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Zen/FX pinball Williams bundle... Thoughts?

sigh909

sigh909

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Oct 1, 2017
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Somerset, UK
I've been getting my digital pinball fix from the Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade on PS4 for a while now. But since PA lost their license with Bally/Williams and Zen/FX picked up the license I was wondering if anyone had played the new versions of Fish Tales, Getaway 2, Junk Yard and Medieval Madness, and if so what were the thoughts? I've bought the first release package for Zen/FX and I have to say I think they've done a fantastic job. All four tables released so far seem to play really well and they look and sound fantastic. I for one am looking forward to seeing which tables they bring out next.
 
I should also note that I've always hated Zen/FX's original tables. I've always thought their layouts, flow and physics have been awful, an always preferred PA for its real pinball table simulation, but their recreations of real tables have made me pleasantly surprised
 
im a fan of the psvr tables from zen, no licence titles but the vr more than makes up for that. its not super hardcore pinball's pinball but its fun and thats what its ment to be.
 
Yep I've spent a little time playing with the first Willams pack from Zen. Overall it's positive and they've obviously put some time into the physics as they're far better than the default Zen physics. You need to play the tables in 'Arcade' or 'Tournament' modes to get the realistic physics. I wouldn't say I hated the original Zen tables, but it's far to easy to keep the ball in play on most of them. I usually get bored and give up before the ball drains, and I don't consider myself a good player.

My main gripe with Zen's Willams tables is they have had some elements censored. For example the artwork has all references to alcohol or tobacco removed. Some speech has also been altered in Medieval Madness. Doesn't affect the gameplay, but Pinball Arcade managed to release the tables uncensored so I don't see why Zen couldn't. On the flip side (no pun intended) I like the optional extras they've added to the tables, like the dragon flying around in Medieval Madness and water effects in Fish Tales.

I think the audio could also do with some work as compared to Visual Pinball, the mechanical sounds lack any punch.

Looking forward to learning which tables Zen are going to release next!
 
nugat said:
Yep I've spent a little time playing with the first Willams pack from Zen. Overall it's positive and they've obviously put some time into the physics
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There's a piece in this month's Retro Gamer magazine on them getting the licence and an interview with some of the Devs. They said they had access to the real machines so took them apart, measured all the components, 3D scanned some stuff in to get it as close to the real life tables as possible.
 
As close to perfect digital recreations as possible... then we started ****ing about with the artwork and removing callouts.
 
It shouldn't annoy me so much but it really does. So much that can't bring myself to pay for the pack even though I bought everything Farsight put out multiple times.

It's like Lucas making Greedo shoot first, Spielberg digitally removing guns and replacing them with walkie talkies in ET. They're small differences and you can see why they did it but I think the originals need to be preserved and it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
 
Indeed, had known about the censorship (I did prior to release but I somehow forgot :cuckoo:) I don't think I would have bought the tables. Especially as Fish Tales is my favourite of the bunch, and that's free anyway.

I haven't tried it myself, but I believe on the PC version you can disable family mode on Medieval Madness to restore the original call outs, but that doesn't affect the artwork which remains in a doctored state. Console versions are locked on family mode.

Guessing we wont be getting a Zen version Scared Stiff any time soon, they'd have Elvira wearing a onesie.
 
Played fish tales last night (its free) to see if I liked it before I buy. My biggest problem is the lag on the flippers. The ball just drains before the flipper reacts. How do people get round this? Another controller? Setting??
 
It's pretty instant on my setup. You playing on Steam? Have you tried adjusting some of the graphic settings?
 
No on PS4. I'll trying playing with the settings tonight. Tried Steam but my PC is now 'too old'
 
Drink less beer ;) Seriously though, I don't think there are any in-game settings you can change to affect flipper lag. The lag could be coming from your screen, if it's a television there maybe a delay in it receiving the signal from the PS4 to it being displayed on screen. It's something that you may not normally notice until you play a game which requires instant reactions like pinball.

Some televisions have a 'game mode' which attempts to lower the input lag by disabling some of the image processing features.

I'm playing on a PC connected to a monitor and I haven't noticed any lag myself. I'm sure there will be some, but it's not perceivable to my tired old eyes :) Have you tried one of the other pinball games like Pinball Arcade to see if it's the same?
 
Ha. That might explain my low K/D on COD!

Cheers, will give Pinball Arcade a go to check and play with the TV settings. I really would like to get the pack so hopefully will get sorted.
 
Tucks said:
Ha. That might explain my low K/D on COD!

Cheers, will give Pinball Arcade a go to check and play with the TV settings. I really would like to get the pack so hopefully will get sorted.
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Oh yes it will. You should (IMHO) also wire your PS4 direct to the TV if it isn't already - ie, don't go through a receiver. Optical cable to the receiver for sound. Going through extra equipment also adds input lag. So wire direct and TV on game mode. Preferably get a TV with low input lag also. I think mine is around 16ms - not as good as a gaming monitor but way better than a normal TV.
 
bethamari said:
There's a piece in this month's Retro Gamer magazine on them getting the licence and an interview with some of the Devs. They said they had access to the real machines so took them apart, measured all the components, 3D scanned some stuff in to get it as close to the real life tables as possible.
Click to expand...

Farsight did that also, they made a big fuss about it at the time

@tyke should be able to comment on the tables on a cabinet setup, he has just installed this on my vpin machine, just have to pry it out of his hands now ? I guess that means it’s good ?



(Joking Mike)
 
How good does this tour sound - no wonder they have good access to real machines.

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