I really can't deal with outlanes anymore

[hectorpuppet]

Irrational rant to follow, flame and moderate as necessary:

As I get older, my patience wears thinner every day, and few things discourage me more than having my ball drain through absolutely no fault of my own, making any precision or skill I displayed meaningless.

The recent release of The Pinball Arcade has only reinforced my intense hatred of the gutter. It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already ready to give up on it because of this. I'm not having fun at all, I only feel like I'm getting constantly ripped off. Every time the ball unceremoniously drains down either side like a little pissant for the 800th consecutive time, I just groan like Sideshow Bob getting hit in the face with a rake. How games like Pinbot were never recalled by Consumer Affairs, I'll never know. Imagine if you were playing Super Mario Brothers and the floor suddenly disappears under you with no warning killing you instantly just because the game feels like being a dick.

How can I overcome this? How do you pros personally deal with it? How do the developers rationalize this blatant thievery, and why would they think that people would enjoy it?

Nudging doesn't help with this. The ball drains with a metoric force and it is unavoidable 1/1000 times.

[shogun00]

How do the developers rationalize this blatant thievery, and why would they think that people would enjoy it?

We all know that FarSight's The Pinball Arcade is far from perfect. One of the biggest problems with it is the lack of options. Everything is set to Farsight's defaults and nothing can be changed.

One thing Zen has going for its self is the operator's menu (OM), which is something real pinball machines have. You can adjust the CPU difficulty, you can adjust the tilt sensitivity, you can adjust the table incline*. All of these features can make the table more difficult or more easy depending on the settings.

When it comes to making real pinball machines, the developers make a lot of options available to the operators. Remember, pinball machines are designed to be coin eaters and Farsight has that factor emulated to a tee.

* In a real pinball machine, the table incline can be adjust from the legs.

[HardcorePinballGamer4Life]

There is one advantage to The Pinball Arcade; the nudging is more lenient than Zen's default settings, thus you have more help in dodging the outlanes. I actually catch myself more with the outlanes more than Zen's games with spending hours on both (The Pinball Arcade on my iPad 2 and Pinball FX 2 on my Xbox 360). Zen's ball physics are a little too fast for myself to read when the ball heads to the outlanes, while this game's physics are of moderate speed, thus I can read the ball-outlane chemistry.

As far as options go, I always play with the default settings; if you change the options, the leaderboards won't recognize them, which is what most people would be playing these games for.

[hectorpuppet]

I was butthurt about not being able to beat Theater of Magic's Grand Finale (which I finally pulled off a few minutes ago) and just needed to vent a little.

Don't mind me.

[HardcorePinballGamer4Life]

Eh, it's cool.

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

FS's physics still need work. Things happen on their tables that don't happen in real life.

[PSKay]

I loathe outlanes in The Pinball Arcade. I've had situations where I would start multiball and two of my three balls fell into the outlane before they ever even touched my flippers. That's just ridiculous. It's one thing to have punishing outlanes but it's another thing to have my ball go to the outlane due to absolutely no fault of my own. The same thing often happens after I successfully hit a ramp or orbit... the ball somehow goes straight to the outlane before I get another shot.

As for being able to read the ball better in this game due the slower physics, I don't get that at all. Yes, it's slower some of the time but the game seems inconsistent. Sometimes the ball moves around like a feather and other times it rockets by while breaking the sound barrier. Zen is fast but much more predictable.

Also, the outlane and inlane seem to be so close together that it's really a crapshoot on which one it's going to actually hit. Nudging can often be risky because the ball may have been heading to the inlane.

[hectorpuppet]

I guess I'm not the only one having this issue with TPA. Arabian Nights in particular is such a gyp that it almost makes Rocky & Bullwinkle seem fun and fair.

I hope the vending machine at Farsight breaks and the staff loses a bunch of quarters.

[Womble]

TOTAN: you need to to activate the Shooting Stars. These are spikes which will pop up, and prevent outlane drains for a limited period.

To activate the Left Shooting Stars, hit any of the 3 red standup targets above the left outlane.

To activate the Right Shooting Stars, hit any of the 3 red standup targets that are semi-hidden on the right hand side, above the Lamp. (Yeah, awkward.)


TOM: hit one of the two Hocus Pocus targets above the left outlane. Magnets will activate, preventing a ball drain for a limited time. You will probably activate the switches many times by accident. (In fact, it seems like a bug: you don't even need to touch the target with any force to activate them in TPA). Sadly, outlane saves don't work during multiball.

Also, get used to nudging when the ball hits the slingshots. You'll get a feel for how to dampen the ball's speed at the right time.

Also, get very good at dead-flipper-passing on all tables. Practice not hitting the ball. By doing this, you reduce the chances of the ball bouncing up from a flipper on to a slingshot (and then in to an outlane).

Above all, don't flail. You need ball control at all times. Remember that props like the Magic Chest are purposefully designed as drain monsters. Try to only make shots that will return the ball safely to you. (e.g. a ramp shot).

[muffin mang]

I was butthurt about not being able to beat Theater of Magic's Grand Finale (which I finally pulled off a few minutes ago) and just needed to vent a little.

Don't mind me.

Do we need to hit all shots to spell out MAGIC THEATRE without any ball drains? I've gotten to the grand finale a few times now, but cannot seem to quite get them all. I had another ball waiting but the mode ended after the drain... I thought that would still net the achievement.