Zaccaria -- the spectator sport

Jay · Jun 27, 2016

I'm sure it's just me, but I'm turning pinball into a spectator sport with these tables. My average time with each ball is perhaps seven seconds. No matter how I play, the balls routinely get shot down an outline, often before I even have a chance to use the flippers. I know that my pinball abilities come and go depending on my energy level, but this seems a bit ridiculous. Usually it's the slingshots that are the culprits. I think I'll play around with the physics settings as suggested in another thread and see if that helps.

Anyone else having really short games?

Ben Logan · Jun 27, 2016

I set my games to five balls. I agree the game times are short. Modern DMD games were designed to last longer. Not sure if that's what we're comparing to. But the Zac slings are indeed a complication. Wish they were placed and powered like Williams slings. Not sure it's Magic Pixel's fault.

SilverBalls · Jun 27, 2016

There are plenty of videos of the real tables on YouTube so maybe compare those with the virtual physics in Sim mode and Arcade mode to see how they differ.

Kolchak357 · Jun 27, 2016

I set games to five ball for this reason as well. And like any pin, don't forget to nudge. But some of these are pretty cruel. I've on ly played a few Zaccs in real life at pin shows and they were pretty mean too.

Jeff Strong · Jun 27, 2016

Yeah, this is what the EMs and early SS in TPA should feel like, to be honest. Brutal and unforgiving.

EldarOfSuburbia · Jun 27, 2016

Remember, these tables were designed to make a profit for the operators. Not to provide hours and hours of endless entertainment on a single quarter (or whatever coins were in use in Italian arcades in the late 70s and early 80s).

Jay · Jul 4, 2016

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I don't feel like such a terrible player now.

xAzatothx · Jul 4, 2016

Jay said:
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I don't feel like such a terrible player now.

I used to play Zac a lot, but the table difficulty seemed to ramp up towards the later updates. Particularly the slings which just seem to trap the ball in a left to right repetitive motion before dumping down the side lanes.

I do however agree with Jeff's comments.

steven120566 · Jul 5, 2016

Jeff Strong said:
Yeah, this is what the EMs and early SS in TPA should feel like, to be honest. Brutal and unforgiving.

Zaccaria is a nice diversion. But if TPA played the same way, it would suck and be no fun whatsoever. Pinball has to have the right balance of skill involvement. TPA does seem to achieve this, as does Zen.

Zaccaria may be true to life, but it is nowhere near as "fun". And that's what it's all about IMO.

SilverBalls · Jul 5, 2016

steven120566 said:
Zaccaria is a nice diversion. But if TPA played the same way, it would suck and be no fun whatsoever. Pinball has to have the right balance of skill involvement. TPA does seem to achieve this, as does Zen.

Zaccaria may be true to life, but it is nowhere near as "fun". And that's what it's all about IMO.

For me it is the opposite. I hardly touch TPA because it doesn't feel as tough as real pinball whereas I am all over Zaccaria like a rash. I am a pretty bad player in real life and my games on real tables last just a few minutes, and I want my pinball sims to be the same.

Of course to cater for everyone there should be difficulty options. That is what virtual pinball should be able to do well.

I haven't touched TPA for ages and was waiting for the difficulty options to be added like increase table slope, etc. Did they ever add that?

Xanija · Jul 5, 2016

It's funny. It totally depends on my mood. If I want some very easy game where it's more about relaxing entertainment, I go for Zen. If I want some more challenges I play TPA. If I am in a "hit me harder, no, I said HARDER" mood, I play Zaccaria. And if that isn#t enough, I play it with simulation and 3 balls

Jeff Strong · Jul 5, 2016

steven120566 said:
Zaccaria is a nice diversion. But if TPA played the same way, it would suck and be no fun whatsoever. Pinball has to have the right balance of skill involvement. TPA does seem to achieve this, as does Zen.

Zaccaria may be true to life, but it is nowhere near as "fun". And that's what it's all about IMO.

You realize you're essentially saying that real pinball machines "suck" and are "no fun whatsoever".

Stuzz · Jul 5, 2016

Xanija said:
...I go for Zen... I play TPA...I play Zaccaria.

No love for Pro?

JefferyD · Jul 5, 2016

I, too, prefer Zaccaria to TPA because of the brutality. I wish TPA had a difficulty setting beyond pro-mode shutting off extra balls and whatnot. There’s no way I should be scoring higher than a pro-pinball player’s tournament-winning score even with extra balls! If I last longer than three to five minutes then the whole thing is a lie and a sham.

(I will confess to playing with 5-balls on some Zac tables, tho. They are brutal. And if I manage to get a high score, I can rationalize it because – most of the time – 95% of that score probably came on one strangely blessed ball.)

Xanija · Jul 5, 2016

Stuzz said:
No love for Pro?

I only have this on my tablet and I don't play a lot on it at the moment.

Snorzel · Jul 6, 2016

The game is tough but for some reason I feel like I have a certain nack for it my overall scores are much higher than on TPA. Some of those goals will be a real challenge tho

The only Zac that says 3 balls on the apron in game is Fire Mountain. Anyone have experiance with real machines that can say what the norm was?

steven120566 · Jul 9, 2016

Jeff Strong said:
You realize you're essentially saying that real pinball machines "suck" and are "no fun whatsoever".

Well, no Jeff, but I do see how what I said leads to your conclusion. Real pinball is quite fun. A thing which I had totally forgotten ever existed until I got into TPA and others. I just think I would not remain interested on TPA, Zen etc if they weren't what they are now. I wonder if TPA had a different play balance, if I would enjoy it as much. That's all I meant.

I am nowhere near the caliber of most players that frequent here and do enjoy the slow progress i make up othe leaderboards. I have seen many criticisms of high scoring players and the techniques they use, which I don't get. If you are good at something, better than others, well hats off to you.

But yeah sorry for the confusion in my statement. I worded that poorly. I just meant that there is something about TPA that keeps me playing and that whatever it is that keeps a given person interested may be different for each person.

Zaccaria -- the spectator sport

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