I hope it’s apparent to the team at big ant that travelling the world and probably spending a lot of money on capturing players faces was not the best approach as this new patch has actually made the game less enjoyable. I suggest you rename the game Rugby 26 and take another year for development because it’s really hard to envision this game being ready for the 24/25 season, I do hope you do though.
10 Likes
This game is not a game. I agree with you. I don’t think it will be ready for this season. Huge disappointment. slow and hard to play. crashes a lot. Not enjoyable.
3 Likes
I am as disappointed in the gameplay as you are, but to be fair good photometry has its utility. It’s nice to have good players faces (even though in game you can never tell, apart from watching replays), it’s just too bad they didn’t capture the different body types at the same time.
The main issue with photometry is that it was used as the only reason for the delays as the rest of the game was supposedly finished ( quoting Ross playing in his office since january). The actual state of the game clearly indicates the communication was all lies, so it is a bit infuriating to have been tricked into this EA, which is closer to an early alpha than an early access.
But hey, if they do care about us core rugby-gaming-fans still holding on, and really listen to our feedback, maybe we can help them correct the wrong trajectory taken on some parts of the gameplay (tackles, rucks…), maybe we’ll finally have a decent rugby game, at last ! It’s just too bad Rugby Champions 2 never made it cause the first opus is the still the best rugby game gameplay wise, it just needs more content.
6 Likes
Rugby 25 is pretty much unplayable ruck contests are awful no penalties as soon as the opposition have the ball it’s impossible to get back there is zero flow to attacking rugby either. Look at adding some attacking plays into the game as it is making this game lackluster at best.
As i keep practicing different things in the ruck, I am enjoying them more,
that being said.
The main issue is there are no instructions for rucking, the tutorial does not reflect what you do with rucks in game. Lets see what happens with Feb 18 patch, I have been playing strictly to test different ruck mechanics, and it seems like there are a few different senarios, even on offense I was able to do a ruck contest push over when the defense was about to steal the ball. It does not happen often, but I saw it a few times. The mechanics have to be explained better, maybe they are not explaining them because they are still being tuned. The three button rucking system if implemented correctly along with the ability to add 2 more players for max of 5 rucking players on rare occasions, to the ruck could create a great system. It seems they are still tunning the rucks, I hope this is the case because from day 1 release to Feb 14 patch it did improve considerably. In the tutorial it tells you to bind quicker and more players to the ruck using (B) to push over the ruck, but in the game, this has not been implemented (does not work). In game it seems the single, double , or triple bind combined with steal afterward is what works best to steal or pressing bind, contest and steal to push over the ruck.
The intended same player tackler contest is a good idea, but it never works, that should be true jackal button as explained in the tutorial, but it does not work, the animation of the defensive player getting up is to slow, to create a tackle and same player on their feet steal, if you tackle while holding the shoulder buttons and B it does seem like it gives you a standing tackles, that allows you to stay on your feet to steel the ball, but its normally the incoming rucking player that does the stealing not the tackler. Not sure if it is all random, or the different combinations create different senarios in the ruck, the tutorial at this point is not accurate to in game application.
In the up and under tutorial it tells you to hold Y down, for up and under it is X not Y for up and under. The player kicking the UP and Under should not pause, it defeats the purpose of the UP and Under if you can get to your own kick because of the pausing animation the player executing the UP and Under does not have a chance to get to the ball, this must be fixed for Up and Unders to feel more natural and for them to have any point of doing them,
2 Likes
Great update! Noticeably better 
Some new issues I’ve noticed on PS5:
- since today’s update, i get turned over on hardest mode consistently at the breakdown, sometimes immediately after hitting the ground. feels a bit unfair if i can’t turn the ball over myself or protect myself from the constant turnovers in any way.
- either my scrum half or the AI scrum half will wander into the middle of a ruck, get stuck there standing and then apart from pausing the game all inputs stop working, so i can’t even select another player to play it from the base
- there is an input lag when a player receives the ball and you try to kick it away immediately. makes all kinds of kicks difficult to pull off when you’re in open play/not in the pocket.
- the frequency of ruck pushovers needs to be heavily reduced and replaced with jackalling. You don’t see them in modern rugby.
- would be cool to just tap circle or square to pull off a quick grubber and chip respectively instead of having to hold them
- the ability to adjust team tactics with the d-pad is only possible when i’m on the ball in open play, where i don’t have time to adjust it. can’t even do it at restarts. being able to do it during cinematics and at restarts would make using it viable.
- i may have mentioned this before, but color coded passing options (the buttons above players’ heads when you hold down LB or RB) for ps5 would make a world of difference in terms of identifying and choosing options quickly
2 Likes