EA Sports PGA TOUR Impressions (Console)

[golfnut67]

Quote: Originally Posted by MrArlingtonBeach

I am OK with the idea of considering changes to things like putting skills affecting grids...but their implementation is strange and the outstanding problems are just left out there lingering. I have only had the game for a few months and am right at the cusp of max level, even after they raised it. Most here have had the game for over 7 months, and I have to think a lot of people who still play this game have their character fairly well skilled up and near the last levels of their character. I guess in my mind, the question is, do people really want to have to spend VC to re-shuffle skill points at this stage, especially if getting putting to level 7 only gets you to what the grids were pre-patch? IDK...the putting grid thing keeps coming off to me as change for change's sake at this point and makes it seems as though they can't/aren't keying in on the major issues that are still out there in this game. Sorry for all the rants...I think this game has the potential to become great. But sometimes it seems EA themselves are the ones holding it back and it's frustrating.

Again, couldn't have expressed it better than you two just did. This game is *so close*. They just don't address the obvious glaring issues, and futz with stuff for the sake of futzing, stuff that really doesn't need futzing with. SIGH.

[Dawgfan1]

Quote: Originally Posted by MrArlingtonBeach

I am OK with the idea of considering changes to things like putting skills affecting grids...but their implementation is strange and the outstanding problems are just left out there lingering. I have only had the game for a few months and am right at the cusp of max level, even after they raised it. Most here have had the game for over 7 months, and I have to think a lot of people who still play this game have their character fairly well skilled up and near the last levels of their character. I guess in my mind, the question is, do people really want to have to spend VC to re-shuffle skill points at this stage, especially if getting putting to level 7 only gets you to what the grids were pre-patch? IDK...the putting grid thing keeps coming off to me as change for change's sake at this point and makes it seems as though they can't/aren't keying in on the major issues that are still out there in this game. Sorry for all the rants...I think this game has the potential to become great. But sometimes it seems EA themselves are the ones holding it back and it's frustrating.

While it's true that I never specifcally wanted a change in how the putting skill works, I think with the grid changes it feels to me more like "something I didn't know I wanted". If I had to list all my problems with the game, the putting skill not mattering much would've definitely come up, it just wasn't at the forefront of my mind so I never mentioned it. I don't think the change is just for change's sake, I think it attempts to address a real problem with the value of the putting skill in the game.

To be fair, EA did push the value of changing your skill attributes to tailor yourself for the specific course you were playing, and one of the devs demonstrated that in the pre-release gameplay with Apex. But I'm guessing most people don't do that (I don't), so it probably doesn't work as well as they wanted it to.

I did like the raising of the level cap since I don't think the amount of skill points we got before was ever as much as what the top golfers like Scottie and Cantlay had, but I do question why it wasn't level 60 in the first place. This wasn't something like the putting grids where it felt like they were responding to how people upgraded the putting stat, they knew from the start that we'd be getting less overall skill points than some real life golfers had and they still went with it.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dawgfan1

While it's true that I never specifcally wanted a change in how the putting skill works, I think with the grid changes it feels to me more like "something I didn't know I wanted". If I had to list all my problems with the game, the putting skill not mattering much would've definitely come up, it just wasn't at the forefront of my mind so I never mentioned it. I don't think the change is just for change's sake, I think it attempts to address a real problem with the value of the putting skill in the game.

Fair point. For me personally, I think the implementation of putting skill affecting the grid is not the change I'd expect or ask for, but I also don't know how best to make putting skill mean more. In general, I feel this should have been something they figured out much sooner (pre-release, ideally) than instead dropping it into the game at this point.

Maybe I am only feeling more negative to its implementation as I was going to switch off the grid altogether on literally the same day the patch notes came out. Poor timing, I suppose...haha

Anyway, it boils down to the fact that they are still working and tweaking things - a good sign. I just wish they'd squash the main issues plaguing the game before looking toward these kinds of changes which are not as impactful, in my view.

[Dawgfan1]

Quote: Originally Posted by MrArlingtonBeach

Anyway, it boils down to the fact that they are still working and tweaking things - a good sign. I just wish they'd squash the main issues plaguing the game before looking toward these kinds of changes which are not as impactful, in my view.

Pretty much this. We know they see the cup physics as a problem and are trying to fix those, I'm guessing they have been all this time but are trying to make sure it's fixed for good so it's taking a while. But maybe that's me giving them too much credit haha. My worry with the lie %s and sidehill lies is that they don't see it as much of a problem and thus won't put in meaningful efforts to fix it. Maybe it'd take a while to fix it properly, but it's not like the game this used as a base didn't have meaningful lie %s and sidehill lie impacts in the first place...

[pietasterp]

Insightful/accurate commentary throughout by all. I really don't have anything to add, and appreciate hearing everyone's experiences.

It is getting harder for me to keep finding a reason to fire this game up, though. I'm getting the feeling I'm just beta testing this game for EA, in anticipation of a future golf game that will probably never be released. I understand the need (for cost purposes) of just building on top of the Rory game, but that decision seems like it will be a case of 'penny wise & pound foolish' when it's all said and done. After all, the original Rory game wasn't exactly the pinnacle of golf gaming, and something something about polishing dung...

[MrArlingtonBeach]

One thing I do like is that now daily tournaments are random holes. I appreciate not having to play holes 1-4 of each course that hosts the 4-hole daily event.

Today's 4-hole Arcade event was at Wilmington CC, and I played Holes 1, 3, 13, and 14.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dawgfan1

The 50 coins thing might be 50 coins per skill point you're getting back. If you get 8 skill points from lowering power by 1, that'd cost 400 coins. I have over 500k coins from tournaments so it's not a bother to me, but I can see some frustration with that although doing some challenges and daily quests (if they work, I've been getting 500 coins from them post-patch) should give enough coins to make changes. Maybe they should've waived the retrain fee entirely for a few weeks instead of just reduce it.

Oh, geez...I've never been good at math - or apparently reading comprehension!

I do see now that it's 50 coins/skill point returned. So if I removed 1 attribute block from Driving Accuracy, I actually get 2 SP returned to me at the cost of 100 coins.

Appreciate the help!

[MrArlingtonBeach]

The J.Lindeberg apparel in the featured section of the store is some of the most...interesting...looking golf clothing I've ever seen...haha