Rugby 25 Megathread

[Chandypants]

Playing PS5 version. Easiest mode.

New update feedback:

Rucks - The ‘non pushover’ ruck turnover is now a thing, but it doesn’t happen often.
And when it does on numerous occasions when passing by the scrumhalf from the base of ruck I am pinged offside.

I have been defending on my own 22, pushed the AI attacking team all the way back to their own 22 in defending tackles - to not get one turnover. Poor show. I only got a turnover when time reached full time and the AI tried to kick it out only to kick it about a metre (twice).

Players joining a defensive ruck - this is now very ‘clunky’ and players closest to ruck are unresponsive at most times. These unresponsive players then join the ruck as soon as the AI scrum half passes the ball away.

AI penalty choices - Again Ai continually chooses the scrum option. Really needs to be addressed - it’s an issue.

Leading on to… scrums.

Scrums - Numerous times have got the ball to back of scrum, ref states ‘use it’ and I am given no option to use. Ends up with a collapsed scrum… And you guessed it on the penalty option the AI yet again chooses is the scrum. It’s got to the stage I just don’t even bother competing and let the AI just win the scrum to get the ball back in play.

Scrum mechanics needs addressing.

Passing - Noticed a few ‘floated’ passes which are unrealistic. Ruins flow of game.

The passes get thrown up in to the air like a balloon and when/if a player on my team catches they are blown up for offside.

Oh and guess what… AI chooses a scrum as their penalty option!

A positive i have noticed the last attacking player in the line does make a better running line as a passing option. Scored a decent try from the overlap. So this is an improvement!

Target passing - seems to have taken a step back in this update. When I am target passing off the back of the ruck it doesn’t hit the target chosen and ends up being passed directly behind ruck, to which the player recieving the ball then runs straight in to the ruck area.

AI attacking - noticed a couple extra passes in AI attack (no more than 2 mind) and the AI has developed a side step. That’s all well and good but my defence line feels unresponsive at times.

Overall I think this update hasn’t had a positive impact.

Not enjoyable to play and I think I’m just going to wait until the next update to give it another go.

I have given up on it tonight in terms of testing because it was that un-enjoyable and clunky. I may try again later.

[Jleyding03]

Good day Lachie… When will all the SA teams faces be scanned?

[FilthyBandit]

Just some quick notes from the latest patch, generally going in the right direction i feel, and can see real depth emerging, however todays patch seems to have been a slight backward step.

Halfback now occasionally stands ~20m infront of the ruck.

Halfback stands up and freezes before passing sometimes.

Penalties for offside are inaccurate. Often im penalised whilst in posession of the ball.

Forward passes are not actually forward a lot of the time.

AI still not passing more than once. Prior to this update i had witnessed them pass twice occasionally off a ruck, but in total maybe 3 times since release in feb.

No ability to offload during a tackle when my players arms are free.

[Vialli]

Hello! From what I have seen with the national teams, the value of the teams is not done correctly. Romania, which is qualified for the World Cup in 2027, is rated weaker than Germany, whom we beat categorically in the last game and whom we beat anytime, anywhere and at any time. I understand that we are no longer in the top 8 teams in Europe, but apart from the Six Nations, only Georgia and Portugal are stronger than us recently. We are similar to Spain in value and much more than Germany, Belgium or Poland. We deserve at least a 78 OVR after our history and after qualifying for the World Cup, and please add Steaua Bucharest to Kaufland League. Thank you!

[gjd2189]

Just played a game in Career mode after the latest patch on PS5. Findings:

• Rucks seem less winnable now; the over the top pushover animation appears to have gone, but therefore the main way of winning a ruck that was known to me (hammering the circle button) has disappeared. No idea what you’re meant to do even having had refresher on the tutorial, I get the occasional steal, but noticed that if you’re controlling an outfield player during a ruck and press square, they seem to visibly make some minor reaction to the button press that does… nothing. It’s a step backwards I’m afraid and I can’t help but feel the whole thing needs a re-think. Should the user not be locked into contesting the ruck, rather than simultaneously be controlling an outfield player and adding players into the ruck (still a max of 3)?
• Support runners seem much better again, having a lot more fun passing the ball about.
• AI play is more varied, they’re chucking deeper passes from rucks and there’s a few box kicks. Seems more random than contextually realistic though, and even with a deeper pass, they still absolutely love a trot into a tackle as first receiver.

Other things I’ve noticed pre/post patch to raise:

• You can’t sub a seriously injured player. Stuck with them for the whole game.
• Not sure what setting a captain actually does? They don’t appear in cutscenes as the main player talking to the ref, as a cosmetic thing. For example, usually it’s a prop whinging about nothing in particular when the ball’s been kicked to touch. Is there any purpose to the captaincy? You can’t change it during a game to my knowledge either.
• If you scroll down the squad list so the Number 1 (PL) is not visible, and then back up to the top, the number 2 (HK) with be as high as you can go. You have to exit and go back in to see the prop in the list.
• The game stats in the pause menu/half time/full time doesn’t appear to track kicking metres.
• One of my weekly goals in Career mode is to complete 17 fends per match. I meet the goal every time, even though I haven’t fended even once to my knowledge.

Fair play to BA for the continued work. Appreciated, still a long way to go.

[Chandypants]

Had another crack.

There’s some crazy bugs going on.

One pass went sky high when passed by AI and landed in the middle of the pitch.

Another AI pass from the 5 metre line in field was passed by the scrum half and ended up zipping a million miles an hour across the whole field in to the stands.

Players can be offside positions for kicks. Needs the rule added.

And I commented earlier that the last man in attack seems fixed. I retract this!

Hope Thursdays update moves the game forward.

[Zazzri]

From today’s update.

Biggest issue I find is players still wandering from positions, despite what I do with formations etc, seems to always end up in attack the same, would love the next patch to take a look at this, FH doesn’t usually get into every ruck for example.

Overall is moving in a much better direction from first release, as others said still some bugs and issues like the out of position player.

[18270]

Im done playing rugby 24

[Wallaby]

Big miss unfortunately with today’s patch…

[Lionmaul]

My findings on latest patch on steam patch 3/03, played two games 15 minute halves, Argentina vs Tonga , Argentina vs Hong Kong.

The timing and back and forth of rucks is working fairly good for a simulation(no ping pon rucks, thank you). (You really do have to time the rucks , when to send 0 when to send 3, if this could be increased to 5 , would open up the game even more.)
The new animation just steal is much better, without 1 player driving over 3.(Although seems to happen more in the beginning of games) But this is much improved.
You do still have the occasional, 1 player drive over 2 in the ruck for the steal that looks unrealistic. But overall good improvements in the rucks. There are more variations. Which is good. But Y contested tackler in the ruck, is still not available, Y is worthless at the moment. By the time the tackler stands back on his feet or even stays on his feet for the steal, two opposing offensive rucking players traveled 5 -10 meters to get to the ruck before. I get the feeling they are going to implement this better, because it is there, and it is in the tutorial, the Y tackling player stands up and contest, although the offensive player should be able to counter this by holding on with chance of a penalty, and on defense if you put hands in the ruck late when the ruck is formed after the ref signals hands off, should be a hands of penalty to counter balance the steal.
Problems with the AI:
The AI does not advance/gain ground at all in the mauls or scrums. Not even if you add no one to the maul.
The AI choses scrums as a penalty every time. (not realistic) (and the AI gets nowhere because it’s too easy to win possession every scrum on hard setting)
The AI never commits penalty or collapse’s the scrum.
The AI (although, slightly, slightly, better, does not pass or offload enough) but no doubt this will be fixed, it’s an easy fix for Big Ant). It’s in all Big Ants past rugby league games. Big Ants AI has always been fairly challenging, (so I have confidence in this, that is why I focus more on features of Rucks, scrums and Mauls.
You can only, dummy pass to one side (left side), the dummy used to be effective in early builds.
Kicking for points is too easy, (instead of the player moving the first stationary arrow, have the arrow move back and forth on its own so we can time the first part, the better the kicker the slower the back and forth, you can leave the second timing graph part how it is.
Have the scrum take longer and be more rewarding if you do good, have the team that executes the scrum to perfection be able to gain good ground or have the opponent be called a scrum penalty. Otherwise, the scrums are boring, and it is pointless to time the graphs good other than to hold possession of the ball. Good system, poorly implemented, until now.
Overall, I think it is a considerable improvement, I felt most things were a little better, the rucks, user passing. On offense I am stringing together some great passing and gap runs. The flow felt very good at times, before, it was nonexistent. (HINT: Don’t sprint all the time folks) I think Big Ant has good intentions, it is just going to take some time to implement everything, so that it feels like Union Rugby. Please add up 5 to the ruck, this will open up the game play on both sides of the ball. Looking forward to future updates. For feedback:
as Argentina against Tonga and Hong Kong on hard difficulty it has been fairly easy to win in 15 minute halves by 2-3 tries. But this may be because AI passing and offloading is very little to nonexistent. The AI is to predictable.
Looking forward to more updates, moving in the right direction, but a way to go.

Note. The game crashed when I did a 7-10 meter maul over the try line, timing my players one by one, on the last one added maul made it over the try line, was about to celebrate a player touching down for a try, instead the game crashes back to steam page.

[AndyPelser]

Still don’t think mauls and rucks are really that in dept as it still the same, for rucks doesn’t matter if you have no players or all 3 players in you don’t get punished by AI for it, and you still steal rucks with the same way pressing are player and steal together,

For mauls you can pretty much maul the whole field by just pressing add player and holding the maul button.

Positives for this update:

You can sprint more and your support line keeps up however, the animation for catching passes just kills your momentum as they catch the ball backwards so you have your player stop in action for a sec and it kills the speed. Remember it’s not league it’s union we run at speed onto the ball we don’t pass the ball behind our players.

Tackle animations seem to have a lot less of that RLL high hugging tackles so please don’t bring that in, probably should of been in the patch notes and have improved AI making removed as it’s still crash ball pass by AI

[Bigbenji]

First of all, massive thank you for the continuing work being put into the game and the weekly patches, long may they continue!

Really enjoying the improved passing and support runners. Able to string passes together and score some nice trys.

The steal of the ball without the over dramatic ruck over is a nice add in, although its not completely clear as to when the ball has changed hands and you find yourself waiting for the Ai to play the ball and then realise you have the ball.

But… thats about as far as I feel this patch goes. Still not seeing any real passing come from Ai. I’ve seen maybe 3 second passes come in from the Ai in about 5 matches.

Ai continues to pick scrums every time they get a penalty, its becoming tedious!!

Scrums are an absolute mess. I find that if I hook the ball and hit the drive correctly, the scrum collapses, they get a penalty and the process repeats because of the Ai always picking a scrum.

Still unable to sub players. Had 5 injuries in one game. Ref kept stopping the game for the injuries, back to the scrum scenario and repeat. Just prior to the end of a match and for the first time, the Ai made subs for me, however it was backs for forwards and vice versa, with no option to change anything.

Ai consistently breaks first tackles.

Still a long way to go but its getting there slowly!

Would still like to see the ability to create a custom career mode with a created team and work through leagues. Dare I say it, like the previous Rugby 08 etc games had.

Look forward to the next patch!

[Lionmaul]

Quick note:
Note for everyone: Rucks should be hard to turn over because rarely does the AI pass at the moment or go out wide or get isolated, so this helps them retain the ball more because they have better forward ruck support. It makes sense once they start passing out wide, or even passing more, that’s when we will get more turnovers, so turnovers should be very challenging at the moment and hard to come by.

In saying this, on Hard difficulty with evenly match teams, I am getting about 2 ruck turnovers to 1 against the AI, Argentina vs Tonga , Argentina vs Hong Kong. Although Argentina is rated a little better than both those teams. I am getting about 5-6 ruck turnovers per half in a 15 minute half games. Which is fairly normal. Opponent AI is getting 2-3 per turnovers per half. But I am also careful not to get isolated often.

[noahk]

Perhaps, but I’d really rather not have to play entire halves where I just gradually push them back the length of the pitch until they eventually box kick back to me

[AndyPelser]

You are playing a different game as I’m getting a ruck turn over every 3 rucks which is good atm because I can’t be bothered playing against the AI it’s repetitive. But winning pretty much every ruck is also un realistic.

Everything in this game is easy only time this game might be hard is when you over think the mechanics, I even started giving the controller to my 2 year old so they think they are playing the game and by just pressing button it’s still ruck turnover fest

[Rorydn]

Played a couple of games earlier of new update on the Xbox - quick thoughts on the gameplay and patch notes

Improved Passing

• Some passing is lagging, e.g. press to pass, player keeps moving for 2s, then the pass is initiated based on previous player positioning, which is often floaty and behind the receiving player and runs into touch. This is detracting from gameplay quite a lot
  Improved Ruck Turnover
• Great addition to not have the pushover, will help build a more fluid game
• Hope to see ‘Y’ become a way to jackal properly, or result in penalties for not releasing (e.g. if press too early or spamming)
• Similarly want an option to hold onto the ball at ruck in case isolated, with high risk of penalty
  Improved AI decision-making
• Experienced different passes, some going deeper in midfield, but didn’t experience any phases with more than 1 pass
  Improved Support Runners
• Seemed ok but do notice support runners can be in the way and obstructing ball holder’s line at times
• Am experiencing 1 player is randomly located 10-20m ahead in an offside position, not rejoining play and need a restart or similar for them to return to the playable game

[Spataki]

Massive backward step. Update has made the game full of more bugs to the point that it’s almost unplayable.

Passing - Keeps freezing then glitching when the halfback passes and then throws a massive skip ball out to no one which either goes straight into touch or the opposition wing picks up the ball. When you’re passing the ball down the line the ball will go straight out in front to no one rather than to the player you’ve chosen. Support players still far too deep and not keeping up with or supporting the ball carrier, most passes go directly behind.

Set plays/tactics - When you select 1-3-3-1 with the key pad or other set plays the players don’t line up in the correct formation to the tactic/shape. You just have the forwards standing bunched up outside the 9 with no option to do a tip pass out to the 10 who is standing far too deep.

Player positioning - Still no change to player positioning. Forwards still standing bunched up outside 9 with no plan, shape or structure. 10 is still hitting too many rucks when in reality they probably only hit the odd ruck on the edges when there’s little support. They are also standing deep out of play most the time or on the blindside. When they should be involved in the attack, receiving the ball from 9 unless you are running 1-3-3-1 when they are receiving the ball out the back from the forward pod. If you’re not doing a tactic, we need correct backline formation, 10, 12, 13. A lot of people have mentioned this and it doesn’t seem to be getting addressed, there needs to be some structure and shape to make the attack fluid and true to rugby. It’s far too clunky at the moment. There is literally no difference between forwards and backs at the moment, apart from putting the 10 in the pocket to clear.

Running lines and support - Getting better but support players are still running too lateral or aiming back in towards the ruck or are far too deep and not supporting or keeping up with the ball carrier. It’s like watching 5 year olds play ripper rugby. They need to have intent and be running at the gaps, so the 10 can take the ball to the line and feed the support runners depending on where the space is. Need to be able to control line width and depth, line is either far too deep or way too flat there’s no in between.

Inaccurate offsides - Keep getting pinged for being offside when I’m attack and have the ball.

Animations - Running and passing animations need some work. Running animation looks like Forest Gump, passing movement of the player doesn’t align with where the player is trying to pass the ball. Ball doesn’t rotate when being passed, particularly with a skip pass.

Awesome to see regular updates but at the moment just seems to be a few steps forward then a few steps backwards with updates only addressing the passing and rucking. Which are obviously two crucial parts of the game which need to be done correctly. Now Thursdays patch will probably be to fix the issues Tuesdays issues created and so the game ends up being in the same position it was on Monday. Would be awesome to see some of these other areas addressed as well in the updates as they are massive parts of rugby. Really want this game to be a success but alot of work needs to be done. Hopefully these updates start to cover a lot more areas of the game.

Cheers!

[Nesreviac]

Just want to ask if people can please state a couple of things when reporting bugs.
If you can please say which system (PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, or PC).
Which Game difficulty level.
Half length.
Game Mode (Career, Play Now, Tournament etc).
Any or all of those things will probably help.

I reckon it could help them nail these annoying bugs a little earlier.

Just a suggestion to Big Ant Admins, but how about a pinned bug reporting thread where people can name these details and help you check out the bugs?

I’m reading some of these bugs and sometimes thinking “yeah mate had that one!” and other times thinking “whaaat? That’s actually happening to someone”, as I haven’t had them at all (or yet).

[AndyPelser]

There should be a thread for each platform because the game plays different on each platform, as I sometimes have a different experience on pc than I have on ps5

[ivor2de]

Agree and game even play different when comparing my xbox s vs xbox x. Game feels laggy on xbox s.