Yeah after reaching special rank today and unlocking the final course my opinion on the game soured even more.
Don't design a course full of pot bunkers without the option to use flop shots.
And I echo the sentiment that the control stat needs a fix, badly. Even with my 7I and control at level 13 I stray shots far and wide WITH Perfect Impact. That should never happen, ever. It gets especially annoying in tournaments with +1 Rough/Bunker rules, because you can hit a perfect shot and end up penalised thanks to total randomness.
And I had a total of 7 gems after finishing single player. You need 10 for a single level-up on custom clubs. Which break with use. And have to be recycled, to start the grind once more. The hell?
Even if they implement graded tournaments with a good option set and all the fun stuff, I can't see myself enjoying it for long with the current PI-randomness and cheap mobile game grind design.
From my memory World Invitational is a vastly more polished and charming game, especially the single player mode. There is still the grind to unlock character abilities, but nothing as severe as in EG7.
I agree with everything you've said, absolutely.
Especially having played the final course a few times, it's a big disappointment. It's a bizarre mix of links fairways and bunkers with over-designed water features near the greens, and without the long beachside holes that makes links golf so fun. I don't really know what the fuck it's meant to be... link some kind of British seaside resort course or something, but such a course would never have the designed walls and water features you see here... And as you say, if you don't provide players tools for getting out of pot bunkers then what the hell are you putting them in for?
I'm still really enjoying walking the courses and seeing the layouts and memorising them in my mind, though. I do like the open course idea. My still-pretty-early thoughts on the courses would be:
Eagle City - Brilliant City course. One of the best in the series, and the best looking course with the best music in the game. Lots of good undulations on the landing areas that can move slightly misplayed tee balls into bunkers, and all the hazards and trees are very fairly placed. The city park setting is gorgeous and unique for the series. Love it, and honestly this one being the beta course probably made me over-hype the game.
Alpina Forest - Just a really bland course. Not alpine / snowy enough nor with interesting forest. Nice music though. Hard to remember a single hole despite playing it so many times.
Kanaloa Resort - Very solid beach course, though I preferred the one in EG6. Hole 18 is horseshit though and leaves a sour taste in the mouth. I also dislike hole 14 a lot.
Vortex Valley - Great course, strong runner-up to Eagle City. Great use of landing-zone slopes, changes in elevation, good use of water to ensure you control your approach onto the greens. Really, really like this course. The control stat disaster really hurts here though as a missed shot can easily richochet into a cachement area that's marked OB and that always feels like bullshit. It also looks great in 4k, and the train tracks and dam / lookout area are the best in the game to visit on foot.
Imperial Gardens - Addressed above. Feels like a strange gimmicky mix of ideas, and neither the music nor visuals elevates it.
Green C.C. - Very basic but also very enjoyable. In most EG games this would have been course 1 and Eagle City course 2, as this is considerably easier than Eagle City and more like a traditional opening course being a countryside parkland course. I wonder if that was originally the plan. The far better of the two DLC courses, but nowhere near as good as the similar Northern Fox course from EG6.
Balata G.C. - Ugly, boring and horrible music. Low-effort by Clap Hanz here. I need to play it more but I was NOT a fan on my first two plays here.
Overall it's not as good a group as EG6, but there's some great stuff.
I think they should improve their AI, they really can fuck up things. Fantastic game though!
