Is 2k21 worth it?

[scagwi]

Nice to see HB reps finally posting on a forum I guess...

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by scagwi

Nice to see HB reps finally posting on a forum I guess...

Well while they're here, I'd like to ask them a question... are there any plans to remove the 30 FPS cap from PGA TOUR 2K21 when it detects it's running on an XBox Series X or Playstation 5? I'm sure Microsoft and Sony would be willing to supply you with the three lines of code it takes to do so

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by maconnolly

There's a lot of licensed content, a huge community of course-creators, TGCTours is excellent for competition outside of the AI and it's an actively-developed game which means new content will keep coming, I suspect.

I agree with you on a lot of what you said...up to a few of these points.

To be honest, there is not that much in the way of licensed content in 2K21, at least compared to previous popular golf games.

There are only 16 licensed courses in the game (with the 16th being the recently added Detroit Golf Club). For comparison's sake, Tiger Woods 14 for PS3/X360 had 20 courses included in the standard game's disc, with 6 more available on-disc in the Masters Historic Edition, and 18 more available via DLC. And there's also the fact that TW 14 had all 4 majors licensed, where PGA 2K21 has zero.

And I know there are thousands of created courses out there, lots which are high-quality. But a PGA Tour-branded game needs as many real-life, licensed courses as it can. A total of 16 isn't enough in today's day and age, in my opinion. That's less than half the events in the career mode - why would I get excited about a PGA Tour mode when fewer than 50% of the events in it's season are played on fantasy courses?

TW 14 also had more licensed gear to use with your created golfer - more club options with more manufactures available (Cobra, Ping, etc.), more clothing and shoe brands (Nike is the big one...it is somehow licensed in PGA 2K21, but they don't offer any gear for your MyPlayer - it's just shown being worn by Tony Finau and Cameron Champ in career mode highlights), etc.

And when it comes to the "actively-developed" claim...there may be new content, but 2K is making their presence felt in this year's game big time. Any new content appears to be going in the game via the "Clubhouse Pass" method, which is simply a money grab.

In Season One of the Clubhouse Pass, only 20% of the reward levels are able to be unlocked for free. Putting 80% of the licensed stuff and other rewards behind a paywall, when licensed apparel and gear is a bit on the low side already, means you have to shell out real cash to get the most of the added content. And when the final Season One rewards include a shiny gold shirt and pants, as well as a putter in the shape of a flamingo...it makes it hard to really think these folks have their finger on the pulse of what people really want added to this game.

All that said, they did release Detroit Golf Club for free, which was a nice addition. Plus it came with all the Rocket Mortgage Classic presentation and the event was put into career mode replacing a fake one. So I will say there are positives.

[maconnolly]

Quote: Originally Posted by scagwi

Nice to see HB reps finally posting on a forum I guess...

Ha - I can safely say I do not work for HB Studios, nor am I affiliated with them in any way. I think my perspective is just that of someone who has picked this up as their first golf game in a while; my point of reference is from a decade ago, or so. For me, the game hits the spot and I am happy with the amount of content I got for the price.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrArlingtonBeach

And when it comes to the "actively-developed" claim...there may be new content, but 2K is making their presence felt in this year's game big time. Any new content appears to be going in the game via the "Clubhouse Pass" method, which is simply a money grab. In Season One of the Clubhouse Pass, only 20% of the reward levels are able to be unlocked for free. Putting 80% of the licensed stuff and other rewards behind a paywall, when licensed apparel and gear is a bit on the low side already, means you have to shell out real cash to get the most of the added content. And when the final Season One rewards include a shiny gold shirt and pants, as well as a putter in the shape of a flamingo...it makes it hard to really think these folks have their finger on the pulse of what people really want added to this game.

I totally hear you on this. Perhaps I just didn't expect anything different, nor have I been used to anything different as that is the modern-day model for game content. For what it's worth, I don't play a wide variety of games - although those that I do play, I do tend to buy DLC, although often getting it in a bundle after it has come down in price.

To use the potential PGA Tour 2K21 model as an example, I'd be happy if they continued releasing new, licensed courses for free, one at a time, even if at the same time they attacked the pay-to-play DLC market with MyPlayer items that required a subscription. For a player like me, the current selection of clubs is sufficient so I will gladly see the franchise build its licensed content over the lifespan.

Again, perhaps I am simply a casual enough player - in terms of the time I sink into the game - to be satisfied. Perhaps it is that I don't have a recent reference point to make an active comparison. Perhaps I'm easy to please.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by maconnolly

To use the potential PGA Tour 2K21 model as an example, I'd be happy if they continued releasing new, licensed courses for free, one at a time, even if at the same time they attacked the pay-to-play DLC market with MyPlayer items that required a subscription. For a player like me, the current selection of clubs is sufficient so I will gladly see the franchise build its licensed content over the lifespan. Again, perhaps I am simply a casual enough player - in terms of the time I sink into the game - to be satisfied. Perhaps it is that I don't have a recent reference point to make an active comparison. Perhaps I'm easy to please.

In terms of courses, I think what you said is totally fine, and I would love for more free courses to be released. But I am finding, as others here have pointed out and made me realize, the developers of the game seem to follow a pattern and have stuck to it throughout the releases of The Golf Club series of games and now on to 2K21.

In the case of new courses, the pattern is that one additional course is added as free DLC after the game's release. In TGC 2019, it was Atlantic Beach CC. No other real courses were added after that. So, if the pattern holds, no more courses will be provided as free DLC. But I sure do hope I am wrong here!

As for the Clubhouse Pass side of things, to me anyway, it comes down to the fact that this game is still in need of fixes and updates to make it more enjoyable and playable.

They are now asking anyone who wants all the new content to pay at least $8, and from the looks of it they will do the same in another 3 months when it's time for Season Two.

Meanwhile, AI scoring in career mode remains glitched, online multiplayer has problems (from my understanding anyway, as I don't play it much - that said, when I have tried to play an online match, connecting with opponents has never worked), and other issues brought up in the months since launch linger with no word on what patches can be expected or even if they are working on fixing the issues.

Since I mostly wanted to play career mode, and have really stopped playing TGC Tours as I just cannot really compete with most folks over there, I find that I am really just creating courses and playing local rounds. The career mode scoring problems ruined that mode for me, and with no word on any fix coming, my enjoyment of this game has lessened dramatically since its launch.

And I guess tying this all back to the topic of the thread - the game is worth it at a certain price. For me, getting 2K21 at launch for $40 was worth it. But if I had paid more than that, I'd feel differently.

[scagwi]

All of the content discussion needs to be secondary to bug fixes, glitch fixes, performance fixes.....etc

HB has a nasty habit of not actually "fixing" many things and just moving on.

To OnLooker's point above...among fixing many issues outstanding, they need to be enabling fantastic support and performance for all the new consoles that just came out.

[OnlookerDelay]

Great discussion going here guys! It's hard to figure out what HB Studios/2K are doing with this franchise right now. You can't get a peep out of either of them. I personally think there's been some sort of falling out between HB Studios and 2K, and it goes back to shortly after launch. HB Studios had indicated that they were going to move their presence to 2K's forum, but they had two posts there since August!?

2K won't comment on the game in the official forum because they seem to know so little about it. Traffic is falling off in the 2K forum because of the lack of developer/publisher engagement, and some rather draconian forum rules enforcement. I can't make a post there without getting a "bump" warning, even though I'm posting entirely new information. I've decided it's not worth my time any more. Something doesn't smell right between those two and I honestly don't know what it bodes for their arrangement.

I'm at a total loss to explain why HB Studios is not seizing the opportunity to take advantage of the next-gen console hardware to at least boost the frame rate. It doesn't take a lot of effort to do this based on what I'm reading from other developers. I play this game on both the XBox One X and a PC. My PC runs this game at ~60 FPS, which makes a huge difference in its feel and enjoyment! I rate the gameplay a 6 on the XBox One X and an 8.5 on the PC, all due to the frame rate allowing you to manage the tempo with adequate feedback at 60 FPS.

I have a feeling that I'm going to have to sit back and watch this game's potential not be realized over what other developers say is three lines of code. It makes no sense for a Series X or PS5 to be plodding with this game at 30 FPS. It's like putting a 50 MPH governor on a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ!? I just scored an XBox Series X today online at Walmart... it's going to be so hard to continue to play 2K21 on my PC, which is about 80% as powerful as a Series X, simply because they won't make what seems to be common sense, profitable decision to at least provide an option to disable vsync when running on the Series X!?

[lowpaiddonkey10]

HB is between a rock and a hard place. Video golf is not all that popolar to begin with really. I guess they figured including the PGA in its title would promote sales. But you can't play with them. OK.

They are using an engine which is getting old in the tooth. The graphics are good enough but not really next gen.

As a pick up and play a round game it is quite good with the niggling problem here and there. Not bad some graphical glitches but I can live with that.

The user created courses and there are a lot of really good ones are great I see no reason to have official HB designed courses. They are no better than the ones created by the game's best designers.

Now if you want to play career or society there are major problems. Those are not getting fixed if the past is any indication. You can't even get rid of the garbage on the lower right of the screen ffs.

I think we are stuck with HB as the only alternative EA couldn't make it with a game as good looking as Rory which by the way would have included user created courses and have the swing of this version of The Golf Club would be good enough for me with a robust career and society mode.