No hope for planet earth (iOS PBA user reviews)

1 star is obviously silly, but quite frankly it doesn't deserve a glowing review in its current state either. The new UI is absolutely terrible. Kickstarter backers don't get their promised rewards (at least I never got mine, and my email sent to the support address three weeks ago never got any response; I sure as hell won't be backing any more of those). Several of the tables still have bugs, but now they're diverting their efforts to making the UI worse and trying to fleece people for another few bucks for rip off "pro" modes that provide next to no real value.

I love pinball, and I love the stated goals of the TPA project, but it's getting really hard to like FarSight as a company lately.

Not sure where a glowing review is warranted here, or how you can call people idiots for leaving bad reviews while posting equally unwarranted reviews on the positive end of the scale. The truth is, this has devolved into a three star app, at best, and it's a real shame to see such a great app slowly fall apart.

Stormchild said:

Not sure where a glowing review is warranted here, or how you can call people idiots for leaving bad reviews while posting equally unwarranted reviews on the positive end of the scale. The truth is, this has devolved into a three star app, at best, and it's a real shame to see such a great app slowly fall apart.

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You must not have read some of those one star reviews. Believe me, the English language is in peril.

Or is this just the evolution to newspeak?

Chk1975 said:

So after reading this thread I put in a 5 star review.

But now I have a stupid question, how do I ammend my written review? Can not find it on the app store page.

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Just go and leave a review. Since you can only leave one review per app, clicking Leave Review will bring up your old review for editing.

However, I don't think it changes anything other than what your review says, so it won't bubble it to the latest review.

Stormchild said:

1 star is obviously silly, but quite frankly it doesn't deserve a glowing review in its current state either. The new UI is absolutely terrible. Kickstarter backers don't get their promised rewards (at least I never got mine, and my email sent to the support address three weeks ago never got any response; I sure as hell won't be backing any more of those). Several of the tables still have bugs, but now they're diverting their efforts to making the UI worse and trying to fleece people for another few bucks for rip off "pro" modes that provide next to no real value.

I love pinball, and I love the stated goals of the TPA project, but it's getting really hard to like FarSight as a company lately.

Not sure where a glowing review is warranted here, or how you can call people idiots for leaving bad reviews while posting equally unwarranted reviews on the positive end of the scale. The truth is, this has devolved into a three star app, at best, and it's a real shame to see such a great app slowly fall apart.

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Factoring in bugs and issues with the ui I agree that this is not a 5 star title.

The ui is far from unusable and it is an improvement over the original unless an embossed effect really offends you for some reason. If you don't buy the pro modes then the game is otherwise the same as it was before pro mode. Hobestly the value of pro mode is largely subjective. Not having it doesn't make the game any worse so really pro mode shoukd have nothing to do to reduce the rating.

I do think a 5 star rating is more in line with reality than a 1 star by far. Given the overall quality I would give it 4 stars easily.

superballs said:

Factoring in bugs and issues with the ui I agree that this is not a 5 star title.
I do think a 5 star rating is more in line with reality than a 1 star by far.

Given the overall quality I would give it 4 stars easily.

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I agree. Definitely *not* 5 star. Fix the old lingering bugs (Circus Voltaire especially ) and fix (allow portrait mode) the UI...then many more 4 & 5 star reviews will be attainable.

http://i.pgu.me/3sqSJWcV_original.jpg



Lmfao

No, all the game of the year awards, all the praise from various sources, none of that is true. The truth is the game has no portrait mode, and should cost a dollar. All of you fanboys and especially mark Wyda should be ashamed of yourselves for this unethical conspiracy.

lmfao....what bollocks

Joking aside, let me take the time right now to form a real, articulated response to rotstik:

First of all, good review. It's well written and articulate. The kickstarter issues, most definitely real. People being charged to restore their purchases, I've read instances of that happening, and I myself have had a bug where I had to redownload tables (without charge) on several occasions. High scores reset with staggering regularity... I assume this is referring to peoples local leaderboards resetting? No such issues here but I've read about that. The online leaderboards, to my knowledge, aren't reset often so your wording choices here might give people the wrong idea. As for the closing, it's hyperbolic and damning but I find myself doing the same thing when I dislike something, I tend to use those devices and it's your opinion and I respect that.

As for this fanboy lead conspiracy. It's not like that. Fact is one day I went to the reviews and I saw the following: 1 star for "lack of portrait mode", 1 star for "should cost a dollar". That's why I made this thread in the first place. Had the 1 and 2 star reviews been as intelligent and actually calling out real issues such as yours, I'd have never said a damn thing. However thinking back on this now, Farsight are the ones who shipped the buggy interface, it's not necessarily peoples fault they can't figure out the portrait mode. Jeff pointed this out to me, and in retrospect, basically insinuating people are stupid when it's Farsight's fault for poor design, was a little short sighted on my end. In retrospect, Farsight deserves the criticism and the reviews.

And while I find that throwing an entire app under the bus with a 1 star review over one little flaw is, for lack of a better word, retarded, that's how people are and I can't change that. Again, there are TONS of flaws with the game, and tons of bugs, tons of super valid complaints and if that's what was being talked about on the app store, you'd have never heard a peep out of me. This thread would have never existed in the first place.

At the end of the day, after this thread was made, there were some funny "pownage" reviews posted, there were some informative "counteract the stupid" reviews posted, and there were some "teaching ethics" reviews posted to the .99 cent crowd. I asked you guys to step up and you did, that was awesome of you. Thank you. This was never about padding the reviews, this was about powning idiots.

Just planted a review on iTunes app store. I'll cut and paste when it goes live. 5 stars with some (justified) criticism.

Well hey, the app is a free download and all tables can be tried out for free. Can't get better than that really.

PBA fanboy here! Lol!
It's the $0.99-ers that crack me up, they really and truly expect to get every table for a buck?
Really?! Ha ha ha!
I have bought every table and I have gotten more than my moneys worth, just my opinion though.

Stormchild said:

1 star is obviously silly, but quite frankly it doesn't deserve a glowing review in its current state either. The new UI is absolutely terrible. Kickstarter backers don't get their promised rewards (at least I never got mine, and my email sent to the support address three weeks ago never got any response; I sure as hell won't be backing any more of those). Several of the tables still have bugs, but now they're diverting their efforts to making the UI worse and trying to fleece people for another few bucks for rip off "pro" modes that provide next to no real value.

I love pinball, and I love the stated goals of the TPA project, but it's getting really hard to like FarSight as a company lately.

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Agreed entirely. Up to a point, I was yelling about PA to everyone who'd listen. I'd also include it in whatever iOS gaming round-ups I was writing for the press. Now, I barely play the game. I despise the new interface, which is buggy, crashy and frustrating. At best, I can sometimes twist my device about like an idiot to play a table, but that doesn't always work—and rotating the device sometimes crashes the app. I also find the 'pro' stuff a little irritating.

None of the big issues with the app is insurmountable, and I do hope FarSight is listening. Still, I've no response to an email I sent in December—not that I was necessarily expecting one, but many other indies have responded to UI suggestions I've made while reviewing apps. Maybe these guys are just inundated with complaints and/or sick of hearing them, but that in itself should be an eye-opener.

Sheesh!
The kickstarter thing is a big problem, obviously, but basing a store review (intended purely for "is _this_ purchase worth the money"), on facts and issues that exist elsewhere, is just biased and way too subjective to be worthy of existing on the store.

When people are making one and two star reviews based on false facts, ridicolous expectations, and irrelevant issues (and mere immature incompetence), I find it incredibly lame to point out, in another review, that members of a forum are making "counter reviews"! Obviously, anyone that would go from this thread to make a "counter review" on the app store, would do so because they really like the game and thinks it deserves the 3, 4 or 5 star rating that they are giving it. No one here is trying to sell the game for their own personal reasons, unless they are working for FarSight.

Yeah, sheesh, some people...

Ooh, my pet hobbyhorse...

superballs said:

The ui is far from unusable and it is an improvement over the original unless an embossed effect really offends you for some reason.

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The embossed effect should offend everyone.

The reality is that games are judged as part of a package. And although we now have great tables, the overall package is lacking.

The presentation really is at a 1 star level, at least for the UI. I don't think it's "improved" at all. Or if it has, then it started from a pretty low point.

The UI detracts from the experience. It's just so rambling, ad-hoc and ill-designed. It makes playing games a chore, it's ugly, and I can perfectly understand why people react to it.

I don't think people are "idiots" for not "getting" this product. Some people value style and attention-to-detail in their products. Particularly if they are not pinball fans. There's a lot of competition out there for gaming dollars, and a hell of a lot of polished games; games that make TPA look amateurish and unpolished.

Just being "pinball" isn't enough. If it was, we'd all still be playing knock-offs on Visual Pinball or even Future Pinball.

FS need to truly respect these tables, instead of just pushing them out the door as fast as they can.

I think it's obvious to most rational people that FS could really improve the overall experience of this product. It's nowhere near a 5 star app, in any category. And I don't think calling people idiots will help. FS need to know that their products need to be improved.

Considering it's almost impossible for me to get from the main menu to the table list, I'd say the new UI is actually quite close to unusable, yeah. Am I really the only one who's entirely unable to tap a button without actually scrolling the button row a couple of pixels (negating the tap), on Android?
I'm having a similar problem with the lowest options on the option screens, which keeps scrolling out of view - this design seems extremely idiotic.

Sumez said:

Considering it's almost impossible for me to get from the main menu to the table list, I'd say the new UI is actually quite close to unusable, yeah. Am I really the only one who's entirely unable to tap a button without actually scrolling the button row a couple of pixels (negating the tap), on Android?
I'm having a similar problem with the lowest options on the option screens, which keeps scrolling out of view - this design seems extremely idiotic.

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This would be the the largest problem. Quick taps and rest assured they did something about it.

I'm not trying to say its a great ui but there is such a thing as overreacting and I see a lot of it. Sure its not great but a lot of people are still getting to their tables.

superballs said:

but there is such a thing as overreacting

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We could almost have a section here dedicated to it. That and irony.

Lots of good reviews over the new update, but this nugget made me smile:



Rofl. Oh it just never gets old.

amazing what people feel entitled to for a buck these days.