Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
Report this post
Those with more than a passing interest in pinball would likely have downloaded all the trials anyway, just to give them a run and see if there is something they like.
People who have played Warzone in the past had to DL the entire paid game, sometimes including content for modes they never played (and will never), and that was 4+ times larger.
IF. That's already a false statement.
You do get three free tables -- Fish Tales, Sorcerer's Lair, and Fish Tales.
You also get 2-3 free weekly events that cycle out, those pertaining to limited attempts on Zen's originals and non-premium Williams tables.
Otherwise, way FX works, you don't actually download individual tables anyway. Every time I have purchased a table, I've jumped right in and started playing it within seconds of the purchase.
34gb does seem oddly high for FX in comparison
Me.
Player B: "I want small and fast downloads which don't take up much space on my drive."
FIGHT!
Player C: I'm only interested in certain tables so it's a shame i have to download all of the tables.
(I'm guessing that's what's happening because of the free day one trial etc, which is understandable, but i could be wrong)
(Not that there are many Australian Steam Deck owners. Well done Valve, GJ.)
And laptops.
Yes, you can install to SD cards, but it's hard to recommend a game for people to try out, when it's 34GB.
The Switch has on-demand downloads. The problem there is PFX doesn't have demos (last I heard, feel free to correct), which I think is a serious business mistake.
What do Xbox/PS5 do? Do they have on-demand downloads as well? And do they have demos?
The last line of the description reads "Enjoy digital pinball at its finest as Pinball FX brings you the most advanced simulation in pinball with Pro Physics for every table in the library, 4K HDR visuals, and ray tracing."
While it might actually run on the SteamDeck, I'm sure it wasn't at the forefront of the designers' minds.
If I were to guess why they didn't use the old system of downloading a table on demand, my guesses would be:
A: They want people to be able to easily test a table, get hooked on the gameplay and do an impulse purchase. If it's already on your drive, it starts instantly when selected, and if you do decide to purchase one (or more), you can immediately start playing without the limitations.
B: Most people will download almost all of the tables to try them anyway. If your goal is to just download the game to get the free tables and never support the game, you definitely aren't the players they are looking to cater to.
C: They want players to participate in the tournaments and events in order to boost player involvement in the game. If you have to wait to download a table, you might not participate, weakening the playerbase for those events, thus reducing the allure for others to participate. Some events encourage participation by not requiring you to own the tables in the events.
D: They have publicly stated that FX3 isn't going anywhere (at least not soon) and perhaps this is part of the reason. Other than not having access to the newest tables, SteamDeck users really wouldn't be missing out on anything.
E: (This is a longshot possibility, but... ) Perhaps some tables share some common assets, which, if duplicated, would make the overall install even larger.
I have no idea what has been done for consoles, but for a handheld like the Switch, there's no need for massive assets, so I'm sure the install size is much smaller. Even if it's exactly the same for the real console machines, if one is an avid player, they will make space for it. If not, there's always the option to swap it to (cheap) external storage and swap it back when desired.
Well, I'm eating my words, because Gearbox is added to the list.
Homeworld is free this week as an Event. 1-Ball Challenge.
It's not 34GB for 3 tables.
It's actually EVERY SINGLE TABLE in a single download. Whether you own it or not.
While this is severely inefficient, in terms of disk-space, it makes sense given that you can play all of the tables without buying the DLCs for them (either as a demo, or in full through various means (Such as Pinball Pass or weekly rotation))
The alternative would an absolute logistical nightmare, where the game is constantly downloading and uninstalling tables that you don't currently have access to at any given moment.
---
I suppose Zen could create a lite version that ONLY contains the 3 free tables and nothing else. But I don't know how much smaller that would actually be, since all the tables probably already share a lot of resources. So the lite version might only be 33GB.
I don't know how collectibles are factored in, but they might be tied to the base game.
I'm willing to say the base game is around 7-8 GB for the three freebies plus the PInHall extras. The Switch version is quite a bit smaller than that -- 2.5GB. I don't know how large the current collection is there, since there are 36 tables and no DLC duplicates/repurchases at this time.
EDIT Before this thread gets locked for a prior necro: Collectibles might go with the table download itself.