Post by Doyley on Sept 21, 2022 18:12:59 GMT -5
Hey everyone - going to try and give my perspective on the game play side of things from my brief experience with PGA Tour 2K23. We have a pretty big section of players here and our settings can trickle down into other societies so it's a big responsibility to get them right the first time. With that in mind, I was focused on how far I could push 2K23 w/ difficulty and still keep the fun factor high and frustration low.
Wanted to give props to our 80+page thread on 2K23 in the Clubhouse section that started back in April. Definitely one of our better threads with how civil it's remained - so thank you all for that. I've decided to split off into a new thread as I wanted this to be easily found for people and not buried on page 80.
Basic Gameplay
Difficulty
I mentioned briefly in the other thread that I had played 90% legend and 10% master. Let's dive into that and you'll have a better understanding of what you should be looking to do once you get the new game.
One of the bigger gameplay changes in 2K23 is the wider grey tempo zones on the higher difficulty levels. This was something that was suggested to HB a while back - and apparently they agreed and added it here in the new game. I'm happy to say that my first impressions are that it works as intended, for me at least (this will be a common theme as I can only give feedback on what I experienced, your mileage may vary). My biggest issue with Master (and Legend) in 2K21 was the lack of forgiveness between a perfect shot and a terrible one. It was harsh - and I'm sure many of you have experienced a swing you felt was the same as the one prior, but give you vastly different results. This always led to frustration.
In 2K23 - the wider grey tempo zones give you more room to make average shots while reserving your worst swings for the worst tempo results. The shot dispersion on these grey misses is well done. I always found myself either on the green or around it - so you still feel like a pro player most of the time - when hitting grey tempo. Majority of the time I was left with a medium/long putt and you always felt you had a chance to make it to bail yourself out. Frustration levels remained low and hope remained high.
Specifically looking at Legend - it was very playable. When people wished for a sweet spot between Pro and Master (in 2K21) I now believe we have two options as I feel both Master and Legend fall in that zone. 2K23 Master feels like a medium sized jump from Pro on 2K21 and 2K23 Legend feels like a larger jump, but still better/more fun/less frustrating than Master on 2K21. My scores were consistently in the 8-over to 4-under range. Usually hovering around par. I was really trying to get used to Legend to see if it would be a fit for the entire tours - and I think it's so close. I was never frustrated and the more I played, the more excited I got at the prospects of it being good enough to be used.
That said, 2K/HB can still tweak things so I'm not committing to anything at this point. Just know that there's a zero chance we'll run Pro in 2K23 on the main tours. We'll run some exhibition events on both Master and Legend difficulties to get a feel for where everyone stands and make a call after we observe how everyone gets on (looking at you Xbox!)
Ball Physics
You'll never please everyone in life - and the changes to ball physics/roll will likely cause some discussion. The biggest changes are on the greens and my personal opinion is that it is much improved. The roll of the ball is so much smoother now. It just rolls like a ball should - there's no coded in slowdown based on how slow you hit it (looking at you downhill putts of 2K21). This change is most reflected in downhill putts - you'll just have to experience them to see the difference. It's startling at first. It's something you will adjust to - and whether you love or hate it will likely depend on if your ball just rolled off the green or not. I'm a huge fan and think it will help bring in a bit more difficulty on the greens as you'll have to be mindful of downhill putts and putt weight.
Ball physics elsewhere seemed to be improved. Long irons/woods can bounce and stop quicker than in previous versions of this game. Ball flight is lower on the longer clubs so good luck hitting those drivers/3w out of bunkers with any type of lip.
Might as well throw the short game in here since the bulk of it is affected by ball physics outside of the change to chipping distance. Chipping distance starts at 25 yards so anything shorter requires a partial shot. That is a welcome change. Splash shots can only be used in bunkers. Flop shots may be the king of shots around the greens again - remains to be seen how they function upon release. Chips roll out quite nicely but that means that if you are short sided with a downhill slope - it's an extremely difficult shot to get close using a chip whereas previously it was pretty easy to chip in or have it spin/stop near the hole.
These changes to ball physics are very exciting to me. This is a situation where you have to remember that we're not one standard golfer anymore and if someone focuses on the shaping stat (includes spin) their results may vary.
Green Speeds
In 2K21 I felt that there was room to go beyond Very Fast and still have playable greens. That there was some game play left on the table. That is no longer the case in 2K23. I think we've got a very good set of limits to play within with regards to green speeds. The slower speeds play well due to the new ball rolling physics and the fast speeds are deadly on any slope - so designers will have a good time making green complexes to fit their ideal speeds. Fast in the new game is 155 I believe. Welcome change in my books.
Player Stats/Fittings etc
I think this is going to be a welcome addition to the game for quite a few people. It does put us into uncharted waters at TGCT so hopefully it is well balanced, and if not, is something that is patched/adjusted as needed. It's quite possible we'll be seeing Warzone style loadout videos for your golfer - showing the "best" setups to use. Hopefully there isn't a broken setup in the bunch so fingers crossed! The default archetypes definitely play different but it remains to be seen what a fully kitted golfer will feel like since they can all blend together depending on what you add to it. I didn't have the game long enough to see - spending less than half of the skill points available and a good chunk of my clubs not having fittings/stats on them.
Graphics
Will keep this brief - it's a step up from 2K21 but not a next-gen step. Trees, lighting, objects, crowd - all improved. Since trees are so prominent on the courses it's something I noticed right away. Some of the others I had to view on a comparison pic to notice a difference but once I saw, you could tell it was an improvement. The game still looks good - it's not a revolutionary next gen jump though so if that's what you're hoping for, you'll likely be disappointed.
Other
- I didn't have access to Societies so can't speak on any changes that may happen there.
- I had a handful of moments that rivalled anything I did in 2K21 all mainly due to the new ball rolling physics. I found it a lot of fun planning shots and using slopes on greens.
- I don't anticipate being able to lock out the player stats/fittings in society play so I'm going into it with an open mind and hoping it's well balanced and works as intended. It's likely going to create a bit of an imbalance for those that can't play as much out of the gate or join us mid-season. Eventually it should all balance out as everyone gets their golfer fully levelled. Just consider that part of your career where you need to build up your golfer to get up to speed.
- I did play myCareer but it's probably best to watch Seamount4Life's video of it here as he echoes a lot of my thoughts on it
- the best players will still be very good and shoot low scores - I feel the bulk of the members will be in the 5-over to 5-under range on Legend and a few shots better on Master on most course setups and think that will make for some great tournaments wherever we land on the swing difficulty.
Conclusion
We've always fit TGCT into whatever game is current and I see no reason we can't do it again. The improvements to the game play should make for a very fun season. Remains to be seen how the consoles will fare but hopefully we have parity and everyone can be happy for the entire run of the game. For me, it played great and I really enjoyed the challenge on Legend - will you have the same experience? We'll provide plenty of time for exhibition events and feedback before we launch into the new season. Is it Oct 11th/14th yet?
