Recommend me tables!

[Illmad]

Okay, I'm fairly new to pinball. I already own about ten tables, three of them being Star Wars ones; Han Solo, Masters of the force, and my personal all-time favorite, Starfighter Assault, in which I also hold my highest score in any table: 44 million. I know to some of you that's just weak, but to me it's awesome, so keep snarky remarks to yourselves.

Thing is, I've gotten burned on buying tables just for their looks before. Loved the aesthetic feel of the Shaman table for instance, but the table is so prone to unfair sidelane drains that I find the table impossible to play. Naturally I want to avoid buying tables like that ever again, which is why I'm posting this.
I just want to be recommended some fun and easy to learn tables without unfair ball losses

Judging from the few table reviews I've been able to find, I'm currently leaning on Darth Vader, Empire Strikes Back, and Clone Wars.

My favorite non-SW tables are Marvel Moon Knight and Sorcerer's Lair. You know, for reference.

Also, I didn't like Masters of the Force. Wasn't aware of the balance thing when I bought it. I just want to hit everything without thinking about what I should and shouldn't hit. I'm bad enough at multitasking as it is, I don't need this on top of it. Other than that I really liked the feel and layout of the table.

[BarbieBobomb]

Okay, I'm fairly new to pinball. I already own about ten tables, three of them being Star Wars ones; Han Solo, Masters of the force, and my personal all-time favorite, Starfighter Assault, in which I also hold my highest score in any table: 44 million. I know to some of you that's just weak, but to me it's awesome, so keep snarky remarks to yourselves.

Thing is, I've gotten burned on buying tables just for their looks before. Loved the aesthetic feel of the Shaman table for instance, but the table is so prone to unfair sidelane drains that I find the table impossible to play. Naturally I want to avoid buying tables like that ever again, which is why I'm posting this.
I just want to be recommended some fun and easy to learn tables without unfair ball losses

Judging from the few table reviews I've been able to find, I'm currently leaning on Darth Vader, Empire Strikes Back, and Clone Wars.

My favorite non-SW tables are Marvel Moon Knight and Sorcerer's Lair. You know, for reference.

Also, I didn't like Masters of the Force. Wasn't aware of the balance thing when I bought it. I just want to hit everything without thinking about what I should and shouldn't hit. I'm bad enough at multitasking as it is, I don't need this on top of it. Other than that I really liked the feel and layout of the table.

I highly recommend Epic Quest, it's fun, silly and a pretty friendly table. If you liked Starfighter, I think you'd like Clone Wars as well, it's one of the easier of the Star Wars tables. (I know I work at Zen, but I am not an above-average pinball player by any means.) If you don't already have it, I also recommend Infinity Gauntlet. You don't necessarily need to know the characters or story for it, but it's beautiful and not a super tough table to get a decent score on. When you get the missions going, it really makes you feel like you have skills - at least I did the first few times I played.

What exactly do you like about Starfighter Assault? Knowing that could help me recommend more tables for you if you'd like more specific suggestions.

[daverthehutt]

Easier tables you might like:

Guardians of the Galaxy
Spider-man
Avengers
Ghost Rider
El Dorado
Street Fighter 2
Droids

All are pretty easy. Some you can get to the wizard mode without finishing any main missions. Of course the easiest way to get better is practice and learning the tables. Learn how to activate kickbacks, ball saves, and extra balls. Learn how to do bangbacks, that can be as good as ball saves or kickbacks. The table guides that ShoryukenToTheChin writes have pretty much everything you could need to know. I print them all out and put them in binders.

[Illmad]

Already own Epic Quest. It's fun, but a tad bit little too goofy for my taste.

The things I like the best about Starfighter? I dunno, the layout makes it easy to make the ball hit where you want it to, the balls aren't dropped from anywhere where it's in danger of bouncing out the sidelanes. It's easy to spot the ball (when the screen isn't crowded by lasers and tie fighters) and I generally like the artistic style

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the tables I haven't bought yet due to the sheer focus on cinematics in its trailer. Perhaps I should give it another chance.

EDIT: I've seen some videos of amateur play, and I've concluded that I won't be buying Darth Vader. There were just too many sidelane ball drains for my taste. With my current skill it's still just bad luck when I lose a ball due to that, more than actual skill, as I'm just mashing buttons when the ball gets close to the flippers. I'll try to be a bit more careful and calculating from now on though.
Have currently settled for Clone Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. Maybe I'll also buy Spiderman and Infinity Gauntlet, but I think I'll try to improve my skills on the tables I already own first. This decision has nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that the players on the latter two tables ended up with like 300.000.000+ points and made me pretty demotivated.

[daverthehutt]

I know you're new, but mashing will get you nowhere. I was new to it about 5 years ago and did the same thing. You need to learn control through trapping the ball, nudge passing, dead flipper passing, and just learning what shots will set up other shots. My suggestion is watch some videos posted of the tables you have (and even ones you don't) and pay attention to how the player controls the ball more than where their shots go.

[Illmad]

I have watched some videos, as previously stated with Infinity Gauntlet. That video lasted about half an hour to forty minutes.
I understand what you mean. Tried out trapping the ball with the flippers in Epic Quest. Managed to get some good shots in, but the ball still rolled in too fast at some points and ended up in the ball pit due to my slow reaction.
Nudging was something I didn't discover until a couple days ago when I was sitting in a weird position while playing, which caused me to hold the Ipad at the lower left corner with one hand and the upper right with the other. I couldn't figure out why the right flipper didn't work, and all my attempts at triggering it did was shake the screen.
I know how it works now and how I should use it, but frankly nudge passings are for people capable of walking in stairs and chewing gum at the same time. I have trouble walking in stairs and talking at the same time.
Might try it out when I get more comfortable with my ability to keep the game under control.

[tenorhero]

Well most of it is matter of personal taste. I prefer more difficult/challenging tables. Fear itself lies in there.


Of the 3 you're thinking of leaning toward, stay away from Darth Vader. The only allure is the challenging missions (Again my personal preference). It was just o easy to score off hurry-ups and Multi-balls.

I would recommend Empire strikes back. It's a fun table tons to do and it captures the movie Fairly well and I think one of the easier tables of the pack.

Clone wars is another one that is a bit simplistic and easy to get into. Nice flow IMO.

Easy tables can be hit or miss. I think Plants Vs Zombies is too easy.

Guardians of the galaxy might be up your alley. You don't have to beat the mission in order to get to the 'wizard' mode much like Sorcerer's Lair.

If you enjoyed Moon Knight, I'm surprised you are overlooking X-men and Thor. They are also in the same pack assuming you bought it off steam or the consoles. They are only sold in packs. Also solid tables for fun.

I also think Fantastic Four might be a good one for you.

Also as another suggested. Infinity Gauntlet

World War Hulk is another table in the same pack that might be up your alley. Easy and what I call 'Ramp-spam' which are a bit dull and boring to me.

[Soulprayer]

Infinity gauntlet?
Pretty hard for a beginner.
Especially when the inverts begin.

I think 'Mars' is a nice table.
You can train precise shots with little danger on a clear table without "clutter".

[Illmad]

Already own X-Men. It's an ok table that I haven't played that much yet. Will get around to it later, but right now I'm trying to be a bit more precise and calculating with Epic Quest and Sorcerer's Lair. Beat my previous record by 4.000.000 just a couple minutes ago actually. Seems I'm improving.

Should probably mention I'm playing on IOS. Posted this topic here because I was mainly interested in SW tables due to enjoying the art style a lot more than the Marvel tables. Their color palette is so bright it's giving my eyes diabetes, plus I'm generally not that big a fan of superheroes to begin with. Moon Knight I downloaded just because it was the number one recommended Marvel board, right next to Captain America, the latter whom I personally find to be the lamest superhero in existence.
Had it been Captain Norway however, that would've been more appealing to me both in terms of culture and hilarity.

Since I have the IOS version; neither the Eldorado, Street Fighter, PvZ or Mars tables are available to me. Mars would definitely have been the first table I'd buy if it were available.

Anyway, thanks for all your recommendations guys. I appreciate it

[OriginalEther]

As others have said, knowing why you like or dislike a table helps.
I'm going to try to focus more on gameplay than theme.

Right now, while I know it's not possible or feaseable for all tables to do this, I think a table should have a good pace, and force/reward you for using all the features of the table. It also shouldn't go out of the way to try to make you lose a ball.

Currently, in no particular order, my favorite tables are:
The Avengers
X-Men
Empire Strikes Back
Infinity Gauntlet

For the most part, The Avengers and X-Men tables fit that above description, though they go about it in a different way. The Avengers, because of the ball save, is the easier table (while you don't need to complete missions to reach the wizard mode, it does help a lot with your score)

The Infinity Gauntlet encourages you to do stuff other than the main missions, mainly because the prize is often an extra ball. They also score decently. A 5 way diverter keeps you from just spamming one, so you have to do everything. I would also still consider it the most innovative table out there. It is not easy, however.

Empire Strikes Back is up there mainly because of it's theme. It captures the spirit of the movie so well. Learn how to activate the Sabre Saver if you want to get anywhere with it.

While not on my top list, I have been playing Clone Wars a fair bit recently.

Commenting on some of the other tables mentioned....

Sorcerer's Lair - it fits that criteria I mentioned. It's the easiest just because it so easy to activate the ball saver.

Spider Man - you probably like, though I don't think it has a lot of depth to it. I wouldn't fret about the scores on that one.

Blade - if you like moon Knight, you'll probably like this, as it was done by the same person, and it very similar. I would rate it as actually better because it's wizard mode is better done (the one on Moon Knight just stops the table dead)

Thor and World War Hulk were both mentioned; they were done by the same person who did Clone Wars. Thor is the better table, but it is a little slower and more difficult. I do like World War Hulk - it is certainly the angriest table I've played - but I find that you need to spam the Strength Multiball to have an optimal game (bonus multipliers and extra balls), and that starts to get old.

A fun and unique table that I haven't seen mentioned is Super League Football. And I'm not really a soccer fan.

As it is, while some tables are better than others, there are only a few tables that I outright hated. Rocky and Bullwinkle and Return of the Jedi are the two that I think of first. I also didn't really like Droids, Ghost Rider, Pasha, and of course, Darth Vader.

[Slaphammer]

Of the Star Wars tables, I think Starfighter Assault is the best. I'd also recommend Return of the Jedi and Empire Strikes Back, probably in that order. A lot of people don't like Darth Vader but I think it's a fine table, the main problem is that it takes a lot of effort to start one of the special modes. The one Star Wars table I just can't get into at all is Boba Fett...it just doesn't click with me and I can never seem to wrap my head around what I'm supposed to be doing on that table. Oh, I'm not really a fan of the prequel-era Star Wars setting but I think the Clone Wars table is fun.

For the most part, I think the Marvel tables represent the best of Pinball FX2 and you can't really go wrong with any of them (maybe I'm biased, though, I love the Marvel theme). I would particularly recommend the Avengers 4-pack of tables, and I also think X-Men is amazing although it took me a little while to appreciate it. Actually, the most recent two Marvel tables are probably the ones I would recommend the least: Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy. They seem like fine tables but for some reason I can't get into either one of them as much as the others.

Of the "original theme" tables, I think the best is Super League Football. Absolutely love that table, and I'm not a fan of "real life" soccer at all.

[Illmad]

Yeah, Super League Football is pretty darn entertaining. For one that has "Not playing football" listed as a hobby, that's saying a lot.
(Does buying new teams actually add more to the table gameplay wise, or is it just for looks?)

Already bought Guardians of the galaxy, so you're kinda late unrecommending it. Haven't played it yet as I'm trying out new playmethods on tables I know better. Already went from 17.000.000 high score on Sorcerer's Lair to 170.000.000 in one play, so I'm hyped. Could've gotten further hadn't the game bugged out on me, causing me to lose the last ball.

Sorry I haven't listed why I like certain tables. It's hard to put my finger on. To me, it's more about art style to be honest. I'm an educated illustrator and graphic designer, so that means more to me than it probably should. But to be able to enjoy the game, the tables need to be easy to master, seeing as I'm a newbie. That seems like a very shallow requirement on my part, and it totally is too. I'll continue on the more challenging tables once I feel comfortable with my skill level.

Also, I think I have bought enough tables for now. Already own all the ones that are most commonly recommended from the themes that appeal to me.

[OriginalEther]

I like Boba Fett and still play it from time to time. It probably has the most creative theme of all the Star Wars tables.

That said, there isn't a lot to it. I find the side missions not really worth even attempting. I'll only try the more advanced bounties if I have an extra ball; the deactivation of the Whip Save for most of those missions makes them much more difficult. To boot, the 100 million point Jabba bounty often sends the ball right down the middle if down properly, and I don't have a clue how to hit the Sarlaac pit on purpose for the Vader 100 point bounty or the Wizard mode.

Ultimately, I usually just spam the 40 million point bounties, and hope I don't botch loading the ball on the ship. If I'm lucky enough to pass a 60 million point bounty, then I'll try to get the easy and safe 80 million Jabba bounty.

BTW, anyone reading this know how many points the wizard mode nets you on this table?


As for liking the art, I get that. Makes sense as it's the first thing people notice.
I was just trying to figure out if you like certain themes, gameplay styles, and/or difficulty level.
Funny you say that you have enough tables now. When I first got this, I thought the 4 core tables would be enough. Then I bought Ms SPlosion Man for my daughter. now I have about 30 tables.

[StewAtTheU]

Thor and Epic Quest are easily my favorite 2 tables. Both are very straightforward and easy to play.

I'm generally more into the Marvel tables than the Star Wars ones. Of the Marvel ones my favorites are Thor, Deadpool, Captain America, MoonKnight, Fantastic Four and Guardians of the Galaxy. Not as into the Star Wars Tables, but you have 2 of the best ones in Starfighter Assault and Han Solo, if you want to get Clone Wars I would definitely say that is one of the best Star Wars Tables. A New Hope is also really good.

If you want a high scoring table, go with Super League Football, that is by far the easiest table.

On a side note, if you can get it on your platform, I would recommend Plants vs. Zombies. I'm still hoping it comes out on IOS because it is easily one of the top 5 tables out there.

[Illmad]

I have decided that Deadpool will be the next table I buy (followed by perhaps spiderman)
Watched a video of someone playing it and almost laughed my goddamn ass off. Not only does the humor hit me in all the right spots, but the table itself did also look pretty fun.
Kinda surprised Deadpool wasn't uncluded in the 'favorite marvel tables' poll. All the others seemed to be there as I can recall.