Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR Golf

[dbdynsty25]

I guess eventually the pretty graphics wear off. I've said from the jump TGC is a better game, and that still holds true. It just feels like golf...minus the pretty colors and bugs flying around.

[TCrouch]

I still like RM a lot more than TGC. Still play it, and still can't get into TGC no matter how hard I try.

[Aristo]

Same. the last few days I've been playing on Arcade and easy settings in order to level up my golfer more quickly. To be honest, it doesn't make a lot of difference in terms of XP. You get 100XP for every hole you finish, but I do grab another 35-65XP per hole based on hitting certain goals. Playing on hardest difficulties, I was playing at about 10 over per round, not even getting close to making the cut. But my guy was a 63 OVR, and it really wasn't fun grinding that way.

One thing you notice with all of the assists, and in particular the aiming arc, is that the game's physics are really, really good. You still have to account for what kind of a roll you will get after the carry distance, and it's been interesting to see how everything effects it. In particular, shooting from a higher elevation really kills you roll for obvious reasons.

I'm killing the courses now, and it isn't ho wI plan to play the game, but I am finding a lot more meat to the game. Mostly, if you don't use Zoom to Aim, you just don't get the same feel for how to shape shots to take advantage of dog legs and other obstacles. Playing with the arc for awhile has kind of helped me visualize the bends and how to take advantage of them.

There is plenty of gameplay here, it's just that it is missing a lot of content that we had every right to expect would be the game.

[J_Cauthen]

Any Rory McIlroy PGA Tour owners pick up the 1.02 update yesterday? If so, I'd be curious to read the reactions of those of you who play Tour default, or Tour Advanced difficulty levels. One of the devs posted the following about the swing changes that mostly affect Tour Advanced/Custom difficulty:

"the changes made to the Advanced Swing Mechanic put a premium on you executing the exact shot you are aimed for. So if you were someone that got by on doing like a -5/+5 kind of swing, you are going to become less accurate. There is no miss-hit if you nail the backswing length and follow through speed exactly right. But as you get away from those perfect points, more miss-hit is added. It isn't a random amount, it is quantified by how far off from perfect you are in each area. The only random to it is if that miss-hit is added to the left or the right."

This sounds like they're forcing the hand of gamers to set a target backswing length for any shot, whether you want to play a partial shot or not. If you don't hit that target backswing, which I'm thinking would feel like a full swing based on my experience with the Early Access version, you'll be penalized with a "mis hit" error... that doesn't compute with me!? I can see getting an accuracy penalty for slow or quick tempos, but a shortened backswing??

[Aristo]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of their fix. I certainly started missing more fairways, but the randomness is really off-putting. Where I used to accept that erring on the side of slow helped me keep it straight, I now have to peg it. It just feels like I should be able to go conservative and sacrifice some distance, which doesn't seem possible now.

I played a round with Spieth, and it did force me to work out of more challenging situations. But it also seems like putting is much easier now, so I still finished the front nine one under par. It might have just been easier greens on Royal Troon, but I was sinking putts I was almost always off before.

I'll try my CAG later today, and that might get brutal.

I expect most people to hate this fix, primarily because it doesn't change to mechanics, but rather double downs on having the user set a distance to adjust for power instead of adjusting backswing on the fly.

[Aristo]

Just wrapped up a fair seven over par at Whistling Straights with my 71 rated CAG. My lack of power forced me into challenging approaches, and I definitely was not sinking putts like I was with Spieth. It was a fun round, although with too many bogies. But I had three birdies ad no double bogies.

While I'm still not a fan of the random left or right misses of the fairway, you really don't get hammered unless you really blow both the backswing and follow-through by a lot. With my CAG, it felt like a really fair punishment on my mis-hits.

I did have a chance to use the Golf Without Limits feature on 14. Instead of driving the narrow fairway lined with lots of bunkers, I laid up on the fairway running parallel to the hole, and still had a great look at the green. That fairway was wide and bunkerless, so I was able to go after as much distance I could muster. It worked, as I placed my second shot on the green with an easy putt for a birdie.

I still think the gameplay is just fantastic. But the lack of social features is really going to kill this game. And really, even after I finished the round, the game just goes back to the menus, which prevented me from going back over my scorecard. Wit the lack of replays, too, the game just feels shallow. Its fun while I play, but then it is just gone.

I have to wonder if they can actually ride this game out for two years, or if this is the game that kills off EA golf. There is just no way this game remains relevant if they do not add some serious social modes. I mean, Powerstar Golf is better than this, in terms of feeling like you are playing with friends, even when you are just playing solo.

[Danimal]

I have to wonder if they can actually ride this game out for two years, or if this is the game that kills off EA golf. There is just no way this game remains relevant if they do not add some serious social modes. I mean, Powerstar Golf is better than this, in terms of feeling like you are playing with friends, even when you are just playing solo.

Don't worry, one of the dev posted "Trust Us" at OS right after the release.

With a meta Critic score of 61 and a user rating of 3.5 I can't imagine EA execs are saying lets pump more money into this.

[Aristo]

Interestingly, RMPGAT beat TW 14's first month of sales by 70%, according to the GAF NPD thread tonight. Don't know what that means, but Rory was #5 on the software charts. Maybe there will be enough for EA to support the title with meaningful content.

[pk500]

Rory 16 already down to $40 this week as an Xbox Live Deals with Gold.

This game tanked faster than Hootie and the Blowfish's second album.

[Danimal]

Rory 16 already down to $40 this week as an Xbox Live Deals with Gold.

This game tanked faster than Hootie and the Blowfish's second album.

Hey f*** you, I love me some Hootie!

[pk500]

Rory 16 already down to $40 this week as an Xbox Live Deals with Gold.

This game tanked faster than Hootie and the Blowfish's second album.

Hey f*** you, I love me some Hootie!

Oh, dear.

[Rodster]

Rory 16 already down to $40 this week as an Xbox Live Deals with Gold.

This game tanked faster than Hootie and the Blowfish's second album.

Hey f*** you, I love me some Hootie!

Oh, dear.

Woot, this has all the makings for an early EA Access game.

[Sudz]

I sold this f***er on Glyde last week. It is an OK game that would be better if it had a full tour, real stats, and more than 3 courses.

[J_Cauthen]

Not only have they cut the cost of the XB1 version by $20, they're offering a free week of trial play of RMPGAT for XBox Live Gold subscribers this week. I was going to download it to see what effect the 1.02 patch had on the swing interface, but it won't let me have it since my EA Access 10 hour trial has expired. This seems to be an awfully desperate measure so soon in this game's life. I think they should offer this trial after the second patch, which reportedly will fix a number of the major complaints about the game. That patch isn't due until next month though.

[Aristo]

I'm not saying that gameplay can't be improved, but that is not what is holding this game back. Even the lack of courses just serves as a nice and lazy way to ding the state of the game.

It's the utter shallowness of the career mode, the lack of any real way to organize and play tournaments with friends online, and the crappy way it tracks your stats. I mean, if I play an online tournament, it automatically dumps me back to the main screen, forcing me to surf the menus back to the tournament page, just to see where my score has me on the leader board. If my score is not in the Top 100, even though they pay put to the Top 1000, then I can't see my result anywhere. Not my score, not my scorecard, nothing. I can't see what my driving distance was in a a particular match. And what the leaderboard tracks is mostly pointless and not worth looking at.

And really, the same goes with career play and play now. Once your match is over, everything you did just disappears. There is nothing there to draw you back in to better your performance. Everything just feels like a one off match. The lack of a schedule in the career mode emphasizes how little your past performance really means in this game. It is staggering how much they missed the point.

[pk500]

Maybe EA will wake up to fact that exclusives and/or the EA Sports brand don't always guarantee big sales. Rory, UFC and NBA Live 15 were flops despite the might of the EA marketing machine.

One can only hope.

Good point from Aristo about an early arrival at EA Access! That service not only is a great value, but the speed at which the game arrives in the Vault usually is a good indication of its financial success. Games pushed quickly to Access are the sports gaming equivalent of movie flops that were on VHS in Blockbuster within a month or two of theater release in the 1980s and 1990s!

[Teal]

Hey, I love me some Hootie, too!

(Oh, wait, you're talking about the band...nevermind...)

[fsquid]

Rory 16 already down to $40 this week as an Xbox Live Deals with Gold.

This game tanked faster than Hootie and the Blowfish's second album.

Hey f*** you, I love me some Hootie!

Oh, dear.

Rock me momma like a Wagon Wheel?

[10spro]

East Lake is added as DLC along the following patch improvements.


http://www.gamespot.com/articles/more-f ... YifQ%3D%3D

[Aristo]

Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR Free Content Coming Soon

Upcoming free content:

Golfers: Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson
Fantasy Course: Treasure Island
Real-World Courses: Quail Hollow (North Carolina), TPC Stadium at PGA West (California), Oakmont Country Club (Pennsylvania)
New Play Now Modes: Skins, Four Ball, Alternate Shot and Best Ball

They still need to add some sort of substance to the career mode, and they desperately need to add Country clubs to the online so that players can set up tourneys to play with friends. It's good that they are adding content, but this still isn't making the game any better.

I like it. I will fire the game up from the time to time, but there is nothing drawing me in week after week like past TW games. Hell, just some Play the Pros Tourneys would be nice. But really, the nearly lack of stat tracking, outside of some weak leaderboards, make the experience feel more empty than it really is.

What seemed like a great idea, dropping the annual release, feels more and more like a death knell for the series. It's too bad, because the gameplay is actually great. There is a game there worth playing. They really did make it so much quicker to get through rounds with out sacrificing the strategic play. The courses look great. The presentation, from the overlays to the commentary, is really fantastic.

But EA really needs to finish the game, and that doesn't mean adding courses and golfers. The Modes are welcome, but they have to create a something more substantial to come back to. That great presentation would benefit from actually taking your season and career into account when displaying stats. That s part of what helps drive interest career play. The game should tell you when you hit your longest drive ever. That makes the XP you allied and clubs you bought feel worth it. Powerstar Golf gets this, and is a large part of why it is an addictive game to play.

Country Clubs, where you meet up and play with friends would go a long way in driving game sales. Once people start playing tourneys, others are more inclined to buy in and play. It's what gets many to fire the game up day after day. And the career is just an empty mode. No schedule, Nothing to really do buy play the next event, apply XP and some equipment then play another event. You can't look at your past scorecards. You don't have a list of your career achievements.

I still have the game pinned to my dashboard. I will fire it up every once n awhile, but since Madden, there is just really nothing puling me back in. It's really when the is a tournament on TV, and I want to play though the course, if it happens to be in the game, to get a feel for what the pros are seeing. But I can't recommend this game to anyone, really. And these additions really don't change that.

[tjung0831]

Finally got this in the mail this week and last night was the first night I really had time to put some time into it and for me there was much to like. Played it for 4 hours straight with my youngest son and we had a great time. I was really shocked that he had a great time playing it too as the only sports game he will play is hockey. I can see where if you are a seasoned video game golfer this game is probably too easy for you but since I haven't really played a golf game in a long time it was definitely perfect for me.
After one night of serious time with it, I'm very happy with it. I was wanting to get a few games of FIFA in last night as well but we were unable to put this game down.
Thanks to all that replied when I asked about it. Much appreciated.

[DivotMaker]

Finally got this in the mail this week and last night was the first night I really had time to put some time into it and for me there was much to like. Played it for 4 hours straight with my youngest son and we had a great time. I was really shocked that he had a great time playing it too as the only sports game he will play is hockey. I can see where if you are a seasoned video game golfer this game is probably too easy for you but since I haven't really played a golf game in a long time it was definitely perfect for me.
After one night of serious time with it, I'm very happy with it. I was wanting to get a few games of FIFA in last night as well but we were unable to put this game down.
Thanks to all that replied when I asked about it. Much appreciated.

Glad you are finding the game to be decent.....the game that shipped is not the same game as it is now with the updates. If you want a real challenge, play TOUR Advanced and turn all of the difficulty settings on. It is much more challenging than before and especially with the Elite controller......let me know if you have any questions about the game.

[10spro]

New TPC stadium course added to the game. For those waiting for the game to appear in the Vault, next month is a good bet.

[DivotMaker]

New TPC stadium course added to the game. For those waiting for the game to appear in the Vault, next month is a good bet.

Unless I am completely wrong, I doubt it. They are adding Oakmont and a new as yet unannounced feature by the end of February, still for free. I highly doubt they would be exerting this much effort for this somewhat significant new feature to turn around and stick it in the Vault at the same time. This game was not a yearly release and they have sold almost 600K copies (about 400K more than I expected when they released this game) according to VGChartz so I doubt they are moving it to the Vault anytime soon.

[Aristo]

Yeah, I saw Pastapadre trying to peddle it as being close to the Vault. But I think EA is banking on this game having a really long tail if they stick to their PR that the game is no longer an annual release.

And really, unless the super secret new feature is is online country clubs and the ability to schedule tournaments and seasons to play with friends, it still doesn't matter. I love the gameplay, but it was the country clubs and Play the Pros that kept me playing TW.