I find the turnover mechanic quite weird at the moment. The entire ruck falls over in unison (really weird animation), and then you need to run to the ball which is now just a loose ball on the floor. Surely just have the ball come out the other side of the ruck? RC4 got the rucking mechanic pretty well imo, albeit not perfect, and I’d prefer something similar to that
Also, incredibly frustrating to see a player get tackled low, his hands be free, yet be unable to throw an offload. In a situation like that, you should be able to throw it every time, with varying degrees of success of course
Wanted to jump in with some things that have crept in with more time in the game.
Had a lot more issues in the last 24 hours, including a number of crashes for all manner of things, most of which seem to be passing out of a ruck.
The AI mauls now always get stopped and scrum awarded, they never pass the ball out.
I drove a defensive maul back from the opponenets 22 well over the try line and went over the dead ball line, ref never said to use it. The clock and scoreboard also disapeard off the screen, for some reason they are pressent when I screen capped the game, but on my monitor they were not visible.
Especially when youve got Marcos Kremer staring you down point blank, cant believe none of them put their hands up to stop the kick after the kicker took his 1st step forward
you are on the right path now, we can feel the progress on this new patch. the game is playable again. We now have to work on the kicking game in all its forms; it is not usable at the moment. Also review the tackle radius to add fluidity to the moving game. The animations and graphics are excellent. Passing is improved but you have to press the controller a lot. They are not very responsive like a lot of movements on the controller. Keep it up, I think that within 2 months, we will have in our hands the best rugby game ever released
Just played my first game since the update then, was a lot more fun than previous incarnations. Can really see solid steps forward with every update
Defence still feels a bit quick and field positioning for players is still seemingly random, not that any of these have been said they’ve been fixed tho
I feel like the devs could benefit from playing a little bit of rugby 22 just to compare and get some inspirations, I feel that game did a lot of things quite well, its a nice pick up and play rugby game
Good shout, I think the game almost feels a little too ‘loose’ to use a better term. I think it needs to be a little tighter with forwards crashing up to create a base of attack. The game does give me Rugby Challenge 4 vibes where your props are getting the ball and throwing 12 meter passes and in Rugby 22 forwards would tend to be setup in pods ready to carry and setup platforms to attack and tie defenders in. I.e more realistic rugby
For me Rugby 22 is no benchmark to base a good game on. I would rather see BA’s current system made to work. There is a benefit in being able to target your receivers with specific buttons.
It just needs to be refined so the buttons show every time and they reflect the correct receiver every time. Also be good if there was some sense to the order i.e (Not in actual order of button) +A was closest, +B next closest … +Y always widest and have one as a pullback pass deeper etc so you could just get used to it and not even need to look after some time.
Edit: Although not totally against a hold down to pass further mechanism of some sort either. Just not the rocket on a string version that was 22.
From what I’ve played, The targeted passing is better and I can see it feeling even smoother once players are in their proper positions on the field and are running onto the ball more often.
The icons are still hit and miss for me playing on the “behind” camera angle.
Speaking of camera angles, I’d love it if a “behind dynamic” from RLL4 camera angle was added. It’s one of the better angles to play on for a Rugby game.
Biggest issue is I’m struggling to get through a 14 minute game. The hud disappears and then it eventually crashes.
I really want a playable game, but it hasn’t been that way for two straight updates and has gotten worse in my experience.
So many tackles look like red card level high shots, so far greater accuracy is needed by you here as this still feels like a rugby league game cosplaying as union.
I saw this clip on YouTube and wanted to highlight this as I’ve been vocal about it on here before. I know we’re still working (somehow) on tweaking the basics like making a player actually throw a proper rugby pass so may be too early to ask for this but just wanted to flag it.
I’ve seen players run this pattern here and there. It’s a very important pattern and needs to be tweaked. In this case the front runner that’s attacking the line does not time the run. The player should have a second (maybe less maybe more) to decide to pass it to that player and the player should be running close to full speed onto the pass. As we say on the pitch, he would be ideally “running at spaces, not faces” and hit the gap.
The player took the option out the back here and it resulted in a try. It’s a big mess and they all look like they don’t know where they should be, but if you use your imagination, that was a good play. Tweaking the timing might go a long way. Run this pattern with forwards and backs, pods. Very common to see throughout open play.
Thanks for the update and continued work! No camera problems for me but game has crashed at ruck time.
Game is definitely playable and having fun with it, but some fixes needed to become more easy to play and for the fine tuning to occur to create the great game that will eventually come.
Feedback:
Still struggling to get passes away
Feel fixed on a running line when nearer tacklers and frustrating I can not go into open space
Button options for passing over 50% of the time not there (I get some players will have lower passing scores than others and will be limited, but would be nice to have at least 1 or 2 buttons visible each time)
Winning counter rucks but after the players push over then the ball just becomes in open play and it is 50/50 if its the team that won the ruck who picks up the ball. Numerous occasions of losing team picking the ball up from offside positions and firing long passes to the wing when I can’t get more than 2 passes away off a set piece
Pressing A to pass off the line out but always goes to a maul unless I mash it like crazy. Only pass off the maul if I win opposition ball
Can not punt in open play, even in open space I hold A button and nothing happens
Box kicks are hard to get away and also challenging to direct - small movements with analog stick take the kicks far into touch
Defensive line does not react during maul. Lots of players join the maul and backs do not fill in to the 9, 10, 12 and 13 channels leaving massive gaps
Following instructions at the scrum but always losing (I may need to practice but can not see how else I can improve)
at ruck time it is not clear when the contest is complete and can proceed to pass the ball or stop committing players. On occasion the 9 will just randomly pick and go without instruction and before an option to pass is presented
at maul time it is not easy to do quick ball off the maul and end up committing to a war of attrition or until ball is trapped
A more general piece of feedback would for the game to feel more responsive, such as when you press a button to cause an action, such as hook at scrum time, pass or maul off the line out, attempt a steal at ruck time, so on, there is something on the screen that shows you the instruction was received, perhaps the button icon flashing. As a gamer I feel quite disconnected from my actions versus what is happening on screen.
Still really enjoying the game post-patch, but it’s frustrating that I’m unable to complete full matches consistently. The above feedback is spot-on, and I’d like to add a few thoughts to the last point though. I do agree that a flashing indicator could be useful (potentially), but only if it’s implemented subtly. Ideally, it would be positioned alongside the instructional prompts rather than directly above the ruck. Too many arcade-style flashing lights would break immersion, especially for those who prefer a more simulation-like experience. Having an option to toggle help overlays on and off would be the best solution to accommodate both preferences.
I’ve also noticed that support runners are still positioned too deep after a line break. Once a break is made, support players should be accelerating into positions to create 2-on-1 situations or other overlaps. Currently, they’re so far behind that by the time you pass, the defense has already closed in. It would be more realistic if support players used a burst of speed to keep pace with the play, perhaps at the cost of 50% of their stamina or a similar percentage. This would reflect the effort required to stay in support while still conserving enough stamina for when they receive the ball.
Regarding scrums, if you mistime the initial shove, you seem to get penalized every time, even if the engagement and hook are executed perfectly. I’m unsure if this is intentional (not a scrum expert), but it feels overly punishing. Not taking weight is a legitimate penalty, but it would be nice to have some variation or leniency rather than being penalized on every mistimed shove.
Another issue I’ve noticed is that the bump-off ability, along with the fend and shoulder charge, seems to have been removed from the game. These mechanics are a huge part of the fun in running with the ball, and it would be great to see them return.
Finally, scoring off set pieces, particularly scrums and lineouts, feels too easy at the moment. Most of these situations end in tries. Improving the positioning of loose forwards during lineouts and ensuring they break earlier would help add more defensive challenge to set-piece situations.
Easily scoring off set piece seems to be a problem for all devs. Was the same in r22, r20, rugby challenge etc none of them managed to get it right for some reason
The problem is that people think the game will be perfect with every update. it is clear that this is not the case. The game will be improved little by little. And I think it won’t really be ready before 2 or 3 months. There is still a lot of work to do on the game but I remain confident because it clearly has potential. For me it will be better than rugby 22 and rugby challenge. It has a difficult side to tame which gives it a simulation side which I like. Fun and nice rugby games will last for a while but I like a good simulation and a slightly complex game. I’m willing to bet that this game will be the best rugby game of all time. Let’s give the developers time. I prefer to wait 3 or 4 more months of work rather than waiting for a new rugby game which will certainly not be released for several years. I have about 50 hours of playing rugby 25. When we persevere we manage to do great things, it shows the potential of the game. Of course the game lacks a lot of fluidity and many things are not perfect but let’s give it time developers to do the work. I completely agree that Big Ant must create its own game and not be inspired by rugby 22 or rugby challenge which are certainly fun games but not rugby simulations
Thanks for all the hard work you guys are doing. I’m not sure if this has been mentioned in the extensive reviews by people like @Valhalla_Vagabond and the YouTubers trying out early access, but I feel like players are just doing small hops when going up for the ball (eg. receiving the kickoff or when a fullback receives the a high kick). A great leap is required more than ever in rugby these days. But I think more importantly, it kinda takes away from the illusion of athleticism. Not sure if I’m making a clear point. Sorry!
Agree on the fact that it would be nice like madden to have options to choose a more arcade game with mechanics or simulation game. Also agree on the bump off and hand off but the animation need to be rework cause the physics isn’t really great for now when we put some contact so bump off feels really weird and hand off look awful . On the scrum i don’t mind but yeah it could be nice to have other types of penalty. If we could add high tackles and offsides on the next patch could be great too. For me the lineout need to be rework too because since you’re not controlling how your hooker throw it’s pretty hard to implement not straight throw or other things who can make the defensive lineout win the ball. If we can add the fake jump could be a +.
