Anybody up for some gameplay discussion?
I have had the game for enough time to form some impressions and make some software tweaks.
I found I could keep rolling and rolling as extra balls seemed plentiful. At one point I had 5-6 balls in reserve. I basically turned extra balls off on my game. Getting the opportunity to earn an EB through the lanes, AND by cashing out the song just seems bonkers for home use. There should be some balancing there.
I also turned down the max ball save time on songs to 30 seconds (from the default 60). That was a big improvement IMO. It makes it harder to just punt balls and go for a 6 ball power chord JP as well. Less absolute chaos in multiball, and more time spent making shots and trying to get that add-a-ball in the scoop.
Speaking of add-a-ball, I set the limit there to be 5 arbitrarily. That is the change I am least certain of so far.
And something I have mixed feelings on are the patches. I don't mind the complexity they bring. I can just see them grinding any sort of competitive game to a halt. I am not sure what the best call is there, e.g. just give them out randomly, in some sort of order or ?
A personal quirk is I spend so much time collecting patches via the left ramp that almost every time I start a song it is from one of the two albums on that ramp (and more often than not Chinese Democracy).
What does the game do well as-is? The "pre-song" and "song" split of the game is interesting. Feels like you are getting set up for a show, then you have to perform. I like pushing my luck for a mega song JP, and love to hate the feeling of draining towards the end of a song because I was too greedy.
I look forward to wacthing the software keeps progressing, there is already a lot of ability to tweak the difficulties down to different song mode settings. The Desert Demolition mode seems fun so far in its Beta stage, balancing using your boost and making a shot to take out another driver (band member).
Anyways, that is enough typing for now, does anybody want to talk about gameplay vs. just mods and playfield issues?