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Did you play Links 98-2000, how does this compare?

• ForrestLeigh 264 Posts

  Tue, Mar 29 2011 2:42 AM

  I like this game, but I find its not as consistent as the old Links and I know I'll never be as good at this though I'm still trying.

  I played the 'zone' and 'cases ladder' for quite a few years with Links 98-2000 met a lot of people so I got around to wondering:-

  Did you play on the zone, do you prefer this game or do you hanker back to the days where Links was king.

  What was your user name - I was IneptDragon a name I considered using for this but decided against it, I'm ashamed to say for pride reasons really, I was quite good as ID but feel I'd tarnish that name using it on a golf sim I'm pretty bad at.

  Anyway, for those of you that did play, I had great times, I never got the chance to say I'm leaving so I'll say now, thanks and I hope some of you are playing this sim

  Mike

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Tue, Mar 29 2011 4:57 AM

  ForrestLeigh:

  Did you play on the zone, do you prefer this game or do you hanker back to the days where Links was king.

  Tour Spies, Mike-TS_YankeeJim. Was totally hooked on it from 1994 to 2001. There's a few more around here too. It's hard to accurately compare the 2 games because you owned Links and installed it on your computer. If you didn't buy it , though, you couldn't play. This is free to get hooked on and for what Links would cost with each year's new and improved version you can set yourself up here really nice.

  I find this game harder for different reasons. In Links you had to know about everything in golf play-lies, wind, green conditions that included green softness as well as speed and even weather. Everybody played with the exact same clubs and your distinction in the game was based on your knowledge of how to set up and execute shots, not what equipment you bought.

  In this game you're faced with a more realistic challenge. The erratic meter, the shifting winds and quirky greens put you to the test in a way Links couldn't. In Links you could play any shot you wanted over and over until you could execute it your sleep whereas here you have to adapt on the run. That alone makes this more difficult.

  IMO Links was a better test of your abilities and knowledge, not to mention the 100s of courses you could play. In the end it was a console game. This isn't and for that I think WGT trumps.  :-)

• HDBanger 348 Posts

  Tue, Mar 29 2011 6:48 AM

  I played all of the links games too. I just found this game 2 months ago, searching online for new online golf games.  I do like WGT, for what it is, but, it is NO links..  No stance setup, no lie affecting your shot besides fairway, rough etc. In links when the wind said 15mph in your face, you could BET money adding that yardage to your shot wouldn't send you 20 yds past the hole, not so in WGT, the wind indicator is 75/25 on/off.  We had 40+ courses and real golf avatars in links, here we have 4 courses and fantasy avatars with disco balls on their pants..  WGT is a good game, no doubt, links was great until 2001. The only thing WGT has over links is graphics, and well, HD photo's aren't graphics, they are photos.  This game has a long way to go to be compared with the links franchise.

• nanstar 4,914 Posts

  Tue, Mar 29 2011 5:29 PM

  Happy memories here..I have Links 2003 the one with Real Time Swing where you move the mouse backwards for the backswing and then forward for the downswing.

  Six Championship Courses in the original game;Cabo del Sol,Gleneagles,The Tribute at Otsego Club,Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Cambrian Ridge,Kauri Cliffs and the fictional Skeleton Coast.Twenty more courses were added with the purchase of the 2003 expansion pack!

  I had no luck getting it to work online however and was thereafter doomed to constant whippings from Sergio,Jesper,Annika and the burly David Toms who'd all talk to me in oft repeated phrases..lol!

  The putting assistant and green analyser were cool and with Arnie Palmers help you could even design your own courses..I never found a Links '04 however and apart from the swing method and the number of courses available I much prefer WGT.

  Happy Hitting All...nanstar

• duffer66 700 Posts

  Tue, Mar 29 2011 6:16 PM

  Never played Links on Zone but I really liked the game. Why even Arnie would get into trouble when you played against him. WGT has a long way to go to make this game as good as links for conditions and such. Can't beat the graphics that WGT has tho.

• danohi50 1,020 Posts

  Wed, Mar 30 2011 1:25 AM

  I liked links also, but found the game too easy and predictable...golf isnt predictable.

  But that's a personal opinion that around 1/2 the gang here agree with.

  My favorite golf game was Sierra Sports PGA 1999- 2002 the titanium edition.

  It was the predisesor of TW 2002 also designed by headgate for EA sports.

  The origional  course designer for Sierra sports was simple and elegant and lead to hundreds of quality courses and hundreds of mixed bags of other qualities lol

  It was my favorite up untill WGT found me.

  I also enjoyed the Golden bear JN4-jn6 games..great putting simulation.

• ForrestLeigh 264 Posts

  Wed, Mar 30 2011 1:52 AM

  I agree that Links could get 'predictable' but only if you found the same spot on the fairway and green - I played thousands of rounds and even towards the end still found places I'd never visited previously (finding yourself behind a tree was never fun) - and you had to devise a system to get yourself out of it with the setup, stance, club selection, increase/decrease loft etc.  I don't like this game where if I'm in the fescue, (often), bunkers (often) my options are really limited.

  I really miss the mulligans too, I would like to stand in a bunker and try shot after shot

• ForrestLeigh 264 Posts

  Wed, Mar 30 2011 2:02 AM

  I forgot to add, in Links you also had to factor in your ball lie, are you on the fairway on level ground, or are you on an upslope, or downslope, does it also slope left or right, all these affected your decision making before you even factored in the wind, distance green speed and pin placement, so I would disagree it was repetitive and predictable

• danohi50 1,020 Posts

  Wed, Mar 30 2011 11:42 AM

  One thing I agree with you leigh is the ball lie, stance stuff and ability to play draws or fades would really make wgt more interesting

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Wed, Mar 30 2011 11:53 AM

  danohi50:

  the ball lie, stance stuff and ability to play draws or fades would really make wgt more interesting

  That was what made Links level-everybody played the same clubs and had to compensate for everything. If you didn't know what down hill, uphill, side hill both ways on top of all the lie conditions did to a shot you were left at the starting gate.

  With the differences in equipment here a simple uphill/downhill factor would really be fun.

  Another thing that could make a difference that Links had was the hardness of the green as well as the speed. You could have soft//med/hard greens mixed with slow/med/fast speeds for a huge number of scenarios.