PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

[jbd345]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

Overall a solid first impressions. Love the two new camera angles. The replay system is awesome (finally true behind the green cameras) hopefully there is a broadcast option in the final version.

Only con I have, I absolutely HATE the club sounds. Regression there. 2k23 was satisfying hitting a perfect shot.

Hopefully there will be an option to pick commentators in the final build. John has grown a bit stale for me.

[RIFRIG]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

Just an FYI - sounds like this first look is only available for rest of the week, or at the very least there is a timed component to it.

EDIT - the code coming at tonight's TGL sounds like it's just apparel: https://x.com/PGATOUR2K/status/1886854865282023903

The demo has an expiry date? Is that confirmed & what day does it finish?

[Ronoko]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

I'm happy that the game still is very optimized on an RTX 3080- can pretty much play with everything maxed. Graphics and animations are noticeably better, especially the textured grass.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

Overall a solid first impressions. Love the two new camera angles. The replay system is awesome (finally true behind the green cameras) hopefully there is a broadcast option in the final version.

Only con I have, I absolutely HATE the club sounds. Regression there. 2k23 was satisfying hitting a perfect shot.

Hopefully there will be an option to pick commentators in the final build. John has grown a bit stale for me.

The club sounds seemed strange on the streams I was watching...the putter sounded really bad.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

The demo has an expiry date? Is that confirmed & what day does it finish?

I believe so...have to imagine it's because your progress in the demo carries over into the full game. An HB employee/community designer said he believed it would run through the weekend, but didn't know for sure.

Although, Respawn just said on twitter that he heard the demo will be available for the life of the game? So who knows...

[TheBrew101]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

I think they ruined putting. I always thought 2K had the best putting system of all video games. You could turn off meter and vibration and it was all muscle memory. You could hit it 2 feet or 100 feet without moving meters. No restrictions.

It doesn't seem it works this was anymore. I think if I set the meter to 2 feet I can't hit it 100 feet anymore. Maybe I'm wrong as I only had 15 minutes to mess with demo but my first impression was the putting was messed up.

[RIFRIG]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

Overall impression is fairly positive, the gameplay for me is so much better with bias on Master.
Visually Scottsdale is & has always been underwhelming in video games & this has not changed in 2K25, the bunker edges are fairly shocking for this generation & the game is crying out for a really good depth of field option as the draw distance on console is bad. Grass textures looking better & transitions to paths etc are more pleasing to the eye. Golfers look okay but that wrist set at address is still painful to look at.
Cameras that I use are absolutely spannered & I can’t get the short game camera view like in development diary footage.
Will 100% buy standard edition but unless big improvements are made in final version I will not overpay for deluxe or legend editions.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

CrazyCanuck is live: https://www.twitch.tv/crazycanuck1985

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today

I believe so...have to imagine it's because your progress in the demo carries over into the full game. An HB employee/community designer said he believed it would run through the weekend, but didn't know for sure.

Although, Respawn just said on twitter that he heard the demo will be available for the life of the game? So who knows...

Respawn just mentioned that 70 OVR is the cap for the demo, so maybe it will last longer than just a weekend.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions



Also, here's ApexHound playing at Pebble Beach as Collin Morikowa: https://youtu.be/rxjEdqY7LSw?si=5aRZWk-HlenR4zC-

[gsize19]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Ahhhhh, I remember why I stopped playing 2k23...

I do appreciate 2k for offering this demo, more studios need to do this, but while this is a great PR move, it just saved me $99 (plus tax)...

Played the demo for 19 minutes, that was all I needed to go back to EA PGA Tour while it lasts when I get in the mood to play a golf game... Just have never been a fan of TGC or 2k golf games, and this one is no exception to me.... It is what it is, I am sure others will love it. For those that do, ENJOY!!! Not going to bad mouth what I hated, enough people will find it, feel it, or see it in due time...

***EDIT*** I want to like this game, but I can't... The fun factor is not there for me, nor was it there in 2k23... I had 11 hours of gameplay of 2k23 and over 500 hours on EA PGA Tour... The same things I hated in 2k23 are still there in 2k25 in the demo, so I would expect it to be no different at full release... It is deeper in ways in terms of customization, I will give it that... But it is going to be stale and repetitive round after round with what appears little variation...

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

I've played 36 holes now in pro difficulty level. I definitely like the feel of the swing better on my XBox Series X. If feels like it's not getting the polling dropouts I frequently experienced in 2k23. I also like the design basis for the EvoSwing. It does call for more intuition from the gamer and I like that, although I'll never be able to reconcile why a 5 o-clock backswing somehow dictates a "pull" in the over all swing. Most of my swings were slight pulls, followed by open contact errors, which offset the pull for the most part. I had my default tendency set to fade also. I got tired of pull hooking mostly in 2K23;

I wasn't really all that impressed with the graphics. It had a more cartoony look than 2K23 in what I saw, but all the round conditions are set to Noon with light clouds... and Scottsdale just gets washed out under those conditions in this demo. OI wish they would have at least let us choose weather and time of day in the demo. I'd like to see it under more flattering conditions.

I enjoyed the shot making more in this one than 23, however. It just has more nuance and finesse to it. I think I'm going to get into this game quite well. My first time out with EvoSwing showed me more than I was expecting from it. I like that it does require to you shape your swing path for shot shaping when you're intentionally trying to fade or draw. It's not all that extreme in Pro difficulty, but it does toughen the game up fairly and proportionally, from what I can tell so far.

Oh, I tried the game in Quality graphics mode on my Series X.... it was a freakin' slide show, and honestly, I didn't see that big of an improvement in the looks. The swing is mostly smooth in performance mode, and I'm thankful for that.

[Maxflier]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Am I missing something here? I don't see the wind speed or how far above or below the target is.

***Edit - nevermind, had to go into settings and turn a bunch of stuff off.

[RIFRIG]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Played some more & definitely enjoying the swing way more than 2k23. Problem I have is have always putted from scout cam & it’s not working. As soon as I hit the shot from worm camera it jumps back to rough standard camera. On 2k23 it’d follow ball to the hole. Any ideas if it’s broke or am I doing something wrong.

[Dawgfan1]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

First off, props to 2K for putting out a demo on this game and letting us consumers get hands on experience. Even if some aren't a fan and don't end up buying at least it will have given them the opportunity to make a decision well in advance and save them $70+. Pro-consumer moves are always welcome in an industry that feels less and less so.

I've played 18 holes on Pro difficulty, my initial impressions are fairly positive. I've never played a 2K golf game until now so keep that in mind. Adjusting to the swing took a little bit of time (went from +13 my first 9 to -5 my second lol), but overall the swing felt pretty smooth and natural on full shots. Around the green the swing felt slow, not sure how that compares to 2K23. The exact way this game does a diagonal swing took getting used to (I expected to have to pull it more diagonally so I was pulling at first), but I love that it is there at default and so far it feels like a solid challenge. Will have to see how the draw/fade changing the diagonal slope feels over time, so far it feels more challenging but not too much that I'd avoid shaping altogether. The slope changing on lie angle feels like a great idea that will make bunker shots much harder, can't wait to see how that works over time and on courses like Pebble that tend to slope their fairways.

Not sure if I like the decision to have the power meter always be visible up to Master difficulty, but the full shots felt consistent and feel-based enough that I didn't feel I had to rely on looking at the shot meter during address. Putting did not seem feel-based, so looking at the meter felt necessary to get the power right which I don't think I like. I did like how challenging the putting swing plane and tempo seem though.

Graphically the game looked good to me (a decent-seeming upgrade from 2K23) but not great, granted I tend to have a lower bar for graphics and don't value it that much. I think EA did TPC Scottsdale better but I also expected that. Crowd audio felt pretty similar to what I've heard from 2K23, the background chatter may be new or not but that did sound nice. Was not impressed with the crowd audio on hole 16, it felt decently loud but the cheers when I landed on the green did not feel authentic at all, just the volume gradually going up a couple notches rather than a more natural volume jump or roar. I think that needs a decent amount of work in the future, EA nailed crowd audio in their game imo.

Some of the club sounds were very off to me, mainly on pitches and putts. I would hope that was a placeholder or something, right? It's not something that usually ever bugs me but I do hope it is improved in the final release. I do really like the new drop system and ability to move on the tee box so far, those are great changes for me.

On the shot types/skills, I think I like that some of them are locked behind certain archetypes (Power Drive behind Powerhouse, for example), I think Pick and Spinner are that way which may make their archetypes better. But I don't like that progressing through the skill tree to new shot types requires a certain overall, that's too much "RPG-ification" of the shot types concept to me. And I like the Clubhouse Pass-specific skills being there if they include new shot types. It did seem possible to putt from the fairways without Texas Wedge so that's good, but Driver off the Deck is probably limited to the shot type. I noticed that the forgiveness zones for the flop shot are TINY, so I have faith in the balance of the high-spin shot types like Pick, Spinner, and Super Flop.

Excited to see how Master and Legend difficulty feel, I noticed that Legend difficulty has the shot meter off for your swing by default so you have to rely on feel to get the power right (I wonder how that would make putting feel). The simulation setting for lie range where it doesn't show you the lie percentage at all sounds awesome, can't wait to see how that works.