Rugby 25 Megathread

[HPDISNEY]

Loving the player in the pocket, making the kicking aspect better.

Passing is ok, had a few loose passes when theres an overlap with good support runners, tap the tiggers and lobs the ball into touch. Similar issue with offloads, getting a 20yard bullet pass into touch. Or should i be using targeted passing here?

Main issue i have is the rucks are very hit and miss, from game to game, even with same teams and level. One game I’ll win 55 to their 49 rucks. Then repeat game, I’ll only win 15 all game, never keep the ball, the AI wins 70+.

I would love a probability weighted rucking system, or something similar. For instance imagine that the base level of a turnover is set at 10%, you could then use the gainline on how this is controlled. If you fail to make the gainline the chance of a turnover is increase to 20%, then again to 30% and so forth. I only mention this as recently i have tackled teams from my 22 to back into their own half. Strange how they kept the ball.

Penalties are also an issue. I keep getting off side and forward pass for no reason. Checked replay, still none the wiser.

Also i haven’t figured out a system for the scrums yet, lose or contest them. I have read the advice on this thread but still can’t get the timing right lol.

[js_dev_uk]

Lmao… where did the ball actually go to?

[Bails915]

Constantly being blown for offside when offloading/passing to support runner. AI don’t pass. AI always go for scrum. No rules being enforced, only ones enforced are not correct.

Lots of work still to do, looking forward to this weeks 2x patches. Game is still miles from where it needs to be to be a representation of union. I don’t think it will get there, but needs to be at least 80% there.

The custom competition/tournament really needs to be expanded.

Maximum number of clubs allowed is 8, so you cannot replicate any proper competition. Makes to function useless in my opinion.

There should be a min. of 24 (RWC - set to expand in 2027) and an ability to create pools. 8 is pathetic and gives no ability of customization.

You can recreate the rugby championship and that’s about it.

I don’t see what the limitation is here as career you are simulating much more.

[Bapean]

Hi @Lachie_BA

I don’t remember if it has already been mentioned, but it seems that we can’t search by “Name Contains” in the Academy for the Logos (ex below with Adidas)

An other bug in the Academy for the Logos: we can’t see all the logos when scrolling down (it’s automatically going back to the top)

An other bug in the section My Logos: we can’t see the logos

Cheers

[MaD_Dragon_Rugby]

Thats very interesting. So it has been a thing in rugby games in the past that end on is just overall an advantagous method the game. Having no research of my own, ive always just thought of it in a similar way but purely off gut feeling with nothing to back it up.

My own experience from playing with End On cameras has always been that I felt it was too easy to punish the opposition (which has always historically been AI because online has been rough in basically every rugby game ever). The ability to see all of the back field and position of the oppositions back 3, meant kicking to find space was always far too easy and felt personally like I was cheating vs AI. Whereas side camera you have to pay attention to the oppoistion players in the ruck and defensive line, and you can completely misjudge kicks when looking for grass and felt more realistic, drop goals are also trickier because you might not be directly infront of the posts, along with representing what a game looks like when watching on TV.

As you mentioned, side camera is much bettter for local multiplayer, always been the camera choice when Ive played with mates for multiplayer matches at home.
Fully agree, I think there is a legitimate concern for the idea of prioritising one set of players over another. If I didnt have the YouTube channel, I would never swap the camera angle, and always play side camera, and as such my opinion of the game would be loads of stuff just doesnt work or is broken. And my belief would be people online were able to use mechanics that I dont have access to for some reason (which is technically true, but wouldnt be able to work out the camera angle was why).
I also feel like its a self-fulfilling prophecy right? Lets say 60% play end on and 40% play side camera. If you cater for the 60% by awarding mechanics that currently make the game easier, meanwhile the 40% have a glitchy mess. Some of those 40% will stop playing, and some of the 40% will just swap to End on camera to gain the same advantage of the 60% to make matches equal.
And in doing so, the balance switches to 80% end on vs 20% side camera, because people dont want to be disadvantaged when playing the same game. And in doing so, BigAnt’s data would show 80% of people use End on camera, and thus targetting those 80% makes sense.
But if you swapped it around and hand offs and other mechanics exclusively ONLY worked on Side camera. I wonder how many people would swap to that camera to make the game fair again, and in doing so would switch the bulk of the player base to the opposite BigAnt are targetting.

All very interesting, Im sure fixes will come to balance it out, personally I think it would be better to keep the game level for all, rather than target a specific set of players. But im not a game dev, and im sure theres a bunch of different complications I have no idea about, and it needs to be split in some way.

I just find it a shame that there is finally a rugby game with an Online multiplayer I can actually play, but basically get forced to use a camera position I personally dont like, OR have to face an enormous disadvantage for the full 80 minutes. Im sure other players will abandon online without even knowing the camera angle situation, just because they dont find it fun not being able to compete.

[hurricanes]

One option could be to make the right stick moves absolute similar to NBA 2k games where left and right would always be sidestep, and down fend regardless of which camera you have selected.

[MaD_Dragon_Rugby]

Yeah I thought thats what they would be by default. For example, make the stick defualt options:
Push stick south - Hand Off
Push stick left - Side step left
Push stick right - Side step right
Push stick up - dummy pass (or something similar)
Click stick in - Bump off

And that way everyone uses identical controls, and players would learn muscle memory on what direction does what action.

At the minute the action taken by using the stick corresponds to the direction the camera is facing. Because the right analog stick actions seem to rotate 90 degrees clockwise when you swap from End On camera to Side Camera, as the camera has rotated 90 degrees too. But doesnt take in to consideration you swap sides at half time and as such people have experienced mechanics working 1 half and not the other.
No idea what the background pathing is for all that functionality to work. I wouldve thought it would be simpler to just make the stick actions be set in stone by their own direction, independant of the camera angle or which way the player is running, and cut out the middle man. But im sure its much harder from a programming standpoint, than just me thinking about it when playing

[gjd2189]

To me, making the effort (and considering the expense) of obtaining a vast amount of licenses and likenesses in order to create a realistic representation of rugby in 2025, and then not making much effort with a broadcast camera view/decent side on camera that looks how one would expect rugby to look when shown on television, feels counterintuitive.

Just playing a game and it is starting to feel more fluid. There’s lots of work to be done on the AI which I hope to come back to in another post. What’s really bothering me at the moment is the refereeing/enforcement of the laws and the game’s ability to recognise when to intervene; there have been three clear knock-ons in the game and no reaction from the ref - no advantage, no stoppage, nothing. AI needs more contextual awareness in line with the physics engine to understand when a ball has gone forward legally or not.

[hurricanes]

Yeah, I agree. One of the biggest strengths of Rugby 25 are the graphics and a broadcast camera angle would add to highlighting that.

They’ve put a lot of effort into the photogrammetry so being able to have a game look like the real thing would be an awesome goal to achieve. Having someone walk in and ask who’s playing would be the biggest compliment.

[Chandypants]

Few things I have noticed (PS5):

• The AI opts for a scrum on penalties pretty much every single time. Even when choosing a scrum doesn’t make sense (field position, time of game etc). I have only played two games (Both international NZ Vs SA) where the AI chose to kick a 3 point penalty.

• When I have an overlap and the last player in the attack is slightly deep in the lineup my team/player will just bullet zip the pass straight in to touch. It’s as if the program doesn’t register that there is a player just behind the shoulder of the man in possession (who can legitimately run on to a pass).

• Rucks turnover mechanics are very unclear. I feel the chances are stacked against the user and favour AI. Its getting very tedious to see the Ai ruck all the way up the field and only on what feels like random moments can I get the odd turnover.

• When I do successfully win a ruck turnover very often the AI immediately regains possession through a turnover. It gets a a little ‘ping-pong’.

• Would like to see Big Ant address the ruck situation with improved mechanics or provide tutorial clarity on how the ruck turnover system works.

• Random offside penalties occur against me on my own possession. Needs addressing. (And the AI constantly opts to scrum these).

• Forward passes are getting called when replays clearly show ball is passed backwards.

• As mentioned by many others the Ai only passing once (and in rugby league fashion running it up the pitch) is extremely tedious.

-Scrummaging collapses are a little frustrating, but this could be down to my timing.

This game definitely has the foundation to be brilliant. And have had quite a few enjoyable games, however I have had quite a few more frustrating games.

I Just hope that the commitment from Big Ant in improving this game remains!

[JPilky]

Played some more of latest update and gameplay is going in the right direction but still some fairly fundamental issues to address. Happy to see regular updates are planned. Feedback on what I think would be most necessary to focus on next:

Gameplay and animation improvements

• Allow the AI to pass the ball multiple times

• Fix last pass to winger draw and pass still failing (miss target and into touch), winger should be flat and running on

• Ruck mechanics unclear, need jackle animation (that is more common than full clean out currently happening regularly), jackle/steal attempt timed prompt pop up with risk of penalty if mistimed

• More rugby union tackles and collisions including attacker making metres after contact with momentum based carries. Rugby league wrestle to ground animation/s should be rare as make the game feel unauthentic, for now just reduce the frequency/increase frequency of the rugby union tackle animations which are good. Could add minor chance of stripping the ball in the tackle or holding up into a maul for some league animations

• Make players feel individual and player stats more noticeably impactful – starting with the fact there should be clearer, more exaggerated difference in running speed between slow prop and fast winger to make players feel more unique. Makes the game more fun and adds depth.

• Need a single handed lineout tip back animation (rather than always catch ball) as very common particularly for steal. Also need some interaction with the throw i.e. timing for accuracy and power controller hooker (could be similar to pre-existing kicking mechanic)
  

  

• Higher bomb kick/more hang time for player with high kicking power stat, allows for more aerial contests (needs animations incl. single hand tip back animation)

Presentation and features

• Add player names to bottom on screen rather than placeholders WINGER RIGHT for example

• Add option to have player name at bottom of players feet when in possession

This was in Rugby 08 and helpful for telling you exactly who had the ball. Screenshot also useful for broadcast camera and the pitch minimap UI which would be good optional UI element

• Change kick off to button south not north (or allow controls remapping)

• Better reflection of weight/build in player models

• Add dynamic broadcast camera angles (height/angle to match TV coverage and feature match to end on camera), current side on camera is not really useable but be preferred option for me

Examples for reference

• On quick play allow persistent settings i.e. select favourite stadium, favourite team, preferred match length etc. to be used as default persistent across sessions. Set time of day default etc.

• Ball landing spot marker. Could expand this mechanic so players with better kicing accuracy have smaller circle/better idea of where kicking when preparing kick then all kicks have specific marker for where they will land

Example from rugby 22

• More responsive quick grubber kick and more control on a chip and chase kick

• More real world referees/touch judges

• Fix commentary issues – particularly stating poor kick when player make penalty kick into touch successfully

• Show each player faces/models in team management

• Allow seeing full player stats in team management (click R3 for full stats details or scroll to tab with each breakdown for example rather than just the 5 summary stats)

• Use player photos at start of match in team lineups

• Allow edit which players are in any teams squad in local version

• Allow edit any players rating/stats in local version

• Allow edit visual for any player without proper face scan i.e. procedurally generated players

• Allow more customisation in tournament creation (more teams (8->24), more format/competition types i.e. pools then knockouts, host country/select stadiums for each match), allow customization by fanhub created logos and advertising etc.

• Players should only have secondary or tertiary positions where it makes sense i.e. if only every played fly half then should not have other positions listed

Database

• Player overall rating calculation logic needs some tweaking– certain stats should be more influential on overall rating depending on primary position. For example for a prop adding 99 speed adds 6 rating points to overall vs adding 99 scrummaging add 9 points – this should be a lot more exaggerated as scrums a much more important skill to a prop (i.e. 3 and 15). For a winger 99 speed only adds 7 to overall but should likely add slightly more. For a openside 99 jackal only add 5 points and rucking or tackling add 7 points but all should be more influential as key skills for flanker. Tackling only add 6 for full back but 7 for winger despite being more important for full back generally etc. etc.

• Difference on the pitch between 70 speed and 90 speed player much more exaggerated or bigger range in speed i.e. lowest at 30 pace and highest 95+, could drop speed of front five players generally)

• Main top level summary stats could be speed, carrying, passing, set piece (forwards) or kicking (backs), defence, physicality (eventually for use on pro team cards)

[Bails915]

The more you play this game, the more you realize how broken and fundamentally flawed it is.

Quick line out - pass inverts and immediately out, results in turnover to other team. Both user and AI.

Offloads - don’t work or bullet immediate out. Both AI and user (rare occasion AI tries a second pass and it just sky rockets to another hemisphere).

Union Rules - to say none of the union rules are enforced is an understatement. In many cases they are just completely wrong and results in turnover possession. Offside when passing to my own player?

The facade of the licensed teams and some player faces fades very quickly when you pull it back.

Despite big ant stating they are updating 2x a week, I don’t know how you fundamentally re-code through patches.

Well done for pulling the cash grab off, fair play. But this should have been released as “Kinda-Rugby 25”, would have been more appropriate.

[NotRoss]

Anyone else found the game feels more fun without using the sprint button?
Players speed feel a lot more accurate lol

Everyone seems to sprint the same speed but by default some are a lot slower

[Rugbygamer40]

Hi Team,

Just wanted to raise some observations with stats on discipline.

I am a passionate Australian rugby supporter at all levels of the game but seeing the high discipline stats for Will Skelton and Lachlan Swinton seems quite inaccurate. Both players regularly get Sin Binned with Yellow Cards and Sent off with Red Cards in Test matches, Super Rugby and Top 14.

I feel these stats need to be lowered for both players. I like them both but the just ratings of 95 for Skelton and 85 for Swinton just don’t seem realistic.

I feel stats are not individualised with licensed players and again I will raise the issue again that I think the community should be allowed to edit stats for players as to how they wish for them to be and as others pointed out playing form either increases or decreases.

Thanks Team

[Nesreviac]

There appears to be so many detailed restrictions on licensed players in Rugby internationally, almost as though they are extremely precious about what an end user might do with their stats in a game.

Yet the massively more wealthy football players don’t care if all their stats are editable in other games?

I think the reality is that Big Ant are wanting to take the variables out of the equation when dealing with bugs through the first quarter of release. The more they lock things up in the game, the more that all users are basically using the same set up which enables them to more easily determine where bugs and others errors are coming from.

[Wallaby]

Send me a DM? No idea how to! Thanks

[Valhalla_Vagabond]

Indeed you are wrong lol

[tigersmad]

Did tweet Ross about AI teams only opting for a scrum when awarded a Penalty and the team were looking at fixing that and he sent a like so would imagine they will fix it👍

[FilthyBandit]

Agree with all these points, would also like to add that the advertising etc in the stadiums make it feel so much more alive, even if it is plastered with fake ads or Big Ant signage. Security, wider team members, medics etc on the sideline will add to atmosphere too.

Regarding stats, and star players, they were great in rugby 06/08 where they were noticably better than other players and could open up the game. It really added more weight/occasion to plauing with or against a stacked team like the All Blacks with Carter, Mccaw, Nonu, Smith, Rokocoko etc

[ben761116]

Lads, how do I add existing players to a created team?