{"id":345,"date":"2017-10-05T00:36:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T04:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=345"},"modified":"2017-10-05T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T04:36:13","slug":"game-ramblings-54-golf-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=345","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #54 &#8211; Golf Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/golfstorygame.com\/\">More Info from Sidebar Games<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Genre<\/strong>: Golf \/ RPG<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: Switch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>TL;DR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charming RPG with gameplay reminiscent of Mario Golf on the GBC\/GBA<\/li>\n<li>Entertaining writing, good mix of quests, and a bunch of clever hints at games from the past.<\/li>\n<li>Golf game is serviceable and fun, despite obviously not being the focus of the game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Out of everything that surprises me about this game, it&#8217;s that I can&#8217;t figure out who the hell the development team is.\u00a0 The game&#8217;s credits simply had their studio name, they have no website or Twitter beyond the game&#8217;s info, and I can&#8217;t find a damn thing on Google.\u00a0 Yet despite it all, this is potentially the best of the so called Nindies to come out this year.\u00a0 While the game owes a lot to\u00a0<em>Mario Golf<\/em> before it, it leans heavily on the writing and questing RPG to make a game that ends up being one of the best non-combat RPGs I&#8217;ve played in a long time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_346\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-346\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-346\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rap.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-346\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sometimes you play golf, sometimes you have rap battles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Given that this is RPG first, the writing was always going to be important.\u00a0 While this definitely isn&#8217;t deep, and it definitely ends abruptly, the writing is lighthearted and entertaining throughout.\u00a0 Each course has its overarching story that takes place through a couple main quests and a lot of optional side quests.\u00a0 These run the gamut from a Caddyshack-inspired battle against (and with) moles to rap battles between an old country club and a rival invading course to a haunted course where you help create a zombie army.\u00a0 While the main story line of rising into the pro tour provides the overall push to the end, the individual stories and the wide range of characters you meet throughout are easily the thing that kept me going back and digging into all the available quests.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_347\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-347\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-347\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_pacman.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Among others callbacks, you sometimes just end up playing Pac Man while invading a base Metal Gear style.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There&#8217;s also a very distinct sense of playing homage to games of the past.\u00a0 The visuals are very clearly styled after SNES and Genesis era games, even if the quality is somewhat higher than would have been possible on those systems.\u00a0 However, it&#8217;s the game references that really hit home.\u00a0 The <em>Pac Man<\/em> example above is just one.\u00a0 There were also side quests based on <em>Micro Machines<\/em>, NPC hints at the <em>Mario<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tennis<\/em> series, a built in recreation of NES <em>Golf<\/em>, and more.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a lot of love shown in bringing in elements of the past in ways that really succeed in giving a lot of life to the RPG aspect of the game, elevating it significantly above the similar <em>Mario Golf<\/em> games in that regard.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_348\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-348\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-348\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_par1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-348\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even playing golf itself, you get a lot of non-standard variety like this Par 1 only course.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since this is a golf game that side also had to not suffer, and while it&#8217;s nothing deep it works pretty well.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a pretty standard 3-click setup (start, set power, set aim) for shots.\u00a0 It also has your standard mix of curving, spins, and wind effect on the ball flight path.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a bunch of different clubs with various effects on shots as well, giving a bit of flexibility in the gear build out.\u00a0 The RPG aspect also plays out here, with XP going into the golf stats.\u00a0 Like Mario Golf, increasing power lowers the other stats, giving a balance between quickly increasing shot power vs. not throwing other stats out of whack.<\/p>\n<p>However, there&#8217;s also a lot of depth at play here in the style of game available.\u00a0 For the most part, there&#8217;s really no normal courses.\u00a0 Even the first course with a standard layout has mole traps that can cause your ball to be carried all over the course.\u00a0 From there you get courses with no greens, tar traps instead of sand, par 1 courses, turtles that bounce your ball down the course out of water, and more.\u00a0 In general you basically have to be ready for anything and can&#8217;t settle into the typical pattern of a golf game where any course generally plays the same.\u00a0 The only thing that really was consistent here is that I could aim smack at the flag and more often than not sink the shot, which admittedly is both highly satisfying and incredibly hilarious when hitting a 300 yard shot into the hole during a match play event.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_349\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-349\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golf_story_rules.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-349\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If I made the rules, this would definitely be in there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I think my big takeaway here is that\u00a0<em>Golf Story<\/em> proves the value of making RPGs without combat, particularly in lieu of Nintendo abandoning the idea of the Camelot-developed mobile sports RPGs.\u00a0 There&#8217;s enough golf here to still be considered a sports game, but the RPG aspects pulled in bring so much to the game that non-fans can also find a lot to enjoy here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Info from Sidebar Games Genre: Golf \/ RPG Platform: Switch TL;DR Charming RPG with gameplay reminiscent of Mario Golf on the GBC\/GBA Entertaining writing, good mix of quests, and a bunch of clever hints at games from the past. Golf game is serviceable and fun, despite obviously not being the focus of the game. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=345\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #54 &#8211; Golf Story&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,124,83],"tags":[127,126,16,128,84],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rpg","category-sports","category-switch","tag-golf","tag-golf-story","tag-rpg","tag-sports","tag-switch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}