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The Initial Problem with Pinball FX2
I have been playing Zen Pinball games on both the Playstation and Xbox consoles since they first started, finally settling on the Xbox 360 and Pinball FX2 for my table collection (and thank you for working out a way to get them to the Xbox One). Right from the outset, however, there was a problem.
Initially, this problem was just a minor nuisance, but as the collection grew, table after table, it increased in nuisance rank, quickly rising to major nuisance. It's currently a colonel nuisance, but I expect it to reach general nuisance soon.
At first, I thought: "This is so obvious an irritant, that someone will patch in a fix quickly." But they didn't. Then I thought: "Eventually, it'll happen." But it hasn't. Finally, I thought: "New consoles! They'll make tweaks! They'll fix this obvious problem that has plagued this series since it initially launched!" Guess what didn't happen.
So, what was this initial problem? Initials.
Every time I do well on a table (which, let's face it, is every time*), I have to scroll between the letters I want. This requires me to click the shoulder buttons for each and every letter and number between them. Alternately, I can spastically flick the left stick, imagining that I can make it go faster the more spastic I get. Alternately alternately, I can try to conjure up some combination of both which has the added benefits of occasionally going back a space, as the left stick flicks too far the other way, and making me look like a complete idiot.
I use the initials BW. These letters couldn't be much further from each other (and nevermind the "_"). Whichever combination I use, it takes ten solid minutes for me to enter my chosen monicker*.
Why, in the name of all that's pinball, has this not been fixed yet? Is it for realism's sake? So that I can imagine that I'm actually pressing the flipper buttons to change the initials? I've got news for you: Real pinball tables also don't have Chewbacca jumping down onto the table to fix a broken widget on the Millenium Falcon. I'll be able to suspend my disbelief for the time it takes me to enter my initials.
Please let me scroll between the letters. Please. Just let me push the stick to the left and have it zoom through the numbers and letters to get to the ones I want.
Otherwise, I will never play this game again*.
Thank you.
*May have been exaggerated for effect
Initially, this problem was just a minor nuisance, but as the collection grew, table after table, it increased in nuisance rank, quickly rising to major nuisance. It's currently a colonel nuisance, but I expect it to reach general nuisance soon.
At first, I thought: "This is so obvious an irritant, that someone will patch in a fix quickly." But they didn't. Then I thought: "Eventually, it'll happen." But it hasn't. Finally, I thought: "New consoles! They'll make tweaks! They'll fix this obvious problem that has plagued this series since it initially launched!" Guess what didn't happen.
So, what was this initial problem? Initials.
Every time I do well on a table (which, let's face it, is every time*), I have to scroll between the letters I want. This requires me to click the shoulder buttons for each and every letter and number between them. Alternately, I can spastically flick the left stick, imagining that I can make it go faster the more spastic I get. Alternately alternately, I can try to conjure up some combination of both which has the added benefits of occasionally going back a space, as the left stick flicks too far the other way, and making me look like a complete idiot.
I use the initials BW. These letters couldn't be much further from each other (and nevermind the "_"). Whichever combination I use, it takes ten solid minutes for me to enter my chosen monicker*.
Why, in the name of all that's pinball, has this not been fixed yet? Is it for realism's sake? So that I can imagine that I'm actually pressing the flipper buttons to change the initials? I've got news for you: Real pinball tables also don't have Chewbacca jumping down onto the table to fix a broken widget on the Millenium Falcon. I'll be able to suspend my disbelief for the time it takes me to enter my initials.
Please let me scroll between the letters. Please. Just let me push the stick to the left and have it zoom through the numbers and letters to get to the ones I want.
Otherwise, I will never play this game again*.
Thank you.
*May have been exaggerated for effect
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