Something that might help to cater to most people I think rugby challenge did it good, is sliders on how you want to play the game might help with the offload issue let us choose how much we want to offload and how accurate we want them to be, so if you don’t want a game that offloads the whole time you can set that up yourself but if you want play like NZ with bunch off offloads you can do that.
3 Likes
Played a bit the last few days while being crook.
Main thoughts:
-
AI defensive line speed seems to be faster.
-
Tackle animations look a lot better.
-
Counter rucks are now easier to achieve which is great as previously I hardly saw them.
Combining the line speed and tackle animations, I can see the direction. However at the moment the fast line speed and new tackle animations seem to have brought in a larger tackle radius. Now it is hard to make any territory, especially hard to get clearance kicks away due to line speed.
I could just be washed, and this is a skill issue on my side. But an improvement I would suggest is the slow-mo kicking option like what is used in other rugby titles. Currently when I try and kick for territory I can hardly ever get the ball away.
I am having issues getting the ball past the first receiver (If I don’t opt to pass wide instantly), due to the large tackle radius and line speed. Offloads and passing could be tweaked to be a bit more responsive to allow for quick ball from first receiver.
An issue I keep seeing is when holding R1 or L1 the passing options don’t show up, unsure if others are seeing this.
The game is moving in the right direction, and thank you to the team for putting the hours into Rugby 25. I am looking forward to when set-plays are added, as imo currently the ability to gain territory is a struggle currently (any hints on the time frame for set-play inclusion would be great lol).
The face scans and official stadiums look great, keen to play as the Waratahs in Allianz stadium when they get added.
5 Likes
Yes sliders, are great, that’s why I got my updated Rugby challenge 3 playing so well. Prefer 3 over 4 because of 4 you can only commit 3 to the ruck. Even though I rarely do commit more than 1-3 to the ruck, there is that special occasion when I commit more. We should have this freedom because as the saying goes " if it’s in the game ,it’s in the game" Stick by this and you will have a decent simulation.
2 Likes
Ai defence is mental, can’t get two passes away
I guess would work better on RLL bc the defence has to be back 10m
Also can’t get a box kick away without being tackled
Somethings a bit skew whiff
But looks awesome, all the face scans are unreal just need the gameplay to follow suit
Confident it will get there!
2 Likes
Likely not important at the moment as many players out of position, but it seems the hooker is taking the penalty kicks at goal.
#justincase
Also had a case where the AI caught a kick on the full in their end goal, they then took a goal line drop out which went into touch on the full. They were then awarded the throw to the resulting line out. Again not sure if important as laws haven’t been implemented as yet.
The kick target from box kicks doesn’t really reflect where the ball will actually land after a certain level of power. Even if the circle needs to remain large to reflect the nature of box kicks not often being precise, it should still be able to be more targeted than it currently is.
1 Like
That’s been there since day one
Off topic but I disagree with the RLL4 take. It was a few updates away from being the “perfect” League game.
2 Likes
Hello BA,
So I had an interesting maul where players at the front left, went to the back of it and rejoined, on both teams, multiple times. Looked very cool.
I haven’t been able to re create that yet though. Can you say which control is actually to drive? On this diagram it has LT + RT to drive, but then also/or X is drive? or are they meant to do different things? Could this diagram be amended to reflect whichever is correct?
Thanks heaps
2 Likes
omg its the legendary odd1x. i never liked the gameplay really. player movement is like your player is on ice and really swervey. passing was floaty and drawing and passing was way to hard. dont mind the rest of the game tho tbf. always preferred rll2 and 3
1 Like
Player positioning. It needs a serious look at, as we all know. This is a big topic but the recent update has made this painfully apparent so I’ll give my 2 cents on what I’ve observed, and what I’d love to see.
A very generic and important attacking move in rugby - SWAP or BLOCKER. Those are the names I’ve seen it called most widely. This involves the 3rd receiver running a hard line at the defense (As he’s the 3rd receiver, the line is run from the outside running in) and the 2nd receiver running an angle off into space behind the 3rd receiver. Essentially, the 2nd and 3rd receivers swap and test the defenses ability to adapt. The passer has the option to put the ball into contact or to pass it to the trailing runner. In any event, the player who doesn’t get the ball is a decoy runner. This creates an interesting core gameplay mechanic when it comes to how you strategize where and when you will hit the line and also how you will defend against it.
These plays are used hundreds of times a game in real life. A decent implementation of this type of mechanic is table stakes for me if we’re talking about a good rugby game that’s up to date with the times.
The best thing that the previous rugby games did (Rugby 20 / 22 although it was broken in 22) was the attacking structures and pod system. It gave the ability to pass the ball to a forward pod and have a back trailing behind the pod waiting for the ball “out the back” or to pass the ball directly behind the pod, missing them and use the pod as a decoy. You could string together several passes from forwards to backs, backs to backs, scrum half straight to a back using the forwards as a decoy etc. The implementation wasn’t perfect but the idea was there. The decoy runners didn’t really actually affect the defense but it looked cool as hell.
I just feel like the “intent” is not there. Players are standing there. They have no intent of hitting the line or setting someone up. It’s flat, it’s static. It needs more INTENT LOL.
A big part of rugby union strategy is planning and organizing your forwards and backs around the pitch. Attacking formations are particularly important and huge emphasis is put on them in any real life team. Thanks. Hopefully my first post wasn’t a $h1t post 
8 Likes
Kia Ora Time for some feed back apon reading though what I’ve had problem’s with Seem’s most people have had the same as me.
-
Maul’s good feature (need’s abit of work) say maul is done and you are binding player’s it either does it for the one side engaging in the maul then other players just stand around or a Ai or player randomly picks up the ball very tricky to control, it’s abit fast for me doesn’t feel natural say like “Rugby Challange”
-
Passing So from the maul there is no quick pass, or you get really shut down no way to play the ball in play in a relaxed manner even passing in play seem’s acutally impossible cannot string 2 pass’s because computer is locked into a tackle 10m away already and no flick pass etc
-
Tackling way better looking and also “not sure sort of buggy” Ai high tackle’s nothing is done about it
and during normal play you are locked into a tackle so Early from the Ai the animation is already in place and cannot pass or nothing it Seem’s lock not sure how to explain it
-
Team’s Acutally not sure who they are but they look Great (i’m a Aussie living) in NZ so yeah kit’s look great players look really good
Keep up the work team doing amazing work.
4 Likes
Hello to the team
I preferred to play this update for about fifteen hours to express my feelings about this update.
My analysis for this update.
-
the scrum half no longer takes steps backwards when taking the ball behind a ruck but sometimes takes the ball alone instead of passing.
-
The passes still need to be improved because there are still some floating passes instead of passing directly into the hands.
-
the combination system is present but too random and most of the time the attackers and supports are in front of the ball carrier.
-
Very difficult to make more than 1 pass without going through a ruck; I think the solutions are to put more depth in the attack line or otherwise to slow down the speed of the defense’s rise (except if later we have a Blitz defense option which allows you to rise quickly but which can be dangerous)
-
The keys are too random. Either a mini game to be able to contest the hit, or a small hint for the defensive jump block to try to counter the attack.
-
Add the rules of world rugby (offside; when the rucks are long if the defense is ahead of the attack penalize for having kept the ball on the ground; if the attack is ahead and the ball is not does not penalize the defense)
-
Big latency problem on passes and kicking games. players take too long to kick the ball or do not pass when their hands are free for an off load.
-
The tackle animations are well done BUT they take precedence over all other actions (footing is impossible, the ball comes back into our hands to be tackled; it is impossible to do an off load because the tackle animation cancels it). Another point on the veneers, the hit box of the veneers is really too wide.
-
Teleportation bug for some players
-
Random positioning of players on the field (most of the time my number 6 or 7 is found as a winger and 12 or 15 is found on the edge of the ruck)
-
I think that for the next big update it would be good to create a tutorial if that is possible.
-
Bug sometimes on rucks which take time to complete while the players are around the ball.
-
Side step animation no longer works as well as before but is more difficult to exit so that’s cool.
-
The pass buttons disappear over time on the rucks so we press a button hoping that it gets into the hands of the right player.
Thanks to @MattW For his explanations and feedback. Communicating with players does a lot of good and we hope to hear from you.
Thank you if you took the time to read me
Wishing you good work and have a good day, be strong
2 Likes
In Rugby 25 i would like to see those set plays play out a bit like your videos with RLL4, btw has made me enjoy the understand how to play that alot more. I hope Rugby 25 alllows passing at the line before the tackle animation kicks in, but with fatigue playing a factor maybe miss timing passes, knock ons or getting caught with the ball. I really want fatigue and player attributes to have a significant impact on the gameplay. Could be used to open up fatigued defensive lines, mis reads in defence, inability to get back on side, prone to offside and head high penalties etc… so then it provides opportunity for attcking side to exploit that fatigues player…
2 Likes
Found the latest update to be a step forward and do prefer playing it - I wasn’t able to get much gametime in other iterations due to the bugs. There are elements of the latest which are making it difficult to play (large tackle radius, unable to quickly pass or evade tacklers, unable to get kicks away, etc.) - but is now enjoyable to play and able to get more hours into the game when previously I found it a struggle due to the bugs and lack of rugby feeling.
Being a Gallagher Prem fan having teams and a ground is a big win and I’m really excited for the other teams to be added once the gameplay has been fixed. I strongly feel the game has bags of potential, the latest animations around tackling as well do add a sense of rugby authenticity (admittedly still a bit more to go).
Further feedback:
- button prompts at action moments, for example ‘X’ to steal hovers at the ruck (I’m often missing it because the buttons are small in the corner), ‘A’ to hook at scrums
- can’t seem to hand off or bosh anyone out the way with the right analog stick
- please please give an option to have arrows for kicking when box kicking and punting, even just showing a broad direction - similar to kick off and conversions. It’s rally hard to track otherwise
- slightly slowed down line out process to add momentum, it’s over in a flash (I know this isn’t for everyone so perhaps can be an optional setting - there’s often a lot of excitement and anticipation around a 5m attacking lineout which currently feels lacking). Plus this would make it feel less frantic as currently the players are repositioning too quickly / awkwardly
- replace the star player stars with icons more pleasing on the eye,
- defending a line out I find my players often don’t compete and go into a strange off-side position - seems like a bug
- bringing in more rules soon would be beneficial for gameplay
- can’t figure out why I’m being penalised at scrum / maul time
- box kicks to be more smooth visually and harder to charge down / be tackled (but not impossible - for example, if you commit 1 or 2 players only to a maul, the probability of opposition charge down increases - something of that ilk)
- give option for players to have a slower motion when selecting who to pass to in open play, especially at the moment where tackles are happening within 0.5 sec of receiving the ball
Later stages nice to have:
- match like features, increased TMO action for suspense, injuries that are longer lasting if in career mode, conditions playing more of a feature
- with passing, try to integrate a second pass of a set piece / ruck, e.g. scrum half has ball, you hold down pass, select ‘A’ as first pass to 10, and then elect the ball goes to the FB (say ‘Y’ button) - then the scrum half plays the ball and you have organised your first two passes from the set piece
- line out dummy moves
- better tracking off the ball from opposition’s kick off and punting, I’m often quite surprised where the ball ends up because of the camera
- camera of the scrum should stay with the playing side, there’s often an awkward switch immediately after they win the ball
Bugs:
- kicking often results in a knock on or a pause in the game then flurry of activity and players teleporting
- passing icons (A, X, Y, etc.) are available 50% in open play or from a set piece
- players wandering offside teleporting into rucks
- wind icon is only there about 50% of the time for me at kick off and when punting (I am playing on a reduced graphics set up because my computer can’t hack full speed - this could be an issue)
- When I have a maul in 70-80 mins on the clock, the match freezes, buttons are redundant and I have to completely close down the game
- rucks only initiated when both teams commit, ball stays in limbo and play halts in this case
All in all, I can see where the game is going and really excited for the journey to get a great rugby game. Cheers!
5 Likes
Game is moving in the right direction! The new teams like so good so unbelievable job there.
I think there ought to be more penalites, countless offsides are just not picked up on, and I feel like rucks are a bit better but should be a technique for timing rather than spamming. If mistimed or spammed then teams are penalised.
The passing as a lot of people are saying is odd now, and the icons dont always appear. It would be great to see pods of 3 forwards setup each time and with out the back options running from deep onto the ball rather than being infront and causing forward passes or intercepts. Offloads are ultra rare is that dependent on stats of players?
Rucks I think could have a secure option, so you know when it is safe to look at optoins rather than have to rush in case of being counter rucked. and more players on the floor after tackles would be good and realistic to create overlaps etc. They are going in the right direction but I think stronger rucking teams should benefit from having to put less players in to win their own rucks.
Lineouts for me are really going forward, I like the maul option and the animation looks great, perhaps some icons to show how to drive it and how to break from the maul. But I also think we need a fake lift and lineout pods to be able to move back or forward. Then hopefully we can bring in set piece of lineouts, that dont all have to be complex, just a 12 running a short line off the top to create momentum rather than the chaotic feel it is at the minute.
I wonder if the game may be opened up a bit with making the majority of forwards by rucks being tighter and setup to just run straight to oppose the attacking forwards close to rucks, and making majority of forwards that bit slower to see a difference?
The in contact drive animation I think would be great to build on and give ball carriers a bit more momentum in contact (stats dependant I presume in the future) and then that can help counter the blits and high IQ defence at the minute as that is what has been missing in other rugby games so really keen to see how we can beat defences as the game develops
5 Likes
Good morning ,
Patch Feedback.
The added teams and stadiums look excellent. Thanks for adding this as some more content. For me I am really excited to see a fully licensed and complete URC once all this can be added into the game.
- I liked the new tackle animations, definitely adds more realism. Probably we need more if that’s possible in the future.
I raised a Ticket #24923 this morning with a video link to a match I played.
There was instances of Ai players not getting into the breakdown and ruck , standing around for 4-5 seconds and showing no urgency to get the ball or bind. I also find the bind button during these times not responding for my own players.
I was also having the same common gameplay issues as other people have given feedback on already. For example , difficulty to make more than one pass, gain ground up the field , no time to make any kick. Ai defence line far too quick. This can be seen in the video.
I find the Ai still not really doing much in terms of attacking intensity to find ways to break my defence with perhaps kicking grubbers or bombs with runners coming through or doing multiple passes , offloads, shoulder charges , hand offs but this might have been because I was playing on Easy difficulty.
I just hope to see a “closer and lower” behind camera angle in the future as a camera option to get a closer view to the players and ball. It will really add to the atmosphere and enjoyment of seeing more closer what is happening in the field and maybe “Feeling those tackles”
The matches still lack a lot of gameplay so I hope all this gets added eventually. Things I hope to see:
Bench replacements, fatigue issues , minor or serious injuries , random penalties for various things ,random foul play incidents , cards issued by referee with an animation of the referee issuing the card to the players walking off the field.
Ability to move or swap players into different positions on the field. Dropped balls from my players or Ai at random times.
Thanks for all your hard work. I definitely support this game and believe in your team working very hard behind the scenes. I will give as much time as I can to report issues and feedback.
On a side note I did really appreciate getting a saved Data upload request 2 days ago on my Steam Deck from your staff and I went through the prompts to transfer my saved data to the upload. This is for all the bugs and videos I previously reported over various stuff and game crashes.
2 Likes
Issue I came across the rare moment you actually break the defense line and hit the gap defense catch up because your player start pumping his arm on the air slowing them down because it seems they think they will be scoring
1 Like
Hi there. I accidentally discovered this too but realised and had it confirmed by the developers if you hit the right or left stick by pressing it , you do the waiving/pumping action in the air. You also need to turn it off by hitting it again.
3 Likes
Also, could just be me but I found the left stick to feel more intuitive for the heavy tackle than Y
3 Likes
Possibly just personal taste, but I find there are too many try scoring animations where the player is holding the ball in one hand like a basketball and almost look to awkwardly crawl or stumble over the line.
Rugby union players unless reaching for the line or dotting it down one handed standing generally tend to have the ball still tucked under their arm when scoring and even still promoting the ball with their arm wrapped around it. Is good ball security. Maybe just me but I would prefer a bunch of diving animations with ball under arm to those one handers that tend to happen in strange places anyway.
Also maybe just because stadiums are still being worked on etc, but this dive through a fence onto the concrete was given as a try. So boundaries need tweaking.
I have also noticed that now the direct passing options come up on the opposition players now and then. This may be as a result of work on trying to get these buttons to show more often. It may also explain A) Why these buttons did not show all the time on the players team (Because they were on the oppositions) and B) Why you player decides to automatically pass to the opposition (Being recognised as valid passing targets) maybe?
Another new bug or issue that is occurring is in box kicking. The target often now aims backwards, as if it has been mirrored. There is no ability to correct it as it will just aim the opposite direction from where you are pushing the left stick, however will not do the same if you push down on the stick either. It will still stay aiming backwards.
12 Likes