IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Played the beta and is a fun good game.
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New Hot Shots Golf/Everybody's Golf/Minna Golf Beta Test
- Thread starter kdoll08
- Start date
Once you level the 1W to level 10 it hits for 230 yards with the Power boost, then depending on wind and where the ball lands it can travel an extra 30-40 yards. Yesterday I had the record for furthest drive on hole 5 with ~266 yards.
Damn, I'd be pretty pissed if that happened to me but fair play that it can happen.
The slant of the land your hitting from can effect your shot
Is it just me or are there not many people online? When I'm freeroaming the course I usually only ever see about 4 other people, even though entering the course it shows like 400-500 people. Also, queuing up turf war, it takes a while to find people then ends up being at most 3v3.
I just saw a -32 score :lol
Also managed a 2nd longest drive on a hole.
Some of them were tee shots.
Also managed a 2nd longest drive on a hole.
Some of them were tee shots.
I normally see plenty of people, although I'm on the Asia/Oceania region servers.
I think the record score for today is -34, the highest possible with a hole-in-one on every hole is -27...lol
Well only 550 players but still yep.
Servers wouldn't let me connect for a while too. If the game is going to be persistently always online they better improve the infrastructure for retail release.
Wait, did it bounce in and back out of the hole?? Damn hahaha!
JetSetRadio
Banned
I really like this new approach, way better than those separate lobbies we had before.
Gameplay is still ace.
Gameplay is still ace.
Fangdangle
Neo Member
There is a repeatable glitch in the scoring, so people have been using that for the -30 scoring. I accidentally did it yesterday and it gave me an albatross instead of a birdie! Ive sent off a bug report but couldn't repeat the glitch myself.
BigEmil
Junior Member
Lol
I'd imagine if you could it would be in the single player modes without other people on the course.
Get your last rounds in people- 30 minutes left.
Oh that probably makes sense...wait I have the NA version doesn't that go till midnight?
Don't think so- test is supposed to end in 23 minutes Japanese time. It started in the middle of the night in the usa so they don't care about our schedule.
Ok thanks...off to get in 9 more
Didn't the NA email say it ends 12am PST Monday?
I'm in now and it's still working. Just got a -9.
Still really annoyed by the not hitting the ball square thing. Hopefully you can upgrade the control stat to almost eliminate it. Getting perfect impact, then missing the fairway and landing in a bunker due to that stupid thing is BS.
stargateheaven
Member
I really enjoyed my time with the beta, probably will buy it. There should be a demo for this game.
First, i'm SUPER happy that the servers are worldwide now.
But there needs to be an option for voice language. The current ones are shocking besides Caddy Yuka
First, i'm SUPER happy that the servers are worldwide now.
But there needs to be an option for voice language. The current ones are shocking besides Caddy Yuka
Alex Anderson
Member
Yep than can happen in previous games
I had one land in the cup in the air once and bounce right out some feet awayOnlookerDelay
Member
Are there not an optional swing meter types? I know Hot Shots Golf: World Tour had three or four different types, including one in which was semicircular up to waist high. You had to watch the golfer's animation to gauge the 2nd click (swing power).
The videos I've seen of the beta all show the bog standard, horizontal bar graph across the bottom of the screen. Maybe they didn't put options that deep in the reduced scale beta?
The videos I've seen of the beta all show the bog standard, horizontal bar graph across the bottom of the screen. Maybe they didn't put options that deep in the reduced scale beta?
Setzer
Member
Are you talking about World Invitational on Vita? If I recall correctly there were like 4 different types of swing meters you could unlock through gameplay. Can't recall if they unlocked as you progressed through challenge mode or if you had to use points to buy them in the shop. But if I recall correctly you started the game with the standard swing meter and that may be the case here.
Pixel Fist
Member
When does the beta end? Having a great time with it so far.
Congrats! I can pretty regularly eagle hole 3, but stick haven't managed a -10 yet. The trick to hole three is to aim to the fairway two over to the left (the one with the two bunkers on the right side), then from there you can make it to the green on the next shot.
How do you eagle hole 5?
Some more vids after that humorous non-holeout from yesterday...
All these are from the same round which ended up being -10. As you'll see, it was a pure fluke...
Hole out for eagle on hole #1 - This one actually stayed down this time!
How to eagle hole #3 -Massive lucky bounce here on the second shot, shows where to play your drive to give yourself an eagle chance.
Lucky birdie on hole #6 - Lucky bounce over bunker followed by 62 foot putt.
Final result:
Later went on to do it a more normal way:
Ended up placing 60th for the entire day, out of about 4,900 entrants. Not bad for a guy who averages 38% perfect impact (and always has throughout every one of these games...) Funny, I've spent all weekend playing golf, real and virtual. Three rounds in real life, about 10 on virtual golf island. What a great weekend.
(In my Sunday tourney today I managed to finish up par, par, par, birdie, par, which as a 19 handicap was birdie, birdie, birdie, albatross, birdie - and I snared longest drive with a 295 yard shot too, Didn't win, but felt good man.)
All these are from the same round which ended up being -10. As you'll see, it was a pure fluke...
Hole out for eagle on hole #1 - This one actually stayed down this time!
How to eagle hole #3 -Massive lucky bounce here on the second shot, shows where to play your drive to give yourself an eagle chance.
Lucky birdie on hole #6 - Lucky bounce over bunker followed by 62 foot putt.
Final result:
Later went on to do it a more normal way:
Ended up placing 60th for the entire day, out of about 4,900 entrants. Not bad for a guy who averages 38% perfect impact (and always has throughout every one of these games...) Funny, I've spent all weekend playing golf, real and virtual. Three rounds in real life, about 10 on virtual golf island. What a great weekend.
(In my Sunday tourney today I managed to finish up par, par, par, birdie, par, which as a 19 handicap was birdie, birdie, birdie, albatross, birdie - and I snared longest drive with a 295 yard shot too, Didn't win, but felt good man.)
The beta is over. Kicked me off the course and I was stuck on the "Golf Island" portal. From here you can still visit the shop, change and edit your characters, but as soon as you close and reopen you won't be able to get beyond the title menu where you choose between "single player" "multiplayer" etc.
ThePeoplesBureau
Member
I played the heck out of World Tour on PS3, so was delighted to get in on the beta. The magic is definitely still there, I know some people continue to be put off by the cutesy characters but to me, EG is the purest of the pure 'arcade golf' fun.
My experience with the beta was a bit mixed: the core gameplay and visuals are fantastic, but the scoring registration seemed broken for me from Saturday onwards - the leaderboards on 9-Hole just refused to update properly. This is what betas are for, so I'm sure it will be fixed come August.
My experience with the beta was a bit mixed: the core gameplay and visuals are fantastic, but the scoring registration seemed broken for me from Saturday onwards - the leaderboards on 9-Hole just refused to update properly. This is what betas are for, so I'm sure it will be fixed come August.
I played 441 holes(49 rounds!) during the beta, I'm fucked when the full game comes out...
I managed to score a hole-in-one off the flag on the 7th hole today, it bounced out and back in luckily! https://streamable.com/ztzgz
I managed to score a hole-in-one off the flag on the 7th hole today, it bounced out and back in luckily! https://streamable.com/ztzgz
Really enjoyed playing this beta. I like seeing everyone tearing round the course together.
Some of those high-scores though, Christ.
Dying at "Dr.Octagon", haha. Great shot.
The character customisation in this game is great, I was playing with someone for a bit who had a character who looked identical to Lupin the 3rd.
Some of those high-scores though, Christ.
Dying at "Dr.Octagon", haha. Great shot.
The character customisation in this game is great, I was playing with someone for a bit who had a character who looked identical to Lupin the 3rd.
ThePeoplesBureau
Member
It was open from Friday until Sunday only.
I eagled hole 3 plenty of times. Never managed to eagle hole 5. Got close a couple times though. The trick is to aim a fairway over and bounce it off the cart bridge and get over the creek and land on the fairway on the other side.
Second shot is also tricky because there's a bunker you need to hit it over. So you either aim around the bunker and end up with a 40 foot putt, or just miss the green and have a 20 yard or so chip. Or you can sometimes get lucky if you aim right for the flag and your shot hits the ground right before the bunker and bounces over it onto the green.
PLASTICA-MAN
Member
Will they release another Beta or Open Beta?
OnlookerDelay
Member
Yeah, that's what I meant... thanks! I didn't recall that you had to unlock them though, but it's been a while since I played that one, and especially since I would have been going through the 'leveling up' process.
Maybe no one had a chance to play the beta long enough to 'level up' to where optional swing meters would become available.
Can you still put spin on the ball so it zips backwards in a line of fire on the green? Haven't seen that in any of the videos you guys have been posting
And thanks for the videos btw, they've definitely eased my concerns. Totally itching to play now
Edit: do we know if PS+ is required to see other people on the course?
And thanks for the videos btw, they've definitely eased my concerns. Totally itching to play now
Edit: do we know if PS+ is required to see other people on the course?
Yeah, there's spin. Not much though since the characters spin rating probably wasn't great.
ThePeoplesBureau
Member
No one has been harder on this game pre-release than me. I'm an EG mega-fan who plays two/three rounds of real golf a week and has the last game on the PS3 as one of my top-5 games of the last gen. I genuinely thought from the trailers so far that Clap Hanz had moved their focus in the wrong direction, been distracted by shitty social and online features, made an ugly game and basically fucked everything up despite an insanely long dev time. I was expecting a disaster.
The verdict? This game will be a strong game of the year contender for me, and in almost every aspect of the game design Clap Hanz has proven they know far more about game design than my pea brain ever could.
1. Gameplay The game plays much as it ever did, but it has had subtle improvements. Ball physics are slightly better, and camera angles are smoother. Putting, in particular, feels better than it ever has before. It's the EG that we all know and love, and it's still brilliant. Most importantly, when playing 9 holes you skip from shot to shot and hole to hole as quick as you ever did - the flow of the game is NOT interrupted by the online features or other players on the course, which was my biggest concern.
2. Course Design We only have 9 holes to judge here, but my impression from this small selection is that theses could potentially be the best set of courses we ever see in an EG game. They are easily the best opening 9 holes of any of these games. Each hole has something interesting to recommend it and is well thought through. Landing zones tighten exactly where they should, greens are protected by hazards in clever ways. As a beginning course, mediocre shots aren't punished but poor shots often are. That's exactly how it should be. Even a simple par 3 like seven is made interesting by placing a mound behind the cup, so that a straight shot is a poor choice and 10 yards left of the green is your best option. There is just so much thought put into each hole.
What's more, the fact that the course isn't a separate collection of 'levels' but one big open-world, like a real course, allows for different strategies and real golfing experiences. In my home course I often play for the second fairway from the third tee - the exact same strategy applies on Eagle City GC, which is awesome. Not only that, but it gives the course a real 'sense of place', and you get to know the grounds like you would a real course. The holes flow beautifully into each other with the exception of 9, where the tees are awkwardly placed away from the 8th green. Overall, though, the course design pushes things forward from previous games in a very real way.
Being able to walk to a tee box and play a hole to practice, then walk back and play the same hole again and again without a single load time is just an awesome, awesome feature, and totally justifies the open world course design. We could only play the front tees, but the mid and back tees all seemed well positioned to offer a decent challenge.
I'd say that the exception to the good hole design is hole 6, which is both too hard for an opening course and also not reachable in two without levelling up your clubs to max, which is not acceptable in a golf game. You shouldn't need to grind to be able to hit a GIR. There is a nasty bunker in the landing zone with a water hazard waiting to catch anyone who goes in said bunker, then a step slope leading to the green that makes it easy to blow through. Just an overly punitive hole considering the stats players have available in the beta.
3. Online Features: The online features here are excellent. Being able to see other players on the course gives the place a sense of liveliness, like a real golf course. It also means that the wind is a constant for all players - adding a sense of fairness and realism to the game. When you're playing a straight round, though, those players don't impact your experience at all - which is essential.
When you finish a round, you get ranked vs 10 random players and then a daily ranking vs everyone. Golf is a competitive game, so this added level of competition to the single player experience is hugely welcome. Not only that, but you get a daily prize that's awarded based on whether you finish in the top 5%, top 20%, or top 50% - perfectly judged categories.
The turf war mode is an online special where two teams of 7 run around the course (no warping to tees), trying to score stableford points per hole. The team with the most points on a hole wins the hole, the teams that wins the most holes wins. It's insanely stupid, running all over the course trying to figure out which hole needs you most, and whether it's worth the travel time vs playing a closer hole. By which I mean, it's insanely stupid fun. You have to play fast, and have to keep your eyes on the scoreboard, and have to know how to get to tee boxes quickly. As a mode for casuals who may be a bit bored by normal golf, it's an unqualified success that uses the open-world course design to its fullest, and once again justifies that decision.
We haven't seen what online versus play will look like or if they're be anything like the amazing asymmetric multiplayer of The Golf Club and The Golf Club 2, but what's here is super promising.
4. Music / Visuals The visuals are a mixed bag. The create-a-characters are really poor in both design and animation. But at least there are plenty of options. There's a 'cheap' look to them, though. As for the courses, it's mixed but far closer to the positive end of mixed than the negative. Trees and some foliage look poor due to a lack of real looking lighting. However fairways, bunkers, ponds and the tricky transitions between them all look fantastic - so when you're standing on the tee box what you're looking at looks perfectly good. Not like a proper PS4 game, but good nonetheless. The only negative regarding course visuals is really the use of a flat texture for rough, which should be fluffy and raised grass. The greens look great, though.
The best part of the visuals is that you can press the touch pad to see the course from an isometric view in the sky - from where it looks spectacular. Even the areas outside and surrounding the golf course have been designed appropriately which sells it as a real place.
As for the music, it's exactly the kind of catchy, chipper tunes you'd expect, and sounds great. Sound effects are super and often let you know through crowd reaction if you're going to come close to holing out for eagle. All sound effects can be turned off in options.
Overall, the presentation was far, far better than I expected and my fears have been laid to rest in that regard. I even got used to my avatar and started enjoying dressing him up, though I do dearly hope that we get more than two animation presets for characters in the final game, and that there are some proper 'designed' characters to play and unlock in versus mode.
5. Potential issues / negatives:
There's just one huge spectre hanging over the game as it is... the presence of the levelling up system on your clubs. Golf is a skill based game, and EG has always had a high skill ceiling. You can safely give players all the ability they need at the start of the game, and let their own improvement be the 'levelling up' that allows them to increase their scores.
Instead, here, you start as a character with a 180 yard drive. That's pathetic. There is an 11 year old girl at my club who drives the ball 230, for reference. More importantly, you must grind out rounds to improve your shots, which causes all kinds of problems. For example, as mentioned, there's a hole where until you level up, you simply can't reach it in two for a GIR. That's bullshit - any golfer playing from the appropriate tees in real life should be able to reach a hole in two, and it shouldn't be dependent on grinding out rounds.
We were capped at a 220 yard drive for the beta but I'm concerned that we'll have to grind 100s of rounds in the main game to be able to hit the ball 290 or so and play off the back tees in the game proper. It just means that you'll be playing 100s of rounds without having a real chance of setting a great score, whereas in the other games you just pick it up and are on a level footing with other players pretty much right away.
And the driver is one thing - you're guaranteed to hit it 14 times a round. But other, lesser used clubs could take ages to level, which does not sound fun. I almost never used my 4 iron, and by the time I was done with the beta my 5 iron was travelling much farther and straighter than it. Where's the logic in that? Let MY skill decide how far and straight the ball travels, not my character's stats.
The other major issue is that there's only 5 courses. 5 just isn't enough for a $60 dollar game in 2017. What's that, the game is a budget $40 release? Well then forget what I said, this is great value, but we'll need day 1 DLC to add courses because 5 isn't enough. If we can get 8 courses for 60 bucks (5 main game, 3 DLC for $20) I'd be well satisfied. There's also a lack of a links course at the moment, which is a real shame.
Conclusion We're looking at a potential masterpiece of sports game design and potential game of the year here. All my doubts have been answered.
Setzer
Member
^^^Great preview! This is my most anticipated title of 2017 since DQ XI probably won't make it to NA this year. =P
I'm really looking forward to the new system of developing the character you create rather than unlocking characters as you progress through the game. I'm a fan of MMO's and this really sounds like what a Golf MMO so I'm super excited about that.
As far as the courses go, it is a little disappointing you only get 5 with the base game. I think you got 6 with HSG5 on PS3 but like you said, the price is only $40. I think had they priced it $60 with only 5 courses it would have made a bunch of people unhappy. From what I understand there's a season pass with the Japanese version for around $20 which gives you 3-4 additional courses plus you get the 20th Anniversary course for pre-ordering. So we're looking at $60 potentially getting you 9-10 course which is decent. Not nearly as good as HSG4 where you had 15 with the base game.
I'm really looking forward to the new system of developing the character you create rather than unlocking characters as you progress through the game. I'm a fan of MMO's and this really sounds like what a Golf MMO so I'm super excited about that.
As far as the courses go, it is a little disappointing you only get 5 with the base game. I think you got 6 with HSG5 on PS3 but like you said, the price is only $40. I think had they priced it $60 with only 5 courses it would have made a bunch of people unhappy. From what I understand there's a season pass with the Japanese version for around $20 which gives you 3-4 additional courses plus you get the 20th Anniversary course for pre-ordering. So we're looking at $60 potentially getting you 9-10 course which is decent. Not nearly as good as HSG4 where you had 15 with the base game.
Great write-up and thanks for your impressions. I am so pumped up for this game and glad to hear the social features didn't destroy this game.
Regarding the courses, let's be fair - a huge amount more work goes into an HD course than the PS2 / PSP era ones as is, and that's without the massive increase in work that making the course actually work as a connected open space, which I reckon must be really considerable. The design of a course must now be considered in totality from the start, rather than just being able to design hole after hole.
If the season pass works as you say, then we'll be sorted. 9 or 10 courses for $60 would exceed my expectations. I got over 5 hours worth of play on 9 holes alone after all!