[JPT]

I loved the old Amiga pinball games, but did not like Zen Pinball at all, hmmm maybe I should give one of these minis a go.

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by JPT

I loved the old Amiga pinball games, but did not like Zen Pinball at all, hmmm maybe I should give one of these minis a go.

Really? Maybe just didn't stick with them long enough? They're pretty fast tables (ball moves at a high pace) so you may have to get used to them, but they're really good with great depth - there is really lots to discover. They are also really fair tables, if at least you realise that /how you can earn all sorts of ball-saved and kick-back options (on some tables it is really necessary that you focus on getting these, otherwise you won't make it really far).

Also, make sure you experiment with the different views - some of the views are just perfect, imho - they pretty successfully simulate you stretching / looking up to see the further half of the table and such. Really good stuff. I also really recommend the Street Fighter themed DLC table - it's a great table, and the price of 3 euros - that's like two-three games on a real table.

I think I played almost every half-decent pinball game since the C64 (Night Mission Pinball I think was the best on that). I loved all the Digital Illusions Pinball games (Dreams is released as Mini now also), but the Pro-Pinball series has been my favorite. The more recent Gottlieb Collection I don't like as much - it's nice for historical reasons as it has some real classics, but in the end above all show that modern tables are much, much more fun.

Originally Posted by Phil

Yeah me too...
FF8 is one of my most awaited games and I want it soo bad. I was never able to buy it, so I ended up getting it for PC and playing it from my laptop with a 3 meter USB cable sitting on my couch with the keyboard... I was THAT desperate! And I love the game too... The only FF I have only completed once!

Vagrant Story is coming next Tuesday I just read on Eurogamer, which is arguably even better than FF8, yes? At least I seem to recall it was rather excellent, and I think I may just try it - never got around to playing it back then, and sounds like it would be a great fit for PSP now (though I have way too many PSP games to play now as it is! Well done Sony ).

[Jugix]

Originally Posted by Arwin

I loved all the Team 17 Pinball games (Dreams is released as Mini now also)

Pinball dreams and Fantasies are made by Digital Illusions. Best amiga flippers ever. Pinball Illusions (AGA game with awesome 256 color graphics) was also good.

Just bought Fantasies from MINIS collection and playing it right now.

[Cornsnake]

Originally Posted by Arwin

Vagrant Story is coming next Tuesday I just read on Eurogamer, which is arguably even better than FF8, yes? At least I seem to recall it was rather excellent, and I think I may just try it - never got around to playing it back then, and sounds like it would be a great fit for PSP now (though I have way too many PSP games to play now as it is! Well done Sony ).

Vagrant Story is excellent. It's a much more hardcore RPG compared to something like Final Fantasy. It's more difficult, and you have a lot more items available to effect the stats of your character and weapons. The combat system is a nice mix between realtime and turnbased strategy. It's a shame they never made a sequel for it.

[patsu]

Gah... FF8. I gave up right outside the last boss fight because I didn't have what it's called... some ultimate weapon. the music and the graphics at that time. Bought the guide too.

Would be nostalgic to watch the crazy summon animations all over again.
I liked the Diablo summon a lot last time

[Archgamer]

In FFVIII, you didn't need to grind. Since enemies level up as you do, you can cheat the system and play through a low level game while acquiring and junctioning the best spells. The game imo, was extremely easy.

[JPT]

Originally Posted by Arwin

Really? Maybe just didn't stick with them long enough? They're pretty fast tables (ball moves at a high pace) so you may have to get used to them, but they're really good with great depth - there is really lots to discover. They are also really fair tables, if at least you realise that /how you can earn all sorts of ball-saved and kick-back options (on some tables it is really necessary that you focus on getting these, otherwise you won't make it really far).

I just think for Zen the view/game actually is not able to keep up with the ball to give it decent feel of pinball.

I d/l the Pinball Fantasies mini and to me, all tough the gfx can not be compared, it is a better pinball game. Even with its old funky lugging ball routines etc.

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by JPT

I just think for Zen the view/game actually is not able to keep up with the ball to give it decent feel of pinball.

Really? Regardless of what view you choose? (I experimented with that a while myself)

I d/l the Pinball Fantasies mini and to me, all tough the gfx can not be compared, it is a better pinball game. Even with its old funky lugging ball routines etc.

I sooooooooooooo disagree. However, like I said, not all tables are created equal, and you do have to understand how they work a bit - the car one can be really annoying (and short!) if you don't play for getting kickbacks and ball saves. I really recommend the street fighter table also.

I really think that if you like pinball games, then just give this a bit more time and experiment with those views - it really is rather excellent. I'd give it a 9/10

[Arwin]

Playstation Store updated today, probably for Christmas reasons.

Anyway, one very pleasant surprise for me is Hustle Kings. Didn't know it was coming now so I immediately downloaded it, and managed a few training sessions (5 out of 9 available) before my wife stole the PS3 to watch Coraline on BluRay. First impressions are very, very good!

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[joker454]

Originally Posted by JPT

I just think for Zen the view/game actually is not able to keep up with the ball to give it decent feel of pinball.

Zen is a fairly old game, I'd skip that one now. Go for this game if you want some great pinball tables:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/102/1026434p1.html

It has classic tables like Medieval Madness, Gorgar, Black Knight, and even Tales of the Arabian Nights. It's far better than Zen, with 13 professionally made real life tables.

[Arwin]

That's not out in Europe, joker454. But apart from that, many of those old tables, to put it plainly, suck. It's much like the Gottlieb collection in that respect, which I have on my PSP and which barely has even one table that's worth playing for more than, as I think Chris in the Player One podcast recently put it on the game's re-release on the Wii, 'a history lesson'

Also, the PS3 version of Zen Pinball was released this year actually so it's not old. It has also been improved quite a bit from its early 360 outing (I compared it), looking much better, playing much better, having a better menu system, and puts the analog-mode of the DS3's buttons to very good use. EDIT: oh and it has completely different tables of course, plus a very cool downloadable table (the Street Fighter one). The 360 version did get an update though I just noticed, and now it runs butter smooth at least. But Pinball FX (name of the 360 title) is definitely not nearly as good as Zen Pinball imho.

[joker454]

Originally Posted by Arwin

That's not out in Europe, joker454. But apart from that, many of those old tables, to put it plainly, suck. It's much like the Gottlieb collection in that respect, which I have on my PSP and which barely has even one table that's worth playing for more than, as I think Chris in the Player One podcast recently put it on the game's re-release on the Wii, 'a history lesson'

Also, the PS3 version of Zen Pinball was released this year actually so it's not old. It has also been improved quite a bit from its early 360 outing (I compared it), looking much better, playing much better, having a better menu system, and puts the analog-mode of the DS3's buttons to very good use. EDIT: oh and it has completely different tables of course, plus a very cool downloadable table (the Street Fighter one). The 360 version did get an update though I just noticed, and now it runs butter smooth at least. But Pinball FX (name of the 360 title) is definitely not nearly as good as Zen Pinball imho.

To each his own I guess I tried Zen on PS3 and it's dated, it just can't compete with professionally designed tables. Here's a good list of well loved pinball tables:

http://pinside.com/pinball/top-100

You can get some of those in that pinball pack. Medieval Madness in particular is awesome.

[tuna]

Originally Posted by PARANOiA

Hrmm... how long did it take FF7 to get from the NA store to the EU store? :/ Would like to pick up FF8.

FF8 is coming in January.

[jlippo]

Originally Posted by Archgamer

In FFVIII, you didn't need to grind. Since enemies level up as you do, you can cheat the system and play through a low level game while acquiring and junctioning the best spells. The game imo, was extremely easy.

oh yes.
The system in ff8 was brilliant, you could use item/card/magic transformation brilliantly troughout the game.
Basically you only 'needed' to use draw command to get couple of summons and some spells, otherwise there simply was no need.

Simply put FF8 is one of the great ones, a FF game between 6-9.

[patsu]

Yes, I remember the card game. The cards can be converted into ingredients and magic. Also remember the junction system for customizing characters on-the-fly. Plus the Ragnarok which allows me to travel all over the world.

I bought the game because of Rinoa and Squall's dancing scene (and song). ^_^ If the game allows me to jump to all the cutscenes, I'd buy it.

[PARANOiA]

Originally Posted by tuna

FF8 is coming in January.

Yay :]

And half price Trine is mine :]

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by joker454

To each his own I guess I tried Zen on PS3 and it's dated, it just can't compete with professionally designed tables. Here's a good list of well loved pinball tables:

http://pinside.com/pinball/top-100

You can get some of those in that pinball pack. Medieval Madness in particular is awesome.

Well that list shows that the Gottlieb collection does indeed not have very many great tables, so at least I got that right. Meta-critic rates Zen and the Williams collection similarly by the way (80% and 82% I think), so perhaps the Williams collection is actually pretty good then. Some reviews also say that the tables aren't the best around for Zen, but overall the package is still very good. Personally, I didn't instantly love the tables either, but their depth rewards you and they keep getting better as you learn them. I guess I'm saying that I think if you like Pinball it's almost impossible for me to believe you can't find great enjoyment in Zen, but hey ...

Shame the Williams Collection is not available here, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Is it a PSN release in the U.S., or a disc release, or both?

Played some more Zen yesterday, the V12 table. It's a fast and difficult table that really rewards learning the table and acquiring skill and requires very fast reflexes. Still fun though, managed to improve my scores quite a bit, from 3.5 to 12 million. It's various leaderboards are very good and rewarding, and it even has multiplayer modes with video chat support.

[joker454]

Originally Posted by Arwin

Shame the Williams Collection is not available here, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Is it a PSN release in the U.S., or a disc release, or both?

Disc only I believe, but from what I've read it's appears to be a region free disc so it can be imported. It's a cheap title also, I bought it for $30 on launch day, so presumably even cheaper now. One cool thing that it has is that it has an in depth tutorial for every table. It shows you what each item on the table is, and how to get all the goals on a given table.

[Xpuntar]

Uhh. US PSN stil do not have Vagrant Story available.

Anyone know when the game will be available there?

Yey for being in such a nice country (and part of EU!) where I don't have access to PSN, unless I cheat with nationality & address.

[Arwin]

I've tried Vagrant Story on my PSP yesterday night and I must say I was really impressed on all levels! Great presentation, gameplay, etc ... At least so far ... this definitely deserves at least à remake! Maybe on iPhone?

[Nesh]

Originally Posted by jlippo

oh yes.
The system in ff8 was brilliant, you could use item/card/magic transformation brilliantly troughout the game.
Basically you only 'needed' to use draw command to get couple of summons and some spells, otherwise there simply was no need.

Simply put FF8 is one of the great ones, a FF game between 6-9.

FF8 was one of my favorite as well. I loved the art direction, the story, the characters and the world probably as much as no other RPG out there. The only problem with it was the lengthy summon sequences.

Truly spectacular

[bitbatgis]

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[Arwin]

Preview of updates this week for Europe:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/...10/#more-11556

Highlights for me: a new table for Zen Pinball, Sigma 2 themed.

Also, there seems to be another level pack (The Sack that Time Forgot ... ) available for 2.99 euro ...

[Arwin]

Just tried the new Zen Pinball table, and it's really good! Highly recommend it - quite different from most of the other tables, but it looks and sounds great. It's just so awesome to be able to get a new pinball table for 1,99 euro, while back in the day for that price you had two credits.

[slider]

Haven't played a decent pinball game (real life or not) in ages. Thanks for the tip off. BTW, is there a PSP version?