Tiger Woods 08 impressions

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 12:50 am

The physics on the green are pretty bad hasnt changed since last time i tried a tiger game 06 i think. if i hit a wedge to a green it doesnt hit the green stick and spin backwards without bouncing, drives me crazy. Dont tell me the green was wet it would have plugged . Just bad, another year without a golf game .

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:47 am

How do you "level up" in this game. I'm sitting on rookie and I don't know what game mode advances your character.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:00 am

JRod wrote:Two things that TW does poorly, putting and upgrading your own player.

1. I just want to play the PGA tour mode. I don't want to play mini-games or seperate games to fiddle with my character. So now I have to build my player and hope I don't over do it to create a super player.

2. Putting system needs to be scrapped. When I miss, most of it is because of the distance control problems TW has. The swing animation also helps to destroy the putting game. I'll just beat a dead horse, the 160 ft animation makes a 10 foot an adventure.

3. On the flip side, hitting it straight all the time isn't easy. Even with the pros you can have major misses to hitting into the first cut.

I'm playing on tour mode.

1. Could not agree more. Tiger Challenge has gotten larger and more tedious with each version and I think the intent is to help the user learn all the shots in the bag, but for veteran players, it is just too much work like you stated.

2. I agree that the putting animation is simply bad. The Executive Producer for the game agrees. This one is on the list for upgrading in 09. However, the way you have to think about putting in this game and in 06/07, is that for each putter distance you have, the animation of the putting stroke is for that particular distance. So if yoiu have a 5' putt and your putter distance is 5' also, you will need to swing the stick fully to sink the putt. Where it becomes a real challenge is when you are between putter lengths. My approach for every putt is to use the putter length that allows me to use the fullest stroke possible and if I need to dial the length up or down, I gauge the putting stroke to try to match that length. It is not easy, but I am making the best of my putting game this way.

3. I am a hardcore TOUR Pro player from 06/07. I can't play TOUR Pro in this version yet because it is going to take alot of practice for me to be able to swing consistently. I am still struggling in Balanced to keep the ball from out of the rough and OB. You are a better player than I am....

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:04 am

JRod wrote:How do you "level up" in this game. I'm sitting on rookie and I don't know what game mode advances your character.

Thre things from what I have experienced and read:

1) Play Tiger Challenge and work to beat the boss Golfers in each cluster.

2) When your skills potential bar is raised from beating a boss Golfer, use Skills Training in between Tiger Challenges to move up the attributes.

3) Once you have a Golfer with some decent attributes (over 50% minimum), I have heard from some users who tired of Tiger Challenge and started a PGA TOUR Season and played these rounds and also increased their potential and skill levels.

Hope this helps...

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:52 pm

ScoopBrady wrote: I did give the PSP version a spin last night and was quite impressed. I haven't played a Tiger game on the PSP since the first one and this version is worlds better than that one.

I've been playing the PSP version for the past day or so and really enjoying it. It could just be an illusion, but the analog swing seems a bit more forgiving than last year. Its not without its annoyances, but they are fairly minor:

1. Can't skip the shot transition, warm-up and reaction animations fast enough (you should just be able to shut these off). I want to get to my next shot as quickly as I can, I don't care about all the presentation fluff in-between.
2. Confidence mini-games are annoying, just figured out I could turn off the "mental game" in the options. Yay!
3. Interface screens are slow to load, but that seems to be a common problem with PSP games.

Load times are pretty quick between holes, so it appears EA has fixed that issue for good now. Unlike the next-gen versions, I prefer the way the PSP version handles golfer progression, by placing skill-building events into the calendar with all other events. I'm a pretty casual golf game player, so if you are looking for a solid golf game for PSP, I would recommend it.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:08 pm

Have they put the update out yet?

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:23 pm

Zlax45 wrote:Have they put the update out yet?

No. I expect it pretty soon, but do not have an ETA. Once this fix is released, they will be working on another update to the 360 version addressing gameplay tweaks and other minor issues being posted in the forums.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:24 pm

Divot any chance we might see them address putting in the gameplay tweaks you mentioned?

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:28 pm

Rodster wrote:Divot any chance we might see them address putting in the gameplay tweaks you mentioned?

Which ones specifically? Please be specific so I can pass the info along. This is for the 360 only. Hard to keep up with everything that has been posted about the game...and if you are asking about improving the putting animation, I think that is outside the scope of the update for 08, but is certainly on the list for 09....

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:40 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote:The physics on the green are pretty bad hasnt changed since last time i tried a tiger game 06 i think. if i hit a wedge to a green it doesnt hit the green stick and spin backwards without bouncing, drives me crazy. Dont tell me the green was wet it would have plugged . Just bad, another year without a golf game .

I'm actually pretty impressed with the physics and the way the ball behaves on the green depending on the game settings, golfer skills, and use of the right stick.

I'm playing the Tiger challenge on balanced and it's not too bad. I can usually pass most of them on a few tries without it being too easy. I still miss my share of fairways on balanced but putting is more forgiving. I play Tour or Tour Pro in traditional mode and it is a lot of fun.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:46 pm

b_assassin wrote:1. Can't skip the shot transition, warm-up and reaction animations fast enough (you should just be able to shut these off). I want to get to my next shot as quickly as I can, I don't care about all the presentation fluff in-between.

Like I said before...I guarantee these cut scenes are there to hide loading in the background. Golf games are very different from football and baseball games where the field is fairly static and it doesn't change. In a golf game, the view is going to be different for damn near every shot so they have to load those shots. If the user saw a loading bar after every shot, they'd go nuts...so they hide it with cut scenes. The same thing holds true with the PC, PS3 and 360 versions, so you can almost guarantee that the PSP version needs to do it even more.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:04 pm

DivotMaker wrote:
Leebo33 wrote:I can't get the so-called "workaround" to work. I'm still freezing in career mode even if I clear the cache.
If you have a memory card, read further.

Thanks! That worked for me.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:13 pm

Leebo33 wrote: Also, in real life I never hit off the cart path and take a free drop. What is the "official" ruling? I've been forced to hit shots from on the cart path a few times in this game.

Offical rule is that it is your choice... you can hit it where it lies if you want (in case there is no good place to drop it that is within the rules) but if you choose to take a drop because either the ball or even just both or one of your feet are on the cart path, it's a free drop. Drop within one club-length (or maybe 2, can't remember... and yes you can use your longest club in the bag, the driver, for measuring) from the nearest point of relief, no closer to the hole.

My feet standing on the path don't bother me much in real life, so if I have a good lie and there's a risk of a crappy lie if I take a drop, I just hit it with my feet standing on the path.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:42 am

Putting is a damn adventure here.

Sometimes you'll have a downhill putt and the you set the putting distance a notch short. In theory it should roll down to the hole. Yet you can leave those short and it makes no sense. On straight uphill putts where the putting distance might only be a few feet past the hole, if you hit a 100% it ends up 10 ft past. And that's without a dropoff past the whole.

I would really like to know what the hell this game is doing on the greens. It makes absolutely no sense. At this point, I think the putting model is boderline random.

The visual swing and the power DO NOT match up. If you want to hit 75% distance shot, visually the golfer looks like he's taking a quarter swing.

In links you could hit a 75% shot and 65% and notice the difference. In TW, whether its putting, or the long game, the swing and power do not match up.

They really need to work on matching that up and allow for finer control of the golfer. Putting is just plain bad no way to suger coat it.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:16 am

DivotMaker wrote:
Rodster wrote:Divot any chance we might see them address putting in the gameplay tweaks you mentioned?
Which ones specifically? Please be specific so I can pass the info along. This is for the 360 only. Hard to keep up with everything that has been posted about the game...and if you are asking about improving the putting animation, I think that is outside the scope of the update for 08, but is certainly on the list for 09....

What I was referring to Divot is the putt preview which gives us an idea of how much power to put on the ball. Right now it's a lot of trail and error although i'm getting better at it. We are all pretty much in agreement that the PC version translates the putting aspect of the game much easier than the PS360 versions.

As to the animations I realize there's no way in hell that's getting fixed this year. Hopefully next year.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:33 am

Rodster wrote:
DivotMaker wrote:
Rodster wrote:Divot any chance we might see them address putting in the gameplay tweaks you mentioned?
Which ones specifically? Please be specific so I can pass the info along. This is for the 360 only. Hard to keep up with everything that has been posted about the game...and if you are asking about improving the putting animation, I think that is outside the scope of the update for 08, but is certainly on the list for 09....
What I was referring to Divot is the putt preview which gives us an idea of how much power to put on the ball. Right now it's a lot of trail and error although i'm getting better at it. We are all pretty much in agreement that the PC version translates the putting aspect of the game much easier than the PS360 versions.

As to the animations I realize there's no way in hell that's getting fixed this year. Hopefully next year.

Thanks...I have seen some of what you describe and it is on my list to submit to the TW Production Team....

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:36 am

Divot are you up for some online play later today?

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:37 am

TCrouch wrote:
Spooky wrote:It wasn't that easy when we were trying to use both of our created players and profiles. Seriously. And I tend to think I am semi-intelligent.
Were you both signed in under separate XBox usernames? Seriously, I was logged in as me, my daughter was logged in as hers, both of us had saved golfers under our profiles. As soon as she joined, it instantly brought up her golfer without any intervention at all.

Why does it have to be overly complicated? I don't have separate gamertags for my kids because they basically only play Lego Star Wars and a couple racing games. They usually play when I'm at work and it's just easier for my wife to not have to worry about multiple gamertags so they use mine. I created all 4 of my family members under my Leebo33 gamertag and now the game won't let me use multiple controllers. I can load all the users but we have to use 1 controller...WTF? When I load the game under another gamertag and try to load a golfer it says "no valid users." I WANT TO THROW THE DISK THROUGH THE WINDOW AT THIS POINT.

I'm also wondering what the assigment of difficutly during the player creation process actually does and how it relates to the difficulty in options. I want my kids (almost 3 and 4 1/2) to play on Easy play while I play on Tour. It doesn't matter what I selected in setup. The difficulty in options overrides the original setting so I have to play on Easy unless I want to hear them whine when they exceed the shot limit.

Edit:

I tried to create a new gamertag for each of my family members to use, but now I can't access the pictures I uploaded under Leebo33. The photo game face is *really* cool but not being able to use the golfers I created or having to share one controller when I own 4 is a kick in the nuts.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:39 pm

Geez this game is more frustrating than fun.

The putting system is downright horrible and ruins the game. It makes no sense. You never get a feel for distance and its completely random.

Then you get stupid EA sports crap. There's a hole at bandon dunes where you hit the weeds of the tee. WTF is that. It's crap like that that ruins the game.

And the ball flight physics are terrible and not realistic. That results in a lot of video game golf moments and not real golf moments. And sometimes you get the crowd standing in some really spots. Like when you want to puch the ball but there's the gallery that takes away that shot.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:23 pm

You may want to stop playing video games COMPLETELY. Seriously.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:57 pm

Appearently there's a bug on the putting system when you change distances. That might be way, it makes no sense. That would explain why on some putts you put it off the green when there's no reasonable explanation why.

That would take out a lot of the frustration in this game. Don't know if we'll see that fixed, however.

Phototropic · Post by **Phototropic** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:57 pm

I'm not seeing any problems putting. It's the most impressive part of the game for me so far in that it is challenging enough to keep me on my toes. You do have to watch to make sure you are using the putter distance you think you are using and also that you use the right tempo.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:08 pm

Phototropic wrote:I'm not seeing any problems putting. It's the most impressive part of the game for me so far in that it is challenging enough to keep me on my toes. You do have to watch to make sure you are using the putter distance you think you are using and also that you use the right tempo.

None there either, but I do see that the putting preview in Balanced difficulty sometimes cuts off when the putt is certainly longer than the putt strength would indicate.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:38 pm

Divot, where is the best place to post a question concerning the linking of profiles to Gamertags (a really dumb, dumb decision IMO as the uploading of photos is tied to gamertags and that means to get 4 pics under 4 profiles you need 4 EA accounts linked to 4 XBL accounts...hope I am wrong on that)? I tried to look in the EA forum, but it says "unable to launch application" and of course the link at easportsworld.com doesn't work (nor do the banner ad links work...what a disaster that site is).

I would also like to know if there is a way for the game to autoload the profiles other than default as it is a time waster to load them each time.

I love the game, but the folks that designed it apparently don't appreciate the real world ramifications to some of their decisions. I mean, if you are going to have a really cool feature like game face why not have the pics saved on a hard drive for any profile to use? And why the heck do I need 4 accounts loaded to play with 4 controllers. Are there any other sports games in history that require that?

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:54 pm

Leebo33 wrote:Divot, where is the best place to post a question concerning the linking of profiles to Gamertags (a really dumb, dumb decision IMO as the uploading of photos is tied to gamertags and that means to get 4 pics under 4 profiles you need 4 EA accounts linked to 4 XBL accounts...hope I am wrong on that)? I tried to look in the EA forum, but it says "unable to launch application" and of course the link at easportsworld.com doesn't work (nor do the banner ad links work...what a disaster that site is).

I would also like to know if there is a way for the game to autoload the profiles other than default as it is a time waster to load them each time.

I love the game, but the folks that designed it apparently don't appreciate the real world ramifications to some of their decisions. I mean, if you are going to have a really cool feature like game face why not have the pics saved on a hard drive for any profile to use? And why the heck do I need 4 accounts loaded to play with 4 controllers. Are there any other sports games in history that require that?

Right here is fine. I will communicate your question to the TW Production team and see if there is some way to make this an easier process.