Multiplat AFL 26 - Releasing May 8th

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

A reminder before this game's alleged release.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
​

Hello. Perhaps you've been here before. Perhaps you haven't. If you haven't, here's what you need to know: these threads have a long history of being dumpster fires. For that reason, we take a much stricter approach to moderation than we otherwise do.


What is okay:

• Heated debate / disagreement​
• Criticising the game / developers​
• Praising the game / developers​
• General shit talk​

What is not okay:

• Personal attacks / name calling / abuse / criticising the person rather than the argument / game
• Repeating the same thing over and over and over and over (and over) to push an agenda or attempt to dominate the thread

We will not hesitate to permanently thread ban you if you are taking too much of our time.

In the wise, wise words of Jasper Beardsley:

 

[St 07]

The crazies that popped up here in the lead up to and after the AFL 23 launch, and disappeared just as quickly afterwards, absolutely.

Michaels aka Pinocchio

 

[BlackMamba]

Wow… he’s a father with a full time job and kids (as he’s said here before)… but he apparently needs to spend more time on here, listening to the same drivel about broken game mechanics and a ‘copy and paste’ job while rage-blinded gamers accuse him of being paid to lie?!?!

Yep… makes sense…

 

[Freo16]

Wow… he’s a father with a full time job and kids (as he’s said here before)… but he apparently needs to spend more time on here, listening to the same drivel about broken game mechanics and a ‘copy and paste’ job while rage-blinded gamers accuse him of being paid to lie?!?!

Yep… makes sense…

I’d expect nothing less from those in this thread.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I don't think Michaels (or you two!) are Big Ant employees or whatever AT ALL, but holy moly were you there for the AFL 23 launch? A lot of crazy new accounts were popping up outta nowhere getting super personal then disappearing without a trace never to be seen again.

 

[BlackMamba]

I don't think Michaels (or you two!) are Big Ant employees or whatever AT ALL, but holy moly were you there for the AFL 23 launch? A lot of crazy new accounts were popping up outta nowhere getting super personal then disappearing without a trace never to be seen again.

ah ok… I don’t remember seeing those accounts… but this forum does come to life around launches. It did again for 26, with mostly negative expectations (understandably based off 23’s launch)… those people then mostly went quiet after the launch… and lots of positive posters came onto the scene when it was in the hands of the public.

Which to me, is one sign of a reasonably decent game.

But now there’s people even making fake Big Ant Twitter accounts and posting false info to people. (See Reddit)… which I find insane that much effort can come from negativity/hatred.

 

[BlackMamba]

And yeah, I’m definitely not a Big Ant employee! Haha.
There was one guy in the credits that I used to work with… but that was about 15 years ago and I haven’t spoken to him since.

 

[Smoooothy]

 

[SugarShane]

They have some points, but the angry rant tone doesn't help. Most of it isn't wrong, granted, but there's a raft of facts they could have relied on rather than just repeating that they suck over and over. And some is just plain wrong.

People that played AFL Live and thought it was good "were kids and didn't know any better". Nah. Wrong and revisionist. I was there for Aussie Rules Footy on the NES. I was there for IR Gurus. AFL Live was brilliant. As was Don Bradman 14. Can't speak to RLL from the same era because I never touched it. I played AFLL1 again earlier this year and it still holds up.

The picture he used for AFL Live 2011 is also from AFL Live Premiership Edition (from 2004).

AFL 26 has also been more than fine. Plays perfectly well for me.

And "they need to show improvement, and no, less bugs is not improvement". Huh? That's like the definition of improvement.

The point of the video is accurate, they should be coming under more fire. But it's not terribly well presented. I'd have gone into actual history and detailed each game that was unplayable at launch for various amounts of time, the missing Xbox versions, the promised modes that never arrived, things like that. Rather than just going for lowest common denominator stuff. It was the kind of rant that had me legit expecting his next complaint was going to be "PS2 graphics!!!"

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

They have some points, but the angry rant tone doesn't help. Most of it isn't wrong, granted, but there's a raft of facts they could have relied on rather than just repeating that they suck over and over. And some is just plain wrong.

People that played AFL Live and thought it was good "were kids and didn't know any better". Nah. Wrong and revisionist. I was there for Aussie Rules Footy on the NES. I was there for IR Gurus. AFL Live was brilliant. As was Don Bradman 14. Can't speak to RLL from the same era because I never touched it. I played AFLL1 again earlier this year and it still holds up.

The picture he used for AFL Live 2011 is also from AFL Live Premiership Edition (from 2004).

AFL 26 has also been more than fine. Plays perfectly well for me.

And "they need to show improvement, and no, less bugs is not improvement". Huh? That's like the definition of improvement.

The point of the video is accurate, they should be coming under more fire. But it's not terribly well presented. I'd have gone into actual history and detailed each game that was unplayable at launch for various amounts of time, the missing Xbox versions, the promised modes that never arrived, things like that. Rather than just going for lowest common denominator stuff. It was the kind of rant that had me legit expecting his next complaint was going to be "PS2 graphics!!!"

Agreed.

Need a proper investigative journalist doing this shit rather than the "anti-Big Ant" equivalent of the YouTubers that rock up to Big Ant HQ and who act as Big Ant's unpaid marketing interns at every launch.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Agreed.

Need a proper investigative journalist doing this shit rather than the "anti-Big Ant" equivalent of the YouTubers that rock up to Big Ant HQ and who act as Big Ant's unpaid marketing interns at every launch.

Surprised nobody has interviewed any of the ex-employees yet.

 

[Treehill23]

Surprised nobody has interviewed any of the ex-employees yet.

Probably all had to sign NDA’s.
“I hereby acknowledge that if I do make any public comments around the launches of BigAnt titles, they will all be in a positive light. If I fail to meet this agreement, I will be blocked by Ross Symons on all social media platforms”

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Probably all had to sign NDA’s.
“I hereby acknowledge that if I do make any public comments around the launches of BigAnt titles, they will all be in a positive light. If I fail to meet this agreement, I will be blocked by Ross Symons on all social media platforms”

I'd imagined maybe they're scared they could get blacklisted, but I wouldn't think all of them would be paranoid. I guess no content creator has asked any of them for an interview, which astounds me, would make for fantastic content.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

New patch:




I posted before how badly insufficient intent was implemented (tackle a bloke, he kicks it at right angles 20m to the boundary with no one in sight. Ball in. Infuriating) so I'm keen to see if this has been fixed. Played one game earlier today and I don't think the ball even went out of bounds so can't judge yet.

 

[Treehill23]

New patch:

View attachment 2394913


I posted before how badly insufficient intent was implemented (tackle a bloke, he kicks it at right angles 20m to the boundary with no one in sight. Ball in. Infuriating) so I'm keen to see if this has been fixed. Played one game earlier today and I don't think the ball even went out of bounds so can't judge yet.

I also played one game and didn’t notice it but the opposition AI seems to be a bit smarter with moving the footy which was good to see

Would still like handballing to be played with a little more. Frustrating when you have someone at arms length away from the ball carrier and you can’t handball to them because it shoots straight past them. Seems there’s a minimum distance of travel when Handballing set in place

 

[cottoneyeYeo]

delayed scoreline is annoying the **** out of me

 

[mickelboy182]

Already heavily discounted 3 months after release, I guess they've pivoted from their Nintendo model...

 

[jwikked]

Already heavily discounted 3 months after release, I guess they've pivoted from their Nintendo model...

Where is it heavily discounted? Still $99 on steam

What is it elsewhere?

 

[mickelboy182]

Where is it heavily discounted? Still $99 on steam

What is it elsewhere?

$60 on PS at the moment. Still about $40 too much.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

We've all heard the argument, that Pro Team modes generate money that can be pumped into other modes, even though all the evidence out there shows that any extra money generated by these modes encourages developers (and publishers) to double down on Pro Team while the other modes end up lost and forgotten (like the promised minigames in AFL 23!) or riddled with microtransactions and gambling themselves.

Well! Have I got news for you!

When EA showed off what Madden NFL 26 would be this year, I wasn’t sure I believed it. Not because I didn’t want to, or because I thought I was being lied to. But because it almost felt too good to be true. It promised improvements and changes I have wanted for years, and, well… they are all here. EA pulled it off. This is simply a straight up better game than Madden 25, both on the field and off of it. There’s still room for improvement – there always is – but it’s hard to overstate what a leap this feels like in terms of presentation, the in-game action, and Franchise as a mode. There’s more to do for Superstar, and MUT is MUT, but this is a big step forward for Madden overall. As for the other stuff, well… there’s always next year, right? Turns out, sometimes you just gotta believe.

https://www.ign.com/articles/madden-nfl-26-review

That's right! EA have actually improved modes that aren't called Ultimate Team! And have dragged Madden from 6/10 to 8/10. Big Ant were notorious for being a 6/10-capable company back when they were considered "good" by their standards back in 2011, so this is huge!

Speaking of 2011, that’s when Ultimate Team was first released in Madden, the same year AFL Live gave us ... Single Match and Season Mode, and all that sweet gambling money has finally trickled down to other modes in Madden, 14 years later!

To put that into context, given Pro Team's arrival in AFL 23, AFL 37 should be AWESOME!!! CANNOT WAIT!!!

 

[jono915]

Since the most recent update has anyone’s players positions swapped around on career mode? I have Berry listed as a ruck and Harris Andrew’s listed as a key forward. Charlie Cameron

23

Charlie Cameron

Age

31

Ht

180cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.1

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

2star

K

7.9

3star

HB

1.7

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.7

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.2

4star

key defender etc.

It’s even happened to the AI teams

 

[GetAroundHim99]

Since the most recent update has anyone’s players positions swapped around on career mode? I have Berry listed as a ruck and Harris Andrew’s listed as a key forward. Charlie Cameron key defender etc.

It’s even happened to the AI teams

I think it's similar to a bug where if you've modified player ratings in a previous version, The player ratings have ended up reversed too...

In fact, even looking at the Big Ant Forums, most posts there seem to have just become posts of people wondering if they're even still working on the game or if they've just abandoned the game... I don't even think I've seen a post from anyone involved with the company in the forums in weeks.

In fact, you've got people openly saying that they don't think they care anymore because people complaining about the game on the forums aren't being removed anymore and if that doesn't say how people are feeling over there, I don't know what will.

Who knows, maybe posting on here might get their attention again. Seems to have worked some other times. XD

 

[GoldbergsGold]

 

[FearTheBeard13]

View attachment 2411741

Never seen a ‘CEO’ act so childish and unprofessional to the point he openly advocates for blocking people because his glass house is more fragile than most

As the saying goes……rent free

 

[SugarShane]

Never seen a ‘CEO’ act so childish and unprofessional to the point he openly advocates for blocking people because his glass house is more fragile than most

As the saying goes……rent free

The guy is definitely a thin skinned hypocritical tosser, but the term "rent free" could reasonably easily be Uno reversed in this thread.

 

[carn tigez]

The guy is definitely a thin skinned hypocritical tosser, but the term "rent free" could reasonably easily be Uno reversed in this thread.

Spot on