Launch (EA1) Feedback

Rugby 25
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  1. FEEDBACK ON EA RUGBY 25 Well first of all let’s be clear, no it’s not rugby, at least by 15-a-side rugby, it’s a copy and paste of RLL quickly adapted to 15-a-side rugby. But it doesn’t matter there There’s a way to improve all that, I’m sure. Several phases are not acceptable and need to be developed:
  • The 15 who takes the kick-off, we should put the 10 or give the possibility to the player to choose the player who takes the kick-off and other kicks.
  • The tackler when tackling gets up and immediately leaves the ruck and moves back rather than going to contest in the rucks.
  • In the rucks the balls are visibly impossible to scratch and sometimes I lose the ball for no reason and this gives the opposing team a scrum.
  • Strongly review the pass system which is quite odious.
  • Set up combination systems, player placement so that we can animate our line as we wish.
  • Melee is incomprehensible and very difficult to play.
  • There is never a penalty.
  • The key systems are very weak, it should be made more complex.
  • The kicking games are nice except the grazing kicks which are quite strange and don’t hit very far. In short, the game as it stands is honestly not playable, you will have to review ALL of the gameplay despite the rather good graphics…
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Firstly congratulations to you guys for getting the game out there and starting the EA journey to a finished game. Must be a good feeling to have that first major step done.

I have only played a few games so I will just try and be specific about single points I notice.

The glaring place for improvement for me is around the tackle area. I find when your player gets close to a ball carrier there is not enough control to adjust your path into a tackle. It is like it is determined from far too out whether or not you will successfully initiate contact with the carrier or whether you will fly by him. If this is done by some sort of aggro area? (sorry for the poor terminology) then the radius needs to be smaller so you have more time to adjust the path into the tackle initiation.

Which brings me to the second area, if a player is committed and it is determined the defender will miss the player, the diving action is too over exaggerated, taking your player almost entirely out of the next phase. Maybe some animations whereby the tackler goes to ground but stays in a closer radius to the attempted contact area would be a good start?

Apologies for the novel and terminology :rofl:

Some great promise in this game and looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Stay tuned for my next novel.

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Can BigAnt perhaps confirm what the following settings does:

  • Classic Player Switch Controls
  • Automatically Move Onside

Beside the issues with the Rucks, which I again thing has got something to do with the player switch button. It seems if you are the ball carrier, but press switch player button it switches to another player and the AI continues.

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Hey Love all the effort you guys have put in really excited to see all the additional licences and my team wales and Cardiff get added Player Scans are looking amazing and the close up cutscenes look superb, think the lighting during the actual gameplay however feels very harsh and isn’t the nicest looking

PASSING: I adore the fact I can choose where my long pass can go, that’s a really nice feature however it’s slightly ruined by the fact the players stand still once receiving the ball, this really damages the fluidity of the game for me, can’t really play Fijian or New Zealand style attacking rugby when there isn’t much fluidity to the attack. Also the ball can become a bit overly floaty at times which isn’t something that helps with the fluidity of passing attacks either

RUCKS: for me this is a massive issue as I can’t tell if I’m currently winning or losing a ruck, the animations don’t seem to be fully developed on that are at the moment I assume ? . It’s also notible that the tackler runs away from the tackle after completion as it was rugby league. This a is key issue as again the fluidity is damaged. We need to be able to contest for the ball and maybe have a bar to see the balance of who’s winning the ruck

TACKLING: I don’t seem to be able to do a standing tackle manually at this moment and I find the diving tackle a little hard to control maybe an aim assist would be useful as currently it seems the AI is doing the defending for me

KICKING: Happy with kicking mostly hover if personally like to see are where I was kicking. I do long how goal kicks are working however !

LAW: I seem to be able to play offside currently without getting pinged, haven’t once seen a penalty given which is a big aspect of union and there seems to be no way to get penalised in the ruck and I think this is a reason why the ruck doesn’t feel very good atm as there’s no balance too it and it feels very clunky

Also some glitches I’ve noticed is when passing the ball it’s can be flung all the way back to your goal line out of no where. Players also can glitch in and out of rucks and I also noticed that when I was tackled in my own goal area after brining it in myself I was given a goal line kick rather than the opposition getting a 5M scrum

Really happy this game is getting made and I’m
Positive the final product is going to be great, looking forward to playing more and seeing how the game progresses

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Hi, me again :slightly_smiling_face:

I really back this Ruck point. I feel the same way. Not having indicators to tell when you have won possession is rough, as mostly when you turn the ball over you end up box kicking it away while you still think you are fighting for possession. So either an indicator that the ball is won or just not having the same button for contest and box kick would work as well.

The players are slow to commit as well and often stand idly, sometimes to the point of when they do commit, the ref calls you for not moving the ball even though you have no responsive player to initiate pulling the ball from the base. Not sure if it means anything but the number 4 lock was often the culprit ha ha.

Another area for possible improvement is the defenders in backplay once you make a linebreak are too slow to react or commit. I love that not every player chases like a crazy person but having the wingers and fullback always try to engage linebreaks sooner would be more authentic I think.

Last point is the game is quite regularly crashing for me, not sure if I should care as you did say the AI could cause instability but my last 3 games have crashed and that was both while in competition and in an exhibition match.

Some things I really like are the in game UI, game sound, the commentary, the kicking both in game and at goal, the lineouts are quite good and simplistic, I think the passing is very good. There are many more positives but that will do for now :smiley:

Thanks for your time.

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Like the refs socks :pray:t3::pray:t3::pray:t3:

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Not anything to fix, Just want to say the photogrammetry looks awesome on those that have it. Ben Donaldsons mullet is something to behold as well. The hair textures are nice. So glad you guys chose to go down this path of capturing the top players well. Bravo :clap:t2:

Please make sure everyone’s socks are at full height and no GripSock business to be seen. This is a gentleman’s sport :wink:

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Positives:

  • The graphics are really good.
  • I like the goal kicking mechanic it looks and feels good.
  • Commentary is decent, could perhaps use a second pundit.
  • Great to have so many teams
  • Works on Steam Deck

Negatives:

  • As many people have said already, the ruck is really poorly done. The best rucking mechanic by far was in the rwc 2011 game. If you could just copy that completely that would be great.
  • The buttons are often unresponsive and I don’t actually know how to win an opposition ruck
  • The passing is really poor, no one runs onto the ball and all the players are scattered and not in any attacking shape.
  • Tackling doesn’t look or feel great. Doesn’t feel impactful at all.
  • Scoring a try doesn’t feel good, feels really clunky and weird when you put the ball down. Should be a lot smoother.
  • The buttons aren’t intuitive. Pressing A shouldn’t be change player, for almost every other sports game that’d be LT. “A” should be used to hit rucks, tackle and punt.
  • When you’re looking to create a competition it says “Clubs” instead of “Teams”, international teams are not clubs lol
  • Can’t make any amendments to your team selection before or during the match.
  • Players out of position.
  • Wrong name appears for the different players
  • Needs a tutorial mode - still no idea how scrums work

I’m trying not to be too harsh here but I have to be honest. I’ve never played an early access game before so I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this unpolished. It’s been almost a year of delays and I can’t believe the gameplay is as bad as it is. It seems like no-one has tested it as how could you charge 25 pounds for that.

The game is clunky and doesn’t feel good to play. It’s not fun at all, it’s really, really boring. Nothing feels impactful or fun it just seems very dead and soulless.

I hope you take people’s feedback on board, most people are looking for a drastic overhaul of the gameplay and that is what is needed. Forget the photogrammetry for now. The game is in a really poor state gameplay-wise and that needs to take first priority.

When will the next update be? I don’t really want to play it in it’s current state.

Good luck, I really hope this becomes an amazing game!

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i dont like the rugby league live 4 engine being used for this game. its to fast and light and it makes doing anything way harder then it needs to be. drawing and passing, kicking and tackling. if you look at rugby champions its slowed down and a bit heavier and it makes drawing and passing and anything else a bit easier and more satisfying to do

beating defenders is at random you just have to get lucky with an animation. if you look at rugby champions is based on timing, momentum and players ratings

players need to run better lines and stay in support, they are either in front of you or behind you. passing is a bit better but draw and pass isnt really possible, u just end up passing it down the line and you dont really go any where cus players stand still when they receive the ball.

defenders always stand off tackles which makes gameplay repetitive as you dont need to pass and can just run through a gap. but once you make a break theres no support players to pass to.
user tackling is impossible you rarely make a tackle and i dont even think there is a tackle button

player positioning is off players never seem to be in the right position. props at fullback and wingers at scrumhalf. defensive positioning is actually quite good tho

rucking is useless there is no way to make a turnover, they always glitch out and i sometimes cant pass the ball either. and the scrumhalf likes to pick it up and run into the ruck

scrums mechanics are just random and need to be more simple. i havnt even won a scrum yet even after doing what the controls say. it needs to be simple but with chances of a turnover or penalty

lineouts were fine but the camera moves the wrong way when u win it which makes you pass the wrong way

goal kicking is nice but we need new animations for them but i liked everything about the goal kicks. but in play kicking is not a good mechanic. its based on timing but you never really get the time as you either get charged down or tackled, either have a slow motion feature or take the kicking from rugby league live 3

the rugby league live 4 engine needs to go as its old and wasnt that good to begin with imo. we need new animations for pretty much everything its all old.

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if you want good player movement and satisfying gameplay take a look at rugby champions cus they nailed it. i think if you can take there gameplay with these graphics it could be a great game

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Hi … its me … again … I am sorry in advance :slightly_smiling_face:

Players in the backline supporting the attacker and running onto a pass need to have much more speed and momentum than they currently do. Often when passing, even into space … the next runner almost comes to a halt (Not always) rather than continuing with purpose on their running line.

This is also an issue after the breaking tackle animation, you make it through one and often the player will stop and almost go backward a little rather than continuing into the gap they just broke into.

I know it must be hard finding the right balance but at the moment the attacking runners certainly feel slightly underpowered in contact situations.

In broken play it is almost the opposite however where you can gas most defenders by running into yawning gaps. Though this is fun, it may be frustrating if your defenders behave the same way in online contests say.

Thanks for reading. I am starting to have more fun than frustration already from mastering the controls a bit more. I am more optimistic the more I play it.

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Man, tomorrow when they are gonna turn up at work every one gonna have massive headache

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• First things first, rucks are poor. I am glad the game was released in EA so that we can give it our opinions and mine here is that rucks are not accurate. Rucks should be at a much higher pace with no waiting around. Players should immediately pile over the ball after a tackle. There is no need for 3 men to bind into a mini scrum.

• Passing is not great. I love the idea of miss passes being hold and normal passes being tap but the physics of the ball are inaccurate and don’t represent a ball realistically. The ball shouldn’t move that fast.

• AI sides should have more game knowledge. If stuck in one area for multiple phases the AI should kick clear.

• ADD A COMPETITOR MODE AT FULL RELEASE - allow for games which are more arcade like with lots of tries but also allow for more realistic matchups. E.G. if you are playing with competitor mode on then the opposition will kick more and there will most likely be more tries and penalties scored. In real life most high level test games have more penalties scored than tries so allow fans to be able to experience this more realistic version.

• Scrum penalty need to be more frequent. Majority of points in rugby come from penalty kicks and scrums are key to this. For example, world champions South Africa base their side off of the scrum and Rugby 25 does not allow for any side to do that.

• Implement more penalty turnovers. In real life lots of points are scored from penalties and jackal turnovers are key to this. With the current ruck animations it should be very easy for a turnover due to players leaving the tackles man isolated. Make players have more urgency to get over the tackles man allowing for more competition at the ruck and more penalty turnovers.

• Add set plays.

• Add different varieties in tackles. Each tackle is very Rugby League style. Implement more different styles of tackles such as chop tackles.

I understand this game is in EA so I am not too worried however I hope you take onboard our feedback. In my opinion this game is not very realistic at all as of now. Kicking is a key part to rugby along with goal kicking so allow for players to experience more realism through more kicking and more penalties.

Good luck!

1 Like
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hits need to have more impact and momentum needs to play more of a factor. the game feels very floaty and light. needs to feel more heavy and feel more in control

pre game presentation needs to be better, ik its ea but it could be a lot better than a boring picture for 3 minutes. for example older madden games had player profiles, tips and tricks, rivalry history of the teams that are playing and team history. and they would have cutscenes of players arriving to games getting warm and showing the fans getting hyped for the game. and the commentators would talk about the match up and the key players.

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Damien Penaud with socks up is just wrong on so many levels same would be said for Bundi Aki best have his socks down for true player likeness

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I agree with you that it’s necessary, but if you’ve watched gameplay, you’d know that that’s not a concern right now.

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Being constructive, here is my feedback.

*DISCLAIMER: I wish BA wasn’t pressured by so many to release the Early Access before they were ready, as the game is in an unplayable state.

If they just communicated this with us and shared screenshots or videos of why it wasn’t ready, people would have understood.

GAMEPLAY

  1. Rucks: when a player is tackled, the tackler doesn’t go to ground and roll away, he just stands up and walks away and no players from offense or defense get to the ruck till 5 seconds later.

Also at the breakdown in real Rugby, defensive players don’t bind on eachother. One, maybe two of them go for the ball with their arms. But teams don’t send 3 players to the ruck on defense to try and poach the ball.

There is also no clear outs in the ruck where the offensive ruckers take out the defending player trying to poach.

  1. Passing: this is off, as many times trying to pass the ball it’s thrown away from the direction the ball carrier is running.

No ability to make a switch pass.

  1. Tackling: this mechanic does not work and is impossible to line up a tackle.

FORMATIONS

  1. There is no offensive or defensive formations.

The defending team does not stand flat on the line waiting for the ball to be released. There are about 5 defenders always just standing behind the ruck.

On offense there are no pods or prongs and no ability to pass out the back.

  1. I haven’t come across the ability to do any set pieces from scrum, lineout, or even the ruck.

  2. Offensive players without the ball don’t put themselves in a position to receive a pass and attack. They just stand still.

  3. The scrum half isnt even the scrum half.

Too many times just a random forward acts as the scrum half.
I didnt see my scrum half pass the ball after a ruck one time in one of the games i played.

Another game he only acted as the 9 twice and the scrum half is always out on the wing or in some position he isnt supposed to be in.

COMPUTER AI

  1. Computer AI is is all messed up.

There was one scenario where they were attacking and computer ball carrier passed the ball all the way across the ruck.

Another time they were attacking on me they passed the ball straight back and the ball slingshotted to the full back who was directly 20 meters behind the ball carrier.

ANIMATIONS

  1. Same 3 tackling animations and are all at chest height.

There are no tackling animations with the defender tackling below the waste.

  1. I haven’t seen any ability to juke/step the defending players.

  2. All the passes are animated the same no matter how the ball carrier is running.

  3. Box kick animation is non existent and the team doesn’t even bind together to set up the box kick.

CUSTOMISATION

  1. All the players have high socks which is very unrealistic.

  2. Most players have 2 knee straps which no one does.

  3. We need licensed boots in the game.

  4. Grip socks.

  5. Have not seen one scrum cap or ear tape.

OVERALL
The game is in a completely unplayable state.

It seems BA doesn’t have a firm grasp on how Rugby Union actually works and the intricacies of it.

Graphics aren’t bad, but we have a long way to go for this to be a game worth buying and far from the most complete rugby game ever.

If this has to be changed to Rugby 26, then so be it, but you have to get these things right.

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To add on to the feedback comments from above, seems far too many are concerned with customisation than an actual authentic rugby game… just play a modded Rugby 08 if you’re so keen for customisation lol.

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45

Same here for me. a and b buttons are swopped around in this game. The same happens in Tiebreak. Haven’t seen it happen in any of the cricket games though so hopefully can be fixed soon in Rugby 25 and Tiebreak :pray:

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46

Please remove the buzzer sound for halftime/full time… This is a rugby union game, not league!

4 Likes