EA SPORTS PGA Tour [PS5/XBS/PC]

Placebo said:
Looks ok, hope that silly trajectory line can be turned off.
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That and the purple fireworks that go off when the custom lady golfer hits a nice drive... I'm sure they will let you turn that off though.

Other than that, I'm really impressed! There's stuff on there I've wanted for years (since the Links days)...

Mainly - you can play alongside an AI golfer in your career, and the AI play based on their real-world stats (i.e. some play safe, some take risks, and it's not just random).

But also - you can start as an amateur (not even on the Korn Ferry tour, but a step before that, which is great) AND you can choose a UK entry point when starting as an amateur (i.e. St. Andrew's). No more being a UK golfer who magically starts his career on a US course.

I have questions - I want to know if you can play against an AI golfer at the Korn Ferry level considering that there aren't any scanned "real" Korn Ferry players (I'd love it to be like generic player faces in FIFA, where they can still appear in the game).

I also want to know if the non-visible AI have golfer attributes, so that a Links golfer does well on a Links course even if they're just a name on the leaderboard and you're not paired with them to "keep an eye" on them.

Also, there's lots of gameplay snippets where I think "this looks too easy and generally off" (although that's likely their settings)... So who knows if it'll be as good as PGA 2K23 (which is still fantastic IMO, just not great to look at).

There's also the fact that certain exotic shot types have to be "unlocked". Whenever I see an RPG system in an EA SPORTS game, I think about how Be A Pro works in FIFA now (with power-ups that make your team magically play better when you perform certain actions), and I feel a bit sick...
 
Chris Davies said:
That and the purple fireworks that go off when the custom lady golfer hits a nice drive... I'm sure they will let you turn that off though.

Other than that, I'm really impressed! There's stuff on there I've wanted for years (since the Links days)...

Mainly - you can play alongside an AI golfer in your career, and the AI play based on their real-world stats (i.e. some play safe, some take risks, and it's not just random).

But also - you can start as an amateur (not even on the Korn Ferry tour, but a step before that, which is great) AND you can choose a UK entry point when starting as an amateur (i.e. St. Andrew's). No more being a UK golfer who magically starts his career on a US course.

I have questions - I want to know if you can play against an AI golfer at the Korn Ferry level considering that there aren't any scanned "real" Korn Ferry players (I'd love it to be like generic player faces in FIFA, where they can still appear in the game).

I also want to know if the non-visible AI have golfer attributes, so that a Links golfer does well on a Links course even if they're just a name on the leaderboard and you're not paired with them to "keep an eye" on them.

Also, there's lots of gameplay snippets where I think "this looks too easy and generally off" (although that's likely their settings)... So who knows if it'll be as good as PGA 2K23 (which is still fantastic IMO, just not great to look at).

There's also the fact that certain exotic shot types have to be "unlocked". Whenever I see an RPG system in an EA SPORTS game, I think about how Be A Pro works in FIFA now (with power-ups that make your team magically play better when you perform certain actions), and I feel a bit sick...
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Bought 2k23 today on sale. Bargain for £16 imo and it's 10x better than 2k21. Even the 3-click swing has strategy involved and I love it. I'm still waiting for proper gameplay videos for EA's game. It's EA, I simply don't trust them.
 
bsmaff said:
Why don't you just get EA Play Pro for £50 for the year?
You get every EA game including the deluxe edition of this.
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Is it really just £50 a year? I thought it was more than that? Normal EA Play is £3.99 a month. Surely the Pro subscription can't be that cheap?
Update: Just checked it. It's £70 on Cdkeys, 90£ officially. Nowhere near the £50. It is worth it even at £70? I'm not sure, especially on PC. The amount of titles offered are trash. FIFA 23, Madden 23 etc. If you're patient and have just the normal EA Play you'll get the games eventually. If their golf game is good (which I highly doubt it will be) you can buy it straight away.
Update 2: EA Play Pro is not even available for consoles. It's only on PC! So unless someone wants to play abominations like FIFA or Madden there's no point spending any money for this particular subscription. They don't even release the NHL game on PC and they have the nerves to come up with the EA Play Pro only for that platform. Absolutely pathetic imo.
 
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fear said:
Is it really just £50 a year? I thought it was more than that? Normal EA Play is £3.99 a month. Surely the Pro subscription can't be that cheap?
Update: Just checked it. It's £70 on Cdkeys, 90£ officially. Nowhere near the £50. It is worth it even at £70? I'm not sure, especially on PC. The amount of titles offered are trash. FIFA 23, Madden 23 etc. If you're patient and have just the normal EA Play you'll get the games eventually. If their golf game is good (which I highly doubt it will be) you can buy it straight away.
Update 2: EA Play Pro is not even available for consoles. It's only on PC! So unless someone wants to play abominations like FIFA or Madden there's no point spending any money for this particular subscription. They don't even release the NHL game on PC and they have the nerves to come up with the EA Play Pro only for that platform. Absolutely pathetic imo.
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The price is £50 if you know how. VPN *cough* *cough*

In my opinion it is worth it.
You get every single EA Game.

Just to give you an idea for the next few months.
PGA Tour, Star Wars Jedi Tomb Raider, F1 2023 - You get all the BF games, Two Point Hospital and it's sequel plus a massive list of about 200 games which you may or may not ever play. But I like it as well just for Command & Conquer now and again.
This is the complete list - https://gg.deals/games/ea-play-pro-pc-games-list/
If you don't think it is worth it, I don't know what is

I was only really suggesting it as you were going to pay £68 for the Deluxe Edition, but you get the Deluxe Edition of this game in the EA Play Pro subscription for just £50, well £44 i paid last year.
 
bsmaff said:
The price is £50 if you know how. VPN *cough* *cough*

In my opinion it is worth it.
You get every single EA Game.

Just to give you an idea for the next few months.
PGA Tour, Star Wars Jedi Tomb Raider, F1 2023 - You get all the BF games, Two Point Hospital and it's sequel plus a massive list of about 200 games which you may or may not ever play. But I like it as well just for Command & Conquer now and again.
This is the complete list - https://gg.deals/games/ea-play-pro-pc-games-list/
If you don't think it is worth it, I don't know what is

I was only really suggesting it as you were going to pay £68 for the Deluxe Edition, but you get the Deluxe Edition of this game in the EA Play Pro subscription for just £50, well £44 i paid last year.
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Totally understand if you count in the new Star Wars game, the F1 and the golf ones. If these games turn out to be good ofc. The majority of the rest catalogue is available through the basic subscription.
I'll check the other countries prices through VPN. But I'll be honest, I don't like the approach of gameplay videos 4 days before release for their golf game. For golf games we should have deep gameplay videos at least 1 month before the official release.
 
bsmaff said:
Why don't you just get EA Play Pro for £50 for the year?
You get every EA game including the deluxe edition of this.
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Thanks for the suggestion but I've already got a ridiculous amount of games I'm still yet to play on my hard drives and this would make it worse haha
 
i can't bring myself to find out whether the whole adding spin and loft to the ball whilst it's in the air is going to be a thing this year as it was in the old EA golf games.

they will do well to compete with the gameplay of PGA2k23 even with the ridiculous fittings/skills and magic ball system
 


First actual gameplay video. At the start, they say the first half will be on "standard" difficulty settings, and the second half will be on harder settings - but if it is, you can't tell. Looks just as easy.

The guy playing here - TheApexHound - is a former 2K golf game player, so I would assume he's a sim gamer.

Pros: Graphics are incredible. I mean, absolutely sensational. Best I've seen in a golf game (the rough looks fantastic, and the ball interacts with it realistically).

Cons: Some of the swing sounds are the worst I've heard in a golf game and don't match up to the shot AT. ALL. Also, he seems to be nailing every single approach shot (and putt)... Looks way too easy, which was my fear.

EDIT: -7 after 9 holes in the first half of the video. -6 after 9 holes in the second half. Absolutely pathetic, just like FIFA.

They talk about the "risk/reward" elements of gameplay, like the "power drive", and then demonstrate that the penalty is non-existent.
 
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Chris Davies said:
The guy playing here - TheApexHound - is a former 2K golf game player, so I would assume he's a sim gamer.
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Just to correct you a bit Chris, he's not a former 2k golf player, he's playing 2k23 regularly offline and ranked online. As I posted a week ago I bought 2k23 and it's incredible. Yes it has its flaws but there's no way EA can create a better golf game. I've said it before, it's EA, can you trust these devs to deliver a sim? I was thinking to splash the money and get it early, no way. I'll wait.
 
fear said:
Just to correct you a bit Chris, he's not a former 2k golf player, he's playing 2k23 regularly offline and ranked online. As I posted a week ago I bought 2k23 and it's incredible. Yes it has its flaws but there's no way EA can create a better golf game. I've said it before, it's EA, can you trust these devs to deliver a sim? I was thinking to splash the money and get it early, no way. I'll wait.
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Ah right - I said "former" cos I assumed this association would end his association with 2K.

It feels a little dishonest if he's playing 2K, then playing this, and not giving an opinion (just kind of sitting there going "yeah great" while the dev scores -6 after 9 holes with his custom golfer)...

EDIT: I take that back, I've dropped a question on Twitter and he's sort of put my mind at ease. They didn't play on harder difficulties.

(The dev said at one point that he wants his four-year-old to be able to play it - I mean, sure, if you set it to super-easy, but not by default! Why is every EA game designed for kids out of the box? Why is it never the other way around and an actual sports game out of the box?)

 
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Chris Davies said:
Ah right - I said "former" cos I assumed this association would end his association with 2K.

It feels a little dishonest if he's playing 2K, then playing this, and not giving an opinion (just kind of sitting there going "yeah great" while the dev scores -6 after 9 holes with his custom golfer)...

EDIT: I take that back, I've dropped a question on Twitter and he's sort of put my mind at ease. They didn't play on harder difficulties.

(The dev said at one point that he wants his four-year-old to be able to play it - I mean, sure, if you set it to super-easy, but not by default! Why is every EA game designed for kids out of the box? Why is it never the other way around and an actual sports game out of the box?)

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They did play on Pro difficulty which the devs designed for their 4yrs old children. The other difficulties will be for 8, 12 and 16yrs old. I really hope I'm wrong here. I'm afraid I'm not wrong though.
 
fear said:
They did play on Pro difficulty which the devs designed for their 4yrs old children. The other difficulties will be for 8, 12 and 16yrs old. I really hope I'm wrong here. I'm afraid I'm not wrong though.
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Why is it that the game designed for kids out of the box (and if you want to make it play like the sport it represents you have to mess around with settings, sliders and most likely mods)...

...but it's NEVER the other way around, i.e. like the sport it's supposed to represent straight out of the box?

For starters, what kids want to play a golf game in the first place???

But secondly, if you want it to play like a kids game, make THAT the thing you have to enable in the settings.

Cos now, their public online tournaments are going to have physically impossible to achieve scores.

Everybody's Golf, a cartoon golf game, is STILL more realistic, from the looks of this. Let alone 2K23 (which I love, but let's face it, the graphics are pretty ropey and there's a few gameplay elements that still need attention).

To think of how much time EA have spent in their pre-release material talking about the real-world data, player scans, super-realistic RPMs of each shot type... Why the fuck would you bother putting that stuff in (exactly the same as with FIFA) if you're then going to make the controls "press stick forward to win"? What a life. I need a new hobby. (Golf maybe...)
 
Chris Davies said:
Why is it that the game designed for kids out of the box (and if you want to make it play like the sport it represents you have to mess around with settings, sliders and most likely mods)...

...but it's NEVER the other way around, i.e. like the sport it's supposed to represent straight out of the box?

For starters, what kids want to play a golf game in the first place???

But secondly, if you want it to play like a kids game, make THAT the thing you have to enable in the settings.

Cos now, their public online tournaments are going to have physically impossible to achieve scores.

Everybody's Golf, a cartoon golf game, is STILL more realistic, from the looks of this. Let alone 2K23 (which I love, but let's face it, the graphics are pretty ropey and there's a few gameplay elements that still need attention).

To think of how much time EA have spent in their pre-release material talking about the real-world data, player scans, super-realistic RPMs of each shot type... Why the fuck would you bother putting that stuff in (exactly the same as with FIFA) if you're then going to make the controls "press stick forward to win"? What a life. I need a new hobby. (Golf maybe...)
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Everybody's Golf is fantastic because the devs delivered exactly what they promised before the release. The same applies to Super Mega Baseball series. You know beforehand what you're purchasing. With EA is the exact opposite, almost every single game of theirs. They're marketing their games like they're selling the next next next gen masterpiece of sim. They're full of BS. I knew they were just making a new refurbished Rory. Who cares about the graphics. I can go back to Links and have more fun. Alright we can turn off the visual helpers for putting to make it more difficult. Does this mean the game is a sim? Nope. It's not even a semi sim from what I've seen so far.
The game is going to be review bombed. Expect a 1.2 at Metacritic. At least the stubborn guys at HB Studios are trying to provide a better golf experience.
 
I am with Chris Davies, cannot stand the games that dont have real AI, 2K21 and 2K23 are so fake, the first one mentioned playing against Pros but it was bullshit, I tested the so called "heres a shot from ##### on Hole # right now" cut scenes that came across at first as AI really playing the shots, recorded them all, and found they have 100 or so that repeat TO THE PIXEL only with different Pro's inserted into the scene. Nonsense. And 2K always gojng on about "ghost" players.

No interest for me, i LOVE CPU AI.

So EA always did have CPU AI golfers, and tomorrow at 3pm I will finally witness a 2023 quality CPU AI golfer on Early Access, all we have so far is the YT vids where they appear obsessed with human vs human, cannot stand it.

I NEED CPU AI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;-)
 
and that EA dev was the typical marketing type to talk whilst the guy played, didn t seem to know his own game. Now there is a live YT event with 8 of the pros in the game playing each other, not too bad, but again, we dont see AI in it as its not career mode.

I hope there is simple quick game settings without career mode, so i can setup some CPU vs CPU.

Got the horrible feeling this AI Pairings promise might be a little bit like 2K's "lets pretend we have AI" thing, and that EA might also have not bothered to code CPU AI.

Praying tomorrow at 3pm I can witness CPU AI Pros in 8K@60hz looking like the real thing, THINKING like the real Pros, and making mistakes like the real pros, the shotlink data hopefully will prove to be for real..............
 
It's insane to me how the course graphics are photo-realistic at times, and then you see one of the golfers and... Bang, completely pulled out of the immersion.

The girlfriend saw this graphic pop up on the Xbox last night, burst out laughing and said "what's wrong with his face?!"

 
Chris Davies said:
It's insane to me how the course graphics are photo-realistic at times, and then you see one of the golfers and... Bang, completely pulled out of the immersion.

The girlfriend saw this graphic pop up on the Xbox last night, burst out laughing and said "what's wrong with his face?!"

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Are you getting the deluxe early access Chris?
 
fear said:
Are you getting the deluxe early access Chris?
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There's a 10-hour trial included with Game Pass / EA Play through my Xbox Series X, and I believe it tees off (SEE WHAT I DID THERE LOL) in four-and-a-half hours' time, which will give me an hour of messing about on it before I'm off on errands. I'll be straight on here afterwards, don't worry. :LOL:
 
Chris Davies said:
There's a 10-hour trial included with Game Pass / EA Play through my Xbox Series X, and I believe it tees off (SEE WHAT I DID THERE LOL) in four-and-a-half hours' time, which will give me an hour of messing about on it before I'm off on errands. I'll be straight on here afterwards, don't worry. :LOL:
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Is the trial really available from today even for the standard EA Play subscription? If it is I'll try it also!
 
Yeah, I've been playing for a few hours.

It's such a weird game - predictably for EA SPORTS. It's not the worst golf game I've ever played, but as far as I'm concerned, in any sports game, I should start out bad and get better.

So, I play on the hardest swing difficulty, with the worst golfer possible (me), and I don't think it's possible to hook/slice a shot. :LOL: Okay, it's happened to me once...

My very first drive, with my created golfer, who has 0 XP, 0 power-ups and default equipment:



Perfectly straight, 318 yards. And THIS IS ON HARD? What the hell is going to happen when I start levelling up? Hole-in-ones every round?



A few holes later... I'm driving to the green on par 4s and getting this close to the hole. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE AN AMATEUR.

But this is the killer! I turned shot path on for this one:



Look at my stick input at the bottom right. It's way right. On PGA 2K23, that's going off the course. That drive is smashing through someone's windows.

Here... It somehow goes perfectly, perfectly straight? Impossibly straight?

It seems, as I predicted, way too easy on the hardest settings, and having played as the worst pro in the game (Ian Poulter), I can confirm it's doubly easy when your attributes are even half-way towards the top possibilities.

That said, it's better than the EA Rory McIlroy golf game - and I finished my first round even-par... but only because putting - and occasionally approach shots - seem crazy to me right now. Had I not three-and-four-putted I'd have finished around -5.

I'll keep playing the trial but there's no doubt in my mind that the better gameplay lies with 2K - but it's beyond that... It's where the better game balancing lies (you can't just level-up yourself to the point where you barely have to look at the screen to win).

This is clearly aimed at those who want to be Gods (rather than just live their dream of being a professional golfer and being good sometimes, when you're on top form and you're absolutely concentrating).

I can see it being fun with friends, but I don't know if you can lock-in difficulty settings in a private match yet (and the standard difficulty is an absolute joke - zero interest in playing anyone who uses that).

EDIT: Nope, just looked, fairly sure you can't. Jesus Christ.
 
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Chris Davies said:
Yeah, I've been playing for a few hours.

It's such a weird game - predictably for EA SPORTS. It's not the worst golf game I've ever played, but as far as I'm concerned, in any sports game, I should start out bad and get better.

So, I play on the hardest swing difficulty, with the worst golfer possible (me), and I don't think it's possible to hook/slice a shot. :LOL: Okay, it's happened to me once...

My very first drive, with my created golfer, who has 0 XP, 0 power-ups and default equipment:



Perfectly straight, 318 yards. And THIS IS ON HARD? What the hell is going to happen when I start levelling up? Hole-in-ones every round?



A few holes later... I'm driving to the green on par 4s and getting this close to the hole. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE AN AMATEUR.

But this is the killer! I turned shot path on for this one:



Look at my stick input at the bottom right. It's way right. On PGA 2K23, that's going off the course. That drive is smashing through someone's windows.

Here... It somehow goes perfectly, perfectly straight? Impossibly straight?

It seems, as I predicted, way too easy on the hardest settings, and having played as the worst pro in the game (Ian Poulter), I can confirm it's doubly easy when your attributes are even half-way towards the top possibilities.

That said, it's better than the EA Rory McIlroy golf game - and I finished my first round even-par... but only because putting - and occasionally approach shots - seem crazy to me right now. Had I not three-and-four-putted I'd have finished around -5.

I'll keep playing the trial but there's no doubt in my mind that the better gameplay lies with 2K - but it's beyond that... It's where the better game balancing lies (you can't just level-up yourself to the point where you barely have to look at the screen to win).

This is clearly aimed at those who want to be Gods (rather than just live their dream of being a professional golfer and being good sometimes, when you're on top form and you're absolutely concentrating).

I can see it being fun with friends, but I don't know if you can lock-in difficulty settings in a private match yet (and the standard difficulty is an absolute joke - zero interest in playing anyone who uses that).

EDIT: Nope, just looked, fairly sure you can't. Jesus Christ.
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I'll try to be fair. The whole thing is underwhelming. Ball physics are questionable. Is it fun, yes probably. I can't see any proper tempo, rhythm swing mechanics. It feels, how to say it, on rails? Ofc there are options to make it more difficult by turning off everything but this is not the way to create a golf videogame.
I'm trying to find reasons to justify a purchase. It's not a bad golf game but EA again missed a huge opportunity here. The other game is far from perfect but the ball and swing mechanics are 10x better imo. If EA fixes some things and implements a course creator I'll consider a purchase. Until then I'm afraid I'll continue with HB/2K.
P. S. My children are having more fun. In fact they love the game more than Everybody's Golf. If EA's audience is 7 and 10yrs old children it's alright. Their FIFA game is the same.
 
I'm having a totally different experience with it as I am totally shit at it and don't seem to be getting any better.
 
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