Tiger Woods 14 thread, part II

[DChaps]

What really stinks for me is that once I got through the learning curve, I really enjoyed playing TW13 a lot. There were times when I was playing in our DSP events where my goal was to just not be dead last, and even that gave me moments were I was nervous and hands shaking as I would try to make that putt that would put me under par. To be honest, I would have gladly paid another $60 just for a TW13 that would not lock up on me at a 50% play rate, and with greatly expanded Country Club features allowing for customized seasons, online web based stat tracking and analysis, and a way to allow for CC members in a 4 round tourney to play and see the score only as it played out for them, hole by hole, round by round. So far it sounds like the CC feature are not really expanded at all from last year.

[10spro]

Even though there are not enough camera angles to follow the ball flight properly behind your player and (broadcast cam is useless) the new ones that surround the putting green are rather redundant, there's enough fun to keep the pre-order. For me.

I wish I wasn't such an old coot about the presentation, but that's me. It makes the game feel almost "broken" too much of the time. I do like the challenge and the difficulty the game provides, but if I can't see in real time what I should be seeing in real time, it just feels... I dunno... phony for lack of a better term. It doesn't help matters when I can go and fire up Tiger 10, and see a presentation package that wipes its fanny with Tiger 14's, and doing it with a swing interface that actually rewards rhythm and tracking. I can thank Tiger 14 for making me rediscover Tiger 10, if nothing else

Well, they did trumpet the presentation aspect a bit, but without a proper broadcast angle it's not much of an improvement. I can live with follow up camera simply because I am not an astute student of the game like you're and soon I'll be pressing the Y button as if I was playing HSG.

But I welcome the sim difficulty. Haven't tried the tourney you set up yet but reading the scores it's going to be a challenge for sure. At this stage I also wished they included the yardage information instead of playing a guessing game with my clubs.

Can't remember much about the 10 version but for ten bucks I am tempted to get 11 again.

[dbdynsty25]

I suppose I should cancel my preorder. I couldn't make it it through 9 holes without getting bored. I'm not sure why that is this year. I guess I just got burnt out on it last year, even though I didn't play nearly as much as most of you guys did

What difficulty level were you playing? Just curious what your thoughts might be on Tournament or Simulation difficulty where advanced shot shaping is required. Any thoughts on the camera options?

The camera didn't bother me nearly as much as the rest of you it appears. I could take em or leave them. As long as I can fast forward when the ball is in the air, I'm cool w/ it. LOL. I was playing on Tourney level with all of the aids off.

[Wilk5280]

Yeah, I'm not nearly as concerned with the camera as JC, but there is absolutely no excuse for the lack of yardage markers. It's the most essential part of the game. I mean how is anyone supposed to know what club to use?

[Blublub]

I'm starting to really feel old, but I just continue to be mystified that this is the state of the art in golf sims in 2013, particularly when I can still fire up the old Links Pro on PC, enjoy a round and remember the promise held by the Links release on the original Xbox.

Maybe it's just me, but the overall look and feel of Tiger 14 doesn't seem all that different from Tiger 03 on the PS2, let alone TW13. Actually in some respects it seems a downgrade - no yardage markers, no caddy option, two camera angles, can't save replays (again) - seriously? And don't even get me started on the need to buy the same courses as DLC year after year.

I am intrigued by the club and online stuff (too bad they aren't online with ER), but when finishing a single round feels like a day at the office I know I need to invest my gaming time and dollar elsewhere for another year. IMHO The series seriously needs an injection of fresh ideas and direction at this stage.

[vader29]

I played the first two rounds of the weekly, +11 in the first round and +5 in the second, my main problems were the artificial difficulty of diagonal swinging going into the woods and not being able to see the water surrounding a couple of the holes. Attempting a long putt with just green grids and no beads is kind of worthless for me as I take a shot to see what the break is going to be but the camera pulls away so far that it shows me nothing.

I did play one round in my offline career and set it up as close as I could to last year’s settings with grids and beads on and finished with a -11, so while the game could work for me with offline play with some new courses thrown in, I will play the season ticket over the next three days but definitely will not be purchasing this year’s game right away if at all.

[Danimal]

I think I have more holes in than anyone except Ortho

What is really starting to bug me is not knowing distances to hazards. I'll be crusiing along at anywhere between -2 to +2 and then I hit a shot and it ends up in the water hazard I didn't know was there. An despite a developers claim the automatic ball drops are not any better, I might argue they are worse than years past. Add to that the bug with the strike metter not showing up sometimes and you can go from good golf to one or two holes with quads and its round over.

Funny enough I am really enjoying the game but the yardage thing is weighing on me big time.

[orthostud23]

I think I have more holes in than anyone except Ortho

What is really starting to bug me is not knowing distances to hazards. I'll be crusiing along at anywhere between -2 to +2 and then I hit a shot and it ends up in the water hazard I didn't know was there. An despite a developers claim the automatic ball drops are not any better, I might argue they are worse than years past. Add to that the bug with the strike metter not showing up sometimes and you can go from good golf to one or two holes with quads and its round over.

Funny enough I am really enjoying the game but the yardage thing is weighing on me big time.

I did notice that as well Dan! It is sad to see though that not many of you guys are enjoying it. I played a lot last night and this morning and have only managed a few sub par rounds. My biggest complaint is like Dan and some others have with regards to yardage markers. No reason for it at all.

[Danimal]

Since I ran out of sim tourneys to play I tried a live Tour Pro and did worse than sim. Once the meters got on the screen it totally messed me up, I was watching the meters and screwing up. It also didn't help that for 4 hole I had a banner which obscured my putting view.

[orthostud23]

Since I ran out of sim tourneys to play I tried a live Tour Pro and did worse than sim. Once the meters got on the screen it totally messed me up, I was watching the meters and screwing up. It also didn't help that for 4 hole I had a banner which obscured my putting view.

That happened on the demo for me. I would hit start and then the banners went away.

[10spro]

Since I ran out of sim tourneys to play I tried a live Tour Pro and did worse than sim. Once the meters got on the screen it totally messed me up, I was watching the meters and screwing up. It also didn't help that for 4 hole I had a banner which obscured my putting view.

That happened on the demo for me. I would hit start and then the banners went away.

Yeah, that works but sure it's annoying and you wonder how stuff like that can get accepted. How about when J. Nantz says and "Here are your scoring leaders" and the banner shows up grey with no info at all?

[Danimal]

Well I just noticed something rather large in terms of single player. I have my career set up for 4 rounds with cuts. My last 2 tournaments I have shot the score needed to make the cut or less and still have been cut.

Last tournament I shot a +4 after 2 rounds and was cut but guys made the cut with +6 and +7 and it even said on the screen the current cut was +4.

This would be the final nail in the coffin in terms of me buying this. I am enjoying the game play with the bugs and glitches on the course but add this too it and you wonder if this thing was even f***in tested. EA has a thing they call broken but shippable on their products and it looks like TW14 has a lot of these.

[Danimal]

Since I ran out of sim tourneys to play I tried a live Tour Pro and did worse than sim. Once the meters got on the screen it totally messed me up, I was watching the meters and screwing up. It also didn't help that for 4 hole I had a banner which obscured my putting view.

That happened on the demo for me. I would hit start and then the banners went away.

Yeah, that works but sure it's annoying and you wonder how stuff like that can get accepted. How about when J. Nantz says and "Here are your scoring leaders" and the banner shows up grey with no info at all?

The banners are completely f***in broke. I have had it show me scoring stats for a hole on a course I was not even playing. Good lord this game better have a day one patch

[10spro]

Well, one thing I am sure very consistent at is the fact that I can't hit one damn fairway. Really. If I get lucky, maybe 2 in one round while I am left struggling to get the ball from the rough to the fairway. I am averaging double bogey golf at best. Don't get me wrong, I welcome the extra challenge and maybe my Pro doesn't have enough recovery points what not and I am sure that most of your created characters are on the same boat. But right now with my dude, I just can't hit it straight. Haven't tried playing with a Pro yet but really for me it's the lack of a proper zoom angle from where you're about to hit the ball to the flag and the lack of proper yardage info that bugs me more than the actual Sim difficulty.

Having said that, there's something still in this mode where it kind of drags me back to try to conquer a particular course despite the shortcomings, instead of letting the course get the worst out of me.

[Sudz]

can I get a club invite?

vibrantorange (xbox)

[orthostud23]

Enjoying the game but have cancelled my per-order. I will pick it up later in the year when it goes to under half price. Real golf starts in 3 weeks here so I will get my fill on the course!

[vader29]

So last night I finished tied at the end of a tournament in my career at Oakmont and it said we were going to a 3 hole playoff on holes 1,2 and 18, so I bogey the first hole and then it ends with me in second place not even getting to play the second hole. I've also seen the banner overlay bug a few times, one time it wouldn't even let me pause to get rid of it just had to swing with on there, great job testing EA!

[pk500]

Sounds like this game needs one of these:



I appreciate you Season Ticket holders verifying my decision to save $60 by skipping this game. Many thanks.

Too bad, as I dug Tiger 13.

[Gangrel]

So last night I finished tied at the end of a tournament in my career at Oakmont and it said we were going to a 3 hole playoff on holes 1,2 and 18, so I bogey the first hole and then it ends with me in second place not even getting to play the second hole.

Maybe it was a sudden death playoff and they just didn't tell you?


I'm on the fence on this one. I almost think Tiger would be better as a every 2 years game.......

I have a bunch of stuff going on around here, so it might help me have the patience and wait to see what a patch may bring.......

[J_Cauthen]

can I get a club invite?

vibrantorange (xbox)

Sent... are you playing the Early Release version?

[DChaps]

It sounds like there is not going to be much of a DSP CC this year. I had decided I was going to get the Amazon Historic Pre-Order when I saw the post about the discount, and I had some Amazon credit. As much as I did not enjoy the demo, it did make me remember how much I missed the fun aspects of the DSP tournaments. However, are there going to be more than 5 DSP users with TW14 come Tuesday?

[10spro]

I will still get it. Doubt we'll have the interest we had last year but despite its flaws I welcome the Sim difficulty mode. You can argue that EA went the wrong way in order to make things more realistic and difficult, but I like my golf in real life and enjoy the CC tourneys. It's a challenging mode to say the least and I am curious how my Pro will do as I play more and build him up.

But the way things are now, it needs a good patch pronto.

[J_Cauthen]

The camera didn't bother me nearly as much as the rest of you it appears. I could take em or leave them. As long as I can fast forward when the ball is in the air, I'm cool w/ it. LOL. I was playing on Tourney level with all of the aids off.

Okay, I appreciate reading other takes on this. I just wondered if the camera production had any bearing on your initial impression. You said you got bored with it quickly. Did you find the tournament difficulty to be tedious to the point of boredom?

[J_Cauthen]

It sounds like there is not going to be much of a DSP CC this year. I had decided I was going to get the Amazon Historic Pre-Order when I saw the post about the discount, and I had some Amazon credit. As much as I did not enjoy the demo, it did make me remember how much I missed the fun aspects of the DSP tournaments. However, are there going to be more than 5 DSP users with TW14 come Tuesday?

There's a new development that might keep me in if it goes down. The game's Executive Producer, Sean Wilson responded to mounting criticism of the putting camera production this way in the official forum:

Just keep the putting camera still behind the ball. Then I'm buying it. Simple as that. All the other issues will sort themselves out as you go along but damn, I just wanna chill back and watch my ball roll in or around the hole from a nice close view without the dramatic cut away or diagonal angle.

To which Sean replied thusly:

I'm going to try and make this happen for everyone in the patch. I'm not sure if its technically possible but if it is I will make it the follow cam option. Bear in mind you may not see the hole on super long putts if the camera stays in the player perspective. Also NO promises because I don't know if we can yet. I'll keep ever

I like the new gameplay well enough to be able to use Follow cam for another year, provided they do patch in a stationary, Swing Camera camera view for putting. I'll wait and see what happens patch wise regarding a stationary/fixed putting camera before I buy the game though. I've Gamefly'd the game which will give me two days of play before the 2 day online pass trial period ends for it. I won't be interested in playing it beyond that without at least a putting camera fix.

People are telling me to use the replay to see how my putt broke. That's not only tedious and time consuming, but in some game modes, it's not even an option. I just finished a sim mode match online and had putts on almost every hole that I couldn't properly gauge the break on. It would have been nice to be able to see how the ball broke on gridless greens, but replays are not an option in online multiplayer. I'm sure I missed putts I would have made had I been able to see how the ball broke on my approach putt. This is where there's a distinct, unrealistic difficulty element imposed on the player due to the camera presentation on putts.

[MERACE]

Haven't tried playing with a Pro yet but really for me it's the lack of a proper zoom angle from where you're about to hit the ball to the flag and the lack of proper yardage info that bugs me more than the actual Sim difficulty.

Along with Johns (and others) complaint with the putting camera, I find this my biggest complaint with Simulation Mode.

I'm hoping that when the CC tournaments officially begin with the release of the retail version of TW14 we can include the zoom to target option in Simulation Mode (changing it to Custom Mode).


-MERACE