Not any difference on console. Keeping Ai scoreless every game I play. Just Not near enough challenge. I even sat today and eaten some food for 5 mins and just watched my players defend against the Ai without me controlling the players. That’s on Hardest difficulty.
My view is the AI cannot currently read overlaps and space, to exploit gaps. Assuming they are working on this, then the easiest quickfix for this is to implement a kicking game to force the defence to turn.
Right now the only way the AI can even be remotely competititve is to just hold on to the ball for 20 plus phases, without you being able to steal the ball, even when being driven all the way back to their own 22, which is honestly tiresome at this point.
4 Likes
Six Nations finishes today and the game, which sells itself on having the Six Nations, hasn’t even got the sponsorship field markings nor the advertising board sorted.
Isn’t that a minor fix which can easily be implemented?
5 Likes
This is why the new holding feature cold be tricky when comes to the AI, holding on to the ball is good, if the AI doesn’t abuse it. We want to lose to the AI from good fends, sidesteps, dummies, and great passing and offloading not cheating. Although, even cheating the AI at the moment still losses by 2-3 tries on 10 minutes/ hard difficulty. They have become a little more challenging by some adding more passing and offloads, but/ I think this is where the problem lies, Rugby league is must be much easier to code for. If the ruck support going out wide is not smart enough, you could end up isolating the AI with them increasing passing out wide. That is why I have noticed them cheating sometimes when being isolated, they should either lose the ball to a Jackle or be called for holding. I believe that is why it took so long for the AI to start flinging the ball out wide because they knew it was going to create another issue, the AI getting isolated. In Rugby league you don’t need so much support at the Ruck as you do in Rugby Union, so the AI scripts in the game have to be very different not based on Rugby League scripts. I really believe Big Ant will get there, as mentioned there AI has always been challenging without cheating in their League Games, but Union is a whole different monster to right scripts for. It will come, but it may be a while. Looking forward to the next update.
- 5 in a ruck
- Replace all the 1 player ruck steal vs 3 pushover with a simple steal, has improved but it is still there.
- Make the Y contest functionable by speeding up the animation of isolated (tackle stand and steal) even the animation looks a little sped up, the function would be there.
- Add hands in the ruck and hands in the ruck meter or Ref (hands off) so we know to stop trying to steal.
- Increase the height trajectory and speed up the animation for UP and Under kicks
- Decrease the strength of the fend, so that it makes it worthwhile to do any other special move, like sidestep, bump offs, or dummies. Now there is no point in doing any other move. other then the fend.
- Allow for large number of meters to be gained in the scrum (more rewards for playing the perfect scrum) Increase the difficulty in the scrums, could beat the AI every time. (it does seem like the initial push has been sped up some making it a little harder to time perfect the first set) (this good) but needs more work. Have the AI every know in then collapse the scrum.
- fix the dummy to the right, does not work only to left works
- Have AI get called for holding if you isolate in the ruck and they don’t release or have a turnover/jackle happen.
- Sliders, Sliders, Sliders,
Game has been improving but still have a lot to be done. But I believe the systems are in place, to make a really good Rugby game. Just needs lots of tuning.
5 Likes
Booted up the xbox this morning to play the new patch to test the differences.
This is playing the the finals of a custom competition.
By far the worst screen colouring issue ive seen accross all platforms. Can barely make out the players.
Litterally looks like theres a filter over the top.
Is there a reason this is such an issue on the console version, compared to PC?
1 Like
It will be a great feature to have, a option to create your own custom cup
1 Like
Is it just me or is the passing worse again? They are going to hand but look awful and Floaty
1 Like
Personally I think it is better. There are a few floaty passes in there that look a tiny bit off (I think the close flat passes should be a bit crisper and less float) but most seem ok to me. The longer passes especially. They were far to rocket on a string not long ago.
Both rugby challenge and Rugby 22 had bad rocket looking passing. Would be good if this game didn’t follow that suit.
I like the passing in R25 right now for the most part tbf. I am guessing that will be something they continue to tweak for some time yet though.
Edit: After a game some of the short passes are way too floaty 
6 Likes
AI diffuculty needs to be harder. I have said this for the last few weeks since release but continously been ignored. This needs to be adressed. Ignore everything else please. Story ignoring the obvious issues.
Per Ross Symons’ Twitter on Tuesday: “We definitely will be focusing on Rugby 25 difficulty level over the next few weeks.” That’s straight from Big Ant’s CEO.
5 Likes
Last night I discovered a couple of issues with 2 player offline games.
At Half Time when you go to Team Management, it’ll only let the player with the lead controller/profile access their team for changes and substitutions. You have to wait until you’re back in the game and then the second player can pause the game and then go into Team Management and make subs. This means they miss out on the chance for Half Time subs.
Also if the secondary player has a game on their own against the AI, they can’t choose the stadium, but can choose any other option. The game seems to want the lead controller to do nearly everything in 2 player offline.
If during 2 player offline a player gets injured, (the kind of injured that brings the game to a halt for substitution with the player laying on the ground in the cutscene), the game won’t allow you to substitute him after that. This happened early in the game and I tried to change him off immediately after the cutscene, then at Half Time, then once more mid way through the second half. This was the player using the lead controller.
Hopefully these can be looked at?
I really hope the changes will work for difficulties from Medium up, as it’s important that the bottom two difficulties are Easiest and Easy as they are descibed, as I’m trying to teach people how to play the game and it’s important to have some success before graduating up the levels. I’m upto Hard and Hardest and can plainly see that the difficulty definitely needs work there.
Haven’t noticed that myself. Maybe your Xbox is on its last legs?
I also experienced this recently for the first time on Xbox Series X
Definitely seeing return of floaty passes on Xbox X, as well as passes going directly behind ball carrier and players all running very inward lines, regardless of gaps in front, even running through rucks
Also when there are kicks, or when players are standing in defensive line, both AI and own players are moving very restlessly (sometimes into offside positions but never get pinged). Looks quite strange and quite frustrating in gameplay - agree they should not be stationary, but needs to be toned down.
Tried playing with the offside indicator - seems to be generally correct but decisions not always correctly applied
Would like to see more consistent organisation and proper formation of the backline, less forwards at first receiver and less backs going into the rucks and mauls
Rogue passes are very hard to pick up from floor, and sometimes the player who picks up the ball is AI controlled until next phase
The game does need to be made much easier for players like myself who are struggling to pass the ball
I think sliders will be huge help and that will allow me to pass the ball easier with less button presses
Maybe also AI penalty increases just to give me a chance to move up the field
As for player faces I’d like to see South Africa next
1 Like
I find the replacement bar very blunt…
I would’ve loved it if it showed under the scoreboard like in real life…
Also nowhere it shows if you get a yellow/red card.
And nowhere it shows bonus points.
By just updating all this, will ad a whole lot authenticness to the game itself
2 Likes
Hi BA team,
Just a couple of additional points after playing the most recent patch.
Critical Bugs & Core Logic Issues
-
Offside Bug (High Priority - Game Breaking)
- Offsides are being incorrectly called when passing to an onside teammate.
- This is a fundamental error that must be resolved immediately, as it severely impacts core gameplay and is unacceptable in a full-price simulation title.
-
Ruck Logic Improvements
- Current system allows a single player to clear out multiple defenders, which is highly unrealistic.
- Improved logic is needed to account for player numbers and momentum when contesting possession.
Gameplay Mechanics & Animations
-
Try Line Collision System
- When an attacker dives from distance, collisions with defenders should trigger realistic outcomes:
- Held up animations
- Ball lost in contact animations
- Try scoring in contact animations
- Variety in these outcomes is essential, with occasional TMO decisions adding realism.
- When an attacker dives from distance, collisions with defenders should trigger realistic outcomes:
-
Lineout Running Lines
- Attacking players currently run back into heavy traffic after lineouts, making it difficult to clear the ball without resorting to skip passes.
- Improved AI logic is needed for players to run smarter, wider support lines to create space and continuity. Half backs often run laterally whilst passing to cover space to a wider/deeper standing playmaker ensuring the heavy traffic area is cleared. This also provides space back on the inside into traffic for inside runners such as the near touch winger.
-
22-Metre Defensive AI Shape
- AI defensive lines need to tighten around the ruck when defending inside their own 22.
- A defender on either side of the ruck (Pillars) should be quick to apply pressure and shut down the halfback snipe exploit while also providing a strong defence against “1 off the ruck” crash over offence.
Controls & Input Responsiveness
- Goal Kicking Mechanic Rework
- The current requirement to flick up on the right stick is inconsistent and often fails to represent the user’s input, especially in terms of power.
- This results in an underpowered, immersion-breaking animation.
- A more intuitive and responsive input method is required for consistent accurate goal kicking. Difficulty also needs to be increased by adding further aiming challenges.
Looking forward to seeing some work done on the difficulties this week. Please make hardest extremely difficult to win a match 
Thanks for your work and for taking on our feedback.
11 Likes
Im officially done for a couple of months the game is clearly so unfinished the little “fixes” i feel havent done much in a week or more in some cases making gameplay worse. Hopefully when i return to the game it will be a much better experiance
2 Likes
Definitely need to increase the number of players that can potentially be added to a ruck. Would make the attack and defense permutations far more varied throughout the game since space across the field would have more variations due to more players committed at the breakdowns.
As it is, things feel very repetitive since all rucks max out at 3 per side and it leaves a lot of defenders free to defend the next phase over and over.
There should be instances where the user or cpu will spot an opportunity and really want to commit bodies to try and turn the ball over, or even just to drag more of the opponents players into the ruck. Additionally the mechanic should be balances where you might need to commit more bodies to retain possession if the opponent gets players into the ruck earlier but have not turned the ball over.
1 Like
Its an issue with the Stade de France on the xbox version. Colours change all the time. You can get around it playing in other stadiums, but BigAnt create this auto force thing for Cup finals to be played in Stade de France so you cant even avoid it.
Also want to flag some issues with xbox achievements. As I decided to test a lot of them now multiple patches have been done.
Few not working
- Try-umphant (200 tries accross all game modes)
- Defence! - 800 tackles across all game modes
- Internet points - 100 points in online quick matches
- collector - win 3 tournament trophies
All my my stats say they are done but achievements havnt popped.
Also noticed this trying to do the yellow card one. When a player is carded the name plate for all players changes to “PREFERREDROLE_SINBIN”
Sin bin player also has an auto substition in place, which shouldnt happen, but also doesnt work, so I guess overall its ok, but needs to be removed either way. It also now takes 6 high tackles to get 1 yellow card which is kind of rediculous.
2 Likes