Tiger Woods 14 thread, part II

[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.

[Danimal]

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.

Just curious how many holes do you think you have played already? I'm looking for an honest opinion from guys that are good do you really see this difficulty after a few weeks of game play preventing -25 or better rounds?

[DivotMaker]

Just curious how many holes do you think you have played already? I'm looking for an honest opinion from guys that are good do you really see this difficulty after a few weeks of game play preventing -25 or better rounds?

No doubt in my mind that breaking par is going to be very challenging. But since you have me on Ignore, I guess you will have to wait for someone to quote me.....

[Danimal]

Might as well throw in my 2 cents. Like Vader I will be trying the season pass because there is a lot to like in the demo and a lot not to like. The simulation difficulty sure ramps up the challenge but I don't think it will last considering the little 3 hole tourney leaders are at -3. However from a purely single player aspect it will make the game more fun for me. I'm glad they included the female golfer on the Connected tournaments with a draw because she was far easier for me to play.

In fact I was kind of convinced that Tiger and his fade were jacked. I hit it dead to nuts on the line more than several times to see my ball just get pushed right. I have no idea if I am missing something or what but when a shot that is not even close to the line gives me better results to one on the line I am scratching my head. Fortunately with the draw girl I didn't see that issue.

I actually like putting but again I am a bit confused at how to read the information given in simulation mode. If I pull down on the stick and the ball is above my feet 1.0 degrees then I expect it to break left. So if I hit a straight putt why is it break right?

Courses were very dark, the Oak course on the CC tourney was like playing in the dark. In fact the ball glowed so maybe that is intended? I had several stats banners stay on the screen, one time obscuring my view while trying to put. I had a shot hit a tree and I guess get caught in it which cause the game to just sit there. I'd like to think that is a demo bug but I know it will be in the full game.

I like the banners that come up and I like the look of the courses, especially the greens a lot better. Not being able to zoom to aim makes things more challenging. Chipping and Sand play is still too easy, or it is for me.

I did see the shot arcs while playing my tournament and was able to hear the other golfers, what a treat that was. The arcs didn't bother me until I got on the green and saw lines going all sort of direction towards the hole. Still the most people I had on one hole was 5 so it wasn't that big of a deal. Last thing I can think of is the fade strike meter is nice but sometimes its just gone before a shot which makes life a little more challenging.

[10spro]

Much of the arc worries posted here are a non issue for me so far from the time that I managed to play a coupled rounds late tonight. I also welcome the SIM challenge which without the zoom camera and how much the wind is blowing info, I struggled to a +3 score at best in Birkdale.

Much of the courses are played with cloudy dark conditions with the exception of Birkdale. But these are supposed to be Live conditions, so maybe the conditions do change over the course of the day.

Putting for me has been a struggle. I easily missed 4'-5' foot putters as I came short a few times as I somehow felt that 13 was more fluid with the putting motion.

The ball bounces seem more realistic, whether it curves towards the rough or lands on the green, the rolling physics of the ball appear as the biggest improvement IMO.

Now, here's something that I am a bit concerned and it happened a couple of times already. The demo froze on me twice in about one hour of play.

[orthostud23]

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.

Just curious how many holes do you think you have played already? I'm looking for an honest opinion from guys that are good do you really see this difficulty after a few weeks of game play preventing -25 or better rounds?

I have played around 15 rounds Dan. Once you get a hang of the diagonal swing it gets a little easier. The putting seems MUCH easier than last years. I am setting my distance, moving my aim marker and then going. I have not hit any putts where I blew it by the hole 6+ feet. Seems like they took some of the sensitivity out of putting.

[TheTruth]

I agree with the putting comments. Much easier to control your distances in the demo. I also left a couple 3-4 footers short the first few rounds but adjusted. Shot arcs didn't bother me.

Tigers draw swing was hard to get used to, but got easier as I played more. Have only played about 10 rounds so far. What I am worried about is what if you create your golfer without a draw or fade shot and just have to go down the middle with your swing? Is that going to be possible? If so, I can see the difficulty coming down a lot. The sticks are definitely more sensitive which is good and the no zoom camera alone will help since you can't pinpoint your approach shots or drives.

Can't wait to play the early release.

[Naples39]

To echo some thoughts and offer a few new ones (all Sim difficulty);

-Putting is much more predictable in terms of pace and the ball rolls on the green more smoothly.

-Driving is much more difficult. In my time last night, I had more OBs (3) than fairways (2). I'm sure I'll get better, but it's a lot less precise.

-I think EA kind of missed the mark on the immersive real golf experience. First, the broadcast shot camera is terrible so we're stuck with the follow-cam again. Two, I really like taking out the spot aim, but they should give us more info; distance to carry the bunker, distance to the front and back of the green, etc.

-Chipping looks like it will be pretty easy.

[TheTruth]

I agree on the chipping Naples. Of course the course conditions may have helped as well.

The broadcast cam needs to be exactly like how JC has been describing it. As it is now, it snaps directly into some tv style angle and a lot of the time you have no idea where your ball is going. Whoever thought that was good needs their heads examined. Maybe it will be improved in the retail version.

I didn't get a chance to try the new putting grids, played all my rounds on simulation...anyone else?

[10spro]

Ah silly me. Not once did I adjust the putting distance accordingly. No wonder I kept falling short.

Did play the Legends mode with the grids on and of course it helped a lot. As mentioned before, the way the ball just rolls to the green seems very improved.

And much like in most sports games, the broadcast angle did nothing for me.

So no one else had freezing issues?

[J_Cauthen]

The broadcast cam needs to be exactly like how JC has been describing it. As it is now, it snaps directly into some tv style angle and a lot of the time you have no idea where your ball is going. Whoever thought that was good needs their heads examined. Maybe it will be improved in the retail version.

Someone on the Tiger Woods forum spotted this video and thought it captured the type of presentation I've been wanting. Check out this replay of a shot being holed at Royal Birkdale. It happens about 2:48 into the video. THAT'S the type of camera presentation I want for real time gameplay... bump the swing camera up to shoulder/head height (the replay has it at waist height), hold the golfer perspective view for maybe 1 or 2 more seconds, and you have presentation bliss! Seriously, I got cold chills when I saw the replay of the holed shot yesterday. This type of presentation would transform the game into a masterpiece!

http://youtu.be/Nc-LXULWTa8

I'm really frustrated with the presentation this year. I've never really enjoyed follow camera, going back to Tiger 2007. I just can't believe they can't include another camera mode that lets the golfer choose the point at which the camera shift from "Swing/Golfer" view to "Broadcast" view occurs. Merace coined the term for a camera of this type in the official forum and called it "Golfer/Broadcast Hybrid Camera". As the video above shows, the game has the ability to deliver something like that... it's already in the game engine! I'm going to play the demo some more today to see if I can warm up to either presentation option. I just know I have a long way to go after feeling the way I did yesterday evening after trying it.

I didn't get a chance to try the new putting grids, played all my rounds on simulation...anyone else?

I did try the beadless grids and for me they were a good compromise. I didn't benefit from them as much as I thought I would, which is good, but I didn't feel as helpless with them as gridless greens.

[J_Cauthen]

I went ahead and established the Digital Sportspage Country Club at EA Sports website. You can join it here:
http://www.easports.com/tiger-woods/country-clubs Search private clubs with "Digital Sportspage" and it will come up. If someone could do me a favor and let me know what it asks for when you try to join, I'd appreciate it. I'm not sure if the password I set was for admins or for people to enter when they try to join. I'll post the password here if it's asking for it.

I'm doing this without a solid idea as to whether I'm going to end up buying the game or not. I'm going to give it a workout via the EA Sports Season Ticket, the weekend prior to release and see if anything has changed with the presentation. I can't see myself playing this game very long with the presentation missing the mark for my tastes, in both Follow and Broadcast camera options. I'm not saying Follow Camera doesn't work well, because it does... I just don't find it appealing from a player immersion standpoint, and haven't since Tiger 07.

If I bail, we can have up to 5 co-admins, if I recall correctly and any of them can pick it up as needed.

BTW, I've posted this message in the DSP League Room. I think any discussion concerning the DSP OCC should continue there.

[TheTruth]

I went ahead and established the Digital Sportspage Country Club at EA Sports website. You can join it here:
http://www.easports.com/tiger-woods/country-clubs Search private clubs with "Digital Sportspage" and it will come up. If someone could do me a favor and let me know what it asks for when you try to join, I'd appreciate it. I'm not sure if the password I set was for admins or for people to enter when they try to join. I'll post the password here if it's asking for it.

I'm doing this without a solid idea as to whether I'm going to end up buying the game or not. I'm going to give it a workout via the EA Sports Season Ticket, the weekend prior to release and see if anything has changed with the presentation. I can't see myself playing this game very long with the presentation missing the mark for my tastes, in both Follow and Broadcast camera options. I'm not saying Follow Camera doesn't work well, because it does... I just don't find it appealing from a player immersion standpoint, and haven't since Tiger 07.

If I bail, we can have up to 5 co-admins, if I recall correctly and any of them can pick it up as needed.

BTW, I've posted this message in the DSP League Room. I think any discussion concerning the DSP OCC should continue there.

Just tried to join. You can join by petition or by entering the password. I sent a petition.

[J_Cauthen]

Just tried to join. You can join by petition or by entering the password. I sent a petition.

Okay, I accepted you and you're now showing on the member list. I now see that the password I entered is for member requests only. That password is "golf4ever" for those who want to use that route instead.

[Danimal]

Well I checked the CC thread before this one so I missed the password and sent a petition

Nevermind I just went through it again with a password

[DChaps]

I am on the fence on whether I will end up purchasing TW14, but if I do I was trying to figure out which version to buy to get the most bang for my buck based on my favorite courses. So I started by going to the official EA TW 14 website to find out more info and I was surprised at how little actual detail is there with regards to the type of questions I had, so I did a little more searching and found more info at operation sports and thought I would share here as I did not see this info posted elsewhere in this thread.

http://www.easports.com/tiger-woods

http://www.operationsports.com/news/605 ... -revealed/

So as best as I can surmise, this is what you get with the historic version vs. the regular.

Standard Edition (20 Courses on Disc):
1. Muirfield Village
2. Oak Hill CC
3. Augusta National
4. St. Andrews
5. TPC Sawgrass
6. Valhalla (Updated)
7. Mission Hills Country Club
8. Pinehurst No. 2 UPDATED
9. TPC Louisiana
10. Pebble Beach
11. Oakmont CC
12. Royal Troon
13. Royal Birkdale
14. Torrey Pines
15. East Lake
16. Spyglass Hill
17. Crooked Stick
18. PGA National
19. Atlanta Atheletic Club
20. Kiawah Island

Historic Edition:
•Augusta National Tournament Practice Facility
•Augusta National Par 3 course
•Augusta National original course layout from 1934
•4 additional championship courses
1. Sheshan GC
2. Royal County Down
3. Royal Melbourne
4. TPC Blue Monster at Doral

DLC/Preorder Courses (18 Courses):
1. Bethpage Black (PreOrder from Amazon)
2. Pinehurst No 2 OLD (PreOrder from GameStop)
3. Whistling Straits (PreOrder from Walmart)
4. Colonial CC
5. TPC Boston (Updated)
6. Greek Isles
7. Highlands
8. The Predator
9. Emerald Dragon
10. TPC River Highlands
11. TPC Scottsdale
12. TPC San Antonio
13. Wolf Creek
14. Blackwolf
15. Banff
16. Costa Navarino
17. Els Club
18. Celtic Mano
**According to OperationSports, Sean Wilson (EA Dev) also mentioned that there will be no other surprises (no hidden courses), so this list of 44 courses is final.

Pre-order Bonuses:
•Amazon - Bethpage Black DLC Course
•Gamestop - Pinehurst No. 2 DLC Course
•Walmart - Whistling Straits DLC Course
•Best Buy - 1986 Jack Nicklaus Exclusive Character
•Target - Kevin Love and Andy Roddick Exclusive Characters
•Origin - Set of Exclusive Historic Golf Clubs

So if you go Historic Pre-Order with Gamestop, Walmart, or Amazon, $10 extra gets you 5 additional courses, plus the additional Augusta content.
Based on last years DLC pricing that seems like a good deal, but does anyone know the answer to the questions below?

Will the 4 additional championship courses that come with the Historic version also be available as DLC on day one of release or eventually?
Will the Pre-Order Bonus courses be available as DLC on day one or eventually?
Will all additional DLC courses will be available day one or eventually what the pricing/packaging options will be?

I am leaning towards the Amazon Historic Pre-Order at this point. (PS - I would love to know the type of gamer that gets excited over the Kevin Love/Andy Roddick exclusive characters).

[Wilk5280]

I think I'm going to hold off on the purchase until a price drop. One of the major retailers usually has it on sale a couple weeks after release. I spent a small mint on last year's version and I won't do the same again this year.

[pk500]

I think I'm going to hold off on the purchase until a price drop. One of the major retailers usually has it on sale a couple weeks after release. I spent a small mint on last year's version and I won't do the same again this year.

I thought the same earlier tonight. I have around $40 in Best Buy credit -- I'll probably wait for a price drop to $39 or $49.

I loved TW 13 from the minute I laid hands on the demo. Maybe because it was my first console golf game since returning to the Xbox in late 2011 after a five-year hiatus. But this year's game just doesn't have that same lovin' feeling for me. Unsure why, even though I love the addition of simulation mode.

Maybe everything else feels somewhat the same?

[J_Cauthen]

There's a small chance that something could be done in a patch with the presentation, according to the Executive Producer of the game. He seems to be in shock over the negative reaction the Broadcast presentation it getting in the official forum. It wasn't until I pointed out the video to him that I linked earlier in this thread, showing the swing view for half of the ball's flight of Tiger holing out from the fairway at Royal Birkdale that he truly understood what it is we want!? He noted it and said he'd see what he could do.

I really like the liveness of the Connected Tournaments that '14 offers and the real time, hole by hole leaderboards and stats, but the Broadcast or Follow cam only presentation is just killing it for me. I doubt I'll be buying this game out of the chute. I'll be giving it a good workout on Season Ticket weekend though, hoping that maybe we'll get some relief in a patch with the Broadcast presentation.

[MUTTS]

Downloaded this morning-now I see why no one likes the broadcast cam. You have no idea where your ball is going. The two holes I played with it left me with no understanding as to where I was on the golf course. The beauty of golf is learning the different courses.

Also-like NCAA football, I find it very very dark. I want to play golf in bright sunshine. I play 40+ times per year on a real golf course and even dark overcast days are brighter than what Im seeing here. Just my 2 cents anyway.

I agree with everyone pretty much across the board. Probably going to get it because I love golf.

Tony

[Danimal]

There's a small chance that something could be done in a patch with the presentation, according to the Executive Producer of the game. He seems to be in shock over the negative reaction the Broadcast presentation it getting in the official forum. It wasn't until I pointed out the video to him that I linked earlier in this thread, showing the swing view for half of the ball's flight of Tiger holing out from the fairway at Royal Birkdale that he truly understood what it is we want!?

I wish I could say I was surprised but I'm not. It just speaks to EA's development process and points out again that they need to rethink how they are collecting information because it's not working for anyone team except the NHL one.

[DivotMaker]

I wish I could say I was surprised but I'm not. It just speaks to EA's development process and points out again that they need to rethink how they are collecting information because it's not working for anyone team except the NHL one.

You need to get your facts straight on where EA gets their information....the cameras were low on the pecking order in terms of desires from user feedback. Could they be improved? He'll yes. However Tiger has a small Dev Team and they had a lot on their plate this year to focus on. Also, making changes to the camera system is a hit and miss proposition that could likely create new issues. If Tiger (a) had a larger Dev Team like NHL or Madden, they could have scheduled camera system improvements and (b) there was little feedback from their sources requesting these changes to the camera system. You assume a great deal without the benefit of facts to back up your comments......

[Leebo33]

I think I'm going to hold off on the purchase until a price drop. One of the major retailers usually has it on sale a couple weeks after release. I spent a small mint on last year's version and I won't do the same again this year.

I thought the same earlier tonight. I have around $40 in Best Buy credit -- I'll probably wait for a price drop to $39 or $49.

I loved TW 13 from the minute I laid hands on the demo. Maybe because it was my first console golf game since returning to the Xbox in late 2011 after a five-year hiatus. But this year's game just doesn't have that same lovin' feeling for me. Unsure why, even though I love the addition of simulation mode.

Maybe everything else feels somewhat the same?

I'm going to download the demo and try it out, but right now it's moved from a day one purchase to 50/50. I'm pretty happy with TW13 and the only reason I was going to buy 14 was to join the tournaments at DSP. I'm nervous that so many are already worried and club participation may be way down. Plus, it's always been a grind to play career mode and I'm not sure I'm up for it. I also spent a lot of money on the courses last year and feel like I should be playing those more to get value. It would probably be smart to go to a 2 year purchase cycle given my limited play time. Just the fact that I'm not rushing out to download the demo should give me pause enough to just wait for the substantial markdown/promotion at Target/BB which usually comes within a month or two of release.

[webdanzer]

I'm going to download the demo and try it out, but right now it's moved from a day one purchase to 50/50. I'm pretty happy with TW13 and the only reason I was going to buy 14 was to join the tournaments at DSP. I'm nervous that so many are already worried and club participation may be way down. Plus, it's always been a grind to play career mode and I'm not sure I'm up for it. I also spent a lot of money on the courses last year and feel like I should be playing those more to get value. It would probably be smart to go to a 2 year purchase cycle given my limited play time. Just the fact that I'm not rushing out to download the demo should give me pause enough to just wait for the substantial markdown/promotion at Target/BB which usually comes within a month or two of release.

I echo every point of this, and am too leaning towards grabbing it down the road now.

[Danimal]

edit: n/m will send a PM instead