Losing faith in Farsight?

I don't mean to be negative, but I'm finding it hard to not to be now.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate everything Farsight is doing and I don't want this forum to turn into a trolling ground like Facebook, but I can't hold my tongue any longer.

How come Farsight never respond to game-breaking bugs like the MB cameras or other big problems like the MM flipper gap (which when they do respond to seems rather blasé?)

When I screw up at work I admit to my mistakes and learn from them, a little transparency wouldn't go amiss.

When Farsight do things well, they do it VERY well, I want to see TPA reach it's full potential, but with scripted tables & game-breaking bugs I don't see this happening anytime soon.

No

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Is there legitimate cause for concern? Yes.

Do I personally think they're in a "we'll fix that in post" mode as they're trying to get the app out on as many platforms as possible to secure a revenue stream? Yes.

Do I firmly believe they will make things right sooner rather than later? Yes.

If we're still having this conversation when TZ is released will I change my vote to "Yes"? Yes.

Do I think that will happen? No.

Monster Bash was released Friday. It's now Monday, less than one full business day later. I don't think it's reasonable to expect any company to respond that quickly.

Yes, I think their QA/beta testing needs looked at. Yes, I am somewhat unhappy that I'm still waiting on the 360's DLC to arrive, their explanations not withstanding. Yes, if this were a $60 game by a big developer, I would probably be in the hellraising stage myself at this point. Yes, at some point these issues with delays and bugs need to be corrected; we should not still be having this conversation six months from now.

But having been a software developer myself and knowing what it is like to try to keep up with post-release issues with limited resources, I do not think it is justified to abandon ship just yet. FarSight is still in the birthing stages of what may yet be a beautiful project, but like real childbirth, the actual process is messy, painful and involves a bit of screaming.

No. They are a small studio with limited resources and they are doing the best that they can... though I do think that they may have bitten off more than they can comfortably chew by taking on so many platforms at once, I enjoy their tables very much. The bugs are usually not that big of a deal and are fixed in a timely manner.

There's plenty of room for improvement, but they have months and years to continue to do so.

I am on the fence right now. I have not lost total faith in the company, but my patience with the bugs, glitches, and delays is starting to wear thin. If the next DLC release on the Vita has the similar issues to the current one then I will be done with purchasing any more DLC until people start reporting more quality.

I'm certain they will get things fixed, particularly now that the drama over the kickstarter has passed and they can focus everything on getting the software as good as possible. Hopefully they now know how best to approach Sony/MS approval, so they don't fall so far behind on DLC too.

A little more testing and a little more caution on getting releases submitted should see things improve. I'm also a software developer and understand that bugs happen, but a last minutes sanity check before submission would have seen things like the MB camera bug spotted and hopefully fixed.

Not at all.

Yes there are issues, a few make tables unplayable until they're fixed, but fixed they'll get. Maybe not quickly but they will.

I agree. Now the kickstarter is over, maybe fixes will come quicker still.

Bottom line, for the price paid, I feel I'm getting great quality, excellent value, fantastic tables, all of them, and a huge amount of fun.

I am a very very very happy chappy.

I'm a believer! Despite the problems.
Give them a chance to get all the platforms out - and DLC rolling.
Things will smooth out after that.
They have already created an amazing product, excellent sales, and a mega successful Kickstarter under their belt in just 4 short months.
Stand behind them - and this project is gonna fly!

People need to chill out. Life is too short to get upset over games. FarSight has only been doing TPA for a few months and they've been far more open and responsive than any other game publisher out there. Almost every game that gets published has many bugs. Usually the devs don't even respond to player's reports of problems and the average dev takes many months to address and fix the problems if they ever do.

No, I don't. Things will get better with time. I am thankful for all the great tables FarSight made for us. PHOF is my most played xbox game. Not Halo, not Gears, not GTA, not Red Dead, not COD, PHOF is all I play at the moment. I really want the xbox download tables now.

I think Farsight is doing a bang up job. TPA isn't perfect but I haven't come across a single game that is. At least Farsight supports their product which is more than I can say for some.

I'm really forgiving with them, because even thought there are quite a few problems and glitches here and there, I'm just incredibly happy someone finally started to digitize tables and publish them on as many platforms as possible in a systematic manner. They give pinball the proper love and attention it so rightfully deserves and I'm certain that this project alone will have a big impact on modern generations of gamers (myself included), giving them a chance to discover these classics, how fun they are, and maybe start collecting tables or go to tournaments.

I mean, seriously. How likely would it have been that simply no developer would have bothered? It's much easier to pump out primitive flash game remakes and cram them in the already overstuffed app store. I've been already a fan of a genre that is on the brink of complete death (2d "bullet hell" shootemups) and it's terrible to see a brilliant form of gaming just wither away and die slowly. With pinball it's even sadder because these things just physically break down or just get thrown in the trash.

So what happens when a table like Monster Bash gets released with a gamebreaking bug? I shrug it off, just test it a bit in a non-focussed manner (testing shots, checking out features), and continue with the already impressive amount of incredibly designed pinball tables I already own. Sure, it's annoying, but I see the whole thing as a work-in-progress.

Really, these guys have taken such a gargantuan (or gorgarntuan!) task that was obviously born out of a real passion for pinball, and not just to get some quick bucks from nostalgic players. They have to mess up REALLY bad before I lose faith in them, mainly because I just believe in them.

I say aside from silly mistakes the guys are doing well, working flat out really, since i reckon im in it for the longrun i can live with bugs aslong as they are fixed.

Fan boi*points at self*

xNiCeGuYx said:

No, I don't. Things will get better with time. I am thankful for all the great tables FarSight made for us. PHOF is my most played xbox game. Not Halo, not Gears, not GTA, not Red Dead, not COD, PHOF is all I play at the moment. I really want the xbox download tables now.

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Me too! Pinball is so satisfying to play, recently I've been losing patience with every other game I own.

I haven't lost faith either. I do software support for a living too, so I definitely can see how bugs get through and into production. Ideally they would be caught before release (and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I'd gladly volunteer to do some beta testing if it would help out) but the reality is that it's very hard to release a fully bug free product, even with large QA and testing teams.

I play TPA exclusively on the 360 and I've been very happy with the large amount of time I've spent with it. Can't wait for the updates and new tables to come out!

mmmagnetic said:

Me too! Pinball is so satisfying to play, recently I've been losing patience with every other game I own.

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Same here man, its an addiction! We will all be in rehab by years end!

Btw dude since you like bullet hell and yer mame, you should really try jeff minters ios games mashups of classic styles with a weird whacky and very wonderful play style...gridrunner trust me itll become An auto purchase !

Not advertising this dudes as addicted to tpa just like the rest of us infact it were i first heard of it!

mmmagnetic said:

Me too! Pinball is so satisfying to play, recently I've been losing patience with every other game I own.

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I've played Max Payne 3 for 3 days and got bored. PHOF/TPA will never get boring.
@Heretic
Yeah, rehab with hundreds of pinball machines. Wow, that's paradise. Maybe some naked women, too. I hope my girlfriend won't read this.

xNiCeGuYx said:

I've played Max Payne 3 for 3 days and got bored. PHOF/TPA will never get boring.
@Heretic
Yeah, rehab with hundreds of pinball machines. Wow, that's paradise. Maybe some naked women, too. I hope my girlfriend won't read this.

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I was looking foward to max payne now hes gorgars ***** muahaha

Please remember how many different devices they are trying to get TPA implemented on. Also all the 360 issues they have been having lately. Small companies can only do so much. I for one love the support that Farsight is giving considering these things. Personally don't get this much interaction with employees with videogames.