the most innocent fun you can have lol

For me its Zaccaria

>>725689636
Scared Stiff is fucking awesome.

>>725695534
I think the huge uptick in pushing out tables was that they got bought by Saber Interactive/Embracer the gigacorporation. They pushed a universally hated subscription service onto the game and most likely demanded they increase the number of tables they output. More tables for sale = more sales = more money.
Except no. Pushing out tables at 4x the speed means lower quality more rushed tables.

But they split from Saber after it got sold and suddenly the subscription model was scrapped and original tables are taking a little longer to come out. So maybe less executives breathing down their necks?

>>725695631
Yeah bought by Saber then Saber bought by Embracer. Then Saber sold but Embracer kept Zen Studios. The fun whacky world of mega corporations.

>generally not good at video games
>buy some tables on fx3
>my runs generally last 2 minutes before all 3 of my lives are gone
I don't know what the fuck I'm doing wrong. I swear to god I couldn't aim for the dead center between bumpers so consistently if I was trying to. I turn the setting to very easy with 5 balls because otherwise I just feel miserable.

Use VPX

>>725696347
Thats pretty normal if you are a new player.

>>725682042 (OP)
Been playing Pinball FX VR for a good bit as of late. Already got Twilight Zone, Addams Family, Medieval Madness and a few other tables, along with the included Zen tables which are quite good. The mixed reality mode is also pretty fuckin cool. I did try to look into getting Visual Pinball running in VR on my PC but there are ZERO comprehensive setup guides for it.

I'm so fuckin close to getting all the door panels on Twilight Zone. Last attempt I had two left before I center drained like an asshole.

>>725696347
it is an arcade game so short games are expected and one of the best parts about arcade games, you don't need to dedicate hours to it to have fun with it.

now the better you learn a table the longer your games will be but the side drains are there for a reason to keep players from going infinite.

i think going from 2 minutes to 5-10 minutes per game is a reasonable goal to aim for, learn when nudging is appropriate (the game warns you about tilt for a reason, you get a grace on it, just don't do it too much repetitively and you will never tilt the game) learning ball control including cradling the ball so you can contemplate your shots, passing the ball from one flipper to the other, ect are all very useful skills to learn.

I got a hitbox to play these Pinball games, I was tired of using the shift keys on the keyboard for the flippers.
Now If only I could actually get into fighting games.

For me, it's Pokemon Pinball

Did anybody try out pic related? The reveal of it caught me sideways but it looked cool. Seemed like a big part of it is VR which could be cool but I see a lot of negative reviews.

>>725696661
VPX is cool but configuring it is a bitch. I like to have it on my portrait monitor but getting the right angle/warp so it looks right takes too long. Maybe I should just do widescreen with the fake room.

>>725699551
i'm surprised someone hasn't gone full autismo and package VPX into an idiot proof kit you can just download and your off to the races.