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Let's Play Pinball FX and Look At Some Festering

BlahCade Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 25m·held·Feb 20, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

BlahCade reviews Pinball FX launch on consoles with gameplay deep-dive and licensing artwork analysis.

Summary

Chris Friebus and Jared Morgan discuss the official launch of Pinball FX on consoles, analyzing gameplay improvements, physics changes, and the 'festering' of The The Addams Family character artwork to avoid licensing issues. They playthrough several tables including The The Addams Family and Doctor Strange, identifying both improvements (lighting, ball physics, visual effects) and persistent bugs (hand animation timing, physics friction in ramps, visual effect obstruction).

Key Claims

  • Zen Studios replaced ticket system with coins in Pinball FX full release

    high confidence · Chris and Jared discussing currency changes between early access and console launch

  • Founders Form switch allows early access players to transfer all purchased tables to console versions

    high confidence · Jared explaining Zen's migration policy for early access participants moving to PlayStation/Xbox

  • Doctor Strange table lighting improvements made it playable by clarifying shot targets

    high confidence · Chris and Jared demonstrating the table with enhanced blue lighting on ramps that was previously dim

  • The The Addams Family hand animation is slow and causes multiball trigger bugs

    high confidence · Chris identifying timing synchronization issues between hand animation and ball lock mechanics

  • Physics improvements in Pinball FX include increased friction and ball responsiveness compared to FX3

    high confidence · Jared noting ball feels like it makes actual contact with table and moves with friction rather than like frictionless ice

  • Zen performed minimal changes to Marvel tables between FX3 and Pinball FX

    medium confidence · Chris stating 'they didn't do a lot of changes to them' after comparing Marvel tables across versions

  • Pinball FX now shows platform filters on leaderboards, allowing PC-only or console-only score comparison

    high confidence · Jared describing leaderboard platform differentiation feature

  • The The Addams Family plunger spring is too tight in Pinball FX, making launching difficult

    medium confidence · Chris stating 'Adjust your plunger springs. Yeah, it's way too tight' and expressing concern about future tables like Twilight Zone needing weak springs

Notable Quotes

  • “It's going good um yes folks i'm wearing a jacket because i'm a wuss here in California and, you know, 62 degrees to me is cold.”

    Chris Friebus @ 00:00:30 — Opening banter establishing casual podcast tone

  • “If you had a dollar for every time you got one of those emails, you'd be a rich man.”

    Jared Morgan @ 00:02:00 — Humorous aside about COVID exposure notifications in high-contact work environments

  • “They've taken some liberties they're like this way I mean if you have a look at it follows the same contours it does as opposed to tpas which added or took away a whole lot of stuff.”

    Jared Morgan @ 00:25:00 — Commentary on Zen's approach to 'festering' Fester character artwork being more conservative than TPA's

  • “What have they changed? Yeah. I did look at the back glass because apparently they had to change that Fester also. It's so tiny.”

    Chris Friebus @ 00:28:00 — Noting how subtle the Fester changes are across versions

  • “ThingFlips ain't going to work, folks. Or not reliably, at least. So, yeah, abandon all ye hope.”

    Jared Morgan @ 00:45:00 — Critical observation that Addams Family ROM-dependent mechanic (Thing flips) won't function in Pinball FX due to missing ROM state carry-over

  • “this plays so much faster and it's not floaty it's a mean table way better I don't even need to compare the two they're incomparable”

    Chris Friebus @ 00:48:00 — Strong praise for Addams Family performance/gameplay improvements over TPA version

  • “There's a discreet level of time that the game is expecting the hand to withdraw back underneath the playfield, drop the ball into the massive box... it needs the orchestration to be perfectly timed”

    Jared Morgan @ 00:54:00 — Technical explanation of hand animation timing bug affecting multiball lock mechanics

  • “you cannot miss the ramp that you need to shoot now it's really really obvious”

Entities

Chris FriebuspersonJared MorganpersonZen StudioscompanyPinball FXproductThe Addams FamilygameDoctor StrangegameThe Addams FamilyproductTPA (The Pinball Arcade)productFX3productChristopher Lloydperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Pinball FX officially launched on PlayStation and Xbox consoles after early access period on PC/Epic Games Store

    high · Chris: 'it's official pinball effects is now uh out there in the wild no longer in early release mode it is available on consoles'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Zen Studios replaced ticket system with coin currency in console release; unclear if early access players with excess tickets will be compensated beyond Pinball Pass access

    high · Chris and Jared discussing ticket-to-coin conversion and uncertainty about 'making it right' for players who had stockpiled tickets

  • ?

    code_update: Doctor Strange received significant lighting adjustments making shot targets visually clear; previously was a 'muddy ugly mess'

    high · Chris and Jared demonstrating clear blue lighting on ramps and mode targets that were previously difficult to see

  • ?

    product_concern: Addams Family experiences hand animation timing delay causing multiball trigger bugs and missed locks; animation lags behind game logic expectations

    high · Jared: 'The hand animation is way behind where it needs to be, which then causes this bug to happen. the ball locks the multiball should not have triggered'

  • ?

    product_concern: Left metal scoop entry point in Addams Family has abnormal friction/delay causing ball to slow on entry; causes missed multiball qualifications due to timing issues

    high · Chris describing extra friction in metal scoop entry that causes speed-up delay; Jared noting multiball misses due to insufficient time to reach switch

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.258

0:00
blockade pinball podcast this is the blockade pinball podcast i'm your host chris freebus aka shut your trap joining me as always halfway across the world it's jared morgan now hey there chris how's it going there uh it's going good um yes folks i'm wearing a jacket because i'm a wuss here in California and, you know, 62 degrees to me is cold.
0:35
Well, yeah, I'm not wearing a jacket, but I am recovering from the after effects of the spicy flu. So I've got, I had the Rona.
0:46
How was that the second time around? It was actually, the first three days weren't great, I'll have to say. It actually hit me relatively harder than I thought. and you know folks I'm fully vaccinated in fact I was just about to get the next round of vaccination that they released here in Australia and yeah the Rona beat me to it so but yeah it was strange the second time around it was a little bit rougher I mean I still got like the cough hanging around and stuff like that so yeah I thankfully have only had the one time so well let's hope it remains that way I've had the three doses or am I my fourth? I don't know. I've lost track. Yeah. I mean, in the business you're in, it's surprising you haven't had it more, right? Right. With the amount of public contact that you have. The number of times I've gotten an email stating that I've been around somebody that has it, yeah.
1:45
Lots. If you had a dollar for every time you got one of those emails, you'd be a rich man. No, I'd just probably have like $52. dollars um because it pretty much i get one i pretty much get one about once a week um once a week and and the funny thing is is that i'll get it on sometimes i'll get it where i've literally only been around four people the entire week because i'll be doing new hire training and i'm like who was i in close enough contact that they had to send me a notice but then i realized It's not close contact. It's just somebody in the working vicinity of you. Well, because I work literally the entire park.

Chris Friebus @ 01:22:00 — Highlighting Doctor Strange lighting fix that made the game significantly more playable

  • “the way that they place the visual enhancements now on the the new Zen original tables it's always off to the side or out of the view of at the playfield and not obstructing everything”

    Jared Morgan @ 01:35:00 — Observation about Zen's improved visual effect placement philosophy compared to older Marvel tables

  • “I've been trying something different when I've been playing FX this week and I've actually been standing up close to the screen.”

    Jared Morgan @ 01:48:00 — Anecdotal note about adjusting play style/positioning for console version

    • Williamscompany
    Melperson
    BlahCade Pinball Podcastorganization
    RTX 3080product
    Marvel tablesgame
    Twilight Zonegame
    OBSproduct
  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Addams Family Thing Flips mechanic non-functional in Pinball FX due to lack of ROM state carryover; ROM-dependent mechanics cannot reliably execute

    high · Jared: 'There's no carry over ROM state here And that is crucial to ThingFlips being dialed in and calibrated. Yeah. So ThingFlips ain't going to work'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Zen Studios improved visual effects placement strategy in newer tables; effects positioned off-playfield rather than obstructing active gameplay areas (contrast with older Marvel tables)

    medium · Jared: 'the way that they place the visual enhancements now on the the new Zen original tables it's always off to the side or out of the view of at the playfield'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Pinball FX demonstrates significant physics improvements over FX3 and TPA: increased friction, realistic ball contact, improved rubber bounce, reduced floatiness

    high · Jared: 'I feel that there's actual friction um with how it's moving around rather than just it's still moving fast but strangely enough i feel like i can sense the progression'

  • $

    market_signal: Leaderboards now support platform filtering (PC vs console scores); significant score inflation after console launch suggesting expanded player base participation

    high · Jared: 'the leaderboards are lit up now compared to what they were when it was in early access' due to console expansion

  • ?

    licensing_signal: 'Festering' of Addams Family Fester character artwork across TPA and Pinball FX versions due to Christopher Lloyd licensing constraints; subtle changes to facial features (eyes, nose, wrinkles, ears, mouth) to avoid direct resemblance

    high · Detailed comparison of three Fester versions (Williams original, Zen FX, TPA) showing cumulative artwork changes to avoid IP infringement

  • ?

    product_concern: Doctor Strange has visual effects that obstruct critical flipper areas during gameplay; floating effect elements block view of flippers and shot requirements

    medium · Jared: 'the floating rune things' and light effects 'kind of obscures everything' on upper left playfield near flippers

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Doctor Strange underwent significant positive re-evaluation after lighting fixes; transformed from criticized unplayable table to significantly improved experience

    high · Chris and Jared previously complained it was 'a muddy ugly mess' with unclear shot targets; now praise ability to see shot objectives clearly

    • 2:28
    That's a large working area, right? Yeah, yeah. So we get those notices all the time. I know people that have gotten it twice in the same day before.
    2:38
    Oh, really? Yeah. Jeez. Like they got it in the morning, like two hours after their shift started, and by the end of their shift, they got it a second time. so yeah you know well there you go there yeah so i don't know i'm at the tail end of it now um i've got the cough so you probably hear me like coughing and spluttering a little bit in this episode but you know you'll be right all right we'll put up with it then so uh folks as you uh i'm sure are well aware it's official pinball effects is now uh out there in the wild no longer in early release mode it is available on consoles um and uh of course still on the epic game store and they zen has made some you know adjustments uh just between what i saw last week and what's present there this week yeah there's there's some stuff that's different that's For sure, right?
    3:38
    Mostly to support the multi-platforms, it seems. Yeah. That's the biggest thing I've noticed, which is really cool, actually. So let's talk about that a bit. What are the differences that you've seen? Well, first off, those tickets got replaced by coins.
    3:57
    Well, yeah, that's true. They've got like a little coin with a, what do you call it, a lightning bolt through it now. Yeah. Currently, those coins are available to either purchase the pinball pass or to purchase little tchotchke items that will decorate your room.
    4:19
    We still don't know if there's any other kind of refund system going into place, because those coins, as of yet, I don't think are available in console because nobody's been able to do the Founders Form switch, to the best of my knowledge. Right, right. Okay. Yep.
    4:44
    And when we say the Founders Form switch, that was anybody that was playing in the... Early access. Yeah, early access. If they chose to move to, say, PlayStation or Xbox, Zen is going to basically gift them all of their tables over. Yeah. And then they said that they would also do something with those tickets to make things right in that way. And I can't believe that Zen would just be like, oh, well, we'll just let you purchase Pinball Pass. because to people that have already bought all the tables and had extra because they want to buy more tables, I think that's going to tick them off royally. I don't think. I do remember Mel saying, we'll make it right. So that would not be making it right for many people. Yeah. So we still obviously have to see what making it right is in those terms.
    5:44
    Other little changes that I think I've noticed, there's a new tutorial that you can go through? Yeah, I dutifully went through it. I quit about halfway through it.
    5:57
    I was like, why am I doing this? I just wanted to look at Adam's family. Yes, and I was the same and I got no because you get like, you know, zero day unlocks and stuff like that. And the neat thing is that if you get far enough through it, you actually get a free pinball pass for a day, which I thought was a really nice, really nice little benefit from going through the thing. And a nice little hey, welcome to the platform, let's try some tables and see which ones obviously let you try the new tables and work out whether you want to buy them.
    6:29
    So, smart move I think. I noticed that the music in the background is slightly fuller. It's slightly fuller. There's also a brand new piece of music that you get when you... Okay, maybe that's what I'm hearing. well you get the rest of the music is the same but on the score results and screen you get this brand new piece of brand new leitmotif that plays reminds me quite a lot of Tears for Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World except in reverse like the chord progression goes up and then down and up again I thought that's very 80s that sounds like Tears for Fears and I like it, I actually really like it I don't let it play a little bit longer than I normally do. Yeah, it sounds really good.
    7:19
    Beyond that, what else is... I haven't really gone through and searched much because I, of course, went straight to the pinball tables. Yeah, yeah, I know. Because I really wanted to, especially with the marble tables, I want to go through those, see what, if there were any improvements, and thankfully there are on a couple of the tables. On a couple of the tables. And then I went and compared it with the FX3 version just to make sure that I wasn't kidding myself.
    7:49
    Yeah, I did touch the Marvel tables as well for the very reason I haven't played them for probably a year and a bit. Yeah. And they're actually quite new to me again. Okay, yeah. These feel very new, but I think that you were right in that they didn't do a lot of changes to them. Not a lot, but some of the changes are, like, I'll highlight it. You know, a little while ago we were playing Doctor Strange and lamenting how terrible it was.
    8:20
    That, the lighting effects now make it so you know where to shoot. Yeah, that's true. It made the game playable. I actually, I had that experience as well. Oh, this feels like a different game.
    8:34
    Like, it's noticeably better. but then you look at something like Iron Man and it's like yeah nothing really changed it's still a red mess other than the physics and I'm very happy about the physics I'm still noticing a bit of dead rubber on everything other than the flippers yeah but even that just so long as there's some life and beyond that just comparing between the two versions FX3 and Pinball FX the ball actually feels like it's making contact with the table now um i feel that there's actual friction um with how it's moving around rather than just it's still moving fast but strangely enough i feel like i can sense the progression around the table rather than it just zing like a you know frictionless flying around piece of ice yeah um the other thing i've noticed too is uh the ability to run the game on full high settings, like their high preset, without really suffering from any performance issues. Yeah, they've done some optimization there, it seems. They definitely have.
    9:50
    I've got an RTX 3080, so a pretty grunty card with a lot of RAM in it, and I was struggling to run the game in early access with high settings on reliably. and um yeah able to do it quite convincingly now like with you know um ray tracing on and stuff like that so it's definitely been an important performance improvement for the port over to consoles for sure the other thing i've noticed is uh like we were saying before the differences in the leaderboards is now you actually see what platform you're playing on and you can filter your leaderboard chasing based on platform if you can only show pc um scores or console scores um i've got to say though there's some big scores being posted now that the uh the game is a out of early access and b on two more platforms um like the leaderboards are lit up now compared to what they were when it was in early access. I don't know if you've noticed that. No, I haven't. I've never been much of a leaderboard chaser. I kind of just gloss over and don't even pay much attention to that, but maybe we'll take a look at that in the game in a moment here.
    11:05
    Before we dive in, because how things run on my computer, I have to do things weird. Yes. Like I said, we're going to take a little tap. But, of course, the biggest question that always was going to be with regards to this is how did Zen fester this table? How did Zen fester fester? Yes. For those of you that aren't aware of what we mean by festering, this was a term that was coined back in the pinball arcade days when they did Adam's Family, and they, too, were not able to secure the rights for Christopher Lloyd, and so they had to alter the way fester looked, and we just started calling it festering it, festering a table, because they started doing it to a bunch of tables, to avoid licensing. Like World Cup 1994. Yep. And so we just kept on referring to any time that there was a change to the graphics as festering it. But, of course, the OG festering comes from Adam's family. Adam's family, that's right. So I went ahead and took, now, excuse the quality of these pictures, because their screen grabs or the photo that I got it from wasn't the best, and then I blew it up to hideous proportions just to try and match. it's not 100 accurate but i think it's interesting to look at um in terms of the changes that have been made so uh here we go let's take a look here there we go look at that so on your far left we have the uh the og fester this would be the williams fester uh right next to that we have zenz fester and then over to the far right that is tpas uh fester in pinball arcade so the part that I think strikes all of us does that look like Christopher Lloyd? No. Why did they have to fester him to start with? It doesn't look anything like him. I don't see it.
    12:58
    When I saw the fester here in Pimble Arcade I literally went, is that not the same? And then I had to look through the OG one and go, oh, okay, it's not. And the same thing when I saw Zen's, I was like, what did they change? So that's why I wanted to bring up all three just so we can kind of look at the changes. A couple of things to keep in mind.
    13:17
    This is not necessarily how Fat Fester's head looks in TPA. It's the table angle. It was even more severe the way the table angle was that I did the screenshot in Zens. And so I actually squeezed it in a little to make it look normal. Fist has been eating too many light bulbs.
    13:37
    So just starting off the top of the head, I like just changing the forehead squiggles. Yeah, so less wrinkles. Less wrinkles and different types of wrinkles. Yeah, so TPA did it with just a whole bunch of wrinkles in the middle. Here we just left two of the wrinkles and took out a third and took out the curve of the middle wrinkles, so kind of interesting. The eye shape is probably the biggest difference. Yeah, the eye shape's definitely the biggest thing.
    14:08
    It almost looks like Rudy's eyes. I was going to say, Zenz is kind of a happier Fester. Yeah. The original is a little more angry.
    14:18
    A little more angry? And that one, I don't even know what's going on there. This is your Southeast Asia Fester? I don't know.
    14:27
    It looks a bit like that, eh? Doesn't it, though? It's got the almond eyes and, you know, noses. All three noses are different.
    14:35
    Yeah, they are. This one, TPA's, has the boxer nose. uh zenz has nostrils and williams does not and no nostrils for christopher yes um did they change the ears yes they changed the ears on all three of them they did yeah they actually did i mean and i have to say that tpa is is the worst so tpa i don't even know what those well it looks like it looks like it's no sferatu ears yeah the other thing i noticed too is their um their purple shadowing uh the way they've applied the shadowing if you see on zen's he's got way more shadowing over the nose than it does on the original well okay again this might be the quality of the photo oh no because like uh not really because it i think you could see it pretty clearly where the shadows are on um on the one on the i mean this was somebody took a photo of the lower playfield and then i zoomed into it um this and it was broad daylight this is zen doing their nightish mode um i don't know i think they've they've taken some liberties they're like this way i mean if you have a look at it follows the same contours it does as opposed to tpas which added or took away a whole lot of stuff. Yeah. And then if you look at the mouth, it's interesting that both TPA and Zen chose to use an open mouth, whereas the Williams one, it's firmly, he's blowing on the mouth. He's really gripping it. Yeah, he's gripping it. That's probably, that's probably quite a good indication of, you know, changing X amount. Because like, open mouth versus closed mouth would be a big tick on the this is not the same image. Oh, look at the crow's feet too.
    16:28
    Three vertical lines or horizontal lines versus two vertical lines versus... Eyelashes? I don't know.
    16:37
    Eyelashes. Side eyes. Side eyelashes. This is the young Fester TPAs. Yeah. It's like a progression of age. There you go.
    16:49
    Yeah, that's true. So that's young. The middle one is... Prime Fester, and then we have Old Fester. Yeah, that's right.
    16:59
    Yeah. I need to get a light bulb and see if I can imitate any of these. Maybe for Halloween I'll go full eyeliner off for you guys. Nah. Oh, yeah, right. No.
    17:12
    So, anyway, I just wanted to show those things off because I find it rather interesting for those channels. We always talk about it. We always talk about the festering. And it's one of those things where, again, if I literally had to bring up these images because off the top of my head when I looked at it, I went, yeah, that's Fester.
    17:33
    It's like, what have they changed? Yeah. I did look at the back glass because apparently they had to change that Fester also. It's so tiny.
    17:44
    There's a slight, slight difference. Unfortunately, when I blew up those images, it just became a pixel mess. so you'll have to do that on your own folks to see that and I can't, I couldn't bring up the image on TPA I think TPA left it, I don't think they changed theirs because seeing the back glass in there is really difficult you have to have pro mode, you have to be able to move the camera oh yeah, it's a real trip and on mine, I couldn't angle the camera up high enough to see it So, you know, there you go.
    18:22
    Yeah. All right. There you go. Now that we got that out of the way, I'm going to maneuver my screen here so I can actually bring up the game and we can take a look at things. Yeah, that's right. All right.
    18:39
    So where do you think we're going to go first in our little exploration of the new pinball effects? Well, why don't we do, since we're talking about TAF, let's do a quick look at TAF. Let's jump into TAF and have a look. Yeah.
    18:53
    It's definitely the one that people have been waiting for the most, don't they? Yes. Yeah. Well, certainly all the early access folk have been waiting the most for it.
    19:04
    But I think the console folk are probably in the same boat. They're probably going, yeah, well, yeah, that'll be a zero-day purchase for me. You know? Yeah. i have a there were people on reddit and in discord going how come none of my fx3 tables transfer over i'm like yeah i know i was surprised to read that too it's like it's been a year this has been well broadcast why are we still having this discord about it like kill way person you're just and somebody was like well i just got the game well then you didn't have it before so i I don't know. This is weird. So sometimes Adam's family goes down here. Sometimes it, like, moves around on me. Oh, does it? Yeah. It's the strangest thing. That's really odd. It is. Anyway.
    19:52
    Love that they put the topper on. Do you think, like, the table... Yeah, oh, well, yeah, they have to have the topper.
    19:58
    What do I mean? They don't have to. Well, it's part of the game. So they... It's the factory default of the game. It's not an aftermarket mod. so they would yeah but i guarantee you can buy uh an adams family without the topper oh well you can't but yes uh so let's take a look at this without the um enhancements on uh nice and dark i do love some dark nice and dark well lit oh the lighting here is great i just want to kind of point out things like oh look there are shadows on that big red box up there and there's a shadow back here. That was something that was missing from TPAs. There was just no contrast. You know what I love? It's like, if you, you'll probably see this, if you've got the Williams camera on when it goes into features, you'll see that even the plastics have their plastic part number on them. Like, you can see the actual part number on the plastic. Okay, I don't have the Williams camera on, but are you saying I need to put it on? No, no. No, not really. Don't worry about putting it all. But I can tell you that when it zooms in on the box, there's a plastic spider on it, and it's just clear, and it's got the plastic ID on it. So it's like super, super detailed scans, and I love that. Something that I think is rather obvious on this table Zen we said it before I going to say it again Adjust your plunger springs
    21:33
    Yeah. It's way too tight. I've played it as a family with that tension plunger on before, though. Like, it's... I've experienced that, and having... Like, there's a really... The one that I was talking about in the last episode that was a bit clapped out, it has a really stiff puncher spring on it as well and it does make it hard to punch but it just adds to the difficulty of the table I guess but I just there's certain pins that Junkin could potentially come specifically I'm going to say if they ever get around to doing Twilight Zone that has a purposely weak spring it needs a weak spring and I'm worried that Zen's just going to go here we go we're going to do our standard spring I've played stiff spring versions of Twilight Zone over the year and honestly the only way you can reliably plunge on them is to bump the plunger not pull the plunger and you can't bump in FX so basically difficult this is another factor if you'll notice I've now hit thing flips three times, thing has missed all three times there's no carry over ROM state here And that is crucial to ThingFlips being dialed in and calibrated. Yeah. So ThingFlips ain't going to work, folks. Or not reliably, at least. So, yeah, abandon all ye hope.
    23:04
    One of these days we're going to try and set up an interview with Deep or some of the design team, and then we can ask questions like that.
    23:14
    Yeah. Oh, jeez. something that I love about this table compared to TPAs and I think we'll do an actual comparison video soon this plays so much faster and it's not floaty it's a mean table way better I don't even need to compare the two they're incomparable is this the music you're talking about?
    23:42
    yes let it play for a little bit Think of it reversed. Oh. Everybody wants to rule the world, and you got it. Okay, I hear it. And then it'll actually switch halfway through. Okay. I love it, actually. I just love it. I can't hear it now because we're having problems with getting it working. Because OBS, thank you for updating. Two things updated. It's just annoying. Anyway. So anyway, that was just the... I just want to show you... Oh, hold on. Maybe I should do one more look at Adams because I didn't show any of them. Yeah, with the visual extras, John. The visual extras. My bad. Look, again, tastefully done. You'll see.
    24:20
    Well, except for this golf club. I'm not happy about the golf club. I don't know what... Where is the golf thing in this game? Was it on the back of the glass? It's in the movie.
    24:31
    Oh, geez, that one's still watching. And that's when he says, Here, have another ball. I've got plenty. That's straight from the movie. ah right see i haven't watched that movie probably ever since it was released so do not know yeah i should watch it it's better that the first one is definitely the best don't worry about any of the other adam's family movies well i mean adam's family values has its uh has its pluses uh mainly the wednesday and pugsley storyline but um yeah it's not as good for sure no I really do like the in both modes regardless of whether you have visual extras on or off it's just the dead bounces you can do in this game like you can trap nicely on the right eject when it comes out of the hole and it will consistently just ride up the right slingshot and then down the right return lane so it's a nice safe trap It's a good clean bounce from the chair from the left of the ground to the right to trap up as well and shoot the thing multi-ball scoop. So one, so probably what we need to cover off though is there are some issues. Like right now. Right. The hand should already be out. That's what happens here. And it's slow. Yep. Yep, the hand animation is way behind where it needs to be, which then causes this bug to happen. the ball locks the multi-ball should not have triggered them.
    26:11
    There is a discreet level of time that the game is expecting the hand to withdraw back underneath the playfield, drop the ball into the massive box that's underneath the playfield so that the ball gets into the slot and then gets launched up the top of the playfield and there's very, very long, very, very steep ramp up to the right kick out there.
    26:40
    It needs the orchestration to be perfectly timed and then with its visual extras or whatever... Yeah, but it happens even without the visual extras.
    26:50
    Yeah, it does. But that might be... Oops, I forgot what you meant. But that might be a factor of... We've noticed before, sometimes your visual extras are basically always present.
    27:03
    Yeah, so I think maybe the logic, like the way that the timing works, it's probably interfering here. Like this is a really good example. Same with Inga Jones and the drop targets, which I love when visual actors are on, not behaving instantly. They need to fix this problem, because you should not be getting dirty pool announcements every single time you lock a ball in the vault. Or that thing takes the ball and runs it past the same area with all the switches in it.
    27:36
    So that's bug number one. Bug number two. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Love these candles. Yeah. How good do they look? Just a subtle touch, right? Yeah. It's just a really nice touch. Love that they redid the thing box. That's nice. Proper bookcase. That's nice. Yeah. I really like the bookcase.
    27:57
    Yeah. I like the spark. It's kind of right there. Yeah. I like the lightning effects as well whenever you see magnets. So anywhere there's a magnet in the game, you have these little sparkly effects around it to indicate that it's magnetic.
    28:12
    There's another thing, folks, whenever it does at the end. I always go click, click on the flippers. Sometimes it'll do it on its own, but again, that's a ROM state thing for how often it does it, and I've yet to have it actually do it in the game for me. It has never done it for me yet. in the game. So there's some other things that need to be pointed out here which hopefully will be addressed. I don't know if you noticed it, but when you were shooting to the little metal thing entry point, so that left little mini ramp,
    28:49
    it seems to be some extra friction or something up in the metal, and it takes ages to... With my hand, it's like, it goes and then starts to speed up as it goes out it shouldn't it should hit it and go straight down like it's quite loose in there okay so there's some physics related bug in there because like you shoot the um the shot and sometimes it needs to actually hit the switch so you can qualify for um the multi-ball and in some cases i've i've been down to the wire i've shot the metal um scoop and I've missed the multi-ball because I just haven't quite got there in time because of the delay in that middle area. That's really frustrating, so that needs to be fixed. Here, look, folks. Marble Pinball. Yeah, look at this. Here's what I... I'm not going to lie.
    29:46
    I am kind of stoked by the selection because I wanted Wolverine. I love me some Moon Knight. I like Blade. so and yes folks I actually do like Iron Man I don't join you in that unfortunately I know so I kind of dig the selection that is here because it's not all the Avengers stuff this is like the original stuff that Marvel I mean that Zen did except for Captain America is the only one that's a newbie a newer table I guess yeah you can definitely tell that all these ones are old in style like you play things like Blade and you go oh it's that music listen to that music yeah you know there's a lot of old school ones in here I want to highlight Doctor Strange a table that we ragged on before saying it was a muddy ugly mess and just to show you that XANA actually made the yeah so when we played it last we were complaining that it was very hard to tell where it wanted your shots to go.
    30:56
    Yeah. And if I can actually start a mode here, you'll notice that they have tweaked the lighting and made it... Oh, that was bright. Where are the defenders when I need them? They've made it so that you can actually now visually see...
    31:12
    What's going on. So as a refresher for those watching at home, there's three mode holes in this game. They're all represented by those two those groups of two drop targets. There's actually four.
    31:30
    There's four. Yeah, underneath the green guy I forget what his name is there's a yellow target. Oh, is it? Oh, there's one under there too. Yep. Well, there you go. Yeah, I don't think I've ever actually got one in there. But yeah, so that's how you start your race. You hit them, they drop down you shoot them. And it's that's basically modes. That's how you start. Okay, here we go. Let's see if we can start this.
    31:56
    Good. So off we go. And here we go. Like this, like you can already see the graphical part in that. Like that's way better. So look at the ramp. See that blue lighting? That didn't exist before. Yeah. So it's like real... Oh, and then I lose it immediately. But real quickly, I can tell what ramp I'm supposed to be shooting at. As opposed to before, where I couldn't.
    32:24
    It's funny, I thought they did have that. No, they had something, but it was so dim. It just visually was hard to see. Because I do remember the runes cycling on the ramp, but you're right, it was not nearly as conspicuous as that. like you cannot miss the ramp that you need to shoot now it's really really obvious and yeah like just like you know you see doctor strange the the thing flying around the strange at the moment like that's that's way better than what it was in the original let's see if we can do another one show this here we go nice shot um speaking of shots uh again physics on here they have been the rubber off the slivers is much more bouncy, the ball is more lively. Yeah, for sure. Look at all those... ...bounces. Look at all the ramps. Just shoot everything, Chris. Yeah.
    33:24
    Shoot everything. The one thing I would say is that, as you saw there, that effect that's happening on the upper left of the playfield there between the two adversaries. It kind of obscures everything. All the shots that are supposed to be taken get obscured by the visual effects which again isn't really something to change with the way this table is designed but the way that they place the visual enhancements now on the the new Zen original tables it's always off to the side or out of the view of at the playfield and not obstructing everything because you have a look at Doc's estranged at the moment he's right over the flip you can't see anything yep well no shot on the flip at all let's try something place where I can actually control the ball overrated you can see so I'm playing in view 2 which is what my usual view is Okay, so let's go to, not view three, I'm going to go to manual view.
    34:40
    Now you can kind of see the flipper. To, like... Curthona has stolen the Book of Ishanti! I must retrieve it, lest his tyranny extends from his homeworld to our own! I really don't like playing this view, it's a little too flat and weird. It is flat. I think I don't... I'm not really... There's View 1. View 1 I can't... It's too low to the table. It's really flat. The Eye of Agamotto lights your path to Athona. I think the floating rune things look much better now. It looks like they're actually floating off the table, when they didn't really look like that before. So, that's why I like to play U2. It's more natural. It's how you sort of would stand in front of the pinball table. table the problem with you too and it's anything really fix but just sometimes it feels a little bit too far out yes and because I think it's probably amplified by the fact that we're sitting around the room yeah but sometimes it actually yeah it feels a little bit too far away yeah I think I've been doing something was I was gonna say I've been trying something different when I've been playing FX this week and I've actually been standing up close to the screen. My screen's on the wall, I've mounted it. Not vertically, but in a horizontal orientation. And I've been standing up and playing it and it's interesting because when you look closer to the screen you can actually see more detail. I don't know whether that's like a revelation that I'm getting out of it. is you can stick closer to it, you can see more because the resolution is so good now that things like inserts and stuff you can physically walk around in a spree and look at them and see the text without having to zoom in or manipulate the camera or anything else. So I found that to be interesting. Also too I found that even though I'm just holding a controller I'm finding I'm getting way more physical when I'm standing up. Like, I'm moving around like a wood in front of a pinball machine. Yeah. And sometimes I've been able to do saves with the controller because I've, you know, grinched a move and it's sort of like thrown my body into the move and it's saved the ball. Even though I haven't physically tilted the table, it seems to have an effect on maybe engagement or stuff I say in the game. It's mainly you get better scores from standing up on TV, which is really weird.
    37:42
    It's surely a psychological thing, but it's a good shot by the way. I still haven't managed to get it. So here's a table that I really wish they had have done something with the lighting on it. Yeah, me too. I love this table. It just needs contrast. It needs... The graphics are so busy that I feel that if it... There's a lot of... If it had have been dark... a little blue yeah but it's like if it just had been darker and let the lighting do its thing i think it would have yeah highlighted better um yeah you're right so turn the turn the green light off yes and just let the playfield illuminations punch into the show yeah it would have looked a lot better maybe this it's a shame that they can't go back and do these lighting touches maybe they They will? I don't know.
    38:33
    I don't see the reason why they couldn't do the lighting touches, but... I don't know. Don't sleep on Moon Knight, people. Moon Knight is a wonderfully fun table. Oh, it's great. There's so many different shots and uniqueness in this game. And there's a bunch of different approaches to how to play.
    38:51
    Yeah, which I'm sure I don't have the subtleties of, but... Yeah, it's fun just to flip around as well. Because, like, you know, you've got that cross-playfield shot into the moon that appears, and you've got, like, that one. That we missed. Hard to get the time to update.
    39:11
    But then, you know, you've got, like, Hugo. There's a multi-ball mode that you can get pretty easy. So, this mode right here, on a dark table, would look amazing. Oh, yeah, with the ball lighting. Yeah, absolutely. I think they've definitely bumped up the ball lighting effect here. Yes. It looks much cleaner and much smoother than it does in any other sport. In fact, across the board, the lighting looks amazing. When I've been having a look at... I played that as well. It's got the mode where the ball turns into adamantium, and one of the balls lights up, and one of the balls stays regular, and the one that lights up is like, wow, okay, that's some serious lighting being thrown off this ball. Like, it is like white-hot glowing lighting. It looks amazing. So, yeah, the lighting, probably just purely by the fact that they're using Unreal 4 now, has received pretty much a complimentary bump. But I think they need to just take a look at environmental lighting. and it just defaulted up to these tables because they really will because enough lighting on the playfield that they
    40:45
    something to do with the HDR I believe I don't know I don't have the consoles when that does sound right and it does sound like the HDR issue because what I've been experimenting with HDR on the back in daily access the tables are couldn't fire they would they would just absolutely so they need to work in there so it's been a I know that in discord it's been a long griped about problem in early access the HDR mode not actually really good in early access. So it would be good probably now for those folks who have been complaining about this bit of a leak over the course of early access, you'll probably actually get your fix now because they have to do something about it. I don't think there's going to be a lot of console owners where the default I think for all playstations and stuff is HDR on. the player base won't come up with it.
    41:54
    So, yeah, such a fun game. Like, good shot making in this game. Like, there's lots of really, it really flows. There's not a lot of stops to start in. Which I think is the great thing about it. I got something. It's a tentacle.
    42:14
    Tentacle's going to get me. How do you stop it? And then if you don't stop it, the flipper goes dead.
    42:20
    Oh, wow. I didn't see that. No. Yeah, now I can't flip. I have this upper flipper and that's it. All right.
    42:31
    Anyway. That's cool. I'm telling you, don't sleep on Moon Knight. All right, so let's get into the tables that I have not looked at one iota. Ah, yeah. Let's start with... Yeah, I'll start with Brother in Arms. Yeah, let's do this one. Heroes born. Let see what their cabinet looks like Eh I gotta say for the Zen originals Zen doesn't know much about cabinet art.
    43:05
    Not really. This game, when I saw the preview for it, I was going... I don't... I have no idea about the game. I've never... I don't play this genre of game at all. FPS style especially war games these don't interest me at all so when I saw the theme of this I thought okay but I gotta say this is probably one of the better executed Zen originals that I've seen so far so I'll give you a few pointers if you like let me discover use the Oh, I see what we're doing. Yeah, he's lighting the skill shot. We're going to try and flip into. Yeah, that's right. Okay.
    44:04
    Oh, let me just pop. Nope, I missed. I always hate when you first start a table. There we go. I got the skill shot. I was there for a while.
    44:16
    It's pretty generous. The first time you play, it reverts back to just the standard. Yeah, it should be global setting. No, I like that each table has its own setting.
    44:27
    Oh, you do? Oh, yeah, because there are certain tables that I think play better in a different view.
    44:32
    I would just like him to start. I'd like to say globally, I'd like you to, for the first run of the table, I would like you to start on YouTube. Then if I customize the view in that table, do that. Okay. So that would be a nice call. in for a sec guys so you don't have to do it i mean imagine somebody playing like going oh i'm brand new to this um and having to do that for 80 tables every time they play for the first time like it's such an easy thing to say look what do you like to play in set that as your default and then override per game you know so i'm not allowed to tell you anything about the game no because Because that's the whole point of this. I want to try and figure out what... Is it an easily understandable, understoodable game? You know what I mean. Yeah.
    45:27
    Is it easy to learn, hard to master? Or is it just hard to learn, hard to master? You know. I'm looking at this lock up there. Oh, hey, wow. That was a... That's definitely down.
    45:43
    I like that. Right there. close that's another feature I like about the game see how it like just stopped the ball for you yeah it was just like nah we're just gonna hold this for you so you can like actually get the shot it's my job the subtleties in this game all throughout this game that are like that actually cater to the player and I really like the design I don't know who actually designed this table, but I really like the design details in this.
    46:20
    This would be Thomas Croft. Oh, I like a Thomas Croft table. That is the reason why it is good. Yeah. Mission. It is. Oh, hey, what's going on here?
    46:39
    Something that should be on the DMV. Yes. Get ready to set up and defend the bridge. we're moving to the other side no one breaks through fire on that position assuming it's firing on these glowy things yeah what what's the rule can you see it flashing when you shoot it yeah but you never know it wouldn't be the first time you've done something where everything is flashing and nothing happens Well you just shot a shot and you managed to finish the lights, I think you're doing it right.
    47:23
    This one, I think this table definitely, for me, it definitely um, honours pinball tropes that you know, as instinctively known. It's got a lot of just intuitive gameplay design in it.
    47:42
    Oh, he loved that outlay. And I didn't do it. That was outlaying to slingshot to outlaying. Yeah, welcome to pinball.
    47:55
    All right, let's try this again. I'm going to try and actually understand it this time. What is it that makes a great soldier? Okay, so first things first, I'm going to select that one. Fire. was hard
    48:20
    that's multipliers good to know usual people try both was in the role of this sold out flyer I can drop targets. That's fun.
    48:41
    The thing I like about this is a easily replicatable real-world table. You could do everything that's on this table. Which tends to be what I like about Tom Scruff's tables. His designs are rooted in reality. Yeah.
    49:02
    So you can make this. If you really wanted to, you could recreate this table in real life. And it would work. there's nothing unusual in it that requires any sort of digital and I think as well like the if you separate the core game like visual extras as well they're actually really well integrated into the overall thing they don't they're not doc strange flying all over the place right all that's the outlandish direction like they're all it's playing to the static points like this is all my not now me the home use guns I'm not seeing I state of a lot like that season sure what I'm supposed to hit now always like a read the DMV yeah Yeah, that's right. That's why I'm looking at the menu. I can't read the menu because it's a blurry mess of media. Alright, hold on.
    50:10
    Defeat the troops in the Flash 88 cannon, three of twelve. What am I supposed to be hitting them? I think you've got to shoot the rams.
    50:24
    Is that what it is? Yeah. It's not just Spell-O-Rama up there? I don't think so. I don't think you get it. It's a question of rams. or alternatively try draining or try draining and then don't figure out at all yeah alright oh no no no try the 5 million shot try it and see so what you have to do is you have to shoot it immediately flip so it goes up to the little trap that the upper left flipper and then shoot this side ramp. Super easy and achievable. But you get five million for it. Is it worth the headache? No. Exactly. I just want to see you try and do it.
    51:14
    Because it's really difficult. But it's like, I will say this, I started out going, yeah, I'm going to do the five million shot. And I kept trying to do the five million shot because I thought, oh, I nearly got it. And this is the thing I love about this table. It is that, oh, just one more I would have got it if I just had that one more shot.
    51:36
    It really does, for me, it really pulls on all those emotional strings that the top keyboard designers used back in the day to get your money, basically. This is a really... I think Thomas is really taking a good look at how,
    51:58
    I guess, the kinetics of the machine plays and just the way that shots flow to each other it's a really really good paper this I like it I even though the theme doesn't resonate with me I don't actually mind that much because it's just a fun table to flip all right so this upper where all the drop targets are that's the scene that's the mission Mission hold. Okay. Yep. Find cover! Now! Move! Make time! Wait for the air raid to finish. Okay, I'm waiting for the air raid to finish. I like the fact that during this your controller vibrates as well. Get to safety. Alright. Yep, you got 25 seconds. So again, shoot the clearly defined lanes to do what you need to do. Nicely done. What do you mean that rate failed? I didn't do it fast enough.
    53:09
    Yeah. Great. I mean, now... Talk about a rumble motor. Yeah, it really goes off, doesn't it? It's like, okay, yeah. We're definitely getting bombed here.
    53:23
    I was thinking that it was 25 seconds per shot. No, that would be nice. No, the counter is complete everything. It's pretty... You've got to really be accurate when you're shooting in this game. Because the timers aren't long timers at all. Thomas hasn't allowed a lot of time for you to complete the modes. And unlike actual other pinball games, you don't get a little extra time when you shoot the shot. You don't get like five minutes added or five seconds added to sort of, you know, counteract the time the ball takes to get back down to the bottom of the play field. Okay, what am I doing now?
    54:01
    Avoid the German patrol. Shoot only lit lanes. Okay. So that left lane is your shot. Oh, just the tip.
    54:12
    Good shot. Now it's going to be the right orbit. At least it actually gives you, like, shots in the order in which the ball returns back to the field. Oh, I hate it when that happens. Or to the flippers. When it doesn't do that? Yeah. Oh, good save. Like this here. But we're not timed, so it's fine. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you don't mind if it's, you know, you can actually just... and the thing is that, like, this game, you really do need your flipper skills. Uh-oh.
    54:44
    I have a feeling you're getting a bit of lag there. No, that wasn't lag. That was me thinking it was going to dead bounce, and there wasn't enough bounce to do it. No, I'm not having lag. Right, okay. So it's hard for you to tell sometimes. Yeah. I'm getting... Because of the fact it's coming down the internet over to Australia, it's quite bossy. I can't really see a lot that's going on. All right. Well, that's kind of fun. Let's check out... It's a fun game. Check out this other table. Borderlands table. Borderlands. Again, these are not franchises I have any idea about.
    55:21
    So, if there are... I have attempted Borderlands 1 for all of maybe a half an hour to an hour of gameplay before I was like, wait a second, I don't like first-person shooters.
    55:38
    Now, I'm going to say, cabinet art on this one, I like. It's great. This is good cabinet art. It looks really good. Yeah. Different graphics on each side. That's great cabinet art. Front cabinet art looks good. Yeah. Yep.
    55:52
    That's a really nice design, that one. I'd have that on my cabinet. Yeah. Yeah, but the other one, not so much.
    56:02
    Let's let it do its little thing here. So I can get an idea. Oh, well, okay. They're kind of... Yeah, they're popsicle sticks. yep they are hey interesting on the bottom right hand corner of your screen are you seeing the buttons that you're supposed to be pressing I do see it says play or the controls view table guide set manual camera because all I see is black squares oh yeah it only says it has black squares yeah so there's no buttons that you're supposed to be pushing there I don't know because normally on the Xbox when you've got the Xbox control it tells you what buttons you need to press. Like X or whatever. Mine is definitely not signed up. But that could be also because I'm using a PlayStation 4 controller.
    56:48
    Yes. Oh, recruit! Did you abandon the Crimson Raiders? No, shut up. Let me pick my character. Alright, here we go. Let's see. Are you sure? I guess. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm going to do that. It's interesting to see how you find this skill shot because I can't understand what I need to do.
    57:10
    How's it going? How are you? And I'm super glad I'm not. Okay, you got it. I checked that car over there. Let me show you how this works. To disconnect from that skill shot, it's not... You select the character you need to shoot. Oh. Based on the lights on the shooter lane. And then, when you're on the play field, you have to find the lane that matches that character that you select in the shooter lane. And then shoot that shot, which is what you did. Well, then I just plain got lucky. You absolutely playing got lucky and now I know how to actually get the skills because I've been trying to work it out for bloody ages I'm going I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here probably if I read the instructions but ain't no big deal. We don't do that around here. No. Nice shot. You got it into there and there's a weird spot for a... Well, you might be interested to have a look at the creative... And away we go! And then it might explain. Does that mean it's Zoltan?
    58:14
    Yep. That's the reason. This is how I know. Which means there's very few Zoltan tables that I like.
    58:30
    This one's... But... We'll see. Hey, I beat your Jared. Hooray. that's because I suck so much at this game I have trouble getting any decent high score on it whatsoever and I've got to say the little popsicle stick characters drive me nuts in this game the fact that they reset again after you do it because the thing is the game I mean Zoltan in this particular case has taken the bouncy rubbers well and truly on board, but in this case, because he's so fast on those popsicle sticks, the time it takes to bring the ball back down the playfield again, the character resets. and so you get control and you get a shot on the character again you watch, it'll pop up by the time you get back down again I don't know, I knocked down that middle one and he hasn't popped up yet again oh yeah, once you knock them down all the way, they stay down but while you're working on getting him down like it's I just find it a little frustrating I get a big little shot in the middle of the playfield, right? It's the thing you're going to be smashing all the time. So it needs to be a little bit difficult.
    60:02
    But I don't know. I think the timing for me just feels less challenging and more frustrating. And also, probably a lot of the problem is I don't have a lot of... What's going on here? oh it's just a ball lock ok yeah I don't know thought everything went dark yep
    60:45
    oh so yeah that's certainly the highest score I've seen on the game I don't think I've got anywhere near that and you've just been flipping around no I can tell I'm going to say if you're going to make a game that you just flip around and things are happening that's a positive Yeah. Um... Because I like it when things happen because that makes me curious and makes me want to try and play more. ...the help desk recommends, shoot more and miss less. Now where is your skill shot? I don't know. I haven't paid attention to the skill shot. Yeah, exactly. Yep. No idea where the skill shot is. Stopping Doom! It should be... If you have a look at the inserts below the ramp and loot... Do you hear bloodthirsty screaming? should be you have a look at the inserts I have a feeling those are the heads and that's what you would need to shoot basically selecting the shooter lane but I didn't see anything light up for you so Hmm. I'm not sure.
    62:07
    Oh, wow. How'd you pull out? Oh, hey. Oh, ball save. I'm the magnet control. Yeah, I was going to say.
    62:23
    Let him jump up and down your balls. Well, you said they were angry balls. So, yeah, I see these heads lighting up.
    62:31
    Yeah. So you gotta select a character. Oh, is it that you have to plunge the ball while the head is lit up and light up until the cardboard coming out and sticks out? And that qualifies the race. It's lit up now. Like, I can see the... that the head's lit up on the playfield.
    62:53
    Okay, so this being said, I don't think I started a single mode. No. But where are the modes? I thought I didn't know. customers to construct the consult the manual to work that out let's see here hold on so sure with your loot boxes that says level up catch a ride super jackpot that's our ball lock yeah i have no clue i don't know what this cross shot is supposed to be too either you know what i mean yeah it's it's i think you're shooting you're shooting the target underneath that dog there's actually a target underneath there and it lights up all right extra balls apparently underneath there too yes good luck with that yeah thanks but no thanks yeah I don't know where the mode start is on this like maybe it's the crates behind don't tell me you got it I was going to say you don't have to like get all the crates to start a mode that would be a Zoltan trope yeah the hardest mode start ever I want that weapon oh you shoot the green crate is that what you shot oh okay it popped up okay what am i just to save your life then you will be alive is that it i have no idea
    64:40
    okay so wildlife here is fantastic i mean everything still wants to murder and devour you but so pretty all right so making a claim here it's like the balls yeah i get it like the uh yeah the kickback so if you ever played godzilla they got this oxygen mode that you get on the little bit like a million dollar shot on um fast break uh we're gonna like shoot the center shot to keep your ball in play Well, that's what they've done here.
    65:17
    That's an acceptable score there. Nicely done. For a first time? Yeah. Good luck trying to get it again. All right. We're going to try this one more time here.
    65:27
    I would think... Have a look at the guide for this one, if you know what button to press. I do know what button to press. Table guide.
    65:40
    Shoot the bandit target in the center of the table and it will drop partially. then a head hit will register as a critical hit, and the target will drop down immediately. Otherwise, it can stand back up a couple of times. Open the chest behind the bandits and take the loot from them through the emerging jump ramp, but beware the ramp is active only temporarily, and a new wave of bandits will soon be back.
    65:56
    Okay. Defeat the psycho. Shoot the left and right ramp ultimately to make combo rounds, which will irritate the psycho. When he attacks, continue to combo. For more score, hit the psycho himself to light lock. Got it. That's how you get lock. Yeah, and then you lock the balls by going that way. I got it. Boss fight multiball. The main goal of the multiball mode is to defeat a boss by hitting at least one super jackpot. During multiball, you can collect the normal jackpots from the loot chest, which will activate the super jackpot at the upper left playfield for a limited time. You can collect it with a strong shot through the jump ramp or by a shot with the upper right flipper. Okay.
    66:31
    Revive alley. If multiball ends without a super jackpot, then there's still a chance to be revived by an ally. And to continue the mode, this is a short minigame. Hit a bandit target to magnetize the remaining ball to the center. and try to hit it with a newly plunged ball before the numb ball leaves the playfield through the sinkhole.
    66:47
    Second wind. This is what I love. We're this many things in and we still haven't talked about mode. Similar fail-safe feature is available during mono ball play as well. You can activate the second wind feature by lighting up all lamps in the in and out lanes of the table. If the second wind is lit and the ball is lost, you will have at least a last chance to take down one enemy in order to get back into play. However, you will have to do it fast or the flippers will be disabled and the ball will be lost. Monoball? Monoball. The Wizard Mode.
    67:15
    Don't talk about the Wizard Mode until you've told me about a regular mode. When all the other bosses are... When all the other bosses are defeated, all the balls must be locked to start the final multiball. The Wizard Jackpot will be available constantly on the upper playfield, and one loot chest will always be lit for a normal jackpot.
    67:31
    The Outrunner. Spin the platform with the Outrunner. Oh, that's the vehicle? The truck thing. To increase catch-or-ride multiplier and hit the ramp around the catcher at station for bumper hits. Both of these shots are available with upper right flipper. Great. During multiple, I'll spin the outrunner. Does this upper play field remind you of Black Knight?
    67:52
    Yeah, it certainly does. Black Knight 2000. No, it reminds me of regular Black Knight. Well, regular Black Knight had two flippers. So this is Black Knight 2000 for sure. I'm just saying with two exit holes on the top. yeah sure two exit holes but like the the geometry of this is is all like 19 000 all right catch right after a couple of bumper hits the catch right hurry up begins during this you can collect the previously multiplied millions by shooting the lit spots with the turret of the vehicle and now you can change the lit lanes with double flips what do i mean by double flips like like two flippers at the same time yeah i think that's double flips Zen, this is why you need second flipper buttons.
    68:41
    Yeah. Oh, hey, now let's talk about the skill shot. What? It's all in the wrong order. Select a character with left or right flips when the ball is in the manual plunger, then watch the chaser lights of the figures and shoot the ball over the chosen character's lamp when it is lit. By making a skill shot, the character's playfield lamp will be lit in one of the main lanes, and hitting it immediately will score a super skill shot. hitting it later in the game will increase the character. Okay, so you've got to do an off-the-switch.
    69:11
    Oh, right, okay. And you've got to basically... So you select your character on the... And then you do a soft plunge. And you... Oh, so it's... Is it a soft plunge or just plunge over the character? Yeah, think Twilight Zone.
    69:25
    Really? Yeah, that's what I think. We'll try it. Prove your grounds. Whenever a four-way combo... Oh, great, four-way combo. Sure, you got it. has been made, it will light up the information mark at the Skag scene call where different trial modes become selectable. These side missions are running in the background. Only note will come when they have been completed. Okay.
    69:47
    Oh. Okay. Legendary weapons. Keep on looting as many as you can. Eventually you will get a legendary sniper rifle that has limited ammo but every shot at the enemy will be a critical hit. You can make a chain kill with such weapon which will start sniper spree. Sniper spree. During this Mode at least one available target will be on the table constantly and the goal is to shoot as many enemies as possible in a short time period.
    70:10
    Okay, so there's no mode hole. Right, there's no modes. Well, these are modes, but it's not... It's from doing combos or things.
    70:24
    By using upper left flipper, shoot the ball to skag. On the other side, the ball will be fed to this flipper from the chasm around the loot chests. After a couple of skag hits, the multiplier at the end of the ball bonus is will be held. The number of skag hits will be a huge end of ball bonus as well. You can increase bonus multipliers by hitting the targets in front of the bumpers on the upper playfield during mono ball. It can be increased by more than one of a couple of skag hits if hold bonus is already lit.
    70:50
    This is spinning target on the left loop of the table. On every revolution started, it will increase the XP progress bar. When the bar is full, you will level up. This is where the gunfights can be increased leveling up.
    70:59
    Magnet save. magazine can be activated by hitting the leftmost stand-up targets, but remains active only for a limited time.
    71:05
    Quick lock, free lock. So the regular method, there are two alternative ways to lock the ball. And then extra ball.
    71:14
    So, I'm just going to say it. This is not my favorite kind of table. Mm-mm-mm. No clear way to start modes. Like, just give me a hole go to shoot so I can start the mode read the instructions I like the idea of the background modes that you activate and then you just shoot around but honestly unless you get really good at this table you're not going to be able to complete it so this way recruit yeah not another really good shot
    72:06
    yeah see how fast you're going to be to get the yeah great you've got that Just tell me the secret. Because I can't do it. Again, it's... Yeah, you're right. Zoltan does like you shooting all over the place. Like, to get... To achieve a certain goal. That's the instructions. Those instructions, number one, they need to adjust the... Think about what happens when you first start the game. That's the first thing you should be. Yeah, like, start with a skill shot. Yeah, the skill shot goes first, not halfway through the impression. Come on. It's just... it's... no. It's like putting chapter 13 in chapter 1. Okay, so no, it's not an opti-switch. No, you gotta plunge when it's lined up. Which means... I don't know. But, again, like, really complex skill shot. You've got to... Not only you've got to select your character, you've got to plunge so that the ball travels over the light.
    73:18
    And then you've got to make the shot on the playfield. Like, that's a really hard skill shot. Now, I get that skill shots these days are actually more simplistic than they were in the book, like they were sort of in the past. No, but skill shots should never be this complex routine of things to do. You shouldn't have to read the instructions to work out what they are. I was expecting that. Okay, sure.
    73:48
    I've seen that type of oscillating or that, you know, strobing skill shot in things like Gottlieb's Gladiator, where you plunge the ball and you wanderslick the thing and it hits the switch and that slicks. that's a really well understood pinball trope and how that skill shot system works but this one no it's not at all intuitive but I also really do not like what I call non-no tables yeah because that's essentially to me it's the same as fellow well yeah But unfortunately, this is even more complicated because it's not telling you how to get... Like, Spell of Rama, you at least know, oh, if I hit this seven times, it's going to start something.
    74:45
    Yeah. Nothing about this is telling me how a particular mode is going to start. No. I'm just shooting things.
    74:53
    Yeah. What a good beast! Good beasts get punished too! Which is why I never, I could never get a good score. I just play through my score very easily, because it's like, I don't know what to shoot, and...
    75:11
    It doesn't feel like... You compare this to the other table, the other gearbox table. Brothers in Arms.
    75:22
    Yeah. And the way that table feels is completely different to this. Like, the Brothers in Arms table feels instantly understandable.
    75:36
    We did not need to read the instructions to actually understand how to play the game. Like, we didn't need to read the instructions to understand how to get skillshot, because it explained it on the DMV for us, which it does not do on this game. Like, because, say, basically, there should be an abridged version of everything in the instruction manual on the DMV. like they've got a full color dmd now why why not explain everything very clearly
    76:06
    on the dmd or on the video screen the old way of designing tables but with a new um with the new sort of table format with the dvd with the video screen and everything and hasn't really utilized it as well as it could have been utilized.
    76:33
    Just remember, Zoltan is responsible for, if I'm not mistaken, Masters of the Force. Yes. He's also responsible for Star Wars collectibles.
    76:46
    Mm-hmm. How's it going? If I were you and I'm super glad I met you, I'd check that car over there. When you shoot the disc, you have to take a shot off that thing at the top. notice the difference right so brothers in arms when you have to take a shot off a flipper that is a running shot it stopped the ball for you so you actually have another chance but with this table it's like nah it rockets out of that loop thing up the top there and good luck trying to hit the the rather important shot up the top there like you've read the instructions that's like you know you've got to shoot that shot and get arguably pretty good points from the uh from the features in the upper playfield. And the thing is, with the upper playfield, you won't be able to get up there and actually interact with the stuff up there a bit. Like, it's the draw card. You want to go up there. I don't understand.
    77:37
    Hit the light of the chosen one. So you've chosen the first one. See, that doesn't do anything. Full plunger.
    77:51
    So it's not... Did you fall asleep standing up? Nope. Oh, it's a full-blown. Wait, I got it. What did you do? It says I got the skill shot.
    78:02
    So I'm telling you, I think it's an off-put. So you punched it while the pilot said you got the skill shot.
    78:09
    Is that all it had? I tried to time it so that it landed, or the ball stopped rolling when it hit the face.
    78:18
    Like, the face lit up. Okay. Oh, what an angry little jokey. Fortunately, it's this game. This way, recruit.
    78:34
    I think it... Time to close up this hard case. No! Recruit! Already bored. Yeah, that's disappointing.
    78:45
    Mm-hmm. It just, it doesn't... it's not making me interested in playing more no and I have a feeling this is going to end up in the tournament tournaments or the events a lot for some reason the way they do the events is there's a couple of Williams a couple of Zen older Zen original and a newer than original,
    79:21
    I've got a feeling they're going to be pushing this more. And there's some tables... I was a bit like that about Noir when it cycles in. But I've got an understanding with that table now where I can do what I need to do with it to make it function in the events. Sure.
    79:41
    But it's still something... I don't go back to the table after I've played it. It's not my favourite table. at all. I did manage to get this secret skill shot the other day on it, which was a complete and utter fluke, where you've got to shoot the revolver and get into the hole, which good luck with that. I had very limited success doing it. I managed to get it so the ball, I had the revolver spin in a certain way that it created a pathway to the sources behind the revolver, and that's a secret skill shot.
    80:17
    If you manage to somehow align the revolver in such a way that the ball can travel behind there, and you then manage to get the ball in there, it's a secret skill shot. So there you go.
    80:29
    Yeah. Don't ask me to do it again. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, look, I don't expect every table design to appeal to me, and I'm sure that there are tables that I love that other people don't like. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm glad that there is a variety of things.
    80:54
    I just know what I like. Yeah. I'm sure there are some people out there that really dig Zoltan's designs because they like to hunt around the play field and they like to explore and do that. I'm just very linear when I play Gable. I expect the tables to mimic real-world tables and the tropes that exist in those real-world tables because that's pinball to me.
    81:23
    By all means, go crazy with the cool features and stuff. Get off my lawn! That's what we sound like, I know. But, I mean, the thing is that even with the... Like, if you look at Stern, like the latest Stern tables that have come out, like Godzilla in particular,
    81:40
    But that table's got some, like, it breaks a lot of design tropes that Stern had for years. Like, always give me three pop bumpers. Like, that was the Gary Stern stamp. Like, must have three pop bumpers or it's not a Stern. But this one only has one, and it's in a really weird place. and then you've got other things like Mozart holes and stuff that you know they're Mozart holes and they're clearly defined but they're not in the usual sort of position you'd find them so the tropes are still there though they're just used in new and inventive ways but something like the Borderlands table I've got nothing to anchor to I've got nothing to help me understand how the game works intuitively it's all designed around let's call it a bash toy right there right there in the middle bash bash bash but unfortunately that's not really um what you need to be doing no and and that's you need big combos like to to create a rule around you you need to qualify a mode based on a four-way combo yeah i don't like that at all because that's because how are you're supposed to know what the combo is you know yeah it's it is that hidden rule sheet basically um yeah and that's i don't know that's just kind of brutal um it really is i'm not a fan at all there's things that i i mean there's things about that table that i do like um just like aesthetically it looks fairly nice but then again i mean i kind of knew where i was going to sit because you know how I am about upper playfields. Yeah, you don't like them. No, not much. Not when they're that large. I don't mind a small upper playfield. It's when it dominates a third of the playfield that I'm not.
    83:39
    So no, folks, I never was a fan of Black Knight or Black Knight 2000. Yeah, that's disappointing. But at least Brothers in Arms, that was looking like a lot of fun. I'll go back to that for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I expect to play a lot of that.
    84:01
    It seems to have quite long legs, I think. Yeah, the one thing we didn't have a look at is Garfield. No, so, I mean, look, this is already running long.
    84:12
    We're going to... We haven't looked at Garfield yet. We haven't looked at Snoopy yet. So we'll be taking looks at those. Obviously, I want to do a comparison of new Taff versus old Taff. That's going to be a next show Yeah, I know there's plenty of you that have never seen the Pinball Arcades version So I would love to do with that I think, I mean, you know fortunately, when something like this drops with this many tables at launch to explore Hey, that gives us good content That's right, we've got some things to show Yeah So tell you what folks you let us know if you want to see Garfield and Snoopy before Taff, which I doubt you will, but, you know, let us know. Yeah, that's right. If you want to do some A-B comparisons between the Marvel tables, shoot, I could show you what they used to look like in FX2. Really see how far they've come. Oh, wow. Yeah, right. Jeez.
    85:14
    So, just drop us a message on the old Twitter, or right here in the YouTube. We take a look at all that, and Or on our Discord. Or the Discord.
    85:27
    Yes. All right. Beyond that, I think that's all we have for you this week. Jared, tell them what's in store next time.
    85:35
    Stuff and things. Until then, folks. Bye-bye. See you later.