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Godspeed in your next endeavours, Adam.
https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/10/16/cryptic-zen-studios-layoffs-embracer-group-restructuring
If you owned the tables in FX2, you can still play them in FX2.
It does, however, raise the question of why Zen is focused so much on recycling DLC that is 10 or 15 years old instead of coming up with something new and different.
Like the various Star Wars or Marvel tables, the South Park tables are Zen Originals based on a licensed property. That is, there was never a real, physical pinball machine using these designs.
The Williams tables are recreations of real-world pinball machines. Perhaps that's why they are generally more distinct and different in design from one another.
By comparison, the Zen Originals tables tend to be more similar to one another, especially once you look past the artwork and SFX for a given table. Perhaps this is best illustrated by asking, do we really need 20 Star Wars themed tables? Or 20 Marvel themed ones? I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't feel like they were made with a cookie cutter.
I originally said "20 different" both times there, but I realized "different" was inaccurate. If only that were not the case.
This is hard to quantify, but I feel that, compared to the Williams tables, the layout of the Zen Originals tables tends to be oriented more horizontally, with more of the action taking place from side to side at the bottom of the table, near the flippers. Maybe this is so the camera doesn't need to move up and down quite so much to follow the ball. And perhaps that's why the Zen Originals are often (usually?) missing a lot of the classic elements of pinball, like bumpers and drop targets, These probably work better in a more vertically oriented table.
Maybe distracting us from those missing elements are why the Zen Originals tables rely so much on animating various large parts of the play field, using elements of whatever theme the table is based on. Unfortunately, these animations don't add anything to the actual game play.
Don't get me wrong, I think some of the Zen Originals are a lot of fun, but there's a huge amount of redundancy in what's available. I'd like to see them rely less on artwork and SFX and more on functional elements of the table design.
Could be wrong but i vaguely recall them saying it was one of the more frequently requested tables? Also, it's probably just easier to port old tables across than to start from scratch.
As for your other point about the sheer number of, say, Marvel or Star Wars tables... I'd much prefer quality over quantity. Focus the resource on a more polished, customisable and bug-free experience. If that means fewer tables then so be it. But at least the overall user experience might not be actively irritating.
My not-thought-through theory is that the focus on licences means the tables don't need to be as good. This is because they're more likely to be bought by fans of the relevant franchise who perhaps haven't played pinball video games before and who might therefore be less discerning when it comes to them because they have no point of comparison. Perhaps they'll pick it up on a whim because it features their favourite characters, and enjoy a quick blast then move on. Maybe they'll never buy another pinball game and never would have bought one had it not featured their favourite franchise. So they don't have to be classic tables with depths that make them satisfying in the long-term. They just need to be functional and feature a few flashy animations of spiderman or suchlike and a bit of fan service.
I actually like the South Park tables. I am just disappointed that they can't do something new instead of recycling old content. And it's probably only "more frequently requested" because it first came out with FX2 but never made it into FX3.
Of course it's easier to update existing tables to work with the new game engine than it is to do something brand new. My problem is that recycling old content seems to be *MOST* of what they are doing.
The problem of the glut of Marvel and Star Wars tables goes all the way back to FX2, but the real problem isn't just the number of tables for any given license, it's that they're all so homogeneous.
I think if you went through all the Marvel tables and picked out 3 or 4 of the best ones, they'd probably stack up just fine against any other tables. Same for the Star Wars tables. But then you have the other 16-17 tables for each license that are ultimately just mediocre.
The real problem is that maintaining all those tables takes manpower and money that could be used to create new content, either with new licenses or for something all-original. Some of the new content in Pinball M looks pretty good, but even there, Zen is going to be doing some content recycling.
If that's true, then it's really a pretty good reason to do a better job at making them better and less homogeneous, but Zen doesn't seem to be doing that.
And I wasn't saying that everything needs to be like the Williams tables. (Although there are a number of physical Williams tables I'd like to see show up some day.) I referred to them mainly as an example of tables that have a wider variety of stuff going on.
There are a lot of potential licenses that could easily serve as inspiration for good tables, just, you know, maybe not 20-something tables from one license. Let's not repeat that mistake. Just off the top of my head, here are some licenses that Zen should be going for.
DC Comics -there are plenty of possibilities here, including a variety of real-world machines that could be done. Just maybe, let's not do 20-something tables, okay?
Star Trek - we've had another 30+ years of movies and TV shows since TNG. How about tables for Deep Space Nine or Voyager? Or Strange New Worlds? And there were probably some real world tables for the last few movies that are still waiting to be done.
Stargate - Here's another multi-show TV franchise that's ripe for the picking. And again, there is at least one real-world table (from Gottlieb) just waiting to be virtualized.
Hope they bring back the Plants vs Zombies table too. I only have that on PS3.
10 eur for a re-release of fx2 tables (i dont care if mastered or not) is too much.
generally all pinball tables are way tooo overprizes for what you get.
Because are a scamers.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2328760/discussions/0/3828664382482175258/?ctp=3#c6169410450149231383
Scammers, they are not. If they were, we'd have no more access to the prior games. I still have access to ALL my FX2 tables. We had table transfers between FX2 and FX3.
FX2 VR is an entirely separate product, and likewise Star Wars VR. The reason why games like Tetris Effect and Zaccaria have VR integrated is because you're not working with so many third parties, unlike what Zen is doing with FX.
FX3 and FX use entirely different engines, and assets are not entirely the same. The physics are not the same; while FX2 and FX3 use the exact same physics model, FX retrofits the Williams physics onto their previous originals. Up to 78 of them. We have a new ball game; you don't learn how to master one Attack From Mars, you learn how to master a bunch of different ones.
We've already seen Legacy Bundles dip as low as 83% off, if you already own the FX3 pack. Assuming this is the rate of discounts going forward, varied collections can dip as low as 73% off at this point in time.
"BASE!"
Yes, that episode is in the Butters table as one of the 5 modes.