Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Well, I just really loved the way True Aim worked last year. It never rally dawned on me that they would jettison it.

I deleted the demo after two holes, becasue the game just felt too dumbed down. I was parring holes without thinking. But I assumed the full version would have what I was looking for.

I might try the demo again, but I will probably just rent the game when it comes out and decide from there. If the caddy thing was so good, why not just have it as an option. If it really is all that, gamers will use it. But why force it on us by deleting the best play mode I've ever used in a golf video game?

I'm just waiting for the full game at this point and I'll have a good go at it. My Gamestop manager is very cool with me about game exchanges if I don't like a game (I've only had to do it one time in two years), but if I didn't have this as an option, I would rent TW12 first.

Like you and many others, I have mad love for TrueAim and it's realistic take on golf. Hell, it's actually helped my REAL game! But if TrueAim has been 'hurt' by TW12, that will be critical for me. We'll see next week.

[misterkrabz]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

I'm not holding my breath for that though. The caddie feature is their little baby this year and they are determined to force it down every gamers throat. If they really had an once of common sense, they would have foreseen the sim fans not liking the caddie feature and built in the ability to completely disable it from the start.

Never EVER under estimate EA's ability to disappoint it's customers. They've been doing it for years. Even when they start to get something right, they yank the rug from under it. Not just with golf, all their games.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

I'm just waiting for the full game at this point and I'll have a good go at it. My Gamestop manager is very cool with me about game exchanges if I don't like a game (I've only had to do it one time in two years), but if I didn't have this as an option, I would rent TW12 first.

Like you and many others, I have mad love for TrueAim and it's realistic take on golf. Hell, it's actually helped my REAL game! But if TrueAim has been 'hurt' by TW12, that will be critical for me. We'll see next week.

My local Gamestop manager did the same thing for me one years ago. I bought Madden 07, and it was so bad I returned that day, or the next. I wasn't even returning it, I was just bringing it in to sell back. He told me not to worry about it and gave me full credit for the game.

This is the same guy who held back a Wii for me, and has always been good to me. So I try to buy from him as often as possible.

With the reaction to the TW 12 demo, someone at EA is probably in some doo-doo. It's not even complaints about bugs that can be finished. It's that they turned it into a game that a ton of people really don't want to play.

It's scary how fast it went from a pretty sure day one purchase to a probable pass.

[Jordanfan23]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Someone please explain how "True Aim" worked on TW11. I played the hell out of TW10, but didn't pick up 11. Just interested how it worked because so many people seemed to have loved it!

[misterkrabz]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Does the demo seem choppy to you guys? I dropped in TW11 after playing the demo and the first thing that struck me was how silky smooth the gameplay was in 11...I'm hoping it's just the demo because after comparing the two games (12 demo to TW11) I have to say I prefer TW11...

[ShivasIrons]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Someone please explain how "True Aim" worked on TW11. I played the hell out of TW10, but didn't pick up 11. Just interested how it worked because so many people seemed to have loved it!

In TW 11, True Aim was played from a more realistic perspective. You had to aim your shot from where your ball was at, .. from the tee or the fairway. You could zoom out and get some gps yardage figures, but all aiming had to be done like in real golf. One would pick out a spot or marker in the distance to aim for, just like in real golf. You also had to figure out your shots for yourself. The big drawback was that EA did not make True Aim available in online p2p. It was only available in offline or in Live Tournaments. A LOT of people were looking forward to this new version, as they thought this mode would be available for online play.

However, EA using it's wisdom changed the hardest difficulty level in TW 12. Instead of aiming truly, one can now zoom-out and aim while zoomed out. When aiming you can really zoom-in very close on your landing area. You can adjust not only your aim, but your landing area moves as you make adjustments. Your landing area moves when you change clubs. It moves when you decide to put draw or fade on a shot. It moves when you put loft on the shot. It moves when you use the new "choke" feature. All of this occurs while you are zoomed out. You could do none of this in TW 11. All of the adjustments had to be made from the tee, so you didn't know with the same precision that the aim and adjustments were spot on. Many thought it was a more realistic way to play.

And, of course, they have also added a caddy in TW 12 that cannot be turned off. You can make up your own "custom shot", but the caddy comes up with recommended shots that are on your screen and which are usually very good ones. The caddy chooses your club, aligns your shot, puts draw or fade on the ball, and tells you exactly what percentage to hit your club. All you have to do is hit that percentage. Not a whole lot of thinking is involved. In TW 11, it was left to the player to figure out all that stuff.

[ShivasIrons]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Does the demo seem choppy to you guys? I dropped in TW11 after playing the demo and the first thing that struck me was how silky smooth the gameplay was in 11...I'm hoping it's just the demo because after comparing the two games (12 demo to TW11) I have to say I prefer TW11...

It's hard to tell, ... some have mentioned and have wondered if the added caddy feature has hurt load times and made it somewhat more choppy. I haven't timed it or anything, but it does seem like the caddy loading has impacted the game some. Hard to tell. I was just waiting to see how the full game plays.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

In TW 11, True Aim was played from a more realistic perspective. You had to aim your shot from where your ball was at, .. from the tee or the fairway. You could zoom out and get some gps yardage figures, but all aiming had to be done like in real golf. One would pick out a spot or marker in the distance to aim for, just like in real golf. You also had to figure out your shots for yourself. The big drawback was that EA did not make True Aim available in online p2p. It was only available in offline or in Live Tournaments. A LOT of people were looking forward to this new version, as they thought this mode would be available for online play.

However, EA using it's wisdom changed the hardest difficulty level in TW 12. Instead of aiming truly, one can now zoom-out and aim while zoomed out. When aiming you can really zoom-in very close on your landing area. You can adjust not only your aim, but your landing area moves as you make adjustments. Your landing area moves when you change clubs. It moves when you decide to put draw or fade on a shot. It moves when you put loft on the shot. It moves when you use the new "choke" feature. All of this occurs while you are zoomed out. You could do none of this in TW 11. All of the adjustments had to be made from the tee, so you didn't know with the same precision that the aim and adjustments were spot on. Many thought it was a more realistic way to play.

And, of course, they have also added a caddy in TW 12 that cannot be turned off. You can make up your own "custom shot", but the caddy comes up with recommended shots that are on your screen and which are usually very good ones. The caddy chooses your club, aligns your shot, puts draw or fade on the ball, and tells you exactly what percentage to hit your club. All you have to do is hit that percentage. Not a whole lot of thinking is involved. In TW 11, it was left to the player to figure out all that stuff.

Good description, I'm trying to not think about how good true aim was last year and how immersive it was and now you brought back all those memories and now I 'm pissed off again that they took it out this year just to institute a caddie (and that was the only reason). It boggles my mind they would take the best sim feature in years and turf it for an arcady gimmick in tourney mode.

I was looking so forward to playing Augusta with it. Seriously the TW devs have got to to be the stupidest devs for a sports game. The Madden guys are a respectable 2nd but the TW guys are comfortably in 1st. I'll get the game because of Augusta and the apparently improved career mode but I know months after playing this game I'll be shaking my head every so often thinking what possessed them to hard code a caddie into the game and screw everything up.

And there's nothing about true aim this year that is actually true aim. Only in that after you hit you still get that golfer perspective but that's about it so it really isn't true aim this year, just in name only.

[DivotMaker]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

And there's nothing about true aim this year that is actually true aim. Only in that after you hit you still get that golfer perspective but that's about it so it really isn't true aim this year, just in name only.

Can't say I agree (except for having a Caddy in Tournament mode), but whatever....

[callmetaternuts]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Good description, I'm trying to not think about how good true aim was last year and how immersive it was and now you brought back all those memories and now I 'm pissed off again that they took it out this year just to institute a caddie (and that was the only reason). It boggles my mind they would take the best sim feature in years and turf it for an arcady gimmick in tourney mode.

I was looking so forward to playing Augusta with it. Seriously the TW devs have got to to be the stupidest devs for a sports game. The Madden guys are a respectable 2nd but the TW guys are comfortably in 1st. I'll get the game because of Augusta and the apparently improved career mode but I know months after playing this game I'll be shaking my head every so often thinking what possessed them to hard code a caddie into the game and screw everything up.

And there's nothing about true aim this year that is actually true aim. Only in that after you hit you still get that golfer perspective but that's about it so it really isn't true aim this year, just in name only.

Maybe we can hope for True Aim to be patched in?

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

And there's nothing about true aim this year that is actually true aim. Only in that after you hit you still get that golfer perspective but that's about it so it really isn't true aim this year, just in name only.

I agree completely. I loved that you could get a good view of the course, and decide where you wanted to hit the ball, but without an aiming circle or any target, but when you went back into golfer mode, you just had to find a tree or hill that represented the direction you wanted. Then you could decide all of your loft, slice or draw adjustments. You just had a good general feel for where the ball should go, and the payoff when you succeeded was huge.

I also like that each club only gave you its carrying distance. You had to figure out what kind of shot would result in what kind of roll you would get. Again, this really hammered away at the kind of things you learn when trying to improve areal golf game.

I'm sorry, but not giving me carrying distance, but just telling me what % I need to hit to pull off a shot is just utter BS. I liked trying to figure out what % I might need on my own, and then trying to accomplish it.

The idea that EA just took all of that out of the game is just flabbergasting to me. It's like they think it was the view that made the mode so good.

But the dudebros railed against the mode, becasue they like -20 scores. And to be fair, TW 11 sold like crap. So it will go back to arcade easiness and sell a ton better. We, a small niche of gamers, had out game for one year. And luckily, we will still have it.

It's just a kick in the pants, because I was looking forward to some TrueAim matches with the guys we played the short season with. I thought EA was perfecting the game. Instead, they just saved me $60, and probably a lot more, as I buy way too many extra course packs.

I kind of wanted to skip this year becasue it seemed like a waste to have spent so much money on courses, only to buy a new game and have to build it up again. But The Masters and the promise of TrueAim online play made it an easy buy. But just like that, EA made it an easy pass.

What I don't know is if EA is going to support Play the Pros and the weekly tournaments online for TW 11 anymore.

I'm still going to rent the game, and give it a try. I hope I am so wrong about TrueAim being ruined.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

I agree completely. I loved that you could get a good view of the course, and decide where you wanted to hit the ball, but without an aiming circle or any target, but when you went back into golfer mode, you just had to find a tree or hill that represented the direction you wanted. Then you could decide all of your loft, slice or draw adjustments. You just had a good general feel for where the ball should go, and the payoff when you succeeded was huge.

I also like that each club only gave you its carrying distance. You had to figure out what kind of shot would result in what kind of roll you would get. Again, this really hammered away at the kind of things you learn when trying to improve areal golf game.

I'm sorry, but not giving me carrying distance, but just telling me what % I need to hit to pull off a shot is just utter BS. I liked trying to figure out what % I might need on my own, and then trying to accomplish it.

The idea that EA just took all of that out of the game is just flabbergasting to me. It's like they think it was the view that made the mode so good.

But the dudebros railed against the mode, becasue they like -20 scores. And to be fair, TW 11 sold like crap. So it will go back to arcade easiness and sell a ton better. We, a small niche of gamers, had out game for one year. And luckily, we will still have it.

It's just a kick in the pants, because I was looking forward to some TrueAim matches with the guys we played the short season with. I thought EA was perfecting the game. Instead, they just saved me $60, and probably a lot more, as I buy way too many extra course packs.

I kind of wanted to skip this year becasue it seemed like a waste to have spent so much money on courses, only to buy a new game and have to build it up again. But The Masters and the promise of TrueAim online play made it an easy buy. But just like that, EA made it an easy pass.

What I don't know is if EA is going to support Play the Pros and the weekly tournaments online for TW 11 anymore.

I'm still going to rent the game, and give it a try. I hope I am so wrong about TrueAim being ruined.

All spot on...and I hope you're wrong about TrueAim being ruined too. That mode MADE TW11 a big step forward in videogame golf.

TrueAim/Tour Pro difficulty is a blast...and you DO learn from it for when you go out on the course for real.

I have zero issue with the caddie thing as long as EA fixes it (patch) so it can be truly disabled in every respect, and that we can play the game as we did last year if we choose to. I can understand from a business point of view of selling copies to make it more appealing to the masses, we all just don't want it at the expense of losing what made last year's game great.

But, we are definitely getting to 'dead horse' territory with this I guess...let's see how the final turns out and go from there.

[ShivasIrons]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Agreed, ... But I'll still get the game because of Augusta, Atlanta AC, and Royal Melbourne (TPC San Antonio, too). I'm just not sure of a couple things: (1) how long I'll play it on a regular basis -- I played TW11 almost daily the whole ten months it was out; and (2) if I'll buy much of the DLC. Last year I bought every single DLC the day it was released and paid top dollar for them. Most of the DLC this year is the same as last year, so I may just put TW11 in if I want to play those courses. Plus, the DLC last year had so many defects in them that EA refused to fix that it makes one less willing to buy more. Like I mentioned before, they released Cog Hill last year that didn't have a pin or hole on the 11th green on hard pins. I'm still amazed that they refused to fix that one, among many.

I'm sure I'll get a better idea of it all after spending some time playing the full game. I'm hoping that the game will still be at least playable for me.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

Maybe we can hope for True Aim to be patched in?

Pretty much impossible at this point because it would have to be one huge patch. They totally overhauled true aim to accomodate the caddie from aiming dependent on club selection instead of carrying distance to the lack of any elevation or yardage markers. This was all changed so EA could seamlessly add the caddie recomended shot which wouldn't be doable with the true aim design of last year.

To change it back thay would have to disable the caddie permanently from tourney mode and while there still is hope that a patch will disable the boxes there is very little chance EA (which spent months on this caddie feature) will turf it completely from their highest skill mode.

There will be some gamers who wanna use the caddie in tourney mode and it would be kinda silly to have the caddie animation beside you and not being being able to ever use it. At this point I will be happy just for the boxes to be disabled.

[Rules]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

I passed on TW11 so should I get that one instead of TW12?