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Pinball FX 2 |OT|

thundr51

Member
Getting much better at this game now, managed to get over 9M yesterday on Rome. Have to admit the rule sheets could be better.

Incidentally, has anyone managed to unlock any of the avatar awards yet? The robe looks like it's going to be really tough to get... So far halfway there but I think I need to buy more tables...
 

EMBee99

all that he wants is another baby
Adding everyone on here for competition and fun. Loving the physics, the insane table design...hoping it gets the support it deserves.

GT: ericmbee
 

Dizzy-4U

Member
That Rome table is nasty, just nasty. If you can't make it to either of the ramps, the ball goes back to the middle at incredible speed :(

Biolab is the easiest for me. At least I can understand what I'm doing (except for a few spots).

By the way, in Secrets of the Deep, what's the purpose of the crane? There's always a small light in a corner of the table, but I can't reach it with the crane.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
I think I got enough friends added now for the game, I really don't feel like dropping any more in the leaderboard :lol Some of you guys/gals are very good!
 
Dizzy-4U said:
That Rome table is nasty, just nasty. If you can't make it to either of the ramps, the ball goes back to the middle at incredible speed :(

Biolab is the easiest for me. At least I can understand what I'm doing (except for a few spots).

By the way, in Secrets of the Deep, what's the purpose of the crane? There's always a small light in a corner of the table, but I can't reach it with the crane.
The crane is indeed confusing. As far as I can tell, when you activate crane, one of the Hull Breach spots in the lower playfield lights up, and you're supposed to drop the ball on it. The flipper buttons move the crane vertically, and as soon as you release a button it drops the ball. For the longest time I kept attempting it thinking that left flipper = up and right flipper = down like in the video mode, but now I think either button sends it up. The minigame goes by so quick it's hard to test out the controls. I think I've only pulled it off once so far, and it gets you 100,000 points. I think there's a multiball or something if you do it enough times.

All these little minigames are one of the major flaws in the new tables. Instructions are usually vague (push the launch button at the "right time," yeah, that's a big help), and often flash by on the screen too fast to read, or at a time when you can't take your eyes off the action on the table. Audio cues are underused. The tables are so cluttered with junk that it decreases the effectiveness of surface lights as a visual cue. Often these minigames end before the player even has time to figure out the control scheme.

Sure, play the game enough times and you eventually figure some of this stuff out. But they've made the learning process a lot more annoying than it needs to be, especially with the vague rule sheets. Has anyone on the dev team ever worked on a real pinball machine?
 
Dizzy-4U said:
Ahh, the crane can go up? No wonder I never got the ball to reach the target.
I think if you hold the button down long enough, it'll go up, reach the top, and then start coming back down. I guess the thing to do is play a few games where you do nothing but crane until you figure out how the heck it works.
 

see5harp

Member
I've actually gotten 2 or 3 of the probes correct. Rome has a couple of crazy minigames that are easy once you recognize what you need to do. Even though a lot of the special effects are distracting, it's pretty cool to get a ball locked and flung over to the other side in a catapult. None of the new tables are close to being as bad as Extreme though. I sincerely hate that table.
 

Ronabo

Member
I dunno I sort've like the Extreme table now. It's at least playable now in FX2. In FX1 I couldn't hit shit with the ball.
 
see5harp said:
I've actually gotten 2 or 3 of the probes correct. Rome has a couple of crazy minigames that are easy once you recognize what you need to do. Even though a lot of the special effects are distracting, it's pretty cool to get a ball locked and flung over to the other side in a catapult. None of the new tables are close to being as bad as Extreme though. I sincerely hate that table.
Yeah, it's probably fine once you learn how to utilize the minigames/modes/table features, but the way things are set up it's annoying trying to figure them out as you play. Here are some features that have me scratching my head:

Rome - Mock Warfare: Prizes flash by on the screen, and I hit the launch button. Sometimes I get the prize on the screen, sometimes it says I miss. Why? No idea.

Secrets of the Deep - Kraken: It says something about pushing the launch button at "the right time." I have no idea when that is.

Secrets of the Deep - Skill shot: I have no idea how this works. I just hit the launch button and occasionally get points.

And one that had me stumped until just recently:

Pasha - Start a tale: Once the book is opened, the onscreen instructions and voice repeatedly tell you to hurry up and "start a tale" before the timer runs out, with no indication where you're actually supposed to send the ball. There is a flashing light in the upper right playfield, but it's pointing at something that you can't really see with any of the camera angles. It turns out you're supposed to shoot the castle in the top right, which you can see if you use the free-look mode (hold X). The best way I've found to get the ball in there is to shoot from the upper left flipper, while holding up the upper right flipper to let the ball go by. Of course, I fail most of the tales in like a second, but at least I know how to start them now.
 

see5harp

Member
Mock warfare is the easy one. You basically press the launcher when the red light on the catapult is lit. You have to hit once on each catapult (2). That's the way you trigger multiball on Rome. You basically can't even lock a ball until you've done that once. Then you gotta hit the ball target on the right once, and then the right ramp to get a lock.

The Kraken attack on secrets of the deep is just hard. I haven't even got past the part where you've hit every ramp. That low ramp up top is impossible under pressure for me.

Pasha is probably the most annoying for me because it gives you little to no time. I've hit that Magic Carpet ramp once, which is tough. AFAIK you gotta hit that ramp twice. The Turtle minigame on Secrets has a pretty quick timer as well.
 
see5harp said:
The Kraken attack on secrets of the deep is just hard. I haven't even got past the part where you've hit every ramp. That low ramp up top is impossible under pressure for me.
Are you talking about the mini-loop in the upper left? Yeah, that's tough to hit.

Pasha is probably the most annoying for me because it gives you little to no time. I've hit that Magic Carpet ramp once, which is tough. AFAIK you gotta hit that ramp twice. The Turtle minigame on Secrets has a pretty quick timer as well.
Which ramp is that? I'm not sure if I've done the magic carpet mode.

Timers in general in FX 2 are too short.
 
I've only got the original tables, plus DLC ones (9 in total). None of the new ones yet, but MS points are hard for me to come by this time of year. I'll get them soon, mark my words.

I suck something royal though. I just can't figure out what I'm aiming for half the time and just end up spending all my time attempting to stop the ball from going out of play rather than going for a high score.

My average is about 5M per table, although there's a couple of 3M's (DAMN YOU SFII!!!) and I struggled to make 1M in Extreme (by far my most hated table - it's more like half a table!).

Best I've done is 14M on Rocky and Bullwinkle, and god knows how I managed that!


So, anyone got any good tips for the original 9 tables? What exactly shoulkd I be aiming at to get some decent scores going? Actual instructions for the tables is non-existent. I'd like to eventually give someone a run for their money :D

And if anyone want's to add another UK'er with a superscore of a measly 50, I'm MonkeylordUK

Hope to see more than me and my GF on my leaderboards soon. Make sure to simply put "GAF PBFX2" as a message so I know what you're adding me for.
 

zorbsie

Member
Quick question for everyone. Triggers or bumpers for flipper control? I started with triggers but I find the bumpers to be a little more responsive. Am I the only one?
 
see5harp said:
Mock warfare is the easy one. You basically press the launcher when the red light on the catapult is lit.
I wasted no time putting this info to good use. >:)


Monkeylord said:
So, anyone got any good tips for the original 9 tables? What exactly shoulkd I be aiming at to get some decent scores going? Actual instructions for the tables is non-existent. I'd like to eventually give someone a run for their money :D
I'm mostly playing the new tables at the moment, but you can get some basic tips for each table by pausing, then going to help/options and selecting Rule Sheet. Since the tables have been out for a while there is probably scoring info on gamefaqs or somewhere.

When in doubt, aim for the flashing stuff.

zorbsie said:
Quick question for everyone. Triggers or bumpers for flipper control? I started with triggers but I find the bumpers to be a little more responsive. Am I the only one?
Triggers here. It's what I'm used to from Pinball Hall of Fame.
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
Thanks for the replies on FX vs Zen vs FX2. I'll keep hoping some of the improvements make it over to the PS3 version.

Also, Pasha sounds like a rip of Arabian Nights. :p
 
jvm said:
Thanks for the replies on FX vs Zen vs FX2. I'll keep hoping some of the improvements make it over to the PS3 version.

Also, Pasha sounds like a rip of Arabian Nights. :p
It doesn't have that rad lamp you can spin though.
 

mclem

Member
Well, I don't *have* the new tables yet, but I'll pick them up as of the weekend, along with adding some of you guys as opponents. Don't expect me to be much competition, though :)

GT: mattclemson
 
zorbsie said:
Quick question for everyone. Triggers or bumpers for flipper control? I started with triggers but I find the bumpers to be a little more responsive. Am I the only one?
I've tried both ways but bumpers felt weird to me, so triggers all the way. I do use the right stick instead of A for the plunger but i don't feel like i have a good grip on when it releases or how to get more power.
 
Neuromancer said:
I've tried both ways but bumpers felt weird to me, so triggers all the way. I do use the right stick instead of A for the plunger but i don't feel like i have a good grip on when it releases or how to get more power.
I think it only matters on the 4 new tables. You can see how far back the plunger has been pulled in the lower right part of the screen. If the game doesn't have a skill shot, I just hit A.
 
By the way, you can adjust the sensitivity of the flipper controls in the Operators Menu. Upper and lower can be adjusted independently. This setting (along with dot matrix display color) doesn't prevent you from posting your score to the leaderboards.
 

see5harp

Member
Parallax Scroll said:
Are you talking about the mini-loop in the upper left? Yeah, that's tough to hit.


Which ramp is that? I'm not sure if I've done the magic carpet mode.

Timers in general in FX 2 are too short.

Yea that upper left lower ramp is crazy. The mode in Pasha is the story mode you were mentioning. The ramp is angled down and to the right and the only way you can hit it is with the top left paddle.
 
see5harp said:
Yea that upper left lower ramp is crazy. The mode in Pasha is the story mode you were mentioning. The ramp is angled down and to the right and the only way you can hit it is with the top left paddle.
Oh, the path just below the palace? Yeah, that's tough to hit.

Open Source said:
By the way, you can adjust the sensitivity of the flipper controls in the Operators Menu. Upper and lower can be adjusted independently. This setting (along with dot matrix display color) doesn't prevent you from posting your score to the leaderboards.
Good to know. I wasn't really a fan of the green DMD in Biolab.
 
pasha story has 2 targets, the one to the right from the upper left flipper, and there's also one across from the upper right flipper... both a fucking hard to hit, I only really ever get them by fluke them I get a deflection or something.
i've only done it once when the book is open, but you still do the game when it's closed... one is the 2nd little table with the guards and the other is the little tilting table at the top left of the board.

so much confusing stuff in this game, but I love it.
i've jagged 10million a couple of times on pasha, I wish I knew how I did it though! :lol
 

Petrae

Member
Not sure how I missed this thread for Pinball FX2.

I'm really digging the focus on Friends List competition and (of course) high score tracking. I've got Parallax Scroll either nipping at my heels or flat-out beating me and Ronabo has posted some impressive scores, too.

If you'd like to add me to your XBL Friends List-- which might help your Wizard Score!-- my GamerTag is GameGuyPeter. I hope to get some time in on the game later today.

A few things about FX2:

** The ball physics are much-improved over the first game. Feels heavier and doesn't seem to bounce around like a ping-pong ball. Still not quite to the standard set by Pinball Hall of Fame, but ZEN definitely took steps in the right direction.

** The new tables are hit or miss with me. I really like Pasha and Biolab, while Rome really does nothing for me in terms of design. Secrets of the Deep is confusing, even after a few plays.

** The ability to port tables from the original is a big bonus, especially if you bought them all. Most of the tables seem to have the improved ball physics model, except for Rocky & Bullwinkle, which still feels floaty. I did encounter a bug with Extreme, where a ball caught in the upper capture hole got stuck and never released... causing me to reset the table.

Anyway, I hope to see more scores-- and more tables from ZEN-- soon.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
jizzlobber said:
pasha story has 2 targets, the one to the right from the upper left flipper, and there's also one across from the upper right flipper... both a fucking hard to hit, I only really ever get them by fluke them I get a deflection or something.
Path to the palace isn't too hard once you understand the upper right bumper is blocking the path when it's not active, just keep it raised as you shoot with the upper left.

That Caravan hole is FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE to hit reliably, though.
 

Phreaker

Member
thundr51 said:
Incidentally, has anyone managed to unlock any of the avatar awards yet? The robe looks like it's going to be really tough to get... So far halfway there but I think I need to buy more tables...

I got the first one after adding two people in this thread to my friends lists yesterday (I tried, a couple others but their list was full). The bad part, when I go to the Avatar award shop it only shows a (!) for the image and I can't wear the item. All my other avatar awards seemed to have worked. Hopefully it will get sorted out - I assume it had something to do with unlocking it after the dashboard update.

Gamertag is Phreaker

I haven't played too much with multiplayer or ranked online games - the tournaments don't seem to be going? The few multiplayer games I joined had everyone drop out and I can understand why. The score to reach was 10,000,000 with a 0% penalty. After about 20 min I was the only one left in the room both times. Maybe I'm missing something.
 
Phreaker said:
I got the first one after adding two people in this thread to my friends lists yesterday (I tried, a couple others but their list was full). The bad part, when I go to the Avatar award shop it only shows a (!) for the image and I can't wear the item. All my other avatar awards seemed to have worked. Hopefully it will get sorted out - I assume it had something to do with unlocking it after the dashboard update.

Gamertag is Phreaker

I haven't played too much with multiplayer or ranked online games - the tournaments don't seem to be going? The few multiplayer games I joined had everyone drop out and I can understand why. The score to reach was 10,000,000 with a 0% penalty. After about 20 min I was the only one left in the room both times. Maybe I'm missing something.
The shirt worked fine for me before the update. Now it's messed up so I stopped wearing it.


Petrae said:
Not sure how I missed this thread for Pinball FX2.

I'm really digging the focus on Friends List competition and (of course) high score tracking. I've got Parallax Scroll either nipping at my heels or flat-out beating me and Ronabo has posted some impressive scores, too.

If you'd like to add me to your XBL Friends List-- which might help your Wizard Score!-- my GamerTag is GameGuyPeter. I hope to get some time in on the game later today.
Add this guy if you want to see some good scores. He's been Pinball King on my friends list for most of the time I've had this game so far.
 
A few days ago I realised I had a stray 210pts, so picked up the Excalibur table as it was the only one of the PBFX1 tables I didn't have. Will get the PBFX2 bundle when my 800 from last months promo drop.

Was a bit miffed to find that it won't work in PBFX1, presumably because it's not the same download as PBFX1's, but I couldn't get it from there as the PBFX marketplace is now empty, even from in the game.



Shouldn't really matter, and I'm sure I'll get laughed at, but it means I can never go back to PBFX and get a chance at picking up the achievements I'm missing... which are considerable, but at least I thought I had the option of going back sometime. The new ball physics really make it seem like 2 different games.
 
Dizzy-4U said:
That Rome table is nasty, just nasty. If you can't make it to either of the ramps, the ball goes back to the middle at incredible speed :(
yeah, that table really irritates me :lol

I hope there will be some tables released from zen to fx2 (and the opposite too).
 

Yerolo

Member
Really loving this game. Bought the FX2 tables plus a couple of the FX1 tables (Excalibur & Earth Defense).

I didnt play FX1 at all, but the ball physics are awesome. Have the ball physics been bettered in any other pinball game ?
 
Yerolo said:
Really loving this game. Bought the FX2 tables plus a couple of the FX1 tables (Excalibur & Earth Defense).

I didnt play FX1 at all, but the ball physics are awesome. Have the ball physics been bettered in any other pinball game ?
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection trumps this in the physics department. Plus it's based on real-life tables, if that's your thing.
 
Yeah, I think the new physics are completely capable of replicating Williams, but Zen's settings are still way the hell off from the real thing. Now, at least, proper (dead or trap 'n bump transfer) flipper passing is possible unlike before with FX1. Hell, you can actually consistently aim shots more naturally than before. Still, they need some help if they want to topple Williams PHoF. (The only thing Zen really does better than Farsight is their ball reflection.)
 
I really gotta try hall of fame, but it wasn't released in PAL territories... although apparently the PS3 version is region free.

I have a question... is secrets of the deep the octosquid attacks and you have to hit all ramps in the time limit, I have done that but the time bar is still goes down 'till it runs out... what else is there to hit?

also, when you get the submarine multiball (geez you gotta work for it) how do you claim the jackpot?
I think I had it at 30million then I lost my balls, game over :(
 
MightyHedgehog said:
Yeah, I think the new physics are completely capable of replicating Williams, but Zen's settings are still way the hell off from the real thing. Now, at least, proper (dead or trap 'n bump transfer) flipper passing is possible unlike before with FX1. Hell, you can actually consistently aim shots more naturally than before. Still, they need some help if they want to topple Williams PHoF. (The only thing Zen really does better than Farsight is their ball reflection.)
So far I've had very little success post passing in FX 2, if that's what you're referring to. I think that's more to do with the table design and placement of the slingshots though.

Bounce passing and regular trapping work decently enough, though.


jizzlobber said:
I really gotta try hall of fame, but it wasn't released in PAL territories... although apparently the PS3 version is region free.

I have a question... is secrets of the deep the octosquid attacks and you have to hit all ramps in the time limit, I have done that but the time bar is still goes down 'till it runs out... what else is there to hit?

also, when you get the submarine multiball (geez you gotta work for it) how do you claim the jackpot?
I think I had it at 30million then I lost my balls, game over :(
There's also the 2 mini orbits in the left part of the upper playfield. They've got flashing yellow arrows on them.

I'm not sure if I've gotten the sub multiball yet. How do you start it?
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
Phreaker said:
I haven't played too much with multiplayer or ranked online games - the tournaments don't seem to be going? The few multiplayer games I joined had everyone drop out and I can understand why. The score to reach was 10,000,000 with a 0% penalty. After about 20 min I was the only one left in the room both times. Maybe I'm missing something.
Yeah, the default settngs for starting matches are pretty stupid, tens and twenties of millions. They make for long games, and the longer the game, the more likely someone's gonna bow out, especially if they're novices who aren't seeing their numbers going anywhere near the target after a bit.

I go to custom settings and set 5 minutes, 25% penalty. Have had some close and fun games with that.
 
Parallax Scroll said:
I'm not sure if I've gotten the sub multiball yet. How do you start it?

that's not the proper name, but it's when you move the submarine thingo forwards, every time you do it it locks a ball, do it 3 times (takes quite a while) and you get a 4 ball multiball... I was just concentrating on my flippers but I could hear jackpot jackpot jackpot :lol
when I lost my balls I saw 30million flash on the screen, but it wasn't added to my score, you must have to claim it somehow
 
jizzlobber said:
I really gotta try hall of fame, but it wasn't released in PAL territories... although apparently the PS3 version is region free.

It's going to be released in Europe next week.


According to Zen there's a new content pack coming for FX2 this year. I'll buy them all if they choose to continue the pricing for the dlc.
 
next week?
i've seen it listed on some uk online stores but none have a release date or anything.
i'd prefer to get it on xbox360
 
jizzlobber said:
next week?
i've seen it listed on some uk online stores but none have a release date or anything.
i'd prefer to get it on xbox360

At least in Germany.

Williams®Pinball Classics: Arcade-Genuß in flippigem Look

London/Planegg, 15. Oktober 2010 - System 3 Software hat zusätzliche Entwicklungszeit in ihr langerwartetes neues Pinball-Spiel investiert und dafür genutzt, das fertige Produkt zu perfektionieren. Entwickelt wird ein Produkt von erstklassiger Qualität, das auch den höchsten Ansprüchen ausgewiesener Pinball-Fans genügt.

Der Name Williams selbst ist fast schon ein Synonym für Pinball. Historisch gesehen steht der Name für die besten Pinball-Tische, und System 3 ist stolz auf diese Assoziation. Durch die Zusammenarbeit mit Williams hat System 3 die Möglichkeit, die besten Videospielversionen klassischer Pinball-Tische zu kreieren. Das so entstandene Spiel vereint die traditionelle Williams Pinball-Philosophie mit Videospieltechnologie zu einem spektakulären Spielerlebnis, unabhängig von der gewählten Maschine.

Williams Pinball Classics erscheint am 12. November 2010 für Wii, PS3, PSP und Xbox 360.

Williams Pinball Classics wird erstaunlich genaue Abbilder der beliebtesten Williams-Tische aller Zeiten beinhalten. Jede Textur, jedes Blinklicht und jeder Soundeffekt wurde liebevoll nachgebildet, um die authentische Simulation dieser klassischen Freizeitbeschäftigung zu gewährleisten. Die unvergleichliche Ballphysik bedeutet, dass man auch auf dem Rechner oder der Konsole genauso gut werden kann, wie auch am Tisch ist. Und das klassische, aktive Gameplay sorgt dafür, dass auch Neueinsteiger im Pinball vom ersten Ball an gefesselt sein werden.

Die Fakten:

- 13 der beliebtesten Williams Pinball-Tische aller Zeiten (Wii- und PSP-Versionen: 10 Tische)

- Realistische Ballphysik

- Genaue und besonders detaillierte optische und akustische Nachbildung

- PS3/Xbox 360 mit lebensechter HD-Grafik

- PSP-Version mit Vertical Screen-Modus und Game Sharing

- Mehrspielermodus auf allen Tischen


Verbesserungen gegenüber der NTSC-Version:

- Neues, intelligentes Kamerasystem versetzt den Spieler in die Action hinein

- Verbessertes, Punkte-effizienteres Gameplay

- Tischdetails sind nun vollständig modelliert statt flach


Plattform-spezifische Features:

PS3/Xbox360: Umwerfende HD-Grafik, die man sehen muss. Es ist, als stünde man am realen Tisch, nur dass es ein Freispiel ist!

PSP Features: Die tragbare Version des Spiels erlaubt es, die PSP zu drehen, um den Vertical Screen-Modus zu nutzen und so noch mehr vom Tisch zu sehen!

Wii-Features: Hochgradig genaue Grafik kombiniert mit der Möglichkeit, Remote und Nunchuk zu schütteln, um die Maschine links und rechts anzustoßen!
 
I'm loving the new tables and am slowly getting the hang of them, except for Rome. My scores are nothing spectacular, though I'm first on my friends list on almost every table. I'll be adding a list of people from this thread for more leaderboard competition. My gt : kamikaze genes
 

Ricker

Member
The game is free all day,if you are Gold I guess....just downloaded the whole game just now for free....i`m in Canada...
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
Ricker said:
The game is free all day,if you are Gold I guess....just downloaded the whole game just now for free....i`m in Canada...
Are you sure you're not massively wrong?

This game works like Family Game Night or Game Room. The application to run the games is free. Then you buy tables to populate it with.
 

thundr51

Member
MrTroubleMaker said:
yeah, that table really irritates me :lol

I hope there will be some tables released from zen to fx2 (and the opposite too).


I thought I was the only one having trouble with that table...good to know I have company..

But I have gotten better at it. I think the 'Southern' mission is on of the easiest.

Meanwhile, Pasha continues to frustrate along with Biolab and the Deep Sea one. Anybody picked up Excalibur? I swear sometimes the rules on these tables is absolute GARBAGE.

Any other tables I should pickup? I got the fx2 pack and Excalibur.
 
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