Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

Ouch... and it looks like you're totally right too. Never would have guessed that one, but it sure looks like it.

I hate to be so pessimistic about it, but I'd be in denial if I didn't admit that this is the darkest days of golf games that I've seen since their 3D advent in the Mean 18/ Leaderboard Golf era, circa 1984 - 1986. We have two serviceable games in TGC 2019 and JNPG, but neither of them represents what I thought would be the state of the art in 'realistic' golf games, circal 2019.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

I hate to be so pessimistic about it, but I'd be in denial if I didn't admit that this is the darkest days of golf games that I've seen since their 3D advent in the Mean 18/ Leaderboard Golf era, circa 1984 - 1986. We have two serviceable games in TGC 2019 and JNPG, but neither of them represents what I thought would be the state of the art in 'realistic' golf games, circal 2019.

Totally agree..

It doesn't really feel like anything on the horizon is even coming either. The sports game genre as a whole is really in a bad place (I think) relative to where it was say a decade ago. I don't know if it's licensing fees or development costs going way up or what combo of factors has done this, but it just seems like there's so much less choice and many abandoned niches vs what we'd had many times in the past.

[ncp10]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

Totally agree..

It doesn't really feel like anything on the horizon is even coming either. The sports game genre as a whole is really in a bad place (I think) relative to where it was say a decade ago. I don't know if it's licensing fees or development costs going way up or hat combo of factors has done this, but it just seems like there's so much less choice and many abandoned niches vs what we'd had many times in the past.

And there's nothing new on the horizon in RL golf either. What's interesting about a golf sim over say something like Call of Duty is you can and will play it over and over and over because it's competing and trying to play your best game that is where the lure is. If you have truly mastered TGC 2019 and have removed enough aids to keep the challenge where it needs to be to support the addictive lure of golf, then you need a new or modified golf sim. If not, what the heck are you after? We have a million phenomenal courses all free for the playing. Scoring for most dedicated players is probably very realistic with a few that seem to be cheating in some way, or are just the best players. That is easy to fix w/ more difficulty controls. I'd like to see a few changes to TGC swing mech, and add some more realistic possibilities like being able to move your player to any part of the tee box, being able to work the ball w/ clubface open/shut changes, ball position, etc. But overall scoring in each area is about right--chipping, putting w/o the grid, driving, iron play all behave for us about like players on tour. I'd like to see HBS come out w/ tour player animations in packs of 5 for $$. And perhaps a 2nd tier of HBS created courses that are a cut above user created courses.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

If you have truly mastered TGC 2019 and have removed enough aids to keep the challenge where it needs to be to support the addictive lure of golf, then you need a new or modified golf sim. If not, what the heck are you after?

I don't even own TGC 2019.
The swing mechanic/tempo thing they went with does very little for me.

(I did own TGC 1 though... I can't even remember if I bought v2 - I don't think so)

Also, about the courses..
I'm not as enamored with most of them as some are.

My long standing gripe with TGC is how everything sort of "looks the same". I think it's really just a limitation of the way they decided to do the courses with themes and no fully custom assets, etc.

It has pro's and con's for sure.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

...what the heck are you after?

To answer just this one point..

The bummer for me is I really just wanted Rory with more and more content built out over the years to get to TW14 levels of content (and maybe beyond).

It's great fun to play a fully fleshed out career mode full of real licensed courses against a field of real golfer names.

I'd always thought it'd be amazing to have a big budget game like that where they could tie into real data on a tour stop weekend and you could play against the live leaderboard, etc.

Also, I think both TGC and PG have missed the boat on how much fun it is to have gear and equipment be part of leveling up your golfer. The amount you play and win contributing to how good your golfer gets and the gear he can afford is all part of what can make a long term really engaging "game" experience.

Just leveling everyone to the same distances right out of the gate and having gear choices be only cosmetic just misses a huge fun thing - at least to me.

[inkcil]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

For under $20, is this game still recommended at this point? I'm playing on a PS4 Pro.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

For under $20, is this game still recommended at this point? I'm playing on a PS4 Pro.

Sure - why not?
Hard to beat that price

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

For under $20, is this game still recommended at this point? I'm playing on a PS4 Pro.

As an XBox One X owner and player of the game, I'm going to give you this example because I have friends who've played it on the PS4 and the PS4 Pro, and they say their experience with the Pro version is similar to mine with the X. The XBox One X Enhanced version is light years ahead of the standard XBox One version. Not only do the 4K (2160p) graphics make the game look better, many of the trees seem to be constructed of more detailed models... it's really astounding to see them side by side.

The PS4 Pro version is scaled up from 1080p to 1600p, over the standard PS4 version. I read they had to stop there to maintain 30 FPS, but 1600p is still going to look a lot better than 1080p, especially since they also used the more detailed tree models on the Pro version.

I don't think you'll have any regrets about buying it at under $20. Some of the new user created courses that have been appearing over the last month are astoundingly good. The LiDAR utility that Chad Golf has put in the hands of the PC version designers has resulted in some very faithful real course recreations as well. There are more quality courses than I can play at this point in time!

[ncp10]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

Also, I think both TGC and PG have missed the boat on how much fun it is to have gear and equipment be part of leveling up your golfer. The amount you play and win contributing to how good your golfer gets and the gear he can afford is all part of what can make a long term really engaging "game" experience.

I agree there and that's a very easy thing to do, add branded equipment as was the case in Rory.

I went back to Rory just to check it out again and was shocked at how poor the image quality was for their choice of textures. Often you can't even see where the fringe ends and green starts. I find TGC 2019 to be nothing short of phenomenal for image quality--go play Cypress Point and all the other Pebble Beach area courses they are just lovely.

[lions67]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

To answer just this one point..

The bummer for me is I really just wanted Rory with more and more content built out over the years to get to TW14 levels of content (and maybe beyond).

It's great fun to play a fully fleshed out career mode full of real licensed courses against a field of real golfer names.

I'd always thought it'd be amazing to have a big budget game like that where they could tie into real data on a tour stop weekend and you could play against the live leaderboard, etc.

Also, I think both TGC and PG have missed the boat on how much fun it is to have gear and equipment be part of leveling up your golfer. The amount you play and win contributing to how good your golfer gets and the gear he can afford is all part of what can make a long term really engaging "game" experience.

Just leveling everyone to the same distances right out of the gate and having gear choices be only cosmetic just misses a huge fun thing - at least to me.

I dunno.
What you are describing has nothing to do with gameplay. Only fluff, window dressing really.
I know you want to play with real golfers and the like, but a golf game doesn’t need to have that to be a great game. TGC2019 has proved this.
To the other poster that claims that the courses all “feel the same”,
I will say that some of the links courses do look similar. But those parkland courses are all very much different. Even the links courses, if you look around there are quite a few distinct courses as well.
If window dressing is the only thing that is really bothering you then I got to say that this game has nothing to worry about.
If and when the next game arrives I’m sure the swing meter will get revamped, some of the bugs will be gone and who knows?... might even be able to get that PGA feel in the game as well.
Until then though?
I’m happily hacking it out there!

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

I dunno.
What you are describing has nothing to do with gameplay. Only fluff, window dressing really.
I know you want to play with real golfers and the like, but a golf game doesn’t need to have that to be a great game.

Well...
Call it whatever you like, but it does matter to many people and adds a ton to the overall experience.

As for the “other poster about the courses feeling the same” - that was also me actually.

Thank you for acknowledging there’s some truth to that, at least subjectively.

Truly I appreciate it. Too often fans of a given game will not cede any points and just insist all is amazing with their product of choice - which we all know is never the objective truth.

Final point. I don’t actually love the TGC gameplay at all. It’s way more than “window dressing” that keeps me playing PG instead of TGC. I really dislike the swing decisions they made in this latest version.

[lions67]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

Well...
Call it whatever you like, but it does matter to many people and adds a ton to the overall experience.

As for the “other poster about the courses feeling the same” - that was also me actually.

Thank you for acknowledging there’s some truth to that, at least subjectively.

Truly I appreciate it. Too often fans of a given game will not cede any points and just insist all is amazing with their product of choice - which we all know is never the objective truth.

Final point. I don’t actually love the TGC gameplay at all. It’s way more than “window dressing” that keeps me playing PG instead of TGC. I really dislike the swing decisions they made in this latest version.

Oh I didn’t realize that the “other poster “ was you as well! Lol
No worries. Like I said, lots of those links courses do feel the same.
But you never did acknowledge my last part, which I think I tried to address your concerns about the swing mechanics. But I just play the game , I don’t make the game so I can see why you left that out. Lol
I have never tried PG so I can’t even compare the two. I only play on PS4. My son has a pc though that he games off of. How much is PG right now?
I would gladly give it a spin.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

Oh I didn’t realize that the “other poster “ was you as well! Lol

No clue on PG price, sorry.
I bought it like 4-5 years ago for $20

[ncp10]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

I'm curious to learn how TGC 2019 is viewed by 'serious' RL players, ones playing to handicaps, from + to -10 or so, versus casual RL players, or people that don't play much RL golf at all. Me and my partner are in the cohort of long time low handicap players continue to be amazed w/ just how well the sim plays, in particular with respect to shot outcomes right on thru the bag. We never get the sense it's too easy, not ever. Swing timing is sensitive to choking at critical times as can be the case in RL golf. The luck aspect of RLG, relative to the skill employed at shot setup and execution, is right where it needs to be in TGC 2019. One can make a great swing, even set the shot up quite well, and yet have a bad bounce that turns what might have been a 5' putt into a 45' putt, as happens in the real world. We have recently had a slew of really close matches after a period where the partner lost his swing (cadence, i.e.) enough to not be able to compete. We are in the cohort that could take or leave a new release as we feel like we have everything required to simulate a golf match that very much parallels RL play at Tour level.

I agree w/ others' opinions on the future of golf sims/games. It's clearly a small niche, especially to dedicate to the 'serious' RL player. OTOH, if you commit to this audience versus trying to appeal to a large audience, there is very little development cost to improve the game compared to something like a TW2014. I hope HBS does this w/ TGC series. They can refine the swing mechanism and lose those attributes of it that don't fit well w/ RLG physics that has already been discussed here, continue to improve the course developer w/ new objects and attributes, and add features that improve realism visually. I'd love to see more weather options w/ a time of day that actually does involve the sun moving in the sky as it does in the real world, so that when you start at dawn the sun rises and lighting changes accordingly. Improve the animations as able, improve the gallery and give the option of having the gallery present in H2H matches as well as career mode. Allow the player to change position on the tee box. These types of changes are low budget. They can continue to sell copies and develop a reputation as the go-to golf sim for RL players, ongoing. No need to crank out a whole new show--it probably won't happen for all of the reasons stated. EA had all the bells and whistles of the robust PGA connection, and look what happened to them. Rory had ample 'entertainment' features such as the commentary and great animations of tour stars, and look what happened to that.

[scagwi]

Re: Beat the Heat With These Courses in TGC 2019

I’m hopeful the next version will have ******* or at least optionally *******, even if it’s just for playing ********

Fingers crossed