Williams' Collection Volume 5 guesses

jaredmorgs

Moderator
Staff member
May 8, 2012
4,334
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I actually thought that left ramp in Pinball Arcade Creature ruined the game. One of the easiest ones to hit. And Monster Bash is much harder on the real table. So even though looking forward to some non-Pinball Arcaede tables, Zen versions will be a nice welcome
Vacuum ramps sucked the joy out of this table on Pinball Arcade.

100% agree.

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk
 

zmcvay

Member
Sep 19, 2014
356
5
Not any kind of surprise, but hey, Monster Bash! A licenced table at last, and two that desperately needed an update from Pinball Arcade! And it's not Volume 5, but the Universal Monsters pack so that answers that (and I guess we can't close this thread).
Bit disappointed they didn't add a 3rd Universal Monsters original table as was speculated.

Edit: Not a fan of CftBL on TPA either, but I've never gotten around to playing a real one, so I'm hoping this one will grab me more. Even if not, hey, Monster Bash!

Watched the trailer a couple more times, was hoping that the animated monsters change to show the instruments as they get them, no indication that's the case. Oh well.
 
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Cloda

New member
Oct 15, 2018
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Unlike most of the people here, I haven't played these in real life or TPA. I watched the PAPA tutorials and am looking forward to both. Creature from the Black Lagoon looks Jackpot and Super Jackpot dominated like i.e. Fish Tales and The Getaway. I couldn't see from the PAPA tutorial if there are also huge Jackpots on Monster Bash. I seriously hope the Achievements are worth something this time around like i.e. Fish Tales for Super Jackpot. I enjoyed getting Medieval Madness but would have enjoyed it more if you got after defeating the King of Payne and not just starting Battle for the Kingdom.

Thinking about it a bit and from what I've seen in the PAPA videos, I'm already worrying that there is going to be a big delay to the next table pack. My reasons are; only two tables and from what I can see on the PAPA videos, they are both relatively straight forward where after about 10 minutes of good play, you basically restart everything again. That doesn't add to longevity on a table so after a couple of days, you'll be played out and will be looking forward to what's next. I'm thinking of e.g. The Getaway, Hurricane, Fish Tales, and The Party Zone, where after 4 days of playing, I've basically had enough of it (just trying some specific things out now) for now. Both Road Show and White Water kept me busy for a long time as there was a lot more variation and reaching the Wizard mode took effort.
 

Crawley

Member
Mar 25, 2013
706
4
Nice. Looking forward to this collection.

Always have a soft spot for virtual Creature. Played the 2003 version in Williams Pinball Classics so much. Was the first recreation that made it click that each pinball table has a story and a goals to follow. Before that any real-world pinball play I did was pretty much just batting the ball around to see the flashing lights, call outs, and activating whatever fun toy lead to multiball.

Never cared so much for Monster Bash but hoping the classic physics changes my mind on it. Was always so easy in TPA that games became a slog so barely played it.
 

EldarOfSuburbia

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Feb 8, 2014
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Unlike most of the people here, I haven't played these in real life or TPA. I watched the PAPA tutorials and am looking forward to both. Creature from the Black Lagoon looks Jackpot and Super Jackpot dominated like i.e. Fish Tales and The Getaway. I couldn't see from the PAPA tutorial if there are also huge Jackpots on Monster Bash. I seriously hope the Achievements are worth something this time around like i.e. Fish Tales for Super Jackpot. I enjoyed getting Medieval Madness but would have enjoyed it more if you got after defeating the King of Payne and not just starting Battle for the Kingdom.

Thinking about it a bit and from what I've seen in the PAPA videos, I'm already worrying that there is going to be a big delay to the next table pack. My reasons are; only two tables and from what I can see on the PAPA videos, they are both relatively straight forward where after about 10 minutes of good play, you basically restart everything again. That doesn't add to longevity on a table so after a couple of days, you'll be played out and will be looking forward to what's next. I'm thinking of e.g. The Getaway, Hurricane, Fish Tales, and The Party Zone, where after 4 days of playing, I've basically had enough of it (just trying some specific things out now) for now. Both Road Show and White Water kept me busy for a long time as there was a lot more variation and reaching the Wizard mode took effort.

I played a lot of CfTBL, and it's a hard table IRL. The left ramp needs to be a drain monster if you don't hit it. My concern is how that ramp plays... TPA made it far too easy, even after tweaks. But if it plays the same way in FX3 as, say, the right (Dragon) ramp in MM, it's going to make life very difficult. It's a key ramp to high scores on CfTBL, since it feeds the jackpot multiplier during multiball, as well as keeping a ball "out of the way" for a while. Also interested to see how they make the jet bumpers behave. Even on IRL tables, it's possible for the ball to stay up in the bumpers for an extended period; again, desirable in multiball since it keeps a ball busy and builds the Jackpot total.

It's true that Creature is heavily focused on Jackpots and Super Jackpots for scoring; nothing even comes remotely close. Getting even one Super Jackpot at 1x scoring - let along 2x or higher - is a significant achievement. Multiball is unforgiving, and is only two-ball.

MB, on the other hand, has pretty balanced scoring during normal play; with big emphasis on the two Wizard Modes, which can net huge scores, if you keep them going for long enough and know how to manipulate the scoring potential (think Total Annihilation, but more complicated).
 

wilbers

Member
Aug 8, 2018
569
0
I've played a total of 1 game on Creature From the Black Lagoon (last May), and 0 games of Monster Bash so looking forward to both of these.

Suppose that's an advantage of only having ST:TNG of the Williams tables in The Pinball Arcade, almost anything that is released is new to me in digital form.
 

zmcvay

Member
Sep 19, 2014
356
5
I seriously hope the Achievements are worth something this time around like i.e. Fish Tales for Super Jackpot. I enjoyed getting Medieval Madness but would have enjoyed it more if you got after defeating the King of Payne and not just starting Battle for the Kingdom.

Neither had hard goals in Pinball Arcade, except for possibly the Lyman's Lament goal on Monster Bash (which was pretty easy once you got into a pattern for it). For Zen:

Monsters of Rock
Form the Monster Rock Band on the Monster Bash™ table. (Single player only)

Damsel in distress
Find the girl and hit at least one Jackpot on Creature from the Black Lagoon. (Single player only)

Could be difficult on Arcade/Tournament physics.
 

Scared Stiff

New member
May 18, 2019
184
0
Wish they were announced Oct 1 and released today rather than just barely squeaking under the wire before Halloween! But I will say that visually, they both look fantastic. Especially Monster Bash which has deserved an exceptionally well lit version. Looked almost real. Although so do those lights on Creature. Which makes me excited for what they will (hopefully) do with Circus Voltare someday!
 
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Gorgar

Active member
Mar 31, 2012
1,332
8
Maybe the betas can speak up now that these tables have been announced: are the songs used in Creature the same songs used in the TPA version?
 

lettuce

New member
Mar 17, 2012
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Thinking about it a bit and from what I've seen in the PAPA videos, I'm already worrying that there is going to be a big delay to the next table pack. My reasons are; only two tables and from what I can see on the PAPA videos, they are both relatively straight forward where after about 10 minutes of good play, you basically restart everything again. That doesn't add to longevity on a table so after a couple of days, you'll be played out and will be looking forward to what's next. I'm thinking of e.g. The Getaway, Hurricane, Fish Tales, and The Party Zone, where after 4 days of playing, I've basically had enough of it (just trying some specific things out now) for now. Both Road Show and White Water kept me busy for a long time as there was a lot more variation and reaching the Wizard mode took effort.

Im kind of hoping they would added the Career mode found in the Switch version of Star Wars Pinball, where it basically gives you challenges to complete on the tables, this would add to the replayability of the tables.

Im guessing we're going to actually see Season 5 before the years out as the the beta for this Universal Monsters pack has been out since July, so this pack was more or less wrapped up from then with just tweaks here and there maybe. So my guess is there probably 95% finished on season 5 tables, and im betting if the beta tester haven't got that pack yet they will do in the next few weeks
 
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Cloda

New member
Oct 15, 2018
199
0
I played a lot of CfTBL, and it's a hard table IRL. The left ramp needs to be a drain monster if you don't hit it. My concern is how that ramp plays... TPA made it far too easy, even after tweaks. But if it plays the same way in FX3 as, say, the right (Dragon) ramp in MM, it's going to make life very difficult. It's a key ramp to high scores on CfTBL, since it feeds the jackpot multiplier during multiball, as well as keeping a ball "out of the way" for a while. Also interested to see how they make the jet bumpers behave. Even on IRL tables, it's possible for the ball to stay up in the bumpers for an extended period; again, desirable in multiball since it keeps a ball busy and builds the Jackpot total.

It's true that Creature is heavily focused on Jackpots and Super Jackpots for scoring; nothing even comes remotely close. Getting even one Super Jackpot at 1x scoring - let along 2x or higher - is a significant achievement. Multiball is unforgiving, and is only two-ball.

MB, on the other hand, has pretty balanced scoring during normal play; with big emphasis on the two Wizard Modes, which can net huge scores, if you keep them going for long enough and know how to manipulate the scoring potential (think Total Annihilation, but more complicated).

Thanks for the insight... much appreciated! I'm looking forward to both but it sounds like Monster Bash might be more kind of table. I forgot that the PAPA video pointed out that you have to strategically line up the different monsters so that first multiball sounds similar to Multiball Madness in Medieval Madness. I've never been a big fan of any table that is dominated by one scoring opportunity so I'll play Creature but expect that I'll be happy with what I have achieved once I've reached Super Jackpot in a game (or maybe the x2 you talked about).

I enjoyed on Medieval Madness that the damsel / dragon ramp was key to get before you start Multiball Madness as it gave you an additional strategic opportunity to park the ball / keep the ball out of the way during multiball, so I'm looking forward to that on Monster Bash.

I didn't find Medieval Madness dragon ramp all that difficult in the long run. From time to time it got me in trouble, but it isn't such that it dominates the gameplay. I don't play a lot of Classic Single Player, but it sounds like the left ramp on Road Show is very problematic in that mode. I didn't find it particularly troublesome in Classic Arcade. We'll have to see if that left ramp is going to be as challenging as real life in one or either of the physics modes (and off-course tournament mode).
 

Cloda

New member
Oct 15, 2018
199
0
Neither had hard goals in Pinball Arcade, except for possibly the Lyman's Lament goal on Monster Bash (which was pretty easy once you got into a pattern for it). For Zen:

Monsters of Rock
Form the Monster Rock Band on the Monster Bash™ table. (Single player only)

Damsel in distress
Find the girl and hit at least one Jackpot on Creature from the Black Lagoon. (Single player only)

Could be difficult on Arcade/Tournament physics.



Your achievements sound good from my limited experience with the tables (watching a PAPA video on each :) ). I hope they use them. I expect them though to not be as difficult as they could be unlike Pinball FX2 where quite a few of the achievements were very tough. At some point it was rated as the most difficult game to get all achievements on. My ideal would be if they give an indication next to the achievement if you achieved it in Classic Single Player, Arcade, or Tournament mode e.g. bronze, silver, or gold rim.
 

Cloda

New member
Oct 15, 2018
199
0
Im kind of hoping they would added the Career mode found in the Switch version of Star Wars Pinball, where it basically gives you challenges to complete on the tables, this would add to the replayability of the tables.

Im guessing we're going to actually see Season 5 before the years out as the the beta for this Universal Monsters pack has been out since July, so this pack was more or less wrapped up from then with just tweaks here and there maybe. So my guess is there probably 95% finished on season 5 tables, and im betting if the beta tester haven't got that pack yet they will do in the next few weeks

That sounds good about pack 5. I hope you are right!

I'm sure a career mode will be popular but I really enjoy the straight up Classic Arcade physics. If they make the career mode interesting and tough enough, I'll certainly give it a go.
 

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