Optimal Speedrun Approach

[Thermopyle2]

Though the guide is useful, it's not entirely focused on streamlining your progress as quickly as possible. Due to that I just wanted to make a post to clarify a few things on how to approach this plat in minimal time before the upcoming server shutdown (September 30th.) This post is intended to supplement the guide, not replace it--you should still check the guide for individual trophy requirements. Hopefully somebody will find this helpful.

 

Step 1: Get to Rank 7, playing Official rounds only, in Serious mode. Focus on Rank matches you can get 1st place in, but move on to higher ranks if you have filled your gallery for the Rank.

 

The timegating factor in getting to the plat is that you don't unlock the ability to play Revenge VS matches until Rank 7. Revenge VS matches are where you go up against your previous opponents from ranks 1-6 (3 opponents per rank), and you can only face one per day. Since that's 18 opponents, getting through the Revenge VS matches will take a minimum of 18 days, so starting those matches as soon as possible should be your priority. The focus here is on getting EXP to level up, make your Rank opponents available, and beat them to Rank up. Repeat until you hit Rank 7.

 

Why Serious Mode? It makes your opponents harder, and gives you more EXP. But you only get the full EXP reward for a course if you get first place, so even though higher rank courses will progress you faster, it's better to do lower Rank courses you can win than higher Rank that you can't. This will vary on your skill and clubs, so use your judgement. Despite using Serious Mode, the game was patched at some point so that you can use Gimme Mode in every match, which lowers the difficulty back down without hurting your EXP. So I suggest using both at all times to combine EXP plus beating your opponents as easily as possible (which gives you more audience members per tournament.)

 

Why official matches? In addition to Revenge VS matches, you also have to do Secret VS matches. Secret VS matches are for getting X number of birdies, eagles, albatrosses, and condors in official matches. There is a Secret VS opponent for completing 80 and and another for completing 120 official tournaments, so you'll need to play at least that many. Playing unofficial matches will let you get EXP, rank up your club skills, and add gallery members, but they won't progress you through the Secret VS match requirements at all. There are also trophies for hitting the pin with special stroke skills that only apply to official matches, so playing official matches gives you chances to work on that. 

 

When you're choosing which Rank course to do, look at the number above the Rank selection on the left. Rank 1 shows that there are 80 audience members at that Rank; those are golfing opponents in the Rank, and if you beat them in a match by at least 3 strokes they will be fans. Once you've beaten everybody in the Rank by 3 you will see 80/80 and you'll want to move on to other ranks.

 

Step 2: Do a Revenge VS match every day. Use the glitch for 3 Condor and 5 Albatross finishes. Turn off Serious Mode.  Continue grinding Official rounds for Secret Vs requirements and gallery members. Tackle your Secret Vs matches as you unlock them (you'll probably already have a handful unlocked by Rank 7.) Take the Professor's quiz. Do your fishing.

 

Now that you're at Rank 7 you'll unlock the Revenge VS matches. By default the first one won't show up immediately upon Rank 7, but you can quit to title and relaunch the game to force it rather than waiting a day. Opponents are random for you daily, so they'll come in whatever order. Once you've beaten Kano's Revenge VS mode, he'll give you access to higher-level fishing gear which will unlock your ability to go for the Walking Encyclopedia trophy. You could have taken the Professor's Quiz at Rank 6, but the priority was getting to Rank 7 so we'll put that step here instead since you have an 18-day wait for Revenge VS matches anyway.

 

The Condor/Albatross glitch isn't strictly required, but it will save you a ton of time and effort. Getting those legitimately requires a good deal of luck and fully upgraded custom clubs. The glitch requires finding somebody with a glitched character who is actively playing on your course, copying that glitched character, going to the Online (Open) course 3 Kanaloa Beach Golf Resort, choosing Out, going to the hole at the end of Hole 1, switching to the glitch character, you'll fall through the floor, and then after a few seconds you'll get a prompt asking if you want to play the hole. Say yes and you'll have a chance to play from your current location right next to the hole. You should be able to sink the ball in one shot for a Condor. You'll see a screen telling you the Secret VS character has been unlocked. Switch back to your main character, then back to the glitch character to repeat this for the second and third Condors and to unlock another Secret VS character after the third one.

 

For the Albatrosses, repeat the above process character switching process, but instead of sinking the ball in one shot, deliberately miss your first shot and then sink the ball on your second. Do this five times to unlock the Albatross Secret VS character.

 

Just a heads-up; the Condor characters aren't available until you've reached Rank 7. Even if you score the 3 Condors, they won't unlock, which is why this step is listed here. Even if you get 3 Condors prior to Rank 7, you'll need to do one more after for them to appear.

 

Here is the best video example I've seen of the glitch. The glitch only counts Condors/Albatrosses when the hole is in official mode--if it's not, check back tomorrow.

 

Serious Mode is no longer required since you no longer need to earn EXP at Rank 7. Turning it off makes your tournament opponents easier while grinding your audience members for each Rank. Just switch between Rank courses based on which Official tournaments you have that you still need audience members for. Once you get near done with the audience members for a Rank you'll see that most of your opponents for a tournament already have checks next to their names; you can hit triangle to shuffle the audience to try for more people you haven't yet beaten. Eventually you'll have to shuffle multiple times and still only get 1-2 to add per tournament before you've finished a Rank off and can move on. Getting all 720 audience members for Full House was the last trophy I earned--it's quite a grind.

 

While working towards your 120 official challenge tournament requirements for the Secret Vs matches, be sure to continue trying for your Spiral Shot, Rising Shot, and Homing Shot trophies. Those can be done by landing the ball just outside the green, switching to a low-flying club like 3I, and hitting the pin using the required direction inputs. This took practice but with 120 tournaments you're looking at at least 1080 holes to try it at. You don't have to be entirely in the air to do this--for me I bounced into the pin and triggered the trophy.

 

Here is a good video that shows off those trophies.

 

About Clubs:
Stick with Standard Balls but switch to Big Air clubs as soon as you get them--they're the best clubs in the game up until you reach Rank 7 and are gifted Custom Clubs. Even then you'll need to upgrade those clubs to 9+ power to exceed what Big Air can do. If you're using the Condor/Albatross glitch, Big Air can carry you all the way through the to the plat. Custom Clubs won't help much with Revenge VS or Rank 7 tournaments, as the AI will generally reach the green in 1-2 shots, just like you will, but Custom Clubs WILL be necessary if you're going for Condor/Albatross legit. I recommend using the glitch and not worrying much about Custom Clubs until you've gathered at least 30 gems, which you'll get naturally from random shot rewards and finishing Rank 7 tournaments. When you get to 30 gems you'll be able to upgrade you Custom Clubs 3 times, which if you get lucky will give you +3 each time and put them at +9 power (one more than the +8 Big Air provides.) If you're not that lucky, stick with your Big Airs until the Custom Club upgrades past them.

 

That's it.

Hopefully it addresses anybody's questions on how to quickly get to the end game to work on the Revenge matches, get access to the Secret VS characters without wasting time, use the glitch to knock out the bad RNG element of the game before the servers go down, and make all the trophies accessible with minimal effort and repetition.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Thermopyle2

[NonGone]

Nice guide, hopefully this will help people before 9/30.  I did a video a few weeks ago that kind of illustrates what you said above, the only difference is it includes instructions for doing condors without the character glitch:

 

 

Thanks again!

 

[Thermopyle2]

Nice video, I hadn't seen that before. Have to admit I'm very glad the glitch exists, going for the custom club requirements and aiming for those condors legitimately does not look like a fun time.

[EvilHamchan]

I think it still took me 10 hours to get the three condors even after I got the custom club to the right power level. Of course, a lot depends on luck and whether you get nice conditions and pin location for that specific day. I put on a few podcasts and kinda zoned out while taking my shots.

[CobraMJD]

@Thermopyle2 Thank you, great post and very helpful for starters like me, I don't understand completely this game yet.

Just one question, I need the condors and albatross to unlock the Secret VS. After the server shutdown I can't get these Secret adversaries?

[U_mad_bro7778]

12 hours ago, CobraMJD said:

@Thermopyle2 Thank you, great post and very helpful for starters like me, I don't understand completely this game yet.

Just one question, I need the condors and albatross to unlock the Secret VS. After the server shutdown I can't get these Secret adversaries?

You can still get the secret VS after shutdown..but farming for condors and albatross is gonna be so much harder compared doing it on the online courses with glitched character or grinding gems for the max custom club.

Edited July 17, 2022 by U_mad_bro7778

[CobraMJD]

9 hours ago, U_mad_bro7778 said:

You can still get the secret VS after shutdown..but farming for condors and albatross is gonna be so much harder compared doing it on the online courses with glitched character or grinding gems for the max custom club.

Thank you, I really like the game so I won't worry too much with this glitch then, if I saw it I get it, if not I'm fine too.

[The_Kopite]

On 6/28/2022 at 5:42 AM, Thermopyle2 said:

Here is the best video example I've seen of the glitch. The glitch only counts Condors/Albatrosses when the hole is in official mode--if it's not, check back tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback! (I created the video you linked) Yeah it's definitely been a learning process even with getting the glitch character, learning new things about it and the various comments attest to that. Tried to give as much info as I could in the video description too to help folks out. Helped quite a few people already with it and happy to help more if needed.

 

Your optimal speedrun approach post is top quality btw ?

[DynaVita]

13 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Thanks for the feedback! (I created the video you linked) Yeah it's definitely been a learning process even with getting the glitch character, learning new things about it and the various comments attest to that. Tried to give as much info as I could in the video description too to help folks out. Helped quite a few people already with it and happy to help more if needed.

 

Your optimal speedrun approach post is top quality btw 

 

Hello and thanks for your proposal.

I started the game this Saturday 16th, and I'm rank 3.

I played about 4 / 5 hours, it seems quite long to reach rank 7.

 

Edit : In first post, it is said that we have to wait for rank 7 to be able to use the condor glitch

Edited July 18, 2022 by DynaVita
error

[DynaVita]

Sorry double post by error

Edited July 18, 2022 by DynaVita
error

[The_Kopite]

7 hours ago, DynaVita said:

 

Hello and thanks for your proposal.

I started the game this Saturday 16th, and I'm rank 3.

I played about 4 / 5 hours, it seems quite long to reach rank 7.

 

Edit : In first post, it is said that we have to wait for rank 7 to be able to use the condor glitch

You can use the condor glitch anytime to get the 3 condors and 5 albatross' in order to unlock the secret vs characters associated with those feats. You have to get to rank 7 in order for those secret vs characters to actually appear in your home area in game to battle against. So that's why @Thermopyle2 recommended getting to rank 7 first. People get confused when they unlock those secret vs characters using the glitch and then they don't appear in the home area for them and they aren't far enough in the game for them to appear.

[UnwaveringSoul_]

Nice guide, but make sure to use gimme mode. There is no reason not to use it. You can use it at the same time as serious mode and it makes get first and beating vs characters easier. 

If anything I would say don't worry about serious mode and just work on winning rounds and beating vs characters while in gimme mode. 

Also I would recommend using the big air clubs with standard balls for most of the game.

 

Besides those I agree with everything else you said.

Edited July 22, 2022 by UnwaveringSoul_

[Thermopyle2]

9 hours ago, UnwaveringSoul_ said:

Nice guild, but make sure to use gimme mode. There is no reason not to use it. You can use it at the same time as serious mode and it makes get first and beating vs characters easier. 

If anything I would say don't worry about serious mode and just work on winning rounds and beating vs characters while in gimme mode. 

Also I would recommend using the big air clubs with standard balls for most of the game.

 

Besides those I agree with everything else you said.

Good points, I added a bit about both of those.

[DynaVita]

For those who didn't start the game yet,

I needed a week, playing 2/3 hours per day, to achieve Rank 7.

 

So 7 days + 18 days = 25 days to platinum this game.

[Thermopyle2]

5 hours ago, DynaVita said:

For those who didn't start the game yet,

I needed a week, playing 2/3 hours per day, to achieve Rank 7.

 

So 7 days + 18 days = 25 days to platinum this game.

Just a heads-up, you can subtract a day by quitting to title once you hit Rank 7 and then re-enter the game to make the first opponent show up immediately instead of waiting until the day after. I just edited that in for clarification.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Thermopyle2

[KingSkovald]

How do I find a glitched character? I'm checking Communication -> Players on Course menu every time I go fishing in online course but I never saw invisible characters there.

[DrewFrostStormy]

16 hours ago, KingSkovald said:

How do I find a glitched character? I'm checking Communication -> Players on Course menu every time I go fishing in online course but I never saw invisible characters there.

I as well have been having this issue. Been checking every single day for a glitched character and absolutely no luck. Getting these condors are purely RNG I’ve come to realize and my god it’s beginning to bug me. Hell, id be grateful to find someone with a glitched character at this point 

[MD_91]

20 hours ago, DrewFrostStormy said:

I as well have been having this issue. Been checking every single day for a glitched character and absolutely no luck. Getting these condors are purely RNG I’ve come to realize and my god it’s beginning to bug me. Hell, id be grateful to find someone with a glitched character at this point 

 

Might be worth creating a boosting session to try and find people with glitched characters that can help

Edited August 11, 2022 by Stevieboy

[DrewFrostStormy]

1 hour ago, MD_91 said:

 

Might be worth creating a boosting session to try and find people with glitched characters that can help

Good point. I decided to start a boost session honestly, since I haven’t been getting any condors. Hell, I really hope someone can help.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Stevieboy

[ryuji_sakujo]

Once you reach Rank 7, you unlock access to something called "Lone Elite Setting" which allows you to play with maxed out clubs. I'm not sure why it was omitted from this post as it is an absolute game changer.

Unless I'm mistaken, it allows you to skip working on custom clubs all together and just play game after game with maxed out standard clubs.

@Thermopyle2c could you possibly discuss and elaborate this further in your post?

[TheRedMaverick]

20 hours ago, ryuji_sakujo said:

Once you reach Rank 7, you unlock access to something called "Lone Elite Setting" which allows you to play with maxed out clubs. I'm not sure why it was omitted from this post as it is an absolute game changer.

Unless I'm mistaken, it allows you to skip working on custom clubs all together and just play game after game with maxed out standard clubs.

@Thermopyle2c could you possibly discuss and elaborate this further in your post?

EDIT - Nevermind misunderstood that last line...

Edited August 13, 2022 by TheRedMaverick

[Thermopyle2]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:07 PM, ryuji_sakujo said:

Once you reach Rank 7, you unlock access to something called "Lone Elite Setting" which allows you to play with maxed out clubs. I'm not sure why it was omitted from this post as it is an absolute game changer.

Unless I'm mistaken, it allows you to skip working on custom clubs all together and just play game after game with maxed out standard clubs.

@Thermopyle2c could you possibly discuss and elaborate this further in your post?

Unless I'm misunderstanding how it works (which is quite possible) from my own experimentation, it doesn't actually max out your clubs. What it does is max out your character progression while also locking you into the standard clubs. Standard clubs add 0 to all of your stats, so you're left with the maximum possible character stats, which gives you 25/15/15/10 for power/control/backspin/back door. Your longest distance stat is still going to be 280y despite that; distance additions come in through the gear, not from player upgrades. If I switch to Big Air, which has a power stat of 8, my longest distance stat jumps from 280y to 312y (each 1 power adds 4y.) If I switch to my admittedly terrible custom clubs, power 18, my distance jumps to 352y--if you get far luckier than I did and max at power 30 custom clubs, that's 400y.

 

I'm not entirely sure how character progression maps in the game; my character stats are 18/12/9/6, so I don't know for example what the extra 7 power really means when I'm playing a course. My character very clearly isn't suddenly hitting the ball an extra 28y, which is how I would expect it to work--both the course screen and my in-game hits still show me at 280y.

 

If somebody has an explanation that can prove maxed out character stats are worth more than the additional distance Big Air or a custom set can get you, I'm all for adding that to the guide. Though don't forget that you're not going from 1s to 25/15/15/10--since you can't switch to Elite until you hit Rank 7, the stat jump is going to be lesser based on your levels at that point; for me it's 7/3/6/4. Is that worth losing 72y on my strokes? I don't have a clue.

[Veritas7Ax]

So I didn’t know that you can only upgrade custom clubs a set amount of times (the trophy guide made absolutely no mention of this). So I upgraded at first with mostly power and some in control and got a 17 power club before realizing I couldn’t do more.

 

I recycled and tried again, just power but I got one 2-level up and one 3-level up. Everything else was just one so it’s falling hilariously short of the recommended 20 power.

 

Wish I knew this before wasting all those hard earned gems.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Veritas7Ax

[ChowderlyDude]

can you get revenge vs characters after shutdown anyone know?

[Thermopyle2]

18 hours ago, ChowderlyDude said:

can you get revenge vs characters after shutdown anyone know?

I know for sure you can't just change the date on your console while offline to trick the game into giving you a new VS character. I'm not sure if it reaches out to a an Everybody's Golf server to identify that it's a new day or if it uses some other mechanism. It's possible that once the servers go down you could continue to access the Revenge characters, but you do need to go online for the fishing trophy, and getting that trophy also requires that you've beaten one of the Revenge Vs characters (Kano, specifically.) There's plenty of time still to finish the game even if you started today, but I would definitely recommend getting everything done before Sept. 30th if you do plan to play it.