More Details Emerge About The Golf Club

[MERACE]

Quote: Originally Posted by rolltide1017

Not including drops is really bugging me, that just changes the game of golf so much. Even the "other" series had drops, yes they were automatic and put you in odd spots sometimes but, at least they were there.

I despised the automatic drops that were in TW14. After re-hitting my ball in the rough on a down hill lie from the edge of the water and seeing it go back in the water after several attempts almost made me throw my controller against the wall. I would rather have just teed off again.

Quote: Originally Posted by rolltide1017

This fundamentally changes the way the sport is played, it would be like not including extra points and 2-pt conversions in a football game IMO.

I thing your analogy goes a little too far (especially with the NFL considering eliminating the PAT) but I do agree with you that a proper drop is a fundamental element in the game of golf and should be added to the game ASAP (along with moving the ball in the tee box).


-MERACE

[Seymour Scagnetti]

The drops and the one difficulty level are a big thing but also one type of green speed (and the lack of talk from the devs about the physics is troubling) and you can't move your golfer within the tee box which always bugged the hell out of me with TW. And we have no idea what kind of mess online will be with servers with a brand new game but it usually is a mess. The devs are banking on the online facet for this game to succeed so they better ensure everything is buttery smooth. No one has patience for that and they will lose the fanbase quickly if they have to work out bugs. And they want this game to appeal to the masses so with one difficulty level, it will most likely lean toward the easy side rather than the difficult side.

I know these are new devs and you have to give them a chance but if they are claiming this is a sim game then you should have basic sim attributes right from the get go. In all honesty I think this is a one off. They saw the opportunity to have a golf game in a year unopposed by EA and just wanted to cannabalize some of those sales from starving golf fans and hope they strike lightening in a bottle and they may get it from an arcade perspective but there is nothing about this game that excites me as a sim gamer in any way except for the nicer graphics. Unless this game takes off immediately then I can't see them making a game next year with EA's game back on the market and hoarding the market share. Updates are easy to promise but cost money to do.

And I've complained about the TW series ad nauseum over the years but I actually thought TW14 was thier best game ever by a comfortable margin from a sim perspective. I loved the the swing method and the difficulty of it and the physics were a great improvement. They still have a ways to go in making a top notch sports game but I am looking forward to what they can do for next gen. Yeah there were bugs that remained unresolved but unfortunately every sports game is like that these days.

[MERACE]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seymour Scagnetti

And they want this game to appeal to the masses so with one difficulty level, it will most likely lean toward the easy side rather than the difficult.

Unless the developer Anthony is lying or really sucks at virtual golf games here is his experience with the difficulty of the game:

http://www.hb-studios.com/forum/index.php?topic=549.0

"I have created a course we're planning on having on the servers for the Closed BETA, that has huge flat greens and wide fairways. With my extensive experience in the game I'm hitting about 14 under on that, but that's easier than any course I've ever played as an amateur golfer in real life.
I also play Pinehurst River, http://thegolfclubgame.com/2014/01/1...p-carousel-387, regularly and my best score it 1 Over.

And you have to realise that I've played the game for at lease 5hrs a day for about a year. So there's plenty of challenge"


-MERACE

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by Zinger

Only one difficulty level? How can that possibly work to the satisfaction of all. The different degrees of difficulty of the courses won't make any difference to the fact that some people will find it all way too easy and others too hard.

That's a selling point of the game to me. Coupled with neutral golfer skills, you can gauge your game against anybody even if you play single player or multi player offline.

Wonder if you'll have a handicap?

[OnlookerDelay]

I just learned this morning that voice chat across platforms will not be possible in The Golf Club. I'm not surprised by it though. The producer cited the fact that the voip's that come with the platforms are not compatible across platforms, which again is no shock.

To further explain how "multiplayer" works in The Golf Club, one of the developers described it this way:

"Multiplayer is asynchronous, so there really are no 'matches' aside from defined tournaments that you can open up over a set amount of time."

I think they're having to call it asynchronous because if they're going to realize their goal of cross-play between XB1 and PS4, they can't directly tie the two together. They'll have to use HBS server's as a buffer between the two, so there will be some degree of delay associated with that.

I still think people who wanted to play what we call turn-based play could still do it. They would just have to agree to see who was furthest out and defer to that player to play their shot. All you'd see is a vertical color bar with a player's name over it, and a corresponding color shot tracer showing the flight of the ball, but that would probably get the job done for some. They're still tossing ideas around, so this isn't set in stone. Of course a lot of what I've said is based in speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

[MERACE]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayBee74

Wonder if you'll have a handicap?

The developers mentioned that with their game engine it is definitely possible and that they would like to add that to game in the future.


-MERACE

[Lieutenant Dan]

Quote: Originally Posted by MERACE

The developers mentioned that with their game engine it is definitely possible and that they would like to add that to game in the future. -MERACE

Golf handicaps are math I just don't grasp.

When I play IRL, I just play scratch and write small so there's room for my triple digit score :P