Please use this thread to give your constructive feedback on the demo. Whats good, whats bad, what do you think can help the game.
Once we collected enough feedback it will be sent over to EA.
Please stay on topic. If you have nothing constructive to say - say nothing.
Demo Feedback
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Demo Feedback
by djarvik » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:13
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by KluddKalle » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:16
Make it so that I have as much control playing with the buttons as with the stick.
Fix the animations. If you can make a hockey- or football game with life like animations a tennis game should be a piece of cake.
EA sports games usually have a lot of customization options letting players adjust gameplay speed, hud options etc. If GST2 gives us the possibility to change stuff like running speed, ball speed, ball size, vapor trails etc I believe it will be a quite fun game. But the standard settings should be adjusted.
Fix the animations. If you can make a hockey- or football game with life like animations a tennis game should be a piece of cake.
EA sports games usually have a lot of customization options letting players adjust gameplay speed, hud options etc. If GST2 gives us the possibility to change stuff like running speed, ball speed, ball size, vapor trails etc I believe it will be a quite fun game. But the standard settings should be adjusted.
Ignorance is bliss
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by L Sanchez MD » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:55
I don't want to say 'no', but there are so many disappointing aspects that really detract from the potential fun of the game.
Deep down, I think it will be a fun, but shallow, arcade game, so I can't say it won't be fun.
I don't think it will have any depth to the gameplay though, which will uber restrict its replayability, and shelf life, and online fun.
Constructive criticism:
Players move way too quickly. I can't overstate this. WAY too quickly.
The actual running animation is fine, but the speed is too high.
Shot animations are inaccurate. This one I could live with, but one-handed backhands from two-handers should be fixed.
Gameplay is unbalanced. Partly to do with the insane speed, and also because shots don't require much skill to execute.
- volleys, drop volleys, lobs all seem far far too easy. Any ridiculous volley seems easily makeable. Net play in general is slightly weird... I'm not exactly sure why - just odd selection of volley type. You see way too many 'smash' type volleys, almost no 'deep, control' volleys from below the net. Could just depend on the passes though.
AI. Djokovic and Nadal rush the net every single point. Fair enough, the demo is on grass, so maybe on clay, all players baseline grind. But Djokovic and Nadal (and almost all players) don't rush the net every point. It's so unrealistic. They don't even serve volley, they just come in during every really. Not sure how this weird AI was developed, but it doesn't match real life tennis (although maybe I wish RL had this much netrushing
)
Very hard to get a pass by an approaching netrusher.
The big failure for me is no unforced errors. Perhaps because of the nature of the stick control system, they felt they had to do that. I don't know though....
No unforced errors takes the skill completely out of the game. If they even had a mode where you could turn it on, like a 'realistic' mode. Because otherwise, it's almost impossible to hit them.
Unforced errors actually ADD to the fun of the game, rather than detract.... because it means more skill is being used, which means it's much more satisfying to hit a good shot on the line or whatever.
Removing UEs means Joe Bloggs can play the game immediately and feel like a pro. But there's no depth.
That's the dealbreaker for me - that, and the gameplay issues.
I could live with the animations, possibly even the super-fast players, but not the 0 UEs and net-gods.
There are plenty of positives too, but this thread is for the suggestions to improve things.
Deep down, I think it will be a fun, but shallow, arcade game, so I can't say it won't be fun.
I don't think it will have any depth to the gameplay though, which will uber restrict its replayability, and shelf life, and online fun.
Constructive criticism:
Players move way too quickly. I can't overstate this. WAY too quickly.
The actual running animation is fine, but the speed is too high.
Shot animations are inaccurate. This one I could live with, but one-handed backhands from two-handers should be fixed.
Gameplay is unbalanced. Partly to do with the insane speed, and also because shots don't require much skill to execute.
- volleys, drop volleys, lobs all seem far far too easy. Any ridiculous volley seems easily makeable. Net play in general is slightly weird... I'm not exactly sure why - just odd selection of volley type. You see way too many 'smash' type volleys, almost no 'deep, control' volleys from below the net. Could just depend on the passes though.
AI. Djokovic and Nadal rush the net every single point. Fair enough, the demo is on grass, so maybe on clay, all players baseline grind. But Djokovic and Nadal (and almost all players) don't rush the net every point. It's so unrealistic. They don't even serve volley, they just come in during every really. Not sure how this weird AI was developed, but it doesn't match real life tennis (although maybe I wish RL had this much netrushing
)
Very hard to get a pass by an approaching netrusher.
The big failure for me is no unforced errors. Perhaps because of the nature of the stick control system, they felt they had to do that. I don't know though....
No unforced errors takes the skill completely out of the game. If they even had a mode where you could turn it on, like a 'realistic' mode. Because otherwise, it's almost impossible to hit them.
Unforced errors actually ADD to the fun of the game, rather than detract.... because it means more skill is being used, which means it's much more satisfying to hit a good shot on the line or whatever.
Removing UEs means Joe Bloggs can play the game immediately and feel like a pro. But there's no depth.
That's the dealbreaker for me - that, and the gameplay issues.
I could live with the animations, possibly even the super-fast players, but not the 0 UEs and net-gods.
There are plenty of positives too, but this thread is for the suggestions to improve things.
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by Tuurbine » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:12
Played the demo last night and was kind of disappointed
Pros
-Graphics
-Sound (ball hitting sound)
-Ambiance
-Ball speed
Cons
-Net play is too easy
-Animations look funny
-No errors
-The too early, too late timing text is in white, should be in colors like TS4 o you can identify what you re doing wrong just by identifying the color and not having to actually read the text in the middle of the match.
-Players are too fast
It feels like a virtua tennis on steroids.
The color trails depending on the shot were not a welcome addition for me, and I think sound , player animation and ball physics should make us determine what kind of shot the opponent is making and not a color trail.
The no errors thing is very annoying. There is a rumble feature in the controller, what for? just for power? Doesn't matter how much it rumbles and how late or early you hit the ball, it will land on court every single time.
I liked the customization options said by Kluddkalle, all of them, I would include a "Sim" and "Arcade" option so the game would appeal to both parties , the Sim including lots of forced and unforced errors.
I think its kind of ironic that a game that is doing a great job trying to recreate the tennis environment with great ambiance, commentary and sound, and also focused in tennis history by recreating those vintage and not so vintage matches that make up tennis history; is failing to adapt all the concept into its core which is gameplay.
Pros
-Graphics
-Sound (ball hitting sound)
-Ambiance
-Ball speed
Cons
-Net play is too easy
-Animations look funny
-No errors
-The too early, too late timing text is in white, should be in colors like TS4 o you can identify what you re doing wrong just by identifying the color and not having to actually read the text in the middle of the match.
-Players are too fast
It feels like a virtua tennis on steroids.
The color trails depending on the shot were not a welcome addition for me, and I think sound , player animation and ball physics should make us determine what kind of shot the opponent is making and not a color trail.
The no errors thing is very annoying. There is a rumble feature in the controller, what for? just for power? Doesn't matter how much it rumbles and how late or early you hit the ball, it will land on court every single time.
I liked the customization options said by Kluddkalle, all of them, I would include a "Sim" and "Arcade" option so the game would appeal to both parties , the Sim including lots of forced and unforced errors.
I think its kind of ironic that a game that is doing a great job trying to recreate the tennis environment with great ambiance, commentary and sound, and also focused in tennis history by recreating those vintage and not so vintage matches that make up tennis history; is failing to adapt all the concept into its core which is gameplay.
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by Murmeltier88 » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:47
I played it as well today and here is my impression:
+ POSITIVE:
+ Ingame sound-effects: (Hitting the ball, the audience, the referees and voices of the judges, FINALLY original voices or grunts of the players and not somekind of animal grunting 
)
+ the commentary: I really like the commentary and I think its a good idea to do that in a game but I also can imagine that it becomes annoying after playing it for a while because its going to repeat but nice new thing
+Atmosphere on the court: Here you really have the feeling you are on a tennis court - its just different then in TS 4 for example. In Top Spin 4 the atmosphere and sound effects are like....artificial I would say.
+ Speed of the ball or the game: Its quite better for me then in TS 4
+ Graphics - Yes its also good for me.
+ The controls: Well, it took me some time to learn the controls of Top Spin 4 but here I really have a good feeling..it seems like its very easy to handle it eventhough it looks complicated at first
The menu-design and Options Are looking quite nice and I also like the background pictures of the pros which also change from time to time
- NEGATIVE:
- Animations are weird and not authentic: Sorry, but for me, the animations and the movements of the players are just not ok. I mean, every shot looks almost the same....Every forehand is the same...I mean? Neither Djokovic nor Nadal do not hit the same style of forehand..I think thats lame?! It seems they did not do any motion capturing here? I though EA Sports is known for that, that they are doing it, so why not here?
Another point is the running....They get every ball back, as long as its a rallye from the baseline. They are teleporting to every ball and it seems, like there are never "out of balance" shots and if so, they do not look realistic. The groundstrokes look from time to time, like they are playing baseball and the running of the players is very funny.
Its really bad, that they took the original grunts from the players which is very very good, but not went far to gave them also their original movements and behaviour on the court....Too bad
What is so difficult about it? So for me, the movements of Top Spin 4 are really better!
And WTF?!?!? Nadal and Djokovic are hitting one handed backhands...and NOT only when they slice the ball....I tried it by myself by hitting only flat-shots and they really do hit one handed backhands from time to time...Are they kidding?!?!?!? LOL
-Variation of the shots?! : Well, no matter if I hit a top Spin or a slice...or whatever, I just cant see any difference there, cause it looks all the same....I mean, is that right? For me not. Besides of that, somehow I have the feeling, that is is not possible to him some really nice shots on the line or down the line...its like the ball is always one meter left or right next to the line and you cannot fix it more to the line. I think it would have been cool, if they made a possibility to have some "risk shots" or whatever to make shots more precisely, (Which can also go out and stuff like that)
-AI of the CPU: Hmm, its pretty unrealistic...When I play on amateur Nadal and Djokovic were at the baseline all the time and never came to the net, which was okay for me, but when you play on "Superstar", after almost every serve and return, they come to the net, but they do not Serve & Volley like you can expect since it is a grass court...they just come to the net just by chance lol...during a really hard rally...Thats not realistic... They would never come to the net in such situations or when they are 2 meters behind the baseline. So every point was the same in the end and you are NOT able to pass them really.
-Net play: Like the others also already mentioned: The netplay is a way to easy...You can point almost every time...its nearly impossible to get passed or to get destroyed when u are at the net. It makes the matches unbalanced and I guessit can be used in the future to get easy wins If I think about the online mode
-Arcade-playstyle?! : Well, for me, the rallies are kind of boring, because they end up all the same...I never saw some really nice shots or variation in the rallies - at least, not from the CPU - eventhough I played on the highest difficulty. Too bad....for me the rallies in Top Spin 4 are MUCH better....REALLY better! The rallies in GST 2 are not even exciting...in Top Spin 4 I really can feel the adrenaline - even against the CPU from time to time...Here it is just boring...Sorry!
I have this feeling, they tried to mix a simulation-tennis game with the arcade playstyle of Virtua Tennis but I don't think, that this is going to work. For real tennis-fans, who are looking forward to exciting rallies which can be created through skill & technique and by making some good shots witch variation, I guess, they will not be content with the game...
Well all in all, for me this game feels like they really wanted to try to make it as the perfect game...but they failed in my oppinion.
Some facts are quite nice, like the sound-effects, the atmosphere and the design of the game. But they failed in the very important things, like animations, hitting the shots, the rallies.....But for me, thats what makes a good game, when they do this kind of things right.
I mean, who is not disappointed as a tennis-fan, when Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Roddick are hitting the same forhand all the time? And when
their rallies end up the same ways?!
I mean, for my mother, it would be okay, since she would not care and everything would look the same for her, even if its not. But for me, as a tennis-fan and player by myself I cannot understand why such important things are neglected...
+ POSITIVE:
+ Ingame sound-effects: (Hitting the ball, the audience, the referees and voices of the judges, FINALLY original voices or grunts of the players and not somekind of animal grunting
)
+ the commentary: I really like the commentary and I think its a good idea to do that in a game but I also can imagine that it becomes annoying after playing it for a while because its going to repeat but nice new thing
+Atmosphere on the court: Here you really have the feeling you are on a tennis court - its just different then in TS 4 for example. In Top Spin 4 the atmosphere and sound effects are like....artificial I would say.
+ Speed of the ball or the game: Its quite better for me then in TS 4
+ Graphics - Yes its also good for me.
+ The controls: Well, it took me some time to learn the controls of Top Spin 4 but here I really have a good feeling..it seems like its very easy to handle it eventhough it looks complicated at first
The menu-design and Options Are looking quite nice and I also like the background pictures of the pros which also change from time to time
- NEGATIVE:
- Animations are weird and not authentic: Sorry, but for me, the animations and the movements of the players are just not ok. I mean, every shot looks almost the same....Every forehand is the same...I mean? Neither Djokovic nor Nadal do not hit the same style of forehand..I think thats lame?! It seems they did not do any motion capturing here? I though EA Sports is known for that, that they are doing it, so why not here?
Another point is the running....They get every ball back, as long as its a rallye from the baseline. They are teleporting to every ball and it seems, like there are never "out of balance" shots and if so, they do not look realistic. The groundstrokes look from time to time, like they are playing baseball and the running of the players is very funny.
Its really bad, that they took the original grunts from the players which is very very good, but not went far to gave them also their original movements and behaviour on the court....Too bad
What is so difficult about it? So for me, the movements of Top Spin 4 are really better!
And WTF?!?!? Nadal and Djokovic are hitting one handed backhands...and NOT only when they slice the ball....I tried it by myself by hitting only flat-shots and they really do hit one handed backhands from time to time...Are they kidding?!?!?!? LOL
-Variation of the shots?! : Well, no matter if I hit a top Spin or a slice...or whatever, I just cant see any difference there, cause it looks all the same....I mean, is that right? For me not. Besides of that, somehow I have the feeling, that is is not possible to him some really nice shots on the line or down the line...its like the ball is always one meter left or right next to the line and you cannot fix it more to the line. I think it would have been cool, if they made a possibility to have some "risk shots" or whatever to make shots more precisely, (Which can also go out and stuff like that)
-AI of the CPU: Hmm, its pretty unrealistic...When I play on amateur Nadal and Djokovic were at the baseline all the time and never came to the net, which was okay for me, but when you play on "Superstar", after almost every serve and return, they come to the net, but they do not Serve & Volley like you can expect since it is a grass court...they just come to the net just by chance lol...during a really hard rally...Thats not realistic... They would never come to the net in such situations or when they are 2 meters behind the baseline. So every point was the same in the end and you are NOT able to pass them really.
-Net play: Like the others also already mentioned: The netplay is a way to easy...You can point almost every time...its nearly impossible to get passed or to get destroyed when u are at the net. It makes the matches unbalanced and I guessit can be used in the future to get easy wins If I think about the online mode
-Arcade-playstyle?! : Well, for me, the rallies are kind of boring, because they end up all the same...I never saw some really nice shots or variation in the rallies - at least, not from the CPU - eventhough I played on the highest difficulty. Too bad....for me the rallies in Top Spin 4 are MUCH better....REALLY better! The rallies in GST 2 are not even exciting...in Top Spin 4 I really can feel the adrenaline - even against the CPU from time to time...Here it is just boring...Sorry!
I have this feeling, they tried to mix a simulation-tennis game with the arcade playstyle of Virtua Tennis but I don't think, that this is going to work. For real tennis-fans, who are looking forward to exciting rallies which can be created through skill & technique and by making some good shots witch variation, I guess, they will not be content with the game...
Well all in all, for me this game feels like they really wanted to try to make it as the perfect game...but they failed in my oppinion.
Some facts are quite nice, like the sound-effects, the atmosphere and the design of the game. But they failed in the very important things, like animations, hitting the shots, the rallies.....But for me, thats what makes a good game, when they do this kind of things right.
I mean, who is not disappointed as a tennis-fan, when Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Roddick are hitting the same forhand all the time? And when
their rallies end up the same ways?!
I mean, for my mother, it would be okay, since she would not care and everything would look the same for her, even if its not. But for me, as a tennis-fan and player by myself I cannot understand why such important things are neglected...
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Murmeltier88 - Posts: 187
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by VillaJ100 » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:29
I don't agree with the argument that buttons should be as fluid in the range of motion or be as effective as the analog sticks. You only have 8 possible directions.... with analog you have 360 degree of angle and motion so of course it should be/going to be more effective.
An basic animations such as SHBH's... come on EA that's just sloppy. Would have liked to have say a tiebreak instead of 3 games, but have a choice of 2/3 courts to see if they are actually different, instead of just being another colour.
An basic animations such as SHBH's... come on EA that's just sloppy. Would have liked to have say a tiebreak instead of 3 games, but have a choice of 2/3 courts to see if they are actually different, instead of just being another colour.
Proud serve and volleyer!
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by Tamthewasp » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:40
I enjoyed the demo. Yeah the animations are not great. The net play is a bit too easy. But yh its a fun game.
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by C4iLL » Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:17
I agree with every criticism made here : lack of unforced errors, players run too fast, animations completely wrong (nadal BH especially with 1 hand...).
The slice looks strange too.
Graphics and Atmosphere are good anyway, and the speed of the ball is quite good. The style of deplacement is better than the one in TS4 because of the liberty offered.
To sum up : there is a really good potential because of the form, but it needs a lot of amelioration in term of gameplay to be interesting to play.
Currently it's just a Virtua Tennis like...
The slice looks strange too.
Graphics and Atmosphere are good anyway, and the speed of the ball is quite good. The style of deplacement is better than the one in TS4 because of the liberty offered.
To sum up : there is a really good potential because of the form, but it needs a lot of amelioration in term of gameplay to be interesting to play.
Currently it's just a Virtua Tennis like...
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C4iLL - Pure S4LT
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by ILuvBillVal » Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:54
I can't really say anything bad about this game. It's just not what I and much of this community are used to. The movement is very quick and I feel like brief moments the ball looks really large but it was still quite fun. What I noticed immediately was the sound and atmosphere are a billion times better than in Top Spin 4. The sound is so boring in TS4 I always just play music over my network instead. I think good sound and effects can go a long way in enhancing an experience in a game or movie.
Swing stick I'm a little meh about. In theory it's cool and more realistic and yadda yadda but to me it's just another EA game, using another "innovative stick approach." It would be cool if they took your feedback and threw in a patch like 2K did to make the movement and stuff a little more realistically paced, though I suppose it's too late to touch the animations.
Swing stick I'm a little meh about. In theory it's cool and more realistic and yadda yadda but to me it's just another EA game, using another "innovative stick approach." It would be cool if they took your feedback and threw in a patch like 2K did to make the movement and stuff a little more realistically paced, though I suppose it's too late to touch the animations.
Norberto H or bust.
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by Moralspain » Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:07
One thing i don't get is the slice shot...those are not slices for God's sake!, well anyway i admit it's a fun game, and despite what i've been reading here i do commit unforced errors, and many of them btw, mainly when i hit using the B button trying to get a good angle.
Never underestimate the pain of a person, because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.
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by Q-Spin » Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:28
GST1 wasnt a realistic tennis sim, but it also wasnt a pure arcade game. Lets say it was a cartonish "cyber-tennis"(something similar to real tennis ) game with a deep and complex physic system. Far from perfect, but fun as hell and the best motion control sportsgame up to date.
All I wished for GST2: same physic engine + HD graphics + good motion controls - some bugs. The rest is bonus.
So judging from the demo I only get the HD graphics and some bonus.
Maybe it takes some more time getting used to it. GST1 was neither playable at the first try. But I really dont like that you have to charge your shots with the move. That destroys the natural feel for me.
) game with a deep and complex physic system. Far from perfect, but fun as hell and the best motion control sportsgame up to date.
All I wished for GST2: same physic engine + HD graphics + good motion controls - some bugs. The rest is bonus.
So judging from the demo I only get the HD graphics and some bonus.
Maybe it takes some more time getting used to it. GST1 was neither playable at the first try. But I really dont like that you have to charge your shots with the move. That destroys the natural feel for me.
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by Rabbit Royal » Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:01
Despite all the downsides I had some good fun with the demo. The slice shots are rubbish, yes, but as an arcade game I expect nice rallies online. AI is too easy. I wish you could change camera views. Is there really only one camera? Also in the full version? Will every game have the Johnny Mac commentary or are there more persons, maybe also in local languages? Finally, does anyone know how many courts will be in the final game? I think I will buy this game.
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by VillaJ100 » Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:40
I will buy it just for 4 console doubles. As i've been getting used to the stick control i'm noticing the physics etc are a lot deeper than they first appear. i also hit a phenomenal pass with nadal earlier lol, pulled right off court by a volley and just fired it into the corner up the line
Proud serve and volleyer!
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