Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

[pietasterp]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

It's embarrassing how many times I sit there trying to execute a swing and it will abort because I'm either too fast or too slow with my backswing and/or downswing.

See, this is what I did not like about the more recent EA golf games. In my opinion, there's clearly something wrong with the real-time swing mechanism if being off-tempo simply results in an aborted swing. I know it's a videogame and it's a function of the mechanism the game uses to simulate a golf swing, but there's virtually no one who, in the real world, if you handed them a golf club and told them to swing at a ball - even if the tempo was totally bad and the backswing/downswing were way, way off - almost no one would simply abort their swing mid-swing because of bad tempo (Charles Barkley excluded). The fact that this happens (not infrequently) means that something about the swing mechanism in the game is counter-intuitive or requires too much 'buy-in' from the user into the game's swing mechanism.

Anyway, it's good to see the game continuing to be supported by EA with content release. Hopefully they keep making things better over time.

[DivotMaker]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

See, this is what I did not like about the more recent EA golf games. In my opinion, there's clearly something wrong with the real-time swing mechanism if being off-tempo simply results in an aborted swing. I know it's a videogame and it's a function of the mechanism the game uses to simulate a golf swing, but there's virtually no one who, in the real world, if you handed them a golf club and told them to swing at a ball - even if the tempo was totally bad and the backswing/downswing were way, way off - almost no one would simply abort their swing mid-swing because of bad tempo (Charles Barkley excluded). The fact that this happens (not infrequently) means that something about the swing mechanism in the game is counter-intuitive or requires too much 'buy-in' from the user into the game's swing mechanism.

Anyway, it's good to see the game continuing to be supported by EA with content release. Hopefully they keep making things better over time.

Never once had an aborted swing......

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

Never once had an aborted swing......

You're a heck of a lot better gamer than me then.... damn, this just makes me realize how bad I truly must suck. It happens to me 30 times or more per round!?

[DivotMaker]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

You're a heck of a lot better gamer than me then.... damn, this just makes me realize how bad I truly must suck. It happens to me 30 times or more per round!?

Then Practice Swing is your friend.....this is when a Training Facility/Driving Range comes in handy.....

[pietasterp]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

Never once had an aborted swing......

It used to happen w/ some regularity on the previous gen versions, but as I got more used to it it stopped happening as much. But still, I would venture that you're a seasoned pro at the games, and so - perhaps you are unaware - but you've trained yourself to understand the rhythm of the game. Which is completely fine and to be expected, but what I was trying to get at was that if you 'buy-in' to the way the game plays, it's fine. But in my opinion, the game's 'real-time' swing timing and rhythm are not particularly intuitive, at least to me. I'd stop short of calling it a criticism of the game(s), but perhaps more of a personal observation.

But what do I know? I still use the 3-click method.

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

Then Practice Swing is your friend.....this is when a Training Facility/Driving Range comes in handy.....

I've tried this and it helps me get a feel for the shot at hand. It still surprises me how many practice swings it takes to get a feedback report that tells me I'm close to what I want. What's weird is I can tell what a good swing - as in Perfect +/- 2%/ Perfect +/- 2% - feels like, but when I want to try to get a quick tempo, as in +8% or more swing, it usually winds up being - 2 to -4%.

In the long run, I might as well just consider my false start/aborted swings as practice swings. I'm not charged a stroke for them when they abort. On the other hand, I can't see where I'm on any sort of learning curve with it. I do know that when I put a piece of tape over the tempo bubble meter, I tend to do a good bit better at hitting the "Perfect" backswing distance, as I purely use the golfer's animation to gauge when I've reached the "100%" backswing distance on fully shots.

[BL8001]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

I purely use the golfer's animation to gauge when I've reached the "100%" backswing distance on fully shots.

This is the key. I have had no issues with the swing.

Also from the very beginning I have paid zero attention to the bubble. I honestly don't even know how it works. It turns green and red. It's just a terrible idea and never should be there and shocking it has no off option.

But I digress, watching your swing gives you all the info you need.

This is another miss by EA.

Tempo is not an absolute like in this game.

Tempo really is 3/1 as in a ratio of screens during a recorded swing.

It's something around 2/1 for the short game but that is a shorter controlled swing so let's just focus on the long game swing.

So if it takes you 24 frames to reach the top it takes you 8 from there to impact with ideal tempo.

But someone quick might swing 21/7.
Or slow might be 27/9.

The tempo seems to only give you one tempo choice which is totally wrong. If there is a way to tell the tempo meter I am a fast or slow swinger let me know.

[OnlookerDelay]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

This is the key. I have had no issues with the swing.

Also from the very beginning I have paid zero attention to the bubble. I honestly don't even know how it works. It turns green and red. It's just a terrible idea and never should be there and shocking it has no off option.

But I digress, watching your swing gives you all the info you need.

When I cover up the tempo bubble with tape and strictly watch the swing, I do better. I hate putting tape on my TV screen and a lot times there are things I want to see when the bubble meter is not on the screen in that spot.

I don't have enough control over my peripheral vision to tune the tempo bubble meter out to where it's not a distraction if it's not covered up, particularly on putts, chips and short pitches, where the clubhead is going to be traveling even shorter distances away from the bubble meter.

This is another miss by EA.

I agree it's a miss... I would have though by now they would have learned their lesson about giving options for meters and HUD devices, particularly since providing the option to turn off the precision putting meter in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 was such a critcially acclaimed success.

Tempo is not an absolute like in this game.

Tempo really is 3/1 as in a ratio of screens during a recorded swing.

It's something around 2/1 for the short game but that is a shorter controlled swing so let's just focus on the long game swing.

So if it takes you 24 frames to reach the top it takes you 8 from there to impact with ideal tempo.

But someone quick might swing 21/7.
Or slow might be 27/9.

The tempo seems to only give you one tempo choice which is totally wrong. If there is a way to tell the tempo meter I am a fast or slow swinger let me know.

I'm having trouble feeling the difference between a fast tempo and a slow tempo swing in this game currently. Your ratios make sense, I'm just not picking up enough feedback clues to quantify them in my experience. OTOH, I can distinguish a sensual relationship between what is reported as a "Perfect" tempo swing and one that's not. I get an even better sense of this when the tempo bubble meter is covered up. I imagine it's difficult for someone like you who can tune the bubble meter out to relate to what I'm describing, but no matter how I try, I can't avoid the distraction of that green/red meter flashing just beneath the golfer's feet.

[BL8001]

Re: Rory McIlroy PGA Tour: Still Thin, But Not As Bare As At Launch

Understood.

When I began to ignore it successfully was when I realized it served zero purpose.

I am not even sure it's giving correct feedback.

It's just another one of those things where you think, did anybody play this before the game went gold? Nobody thought oh hmmm...not everyone will enjoy this so lets make it an option?

I wish games went back to transparent levels for meters and OSD elements. So with all games you could pick the transparency amount of anything in the HUD.