Tiger Woods 14 thread, part II

[greggsand]

Unless I'm misunderstanding this, my friends would always play the 'simultaneous' mode online where we all start together & see everyone's shot arcs. Def wasn't a big deal with us, and we often got a good laugh seeing some arc go into the trees or waaay over the green. I had no idea this was big deal with people. If I was about to putt & some arc bounced into the picture, I'd just chill a second then finish the put. Again, I might be thinking of something different. On paper, not a big deal for my group of friends.

[J_Cauthen]

Unless I'm misunderstanding this, my friends would always play the 'simultaneous' mode online where we all start together & see everyone's shot arcs. Def wasn't a big deal with us, and we often got a good laugh seeing some arc go into the trees or waaay over the green. I had no idea this was big deal with people. If I was about to putt & some arc bounced into the picture, I'd just chill a second then finish the put. Again, I might be thinking of something different. On paper, not a big deal for my group of friends.

I've done this a good bit myself and I can take having three shot arcs in play at a time. The only time it ever really affected my play was when one came flashing by during a putting stroke. It will be harder to gauge where everyone is at in this setup because folks will be at different stages of play on the given hole. The opinions on this will be all over the charts though.

[Danimal]

Unless I'm misunderstanding this, my friends would always play the 'simultaneous' mode online where we all start together & see everyone's shot arcs. Def wasn't a big deal with us, and we often got a good laugh seeing some arc go into the trees or waaay over the green. I had no idea this was big deal with people. If I was about to putt & some arc bounced into the picture, I'd just chill a second then finish the put. Again, I might be thinking of something different. On paper, not a big deal for my group of friends.

You like it, other don't that is the point. No one is saying you shouldn't like it. no one is saying it is a waste of dev time.

I only see people wondering why it's not an option and why were being forced to use it

[J_Cauthen]

Interesting development yesterday concerning Tiger 14's demo. A new sports gaming site called Under the Code (http://www.underthecode.com) ran an "exclusive" news item detailing the demo in more detail than we'd already put together based on Executive Producer comments on the official forum. We've been discussing the fact that it will feature a 3-hole Connected Tournament demo, complete with real-time shot arcs, etc. here because of those comments. Well, within four hours of that exclusive running at Under the Code, EA's PR reps asked them to pull the story because they had a scheduled media release for the demo announcement. Under the Code complied so we lost the blow-by-blow details of that that exclusive had beyond what we already knew. Even the Executive Producer's comments in various messages on the official forum were cleansed of details regarding the demo.

Based on the 'clean-up' comments being made in the forum, EA Sports' plan now is to make the "official" demo announcement on March 5th, the day of the demo's release!? That should help ramp up interest in the demo Seriously, who's going to be reading what's in the demo, when the demo will already be on the market for probably hours before the announcement goes live

I can add some more to what I've already written here about the demo, based on the Executive Producer's comments and what I can recall from the exclusive story at Under the Code. I've italicized my comments about what I recall. Keep in mind, I'm inserting a good bit of my own speculation into this so it's certainly not "Official".

'You get to play 3 holes apiece of Oak Hill and Royal Birkdale. You can play a limited number of offline Quick Tournaments which are also limited to 3 holes.'

not sure what is mean by limited number here

'One is apparently the PGA Championship tourney since Oak Hill is the course'

one of the demo screen shots that EA allowed UTC to keep at the site shows Lexi Thompson teeing it up at Royal Birkdale. Maybe you can play Oak Hill and Royal Birkdale in Quick Play as Lexi Thompson?

'You will also be able to play a few 3 hole connected tournaments (w arcs)'.

not sure if you'll get to play both 3-hole courses as Connected Tournaments

'Finally 'I believe' you will be able to view the interface of legends of the majors and play one, or part of a challenge.'

Here's where I think UTC had one of their exclusives; in addition to the legends challenge you get to play on the demo, you can apparently unlock Arnold Palmer for use in the full game by winning it.

"So the idea is you will get a taste of:

arcs
gameplay settings (including simulation)
presentation (with a taste of being at a Major)
stats
Legends of the Majors
etc... "

This was the summary at the end of the Producer's forum reply. I had saved and quoted his summary in a message posted elsewhere about my recollections which preceded them.

Finally, I'm pretty sure the UTC story confirmed that Kinect and Move would be available in the demo.

[J_Cauthen]

Finally got an interview with some teeth in it this morning! Jon Robinson interviews Executive Producer, Brent Nielsen about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 at ESPN.com. It answers some of our questions and raises a few others. Anyone heard the term "Precision Chipping" yet? Apparently, it will even have its own chipping meter (for game modes that allow swing meters, that is). As for raising new questions, I'm no closer to understanding the Country Club Tour after reading this:

You can create club tournaments and play with up to 24 members, and we’ve even added almost like a country club season mode where you can be playing a whole series of tournaments -- weekly tournaments, monthly tournaments --

Do we create the country club season or is this part of a global club 'season/tour' that's created by EA Sports? A "whole series of tournaments" definitely suggests that it's an ongoing event, but is it on the individual club level, global level, or better yet - both?

Here's the link:http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tech/p ... w-features

[10spro]

Based on the 'clean-up' comments being made in the forum, EA Sports' plan now is to make the "official" demo announcement on March 5th, the day of the demo's release!? That should help ramp up interest in the demo Seriously, who's going to be reading what's in the demo, when the demo will already be on the market for probably hours before the announcement goes live

No kidding, unless they expose a few details on that day only to announce that the details in the demo will be delayed for a week or so.

[J_Cauthen]

No kidding, unless they expose a few details on that day only to announce that the details in the demo will be delayed for a week or so.

Hadn't thought about that angle (delayed demo release)... hope that's not the case.

[J_Cauthen]

No kidding, unless they expose a few details on that day only to announce that the details in the demo will be delayed for a week or so.

Hadn't thought about that angle (delayed demo release)... hope that's not the case.

[DChaps]

Yeah, the question that needs to be asked and answered is:

"Can an individual Country Club have its own custom Season/Championship that could consist of a series of Weeky Tournaments that would track the points and stats across the entire Season?"

Also, what is the 24 member limit that I have seen posted a couple time with regards to club tournaments/seasons? Does this mean that while the Country Clubs now allow for up to 100 members, only 24 could compete at any given time in a tournament? Or does it mean that only 24 can be playing real time together in the tournament. I am confused as to what it means in practice (not that it would be a problem for DSP based on last years participation).

[J_Cauthen]

The 24 member limit is the number of shot arcs that can be displayed simultaneously. I don't think we'll ever challenge that limit here We can still have up to 100 in the club, I'm thinking we'll probably come in between 30 and 35. None of the EA reps on the official forum seems to want to take on my focused question about what is meant by the Country Club Tour, and possibly season? They've got their hands full right now and a narrowly focused question like that wouldn't be on their radar. We'll know sooner or later...

[Diablo25]

Demo tomorrow . The Show 13 and the TW demo on the same day.

[Diablo25]

Damn second time I double posted tonight.

[J_Cauthen]

Demo tomorrow . The Show 13 and the TW demo on the same day.

Fortunately for me, my baseball hormones don't turn on until after the NCAA Hoops tournament is over. Come April 9th, I'll be looking for my Gamefly rental of MLB 13: The Show. My gaming time tomorrow will be spent mostly on Tiger 14, unless it: A.) sucks unbelievably bad, or B.) Only lets me play one, 3 hole connected tournament in Simulation and Tournament difficulty a day. I'm hoping it's neither, but I can see where they'd have a staging issue with these 3 hole connected tournaments in the demo.

I'm most looking forward to seeing how the Presentation Camera option works this year. I'm hoping it's going to be a blend of last years Presentation and True-Aim camera options. The new Broadcast Presentation should help bring reason to the whimsical camera cuts used in the Presentation camera from last year though!

[DivotMaker]

Demo is out on 360.....playing tougher than what I saw in TW Community Day on Simulation.....best round so far at Oak Hill is +3 for 3 holes....only played two rounds and this will take some getting used to....

[J_Cauthen]

Being the impetuous fool that I am, I had to jump right into the Simulation Difficulty, Connected Tournament. I was +4 for my first 3 hole round, after triple bogeying the last hole. I holed a pitch from 30 yards on the second hole to salvage a par, so it was really worse than the +4 sounds..

My overall initial impression is a bit negative, but that's being driven mostly by my disappointment with the "Broadcast" presentation setting. I had a real beef with the way the Presentation camera option worked last year, in that it immediately switched to another camera view at impact. Regrettably, that continues with Tiger 14, based on what I've seen thus far. It just destroys the connection I have with my golfer, and the desire to see the flight of the ball from his perspective for at least three or four seconds. I'm hoping my test with the Move version tonight, which will allow me to try this First Person Perspective view that's available to motion controllers, will remedy the situation with the presentation. As much as I dislike follow camera, I'm not sure I don't prefer it to what I'm getting out of this "Broadcast" presentation

I haven't seen a shot arc in any of my connected play so far, although I have seen hole by hole scoring updates. I've lost my headset this morning, so I don't know whether the vocal comms are working or not. I need to spend more time with the Connected Tournaments to see what I'm missing.

Simulation difficulty is indeed a handful! I'll be lucky to break par with it. The advanced shot shaping is tough to master. The 5 o-clock to 11 o-clock action Tiger's swing requires is difficult to reproduce for me. I do better with 7 to 1 0-clock. I'm all over the course trying to pull off this diagonal swing path! The fading analog strike meter target gives me a fit. I get a lot of bad mishits because I'm not holding the stick anywhere near the strike point I'd intended.

Graphically, I haven't been terribly impressed with what I've seen so far, but the conditions have all been dark. There was a bit of a sepia tone to the Quick Play round I did my second time around at Oak Hills that wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't like the fact that the putting animation still has an over exaggerated waggle, but the overall putting stroke feels better than Tiger 13. I'm still extending the aiming cursor well beyond the hole an throttling my stroke accordingly. I have had some misses due to pulling putts with bad tempo, or at least, that's the way it felt.

Still, I'm really bummed about the presentation work. It's frustrating to know that the type of presentation I desire is "in the game", I'm just not given the menu tools to tailor it.... (sigh) I'm curious to see what Kinect users think of the "First Person Camera" option that's available with the Kinect in use. It might answer my gripe about the hyper-camera-switch of Broadcast presentation.

I've played Connected Tournaments for 18 holes now, and I've yet to see another player's shot arc. I've even camped in spectator mode for 20 minutes and haven't seen another player's shot arcs.

[10spro]

Thanks for the quick impressions John. Looks like SIM will be a handful, as long as I don't nail every single FIR, the game seems to be heading in the right direction albeit some cameras issues.

[DivotMaker]

It is no different than any other demo or game release as users are getting used to the new gameplay and settings.....a week or two from now should be more indicative if this demo hit the mark or it didn't. And keep in mind that the demo was finished a full 2 months prior to the actual game and I would not be surprised if the demo may have some issues that were addressed in the final release.

[J_Cauthen]

The hyperactive Broadcast Camera switch has probably unjustifiably soured me to a lot of the stuff the game does right. The putting doesn't feel like it's on rails. You can push or pull a putt because of what appears to be tempo variances, for example. I just wish I could watch the putt from my golfer's eyes instead of being pulled out of the scene to an occasionally distant Broadcast camera. I could probably get a better look at the putts using Follow Camera, but then I'd have to put up with the Follow Camera "Magic Carpet Ride" baggage that aggravates me with it on non-putts, chips, or short pitches.

[MERACE]

As Tim has stated, it will take some time to get used to the changes in the swing (diagonal) in Simulation mode.

However, if by the time the game is released my FIR is not at least 60%, I believe that Simulation mode (or even Tournament mode) will not be my preferred mode of play.


-MERACE

[DivotMaker]

The hyperactive Broadcast Camera switch has probably unjustifiably soured me to a lot of the stuff the game does right. The putting doesn't feel like it's on rails. You can push or pull a putt because of what appears to be tempo variances, for example. I just wish I could watch the putt from my golfer's eyes instead of being pulled out of the scene to an occasionally distant Broadcast camera. I could probably get a better look at the putts using Follow Camera, but then I'd have to put up with the Follow Camera "Magic Carpet Ride" baggage that aggravates me with it on non-putts, chips, or short pitches.

Has anyone tried pressing the left bumper to see if that changes the swing camera? If so, that might help get the camera angle you are looking for. Just a thought.....

[orthostud23]

The hyperactive Broadcast Camera switch has probably unjustifiably soured me to a lot of the stuff the game does right. The putting doesn't feel like it's on rails. You can push or pull a putt because of what appears to be tempo variances, for example. I just wish I could watch the putt from my golfer's eyes instead of being pulled out of the scene to an occasionally distant Broadcast camera. I could probably get a better look at the putts using Follow Camera, but then I'd have to put up with the Follow Camera "Magic Carpet Ride" baggage that aggravates me with it on non-putts, chips, or short pitches.

Has anyone tried pressing the left bumper to see if that changes the swing camera? If so, that might help get the camera angle you are looking for. Just a thought.....

From my brief time with the game hitting the left bumper didn't do anything in simulation mode. I have played it twice on each course and don't know where I stand at this moment. I did like that hitting too great shots gave me a bairdie chance, but on the other hand I feel like the swing stick is somehow off. Example. Some of my swing shapes were not even close to the line but yet I still ended up its a decent drive in play. I also hit a drive that was really close to the swing line and yet it had the effect that I completely toed it.

Divot do you know in the final version if some yard ages are going to show in the caddie book? I find that they should have at least given us some numbers to ponder over for clubbing reasons. If they don't plan on doing any distances in the caddie book then they should let us somehow enter some numbers.

[pk500]

Simulation mode is a beast. About damn time some challenge was introduced into this series.

But the graphics of the demo are pretty bad. Why is everything so damn dark in Quick Play? I have zero interest in the Time of Day feature.

This game was going to be a definite purchase for me. Now I'm ambivalent. I appreciate the increased difficulty of Simulation mode, but otherwise the game feels very much the same as TW 13.

Unsure if Simulation mode is enough of a leap forward from TW 13 for me to justify $60. Plus I'm not a golf fanatic, so I'm less willing to part with dough for a golf title that isn't tickling my game bones.

[vader29]

I'll see what the early release is like before making a final decision but if it is anything like the demo then I'll just stick with Tiger 13 for another year.

[J_Cauthen]

From my brief time with the game hitting the left bumper didn't do anything in simulation mode. I have played it twice on each course and don't know where I stand at this moment.

Ortho, I was able to change the swing camera height in simulation difficulty. My comment was about the replay that Kev had in his video that the swing camera was at waist height, but that was set by the replay camera. I'm sure if they had built the ability for the real time game camera to show the same production as the replay in question, one would have also had the opportunity to change the swing camera height via the left bumper.

[orthostud23]

From my brief time with the game hitting the left bumper didn't do anything in simulation mode. I have played it twice on each course and don't know where I stand at this moment.

Ortho, I was able to change the swing camera height in simulation difficulty. My comment was about the replay that Kev had in his video that the swing camera was at waist height, but that was set by the replay camera. I'm sure if they had built the ability for the real time game camera to show the same production as the replay in question, one would have also had the opportunity to change the swing camera height via the left bumper.

Played a few more rounds and because I changes the swing to the right stick I found that that the right bumper made my camera angle change. Finally shot a -1, and then had 2 birds, followed by a triple bogey. One bad swing can really cost you in this mode.

I do like that you really have to concentrate on pulling the stick back very accurately to get the most out of the shot. I do wish though that if they were going to make us have to hit a draw/fade every long shot that they would have given us the option to move in the tee box. I will be very curious to see how this plays out when the game arrives. Time to go preorder this weekend.