(Topic ID: 110954)

Can a pinball machine be too hard???

By ngg

9 years ago


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  • 27 posts
  • 26 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by btw75
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#1 9 years ago

I only ask the question because TWDLE is making me crazy!!! Dont get me wrong, i love the theme, features, layout, toys ect.., but its hard for me to break 10 mill even when i play for an hour or so. Ive tried adjusting the machine, messed with the leveling, eased up settings and taken some mental breaks, but its making me majorly frustrated!

Can a machine just be too hard? What has been everyone's experience with this and other "Hard" games???

#2 9 years ago

I have noticed some of the newer machines score lower than other machines. Look at WOZ it is a super low score game. I have never played TWD so I don't know about that one.

#3 9 years ago

It's your game man. I say if it's making you that frustrated, put it at 5 ball and/or lower the difficulty in the settings. Once you start to kick its ass more and more, bring back some of the difficulty. No sense in making it so hard you aren't having fun, that's really the whole point isn't it?

#4 9 years ago

I find my TWD to be a fast and hard game, but I average around 50 million.

You better never play F14, your head might explode !!

#5 9 years ago

Sometimes, the smallest things can make a big difference. When I bought my Dracula, it was set with the outlanes at the easiest settings. I had the game at 7.5 degrees of pitch and it was pretty brutal. Could not break 500M in around 200 games. I dropped it down to 7 degrees, and my next game was over 600M. Next I opened the outlanes back up to default, and it was back to kicking my ass again, but really no worse than it was with "easy" outlanes and 7.5 degrees. Today I dropped it down to about 6.75 degrees. Didn't notice a huge difference right away, but time will tell.

So, try setting the game up at 6.5 degrees of pitch, with "easy" outlanes. Maybe have some others try it out and see how they do.

Also, don't discount the fact that sometimes more pitch actually makes a game easier, with less side-to-side motion causing outlane drains.

#6 9 years ago

nope. pins are like the fairer sex, you think you want ones that are easy until you have one that is easy.

#7 9 years ago

No way I'm a pretty good player and walking dead is kicking my ass and I love it !!! Glad to have a game that I can't beat in a week

-1
#8 9 years ago

TWD isn't easy, for sure, but is it really harder than, say, ac/dc? Once the bugs are worked out, TWD will be fine... Most of the difficulty comes from problems with the ramps and SDTM issues... Once these kinks are worked out, it will be an a good game with fairly normal objectives... I don't see anything exceptional about this pin... Unless you are a huge fan I doubt it will be a keeper

#9 9 years ago

Ripleys Believe it or not...had it a while now and STILL can't get to Atlantis! If I finally am able to get to Atlantis I'll strive for Frog Frenzy...in my next life. ; )

#10 9 years ago

If my machines aren't hard enough, I strive to make them harder. Shadow and Tron are set up at a ridiculously steep pitch, and they take on all comers. As do most of my games.
Why would I want something easy?
I'm going to play some Walking Dead tonight. Let's see how that compares.

#11 9 years ago

Walking Dead is a fun game. We set up the LE at a 7 degree pitch. First magnet grab went SDTM as many of you have said, but with a new strategy of taking my hands off the machine when the magnet grabs, that was the only time it happened.

As far as the redneck is concerned, he didn't bother me one bit! I'd rather have him for a neighbor than some of the ones I have now.

Is this game hard? Well, the left outlane was kind of a bitch, and there is probably a pretty deep code yet to come, but for the most part shots are there and makeable. I would imagine after quite a few more plays and a few less drinks, playing it would become more or less routine. But it is fun.

#12 9 years ago

iron man always seems to get under my skin. With the little play i had on twd i got irritated too but i know with more play and a little code tweaks it'll be a solid game. Iron man on the other hand will continue to punish me...

#13 9 years ago

My TSPP kicks my butt on a regular basis. I got it last summer and the previous high scores start at about 160 million. My best score still is about 25 million but usually 5 give or take. I have it perfectly leveled and i think pitch is about 7 degrees if I remember correctly.

Perhaps I need to take the time and change up some outposts and adjust pitch a little, for the kicking butt aspect on this particular pin is starting to wear on me.

#14 9 years ago

Yes games can be too hard, especially on location. And that's a problem, because a vast majority of people will quickly stop dropping quarters in if they aren't having fun. I'm not saying games should last 20 minutes, but the average person should be able to get a little ball time without cursing. For example, I'm not putting any more money into my local Iron Man. I would much rather play Metallica, Star Trek, or Mustang for my 75 cents and have some fun. Home use is different, you can play as much as you want and set it up as you like it.

#15 9 years ago

Dracula is one of the most difficult games to grasp and succeed at, especially for new players.

It's one of my favorites but nobody who comes over likes it at all. Most casual players will only see 1 percent of the game, and there isn't any obvious over arching central strategy that jumps out at you like other machines.

I played Walking Dead last night with the new code with 3 other people that do not play pinball ever, and they all had 50-100 mil games at one point in the night. The person who had over a hundred million plays twice a year! I thought those were exceptional scores for newbies.

#16 9 years ago
Quoted from pinball_erie:

You better never play F14, your head might explode !!

Once you get a few top scores on F-14, it gets extremely hard to post a another high score. My high score records on F-14 have been sitting for probably over a year (since whenever I last reset them) and I have not been able to post another.

#17 9 years ago

It's the learning curve. A game might seam hard at first, but once you get a few key shots down, then it just seams too easy. MET was the same way for me, getting 10 million was a huge task, now hitting 50 million is pretty easy.

#18 9 years ago

I'll chime in here - GoldenEye seems very hard, the ramp shot to activate the multiball is narrow and requires a dead-on shot that I haven't been able to master. I can post-feed the ball from left to right, but shoot the ball as a miss 8 out of 10 times!!! Arrrrgh!!!

Any tips for this game? I like to try to activate multiball as soon as possible so you can skirt around the frustrating - "you get everything" set-up on Sega games once ball 3 is activated - hate that!!

#19 9 years ago

I enjoy pins with short ball times. My average ball time on Fishtales is 48 sec. I also have Black Hole in the collection and that's also a difficult pin. A pinball machine can never be too difficult if setup correctly.

#20 9 years ago

No, the harder the more longevity. My Flash Gordon with a cpr playfield is just brutal. It is the pinball equivalent of a kick in the nuts. Somehow when the stars align and I put a good game together, it makes that much more fun.
The guy above made a good analogy to women. You never marry the easy ones.
I played my buddy's TWD and really enjoyed it. I like what Stern has been doing in recent times.

m

#21 9 years ago

I'll jump in on this topic. I very recently sold my wozecle and I don't miss it. Was it too difficult? For me it was. Maybe the theme just didn't grab my interest. Anyone who played it at my house, loved it. An absolutely beautiful machine and constructed to a very high standard. No complaints with quality here. There's no place like home? Really!!!! Sometimes the ball should go home so I can finally finish a game.

#22 9 years ago
Quoted from muxxer:

There's no place like home? Really!!!! Sometimes the ball should go home so I can finally finish a game.

I feel the same way.
If I didn't have a good ball how am I going to make that many shots to play again?
I like the toto rollover idea every once in a while but when I drain I'm done.

#23 9 years ago

My TWD pro and the one of a friend who bought it also this week are almost unplayable, due to outlanes that seem to swallow balls like if they had a giant magnet, even with the posts lowered. I mean, STTNG had nice outlanes compared to this...
I know yet another friend who has installed an additional mini-post to make it playable but I'd prefer not to screw that in a new playfield, although I might end up doing it because I don't see how someone would like to remove it...

#24 9 years ago
Quoted from Crrispy:

My TWD pro and the one of a friend who bought it also this week are almost unplayable, due to outlanes that seem to swallow balls like if they had a giant magnet, even with the posts lowered. I mean, STTNG had nice outlanes compared to this...
I know yet another friend who has installed an additional mini-post to make it playable but I'd prefer not to screw that in a new playfield, although I might end up doing it because I don't see how someone would like to remove it...

Rather than drill an extra hole in the playfield try 1 or more of these...
- put an oversized rubber on the outlane post
- use a larger plastic post in the same hole (for the outlane post)
- turn down the slingshot power in the adjustments
---- this will give you less dangerous side to side action
- adjust the slingshot leaf switches so they are not hair trigger

#25 9 years ago
Quoted from ngg:

Can a machine just be too hard? What has been everyone's experience with this and other "Hard" games???

Sure, a game can be too hard. Try playing a freshly waxed AFM jacked up to 8 degrees with a sneeze tilt. A game like that will piss a guy off in a hurry. But a TWD on default settings isn't one of those games. It's fast and has short ball times, somewhat like an IM on default settings, but it's not too hard.

You're leaving out a ton of details. Your skill level, for starters. To all saying the game is hard, have you done any mods to the games? Have you waxed the playfield? Switched to clear or white rubbers? Switched the flipper rubbers to something different? All of those things will make the game harder. Of all the recent games, TWD is probably the worst one to wax. The tightness of the playfield layout combined with the now typically strong sling coils already makes the game hard. Adding wax and bouncy rubbers to the mix makes the ball even less controllable. Also, check your pitch between the flippers with a digital level and set it to 6.5 degrees. Don't trust the factory bubble as they are often off. And don't use an app that needs to be calibrated. Very accurate digital levels are cheap.

You guys aren't mentioning your strategies either. You should have a plan when you play TWD. Like IM, it's not a bat the ball around and get a decent score kind of game. I don't own one, but my simple strategy is to progress towards prison MB while also bringing along WW MB, then start prison MB and try to add in (stack) WW MB. With 4 balls in play, you will knock down drop targets and add in those modes. If you own one, 10M shouldn't be a problem. Have a plan and get rid of the mods.

#26 9 years ago
Quoted from Crrispy:

I know yet another friend who has installed an additional mini-post to make it playable

Why not just take the glass off?????

#27 9 years ago
Quoted from Crrispy:

I know yet another friend who has installed an additional mini-post to make it playable but I'd prefer not to screw that in a new playfield...

Do that only of you aren't selling it, could easily cost another grand in depreciation, IMO.

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