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Lookee what I saw at PlayerOne today....

Golden Graham

Active Member
Nov 19, 2012
423
81
28
47
Essex, Ontario
I have not played this machine....I am sure it is great; but something inside of me feels that this was a very awkward time to release a pirates game? I mean, it is not amidst the hey-day of the movies. I know that the theme will always have appeal, but I always thought that current themes would carry more appeal.
(I would still take this game though)!
 

BOO

Member
Aug 9, 2013
140
19
18
Toronto, Canada
I've played the PlayerOne machine multiple times now and I absolutely love it! Lots of great shots and surprises all over the table!
 

mwong168

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
6,652
1,397
113
45
Toronto
I played this last week when I stopped by to pick up some parts. I thought it was a lot of fun but flippers felt weak because my ball would get hung up on the one way gate on right ramp to upper playfield quite often. I am sure this is software setting and probably set to lowest strength. It would have been neat to have seen the three concentrical spinning discs like in the original debut but the one spinning disc with magnet did a good enough job of randomising ball movement.
 

shinynick

Member
Jan 10, 2013
61
13
8
Georgetown, ON
I got mine a couple weeks ago and and I think its JJPs best game. The widebody playfield plays fast like a narrow body and is absolutely crammed with shots and things to shoot. I like the straightforward presentation of the modes and the sheer volume of multiballs... It is a shame that they have this great 27" HD display but they didn't license any movie footage with the actors faces or audio.... (the video is mainly still images of actors plus footage from the 5 movies depicting ships, cannons, long shots etc) but I think this will be a positive feature in the long run as the films inevitably grow a bit stale as they age.
Next TOPL night at my place is Dec 10, come check it out!
Nick
IMG_4169.JPG
 

TrueJedi

Active Member
Apr 20, 2017
218
68
28
Lindsay, ON
We had a standard Pirates at DRAPL last Friday night from P1. Overall I enjoyed it, but I agree the lack of movie footage and audio would have elevated this Pin substantially more.
 

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Chris Bardon

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,301
158
63
Mississauga, ON
Got a chance to play it at P1 this weekend, and I like it, but it seems really chaotic. I think I had 4 of the main multiballs running at once at one point? I'm also not sure what's up with qualifying chapters and collecting items (at least I think that's what you're doing). It's a game I definitely need more time with, so I'm looking forward to playing it at Nick's next week, especially since I want to see whether the LE is worth it. P1 has a standard out, and it seems fine, but the deal breaker might be the RGB GI. If that's well integrated, then it might be LE or bust.

Of course, if I want to buy one, that's $14k that I don't have right now. Also might hold off to see what hardware changes they come up with in the interim, since there's always something...
 

TwilightZone

Active Member
Nov 25, 2012
319
66
28
Ottawa, ON
I played this last week when I stopped by to pick up some parts. I thought it was a lot of fun but flippers felt weak because my ball would get hung up on the one way gate on right ramp to upper playfield quite often.

You can adjust coil strength in the menu. With that adjustment it plays amazing.

I had the opportunity to put a fair amount of time on one this Friday. I love Dialed In and I think Pirates is even better which is saying alot. The game is fantastic. Shots feel great. Rules seem well done -- I was far from fully understanding it, but still having fun on Friday. The build quality is outstanding. It's an absolutely beautiful game to look at with impressive 3D models and a cool surprise on the upper playfield: a pinball firing cannon! Absolutely blown away by the game. Pun intended :)

I read JJP couldn't get the license for movie footage. I actually like that. It forced them to be creative with the screen and it looks amazing. I also think it feels more like a pirate them as opposed to a Pirates of the Caribbean theme even though the characters are there and such, I think it will age very well.
 

Chris Bardon

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,301
158
63
Mississauga, ON
Played some more of this last night at TOPL, and I'm starting to get a handle on the rules for the game. Looks like a bunch of the character benefits aren't quite as strong as you might think:
  • Barbosa claims "easier multiball rules", but apparently this also reduces scoring
  • Elizabeth has "three chapters are always lit", but this is only at the start of a ball. Given that having more chapters lit when you're playing a chapter multiplies scoring, then this could have been a huge benefit.
  • Using the character that gives you an add a ball when on the ship seems to be a good choice, but you have to remember to trigger it. Didn't check to see if it could be activated in multiball.
  • Tia Dalma lets you choose which lit chapter you play, which seems like it'd be really useful for getting to wizard modes (which I think requires finishing N chapters from movie X), but that's for a longer/more focused game. Might be a pro move going forward?
  • Using the guy that lets you collect all the gold in one shot also seems like a good move, since that builds Tortuga, as well as points.
Besides the characters:
  • I think that the ship playfield is cool, but the cannon is really underused. It's one of the big flashy features on the game, and you only get to use it a couple of times. I figured this would be the way to qualify a "main" multiball (in addition to the other movie based ones that are shot focused).
  • I'm still not sure how to qualify the movie MBs other than the chest one. Multiple shots? It might be a good change to force you to play a chapter from a movie before qualifying the MB, similar to how you need to start a phone mode on DI before lighting a lock.
  • Using the action button to collect gold seems to be used a LOT, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. What is a problem is that using it for both gold collect and changing the lane awards (which I just figured out you could do last night) means that you're often changing lane awards when you don't want to because you're hammering the button to get all the gold. Star Wars had the same problem. Not sure there's another solution (other than a second button). Maybe if there was a way to lock them in (like the guitar features on GNR)?
  • Speaking of changing the lane awards, I can see this being another feature that develops with updates. You could easily add something like an outlane ball save. I do like that they make the inserts change colour to identify the award.
Still like the game though, but at more than $14k landed, not getting one anytime soon.