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Zen Pinball - Star Wars
- Thread starter Butterkins
- Start date
- May 8, 2012
- 4,334
- 3
I only hope PvZ comes to mobile.
bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
Personally I find PvZ the least enjoyable of the PFX2/Zen tables. It's too easy and too repetitive compared to basically any table they put out since the last of the PFX1 tables (excalibur/EDF). Especially the soundfx drive me mental 
Still worth the 3 bucks it costed me to buy it on xbla (and I assume the 1 dollar mobile users will pay) but tbh it has to be a really crappy table or a bad performing one (sadly Zen runs very poor on iPad 1, only sorcerers lair is playable with the DMD on) to not be worth that price of admission.
Still worth the 3 bucks it costed me to buy it on xbla (and I assume the 1 dollar mobile users will pay) but tbh it has to be a really crappy table or a bad performing one (sadly Zen runs very poor on iPad 1, only sorcerers lair is playable with the DMD on) to not be worth that price of admission.
szycag
New member
- Apr 19, 2012
- 71
- 0
Boba Fett is still slightly annoying but almost growing on me. At first I really hated it. It's bad enough that most all Zen tables are centered around missions that are just "Hit this ramp! Now hit that one!" With this table the scoring balance is almost entirely on getting letters, scoring bounties, repeat. Ultimately I think I just like the theme enough to put up with all the Zen design quirks on these three. I still can't tell if Excalibur is just a nice theme with good art design and actually tolerable sound FX, or just an all around good table. Nevertheless in the absense of more TPA on 360, FX2 keeps bringing me back.
SilverBalls
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 1,233
- 3
Someone posted a video of the Star Wars tables running in a cabinet under Windows8. I am not much of a Star Wars fan but they do look good. Nice lighting effects -hopefully PA will look as good on the PC platform.
Butterkins
New member
- Apr 6, 2012
- 111
- 0
- Thread starter
- #167
Some musings on the (tedious) Zen-FS comparisons/arguments...
- Regardless of what people think of Zen's tables, they are a pinball simulation. As are TPA's tables. They both simulate real world physics. Much of what people regard as the "physics" really comes down to table designer choices; slingshot coil power, rubber elasticity, flipper angles, object placement etc.
- Both are simulations, but all of TPA' tables are emulations, both technically (in terms of ROM emulation) and physically (mechanical/layout/lighting emulation). Some don't have ROM emulation, but they all seek to emulate existing tables, whether through scripting or ROMs.
- Zen are trying to appeal to a broad base, including younger players who've never played pinball before. Farsight are targeting existing pinball fans, or people who have some nostalgia/recognition for older, real-world tables. (Like the people who keep asking for TAF on the Facebook page.) Accordingly, each company is doing quite different things. Zen's tables are far, far easier for the casual player. Their flippers are closer together, the ball save is on forever, extra balls are easy to get, the slingshots are about 50% power, the flippers have steep angles when pressed to make ball trapping easier, nudging is trivially easy, deathsaves are routinely easy, there's less "rubber" to reduce the number of ramp/loop deflections (and thus reduce player dissatisfaction), and so on.
(And, if you look at the average YouTube video of a Zen Pinball table being played, you can see why Zen have made these choices. The average casual player barely knows how to trap the ball; he can't dead-flipper pass, or post-pass, or hit shots reliably. And a lot of the time, he doesn't even know there are basic rules to the game. He thinks it's all just a random crap shoot. Zen is trying to make games playable for this type of player.)
- Say what you like about some of their design choices, but you can't doubt Zen's attention to detail and overall quality. Farsight could learn a lot of things from them. Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX 2 ooze polish, TPA doesn't. Which is a huge shame.
- Zen have kept pinball alive, and relevant. Give them credit where due. It's not like there's a wealth of other studios out there, so dedicated to pinball.
IMO, the Star Wars tables look interesting. There's some decent mechanics in there, and some variety. They don't seem to have gone overly crazy like with the Marvel tables, and the table art is a distinct improvement from the garish mess of Marvel.
But I really wish Zen would include an option to disable the repetitive, droning voice narration. Vader sounds like he's on prozac. The fake Yoda keeps spouting his stupid fortune-cookie sayings, and I just want to murder the little green bastard for it. And then there's Boba Fett monologuing at the start of every game, in a fake kiwi-aussie accent. (He probably says more in the first 5 seconds of this game than he did in the movies.) JUST SHUT UP ALREADY.
And the poncy British butler voice-overs are terrible. They should just use robotic voices, like they do on the Boba Fett table.
And I'm also over the toys dancing around the table, saying silly things. It was interesting the first dozen or so times they did it...
The choice of DMD colors is typically dire. You get invisible purple, mud yellow or dim red. All require a trip to the Operators menu to fix. TPA does it much better: the DMD has a plasma glow to it, and the DMD cells actually look like they belong to a DMD, and not a 2 colour gif.
What Zen's tables really need is a Tournament mode, where Extra Balls are OFF, slingshot power is back to normal, etc. Something for more advanced players to use, for a real challenge.
But overall, 800 scampoints for 3 Star Wars tables? It's a steal.
- Regardless of what people think of Zen's tables, they are a pinball simulation. As are TPA's tables. They both simulate real world physics. Much of what people regard as the "physics" really comes down to table designer choices; slingshot coil power, rubber elasticity, flipper angles, object placement etc.
- Both are simulations, but all of TPA' tables are emulations, both technically (in terms of ROM emulation) and physically (mechanical/layout/lighting emulation). Some don't have ROM emulation, but they all seek to emulate existing tables, whether through scripting or ROMs.
- Zen are trying to appeal to a broad base, including younger players who've never played pinball before. Farsight are targeting existing pinball fans, or people who have some nostalgia/recognition for older, real-world tables. (Like the people who keep asking for TAF on the Facebook page.) Accordingly, each company is doing quite different things. Zen's tables are far, far easier for the casual player. Their flippers are closer together, the ball save is on forever, extra balls are easy to get, the slingshots are about 50% power, the flippers have steep angles when pressed to make ball trapping easier, nudging is trivially easy, deathsaves are routinely easy, there's less "rubber" to reduce the number of ramp/loop deflections (and thus reduce player dissatisfaction), and so on.
(And, if you look at the average YouTube video of a Zen Pinball table being played, you can see why Zen have made these choices. The average casual player barely knows how to trap the ball; he can't dead-flipper pass, or post-pass, or hit shots reliably. And a lot of the time, he doesn't even know there are basic rules to the game. He thinks it's all just a random crap shoot. Zen is trying to make games playable for this type of player.)
- Say what you like about some of their design choices, but you can't doubt Zen's attention to detail and overall quality. Farsight could learn a lot of things from them. Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX 2 ooze polish, TPA doesn't. Which is a huge shame.
- Zen have kept pinball alive, and relevant. Give them credit where due. It's not like there's a wealth of other studios out there, so dedicated to pinball.
IMO, the Star Wars tables look interesting. There's some decent mechanics in there, and some variety. They don't seem to have gone overly crazy like with the Marvel tables, and the table art is a distinct improvement from the garish mess of Marvel.
But I really wish Zen would include an option to disable the repetitive, droning voice narration. Vader sounds like he's on prozac. The fake Yoda keeps spouting his stupid fortune-cookie sayings, and I just want to murder the little green bastard for it. And then there's Boba Fett monologuing at the start of every game, in a fake kiwi-aussie accent. (He probably says more in the first 5 seconds of this game than he did in the movies.) JUST SHUT UP ALREADY.
And the poncy British butler voice-overs are terrible. They should just use robotic voices, like they do on the Boba Fett table.
And I'm also over the toys dancing around the table, saying silly things. It was interesting the first dozen or so times they did it...
The choice of DMD colors is typically dire. You get invisible purple, mud yellow or dim red. All require a trip to the Operators menu to fix. TPA does it much better: the DMD has a plasma glow to it, and the DMD cells actually look like they belong to a DMD, and not a 2 colour gif.
What Zen's tables really need is a Tournament mode, where Extra Balls are OFF, slingshot power is back to normal, etc. Something for more advanced players to use, for a real challenge.
But overall, 800 scampoints for 3 Star Wars tables? It's a steal.
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I'm a big SW fan and I would say maybe 40% of the clips (at least for the Empire table) are rerecordings with soundalikes. There's no way that is Harrison Ford's voice.
and Polygon fished out the info:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/9/3971774/star-wars-pinball-hands-on-pinball-fx2-zen-pinball
"The Empire Strikes Back uses a mix of audio and voice work pulled from the film when possible, but resorts to Lucasfilm-approved soundalikes when necessary."
Jan Duin
New member
- Feb 20, 2012
- 545
- 0
This, unfortunately for TPA, is very true.
spoonman
New member
- Apr 20, 2012
- 1,435
- 3
Yeah, only the light sabers, R2D2, guns, etc.. type sound effects are from the Lucas Film sound archives.
All of the voices were redone with impersonators, but they usually are in video games.
I think they've done a pretty good job overall.
I added comparisons a few days ago in case anyone wanted to hear the difference between authentic and impersonator.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/3670-Zen-Pinball-Star-Wars-Voice-sample-comparisons
szycag
New member
- Apr 19, 2012
- 71
- 0
On Boba Fett, when you get to the 60 million bounties, in Jabba's there is one where you're supposed to shoot a Stormtrooper in the neck on the digital display, I could have swore I had a good shot and it didn't register. Is there a trick here? It's hard enough nailing the ramp in only 7 seconds or so each time I failed :/ God I hate some of these shots...
Pinballfan69
New member
- Mar 28, 2012
- 525
- 0
I'm not sure exactly how to do it 100% but you hold a button to AIM then a button to Zoom and one to fire the tranq. you have to hit that black area where is neck is when he turns his head
As far as an easier way to hit that empire lane. Back-hand with the left flipper
You can use that shot to star the empire bounties quicker as well. I found out that there is a hurry up option. I found out I can start both Hutta or Empire bounties with only 3 shots instead of 6.
If you shoot the hutt sinkhole or empire lane the lights flash for a certain amount of time I think 10 seconds or so. Then the last letter light turns off. If you hit the hutt sinkhole or empire lane (depending on which you're going for) within the time limit, Jabba or Vader show up. Then you can start the bounty with the 3rd shot. Otherwise you have to shoot those shots 3-4 times more.
Also it's not just 60 million Jackpot it's when you select the highest Bounty amount. First is 60, second (tranquilizing the guard) is 60, next is 80m (mini game with Slave 1 shooting tie fighters) And final (Haven't seen it) 100m
Also empire is the same Max bounty per mission level. 50m (shoot all flashing lanes) 60m (fighting the spy stormtrooper) 80m (burning specific targets with flamethrower) 100M( collecting artifacts and....... I won't spoil it)
Quite unique missions other than both EMPIRE and Hutts first bounty being exactly the same (shoot Flashing lanes)
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SilverBalls
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 1,233
- 3
That's what I like to see, the dreaded ball trails turned off.
N
netizen
Guest
go to the fx menu and turn them off then
Butterkins
New member
- Apr 6, 2012
- 111
- 0
- Thread starter
- #178
As pointed out, they are optional.
However, I keep them on. Not because I like the effect itself, but because they really help you determine where the ball is, and where it's going. Particularly in multiball.
Even at 60fps, fast moving balls can be hard to track; the vapour trails help you better see their motion.
- May 8, 2012
- 4,334
- 3
And dare I say a fully functioning operator menu in each purchased table. And a great leader board and working friends list.
And as I discovered by accident, stereoscopic 3D through HDMI out. On my ANDROID TABLET. It is choppy, but, damn...
And as I discovered by accident, stereoscopic 3D through HDMI out. On my ANDROID TABLET. It is choppy, but, damn...