The scoring is so unbalanced it's lame, beat the lamp, beat the multiplayers, rinse repeat. There is no value to going after anything else, the multiball mabye because then at least you have 3 balls to beat the lamp with.
From a collectors stand point I can understand why they like the game, looks nice, lots of interesting toys, from a players stand point it's a one trick pony.
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No, no, don't up the value of TOTAN, that one was going to be next on my list after I recover from Pinball Magic.
Between Laser War, Shaq Attaq (wanted again), Black Knight 2000, Stargate (wanted) and Pinball Magic, I am trying to become the King of undervalued pins before they get priced out of my reach!
HP5P, your tastes in pin quality and budgets are better than mine, so if you come across any dog TOTAN's at a decentprice, would you mind throwing the bones my way?
HP5P, your tastes in pin quality and budgets are better than mine, so if you come across any dog TOTAN's at a decentprice, would you mind throwing the bones my way?
No problem, will let you know is something comes up.
It has been scientifically proven that light is faster than sound. That is why some people seem brilliant........until they open their mouth!
The scoring is so unbalanced it's lame, beat the lamp, beat the multiplayers, rinse repeat. There is no value to going after anything else, the multiball mabye because then at least you have 3 balls to beat the lamp with.
From a collectors stand point I can understand why they like the game, looks nice, lots of interesting toys, from a players stand point it's a one trick pony.
Hmmm. Every game has a way to beat it for score alone.
Lots of games have lame ways to beat them. For instance NF. start the modes, don't try and complete them. Delay until you can start the next one. Get to the final challenges. Unlock your multiball there and work the ramps from there.
STTNG. Unlock the video mode LLRLLR or whatever the f*** it takes to do it. Rinse, repeat.
On and on there are ways around most games.
Your challenge at tournament is to be able to do the lame defeat better than the next guy. This is not what collectors buy machines for.
Hmmm. Every game has a way to beat it for score alone.
Lots of games have lame ways to beat them. For instance NF. start the modes, don't try and complete them. Delay until you can start the next one. Get to the final challenges. Unlock your multiball there and work the ramps from there.
STTNG. Unlock the video mode LLRLLR or whatever the f*** it takes to do it. Rinse, repeat.
On and on there are ways around most games.
Your challenge at tournament is to be able to do the lame defeat better than the next guy. This is not what collectors buy machines for.
Not true.
I'll use your examples:
NF, while the wizard modes are lucrative cradling the ball will not work in the latest revision of the sofware, when the staus menu comes up the timer on the mode stops so that idea doesn't work.
Also there are much more lucrative scoring things then the Wizard modes. The first wizard mode isn't that high scoring, so you have to time out all 6 modes, then start the first wizard mode finish that off and then spell out No Fear to get to the second wizard mode which is much more lucrative.
Also priming up multiball and getting Payback time ready to run is a much better way to make an easy billion points then timing out chalenges.
Also the modes in and of themselves are actualy very lucrative. Asphalt is a very lucrative mode, you can get 300 million for making only 3 shots.
Also another note for scoring on No Fear would be to make 3 right orbit shots to light the supper spinner and then start banging away at the spinner for 1 million a spin.
So No Fear as a game has far more scoring oportunities all of which balance out nicely.
ST:TNG
Although the video mode is very lucrative, it's not easy to achive. You have to be able to consitantly hit the right ramp over and over again.
Warp Factor 9 is a much better scoring oppertunity and requires less shots over all.
Also the multiball if you are good with the cannons can be the most lucrative thing in the game as it is easy to start and if you can make all 3 shots off the cannon you multiply your overall jackpots by 3x.
Also making sure that Q is running at the same time as Multiball is key to monster scores as Q is the only mode in ST:TNG that will run at the same time as multiball and not time out.
So again there are a number of balnced scoring opportunites.
Also other games that come to mind with little to no way of exploiting scoriing would be LOTR, SPP, Congo, Shadow, NGG, CFTBL, TZ, etc, etc.
These games have a good balance of risk vs reward and there isn't a single object in the game that out weighs any of the other things the game has to offer.
TOTAN because the lamp carries over from ball to ball and all you need to go after is the multipliers it makes no sense from a scoring perspective to go after anything else. The only other thing that offers the scoring potential that the lamp does in TOTAN is the wizard mode which is much to difficult to achive on a regular basics. The modes don't offer enough scoring potential other then to build towards completing the wizard mode. You rack up the X's to 8 x and spin that lamp I've seen bouns values of over 14 million and on such a low scoring game as TOTAN that is huge, espically since it can be carried ball to ball.
That's why I call it a one trick pony, the scoring is so imbalnced that nothing else is worthwhile.
I don't deny that as a game to complete it is chalenging and can be fun to play but from the player perspective it's not worth it
The lamp isn't just about spinning it. You have to spin it sufficiently to get to the lightning threshold to get the bonus to lock. Then leave it alone! Then you can repeat this process to the next threshold. If this is your aim, then it is a decent challenge. I don't see many getting the lamp bonus maxed out in a game only because they aren't successful in doing this reliably. There are lots of other things in the game trying to f*** you up while you are trying to do only this, not to mention other things you are trying to achieve.
Depending on the lamp, one good shot should get it to lightning lamp, then the question becomes, so I spin the hell out of it with lightning and try and gain points that way or let it time out and work the bonus. If you can get 3x lightning lamp off the bazar it is much more lucrative to keep that lamp spinning sometimes getting 500,000 - 1,000,000 for a decent spin on 3x.
Either way the scoring all centers around the lamp
Like I said my main gripe is balanced scoring, the balance isn't there. While I agree there are other things to achive, things to complete and stuff to do. From a scoring perspective they don't offer the value that the lamp does, that is all I'm saying.
Depending on the lamp, one good shot should get it to lightning lamp, then the question becomes, so I spin the hell out of it with lightning and try and gain points that way or let it time out and work the bonus. If you can get 3x lightning lamp off the bazar it is much more lucrative to keep that lamp spinning sometimes getting 500,000 - 1,000,000 for a decent spin on 3x.
Either way the scoring all centers around the lamp
Like I said my main gripe is balanced scoring, the balance isn't there. While I agree there are other things to achive, things to complete and stuff to do. From a scoring perspective they don't offer the value that the lamp does, that is all I'm saying.
WTF. I would say if that is your biggest gripe it really amounts to nothing. Spinning the hell out of the lamp is fun.
I have played many a game that what you have to do to achieve points is fn' boring. Hit a stationary target or whatever. Be thankful the lamp is fun for you tourney players. Nuff said.
I'd much rather have a varied amount of shots then have to beat on one thing over and over again.
That's why I can't wait till I get my SPP, now there is a game with a TON of shots, (Oh yea I went there back to the Stern Debate )
Look, whatever you are trying to achieve on TOTAN is notional anyways. Keep up the good work Vengeance and one day you may master it and beat me on it.
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