Thank Grog It’s Firday!
So… this was it? rEAlly EA? Way to alleviate the speculation about the game winding down and going away. Not!
All this silly retread did was increase the speculation that you are “outta gas” in the idea department, and are too timid to just be honest enough about where you are leading us.
We haven’t heard “peep one,” out of our so-called Game Engagement Liason (you know who you are, John). We see him hovering on the forum, and in the “secret chat rooms” where all of the TSTO Illuminati hang. But, no emails. No returned messages…just complete “radio silence.”
So, we wait around for weeks…after a couple of relatively lame mini-updates, for this? Come on. This COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT! The episode on which it is based is beloved. It was even entered into the Baseball Hall of Fame!
This update will get no such accolades. Trust me on that.
But, there were a couple of minor perks that made at least the first couple of days endurable. Let’s take a look at what you could do to turn “Meh,” into “S’allright.”
Actually…calling this “update” an update is silly. It isn’t. It is another version of a random bunch of stuff from the closet, with a bit of text and a handful of quests tied to it. Not one new item appeared. Zip. Zilch. Nada…
They tried to sell it as, “Springfield needs more stadiums,” but it has almost nothing to do with the Isotopes, “Homer at Bat,” or for that matter baseball. Except for the quest-line…which you may have noticed, has NO outside tasks in it…no new animations…and is pretty much just a lame diversion from the fact that there is so much “meh” about this…that real words, on a family site, fail me.
Yes…there was a “glitch” (or a weird backhand boost) for those who give a hoot about Bonus XP (yes, Charles…we know who you are). Actually, most of us do at this point. So, like most of you, I bought a crap-ton of tennis courts, and boosted my XP Bonus by 70% or more on the first day. I am continuing to “mine for trophies” while it is still being offered. But, my heart really isn’t in it.
There is one obvious drawback to this early “Easter Egg.” You actually have to place the crap-ton of tennis courts in your town. They are big, compared to the billboards or TV vans most people use to boost % from the Mystery Box. I didn’t even try. I already had a few tennis courts in my town. No town, as unsophisticated as Springfield needs more tennis courts than prisons. And yes…we have a crap-ton of prisons too.
So, I just used a bit of my random land, and made a “Tennis Court Peninsula.” Far away from anything I look at regularly.
It’s really little more than an XP dumping ground. I may try to get creative with it later. But, as I said…my heart isn’t in it right now.
However, at least for me, as long as I was going to grind for donuts, and grind for XP, I might as well grind for something I actually wanted. EA brought back the “golf course,” as part of the “Training Bundle.”
I was elated…until I remembered a minor detail.
It has long been a thorn in the sides of all of us who actually enjoy the creative aspects of designing in TSTO, that you can’t turn items like buildings and decorations a full 360 degrees. For the most part, you just design around it, knowing that all of your buildings are just going to have a Southern or Western exposure.
But, when you are designing a golf course…and your “holes” only rotate, a tweak one way or another, with the approach pretty much being the same…it makes it very difficult to make your course realistic, and playable.
OPTION ONE
OPTION TWO
As you can see…the “options” really aren’t much of a change, in regards to how one would approach the green. Mostly…the trees and shrubs just move.
As I started to replace my “imaginary” greens and pins, I was challenged to make the holes different…and then, I was challenged to make a handful of holes on my course, even remotely playable.
It works OK for a handful of holes, for which that kind of an approach could work. But clearly, for any hole being approached from the “East” (right side of screen) it is going to be a problem.
As you can see…I will have to do some SERIOUS redesigning, to make the limitation of the hole design work.
And, while I’m at it, I want to appreciate the fact that EA even has the “golf course” as an option. However…it isn’t a “course,” it is a single hole. And…because of the design (which looks pretty the first couple of times) it is very hard to use correctly, to get an approach around the trees that are a permanent part of the design. The EAsy solution, would/should have been, to just make the holes stand alone…with no landscaping.
This would allow for an approach from any side of the green.
And while I’m on a gripe-grind, this also means I am going to be stuck with a crap-ton of random other stuff from the bundle. This is after my first four bundle acquisitions. Holes placed… storage clutter starting.
But, will it all stop me from playing??
Did you not read between the lines of what I wrote above? I will continue to grind for golf holes. I will use some of the expansive land I have left to redesign and expand my golf course to adapt to the limitation of the holes (can you say “dog-leg approaches?”) and I will continue to tap…hoping like hell that this isn’t yet another sign that EA has let EALPish behavior take over…and that this is the “new normal,” as the game is placed into “Hospice Mode.”
Who knows? Probably not even John…which is why he doesn’t write anymore.
Will EA make me eat my words? I’m ready to do so, if there is some giant update in the near future. But, for now…between delays, half-baked updates, and updates that aren’t updates…The “Meh’s” are winning.
I know…I know…a bunch of you are going to say, “Holyfreakinshirt, Patric! I thought you had changed from your “Crankyoldguy” ways!”
Yes. For the most part, I have. I truly hope EA gets off of their collective patoots to pull TSTO out of the dumper. But, TSTO is a small part of my real life. The REAL reason I’m cranky, is because I was finally done with our huge Rotary Fundraiser, and all I had planned for this week was getting back to playing golf. After months of being indoors…and on my keester in front of a computer monitor, this was going to be my “Back to Normal” week!!
But…no. Mother Nature and the extreme weather that seems to be becoming the “norm” these days had something to say about it.
I think this picture from the patio next to the country club speaks for itself. Our entire region has been hit with record rain and flooding. Ugh. No golf today.
Real no-golf insult to virtual golf course insult to severelyinneedofabreakoldguy. The forecast is for sun tomorrow. We’ll see….
