Yep, I’ve played an okay amount! I’m a huge SimGolf fan, and there’s a lot here that is just a copy or an update to Sid’s classic. I have waited for decades for an update to the formula. And this one is not bad, but it’s missing something that keeps me hooked the way I still am with the old game, as pixellated and buggy as it is. I don’t feel like the things it adds on top of the formula–lighting, weird gadgets, weed-fighting weaponry–are very valuable. The course-building tools are really slick; it may be crazy-talk, but I think I actually like working on a grid better because it means the changes you can make are less ambiguously granular. It lets you customize things like driving ranges and putting greens which is kinda cool. The weed mechanics just make no sense to me, and I miss SimGolf’s approach of using them to indicate areas where players get frustrated. And as I said above, as goofy as the SimGolf characters were and as repetitive as their stories were, I find myself missing the kind of feedback and rewards you get from the characters in SimGolf. In Golftopia they’re just little robots walking through your course and scoring it.
For me, it’s a good game, an admirable updating of the original, but lacking some of its magic. Could totally be my comfort with that old 90s style speaking. $16 is a pretty good deal; the devs clearly worked hard and smartly and deserve success for it. I plan to return to it a little later. But I think I’m going to continue waiting for the true spiritual successor to SimGolf.
Technically it’s great, and it obviously understands the fundamental design ethos of SimGolf.
But, as you say, I think it’s actually less satisfying because I’ve not got so much power. It felt better to use the large grained blocks to please the simpler but more voluably personal characters.
A bit late to the party, but Nightgaunt tipped me off to this so I thought I’d go ahead and snag it and spend a few minutes with it on my lunch break. I’m SUPER early in, just dropped in my third hole, upgraded my clubhouse, and have played my course myself. I do wish the golfers had a little more personality ala Sid Meier’s SimGolf, but I still expect to have quite a bit of fun with this guy.
So I picked this up today and got to the point where I built 3 holes and am ready to upgrade my clubhouse. The basics of the game seem well done - plotting holes, putting down decorations / obstacles, etc… One thing I’m worried about is that there doesn’t seem to be any directed challenges or pushback. I’m just not a player who just likes to make things because they look cool - I need some type of purpose. Does anything like that come later? At the default settings it seems really easy to just make holes and make a profit. So, while the game is kinda cool, I’m not sure it will keep my attention.
Are my thoughts accurate with this, or do you guys have different opinions how this game plays out over a more extended time?
I have a hard time putting my finger on why this didn’t ultimately work for me, compared to SimGolf. So many aspects of it are big improvements and logical updatings to systems and UI. There’s also some unnecessary extras, but they’re mostly gadgets that you can choose to use or not use.
For me, in both games, the tension in is how you use the natural terrain and adapt it into a successful hole, and then fitting all those holes into the available building space (with necessary amenities). And then dialing in the holes that are less successful.
It feels like all the parts are there in Golftopia for this to work, so its a bit baffling that it doesn’t, quite. I think it might have something to do with feedback. For one thing, you’re more detached from the people playing your course in Golftopia, compared to Sid’s version. (I probably said this somewhere up above already.) As clunky as the characters looked and acted in SimGolf, somehow I think they added some flavor and maybe relatability to the proceedings that Golftopia is missing. It’s not just that, but I think that’s part of it.
I’d hate to think that it’s purely familiarity and nostalgia that gives Sid’s game a spark that Golftopia lacks. I’ve wanted to have an update to SimGolf for ages, and they did a good job at that in so many ways. Big shrug. I respect what they built, and wish it worked better for me.
Except the weed stuff. Never had a clue what was going on with that system. Shoulda just ripped that part off from Sid too!
As your players get more skilled they get pickier. A hole that they were okay with before is now too easy and they get unhappy playing it. Maybe they’ll rage quit the resort or start a fight lowering everyone nearby’s opinion.
My thinking is that it was the lack of precision in SimGolf that helped it be more fun to play? Because it was on quite a large square grid, you couldn’t be micro-precise with your placement of obstacles/features which I think actually helped both building the courses and the player AI. Because GolfTopia (and other recent SimGolf-esque games) has a much more analogue placement system, it’s very hard not to try and get really precise with the course building and I actually think that makes it harder to bond with…
