Might want to check out this thread; the little fire next to the topic means it's hot with lots of activity.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-aerosmith-pinball/page/41#post-3648700

Roadblocks are never fun. They are like narrow highways that go nowhere; just keep chugging along doing the same thing over and over in hopes to reach an end.

To add to that. There's really only 3 objectives in the pin: play (and complete song modes), play (and complete toys mb), play (and complete Elevator mb).

I like where the game is at for release code, it is fun and has potential. But, it needs more breadth, scoring opportunities, strategies. Less one lane highway driving; more off ramps, twists, and turns.

Thing is, they are not shipping with more complete code. Lonnie has always had fantastic release code. Transformers, avengers, Star Trek were terrific out of the gate, but they never blossomsed into something unique. Lymans code is typically shallow out of the gate but matures in time.

It seems there is a difference between a player and a programmer. It seems the player, Lyman, will analyze the table and get a feel for its flow, dimensions, personality, brutality , Etc. then, he'll come up with unique rules that support the design of the table. we don't see that kind of dedication, or Eye so to speak, in some of the other programmers that can give a table it's own unique rule set.

Now don't get me wrong, as I stated before, Lonnie has terrific code out of the gate and I like what he does with a majority of his code. He's very good with choreography, affects, scoring balances, and overall theme integration. I would just like to see a player/programmer take that code and run with it, adding breadth and dynamics. And, that's why Lonnie + Lyman had some outstanding games together.

By the way, the only X factor in this whole code situation is Dwight. He's added an extra element to stern games that has been much needed and very welcoming. I would love to see what Lonnie , And even Dwight, could do with their code post release. And I think that's the frustration we see as collectors because programmers like Lyman and Keith Johnson, Who are damn good players, will continue to develop code post release.