Multiplat AFL 23 - Part 2 (23/04/24 PATCH: Sliders are here)

[Kidneykid95]

Seems like patch notes are out already .. not sure how to feel about it.. thoughts??

ITS GONE LIVE ALSO! Just got it on PS5 = 1.7GB

 

[palmomagpie]

Even as a still constant player of this game, I'm firmly in the camp that the updates coming are make and break for the series. I still play it because I'm a sucker for punishment and it's the only way I can get success at Hawthorn right now - but there is so much that needs to be tweaked before they push the Pro Team it's not funny.
If Pro Team launches, and busts because gameplay still isn't up to scratch, then I fear for the backing the AFL will give going forward. Let's be real - the AFL probably saw the $$$ that Ultimate Team brings in for soccer, and just threw a bit of a money at BigAnt hoping it'd be able to replicate some form of that success. If that fails, the AFL will say what's the point and probably abandon gaming until a new generation of executives take over. BigAnt/JNT have said that people have been working on things in the background for a while (pretty sure that was November when he said that) so the update on 19/3 should have some significant changes you'd expect. For BigAnt's sake, I hope it also includes any other features they promised prior (eg training etc.) so when they go wrong, they can still fix it up in the April update.

A couple of hundred hours in and I'm near the end of my sanity to cope with the game - I'm hopeful but hesitant to think that this update will be a good refresher (strong hope they improve manager mode and not just kick off/Pro Team)

 

[Xtreme]

Even as a still constant player of this game, I'm firmly in the camp that the updates coming are make and break for the series. I still play it because I'm a sucker for punishment and it's the only way I can get success at Hawthorn right now - but there is so much that needs to be tweaked before they push the Pro Team it's not funny.
If Pro Team launches, and busts because gameplay still isn't up to scratch, then I fear for the backing the AFL will give going forward. Let's be real - the AFL probably saw the $$$ that Ultimate Team brings in for soccer, and just threw a bit of a money at BigAnt hoping it'd be able to replicate some form of that success. If that fails, the AFL will say what's the point and probably abandon gaming until a new generation of executives take over. BigAnt/JNT have said that people have been working on things in the background for a while (pretty sure that was November when he said that) so the update on 19/3 should have some significant changes you'd expect. For BigAnt's sake, I hope it also includes any other features they promised prior (eg training etc.) so when they go wrong, they can still fix it up in the April update.

A couple of hundred hours in and I'm near the end of my sanity to cope with the game - I'm hopeful but hesitant to think that this update will be a good refresher (strong hope they improve manager mode and not just kick off/Pro Team)

View attachment 1922622

Here's the thing I was one of the last "major" posters to stop playing and uninstall the game a while back (going from 60 hours played per fortnight to..... 12 and eventually less than 60 minutes was quite the sight).

I still played and (through gritted teeth) tolerated the short comings. But even I gradually got tired of it - and I can withstand the repetition of most games lol.

If they fix what looms as unfixable (stuck in mud, invisible walls, turning circles etc) I'd find the experience much better. For me it ALMOST satisfied the footy game urge I have.

Of course there's more to be done, I'd love to see in game injuries - players needing a stretcher or to be helped off the ground with trainers (I mean Madden 93 had an ambulance appear on the ground and that was 30 years ago!!!). Players pinging their hamstrings and hobble to the bench.

And lots more effort in the back end, game/season stats and more detailed managerial things (BA may need to infiltrate EA to learn how to program it all).

Edit I may even be tempted and reinstall the game to test the patches out. And post videos again

 

[Treehill23]

I think you're kidding yourself. Their resources have been 100% towards Cricket 24 and trying to get that game up to scratch. According to many it's still not great!.

I would dare say they've started working on patching AFL about 4 weeks ago which is about when Cricket 24 patches stopped.

I mean I’ve been one of the most critical about BigAnt/Ross on here but it’s pretty obvious they’re not working on one project at a time. If they were, these games wouldn’t be getting rushed out in a horrendous state and or getting delayed so often. They’ve taken on too much at once and the quality of the games are taking a hit because of this.
I’m not optimistic in the upcoming update at all, far from it. But I highly doubt they work on one project for a couple of months, then move onto another for a month or two, then the next etc etc
They probably have a small group of guys working on AFL whilst majority of others focus on Cricket or Tiebreak etc

Again, not defending them and I don’t think they can change the gameplay drastically enough to make it good or even fun. However, they have had a lot of time to work on it and that’s merely what I was getting at. Can only hope they’ve put in enough work to turn it around but like you, I’m highly doubtful

 

[kingcobey78]

If they fix what looms as unfixable (stuck in mud, invisible walls, turning circles etc)

It still amazes me that these have not been fixed. This is something that has continuously been complained about yet Bigant seem to have ignored the issues completely. Why? Is it something they can't fix?

The fact that if Bigant can not fix the stuck in mud, movement issues then Proteam being released with these issues will be a huge dissapointment.

I'd love to see in game injuries

The fact that you can play through a management career and not have to actually manage injuries, suspensions etc. isn't the "depth" that Bigant advertised it is being. Once they get the glitches fixed, if they can, then Management mode needs to be added to e.g. training, suspensions, injuries. I'd love a free kick to be given and the ump walk to the players and pretend to take down the players numbers. An inbox in management mode where you get notifications of suspensions, tribunal decisions, injuries, injury length etc. Evolution had one!

 

[new0066]

Someone please explain why it's taking until round 7 to have new draftee names added to the lists on the game?

I think that’s when the draftees who didn’t attend the draft gets their faces and stuff added. The 19th March probably has all the correct list with the new players but only the photogrammetry of those who were at the draft.

That’s how I read it anyways

 

[FearTheBeard13]

It still amazes me that these have not been fixed. This is something that has continuously been complained about yet Bigant seem to have ignored the issues completely. Why? Is it something they can't fix?

I couldn’t offer a professional explanation from a gaming perspective, but I feel like it’s because they fundamentally broke an element that’s in the foundation of the coding of the game, if that makes sense. Like say in NBA 2K if it was coded like players couldnt move to their right but then still had dribble moves….if that makes sense?

 

[FearTheBeard13]

I think you're kidding yourself. Their resources have been 100% towards Cricket 24 and trying to get that game up to scratch. According to many it's still not great!.

Which makes the whole AFL debacle even worse then. Thats also been the big complaint from us for months now. As a company, you dont put pens down and stop working because the next project shows up if the last project still needs fixing. As soon as that final August patch came in, they just went dark on everyone and ignored the customer base. Stupid business practice really.

 

[Archer_11]

I couldn’t offer a professional explanation from a gaming perspective, but I feel like it’s because they fundamentally broke an element that’s in the foundation of the coding of the game, if that makes sense. Like say in NBA 2K if it was coded like players couldnt move to their right but then still had dribble moves….if that makes sense?

I feel like you must be close. BA would have $x from Nacon, they've been unable to finish the game they set out to do plus there is bugs meaning the problem they have is significant. The weekly patch rollercoaster was unprecedented in my 20+ years as a gamer - not for that length of time and not with that level of variance. Which makes you think they've built something that gets wobbly pretty easily.

Sometimes you hear companies get excited when they spend several million dollars rebuilding or optimising the code and you can't tell a single difference. There's no way that's happened here - BA have already made whatever money they're going to make from the game - so I reckon it will be a case of ten bugs fixed, five more created and the player updates. If it ends up better than that happy days.

 

[GetAroundHim99]

I'm kinda interested in people's opinions on this.

If this update fails which a lot of us are thinking it will it seems (Myself included), What do we think the future of AFL Gaming is?

Big Ant out of the picture? The AFL gives up on gaming entirely? Do both parties give each other one more chance to make it work?

What are we looking at in this case in your opinion?

 

[Freo16]

I'm kinda interested in people's opinions on this.

If this update fails which a lot of us are thinking it will it seems (Myself included), What do we think the future of AFL Gaming is?

Big Ant out of the picture? The AFL gives up on gaming entirely? Do both parties give each other one more chance to make it work?

What are we looking at in this case in your opinion?

Most AFL games have been average at best and they keep making them.

As long as there’s a studio interested in making an AFL game, the AFL will give them the licence and if big ant continue to be interested then the AFL won’t pull the licence.

It’s also worth considering that the initial contract between big ant and the AFL is probably longer than one or two years.

 

[robertto]

Just tried to play this game again....

Shame on Ross and Big Ant. I feel so stupid for defending them at launch and holding a candle for them all these years.

I bought this game on ps5 and steam, I feel so burnt by Ross. I wonder if they realise how much damage they've done to their name. I'll never buy another game of theirs at launch, and even post launch it would take a ground swell of people to say it's great for me to consider.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

Still $88 pre owned lolwatlolwat


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Still $88 pre owned lolwatlolwat


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

To be fair EB games always had inflated prices.

 

[Grechy]

Most AFL games have been average at best and they keep making them.

As long as there’s a studio interested in making an AFL game, the AFL will give them the licence and if big ant continue to be interested then the AFL won’t pull the licence.

It’s also worth considering that the initial contract between big ant and the AFL is probably longer than one or two years.

There's not a whole host of options but Big Ant would likely be the flagbearers for a while longer I'm tipping. They've had what 6 months now to get this update up to scratch? It would really be disastrous if they buggered it up. This is also a massive opportunity for them to turn around their reputation.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

There's not a whole host of options but Big Ant would likely be the flagbearers for a while longer I'm tipping. They've had what 6 months now to get this update up to scratch? It would really be disastrous if they buggered it up. This is also a massive opportunity for them to turn around their reputation.

I'd love to know why the commands and movement don't work properly almost 10 months later, and to see if it's ultimately fixed with the new patch. I don't think any of the previous AFL games ever had those issues on day 1, other than minor bugs that were easily fixable. I would say Evo 2 with the sliders is the easiest AFL game to command. Although, I miss being able to get hand balls out when being tackled in Live 2011. Those 2 games are still the best in different aspects, 23 did include things from Evo 2 like the ball drop d-pad. I didn't really play AFL Live 2 that long, but was the goal kicking mechanic in that good? It was like the ball drop mechanic from Madden from what it appeared. Maybe that is ideal?

 

[kingcobey78]

I'd love to know why the commands and movement don't work properly almost 10 months later

This has always been my worry about this game. The stuck in mudd, invisible wall, handball wrong direction, players running round in circles etc. have never been fixed in any of the patches to date yet is one of the most complained about aspects of the game. Are Bigant unable to fix it? If yes, then why haven't they prior to now? I would've thought the gameplay mechanics and controls would be one of the most important aspects of the game to get right.

 

[Strahany]

If they haven’t fixed the issues with the core gameplay features, such as movement, with this patch, then you can only assume it’s an intrinsic issue with their engine. If it is, then they’re stuck as I presume they have to utilise this engine in order to maintain the features we see in their other games, like the customisation and creation features.

 

[GetAroundHim99]

If they haven’t fixed the issues with the core gameplay features, such as movement, with this patch, then you can only assume it’s an intrinsic issue with their engine. If it is, then they’re stuck as I presume they have to utilise this engine in order to maintain the features we see in their other games, like the customisation and creation features.

Yep. If they haven't fixed stuff like that after all this time, It's all on the engine they're using.

I can see why they'd use it as it allows them to port over the stuff they use in their other games and that saves time along with saving money on royalties to engine owners but if they can't get this game to work properly in the engine, They're gonna have to create a new engine if they do another AFL game and start from scratch.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

They're gonna have to create a new engine if they do another AFL game and start from scratch.

Creating an engine from scratch and maintaining it takes away labour from the programmers, who have to work on the engine rather than the game. They would be better off doing what Wicked Witch did for Evo 2 and Konami did for eFootball and just use Unreal Engine 4.

 

[Freo16]

Creating an engine from scratch and maintaining it takes away labour from the programmers, who have to work on the engine rather than the game. They would be better off doing what Wicked Witch did for Evo 2 and Konami did for eFootball and just use Unreal Engine 4.

Their engine is perfectly fine, their other sports games never suffered from these movement issues so hopefully they’ve fixed it.

From playing the game, I can see what’s probably causing the problem, a lot of the player movement is about keeping up momentum so if you handball behind your target or to someone who is flat footed, the player takes a while to build up momentum again, but it looks like this system is getting in the way of movement when it shouldn’t be.

When it works, the momentum system is actually a great idea as it stops you from just moving in straight lines down the field and forces you to use the chip handballs and clearance handballs to move around opponents.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Their engine is perfectly fine

Testimony revealed programmers have to labour on the game engine, which takes away from the gameplay labouring, which makes sense.

their other sports games never suffered from these movement issues

Their Tennis games did as well.

From playing the game, I can see what’s probably causing the problem, a lot of the player movement is about keeping up momentum so if you handball behind your target or to someone who is flat footed, the player takes a while to build up momentum again, but it looks like this system is getting in the way of movement when it shouldn’t be.

There's still a lot of other movement bugs and glitches, like the ball magically being passed from behind without any animation. I will be very interested to see this upcoming patch if they ultimately fix the movement/user command issues. I don't think it will ever be fixed if this patch doesn't solve the problem.

 

[Freo16]

Testimony revealed programmers have to labour on the game engine, which takes away from the gameplay labouring, which makes sense.

Their Tennis games did as well.

There's still a lot of other movement bugs and glitches, like the ball magically being passed from behind without any animation. I will be very interested to see this upcoming patch if they ultimately fix the movement/user command issues. I don't think it will ever be fixed if this patch doesn't solve the problem.

There’s two different aspects to this:

• on one hand the movement has clear issues with the stuck in the mud problems
• On the other hand, the gameplay can feel clunky af when you’re not using the advanced controls, even in twisties recent vid he was complaining about constantly handballing into the opponent which only happens if you’re not using the chip handball.

 

[Treehill23]

There’s two different aspects to this:

• on one hand the movement has clear issues with the stuck in the mud problems
• On the other hand, the gameplay can feel clunky af when you’re not using the advanced controls, even in twisties recent vid he was complaining about constantly handballing into the opponent which only happens if you’re not using the chip handball.

Chip handballs are useless lmao.
By the time your player receives the ball, they’re tackled because the ball takes too long to get there and also players from 2 meters away can teleport and tackle you

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Chip handballs are useless lmao.
By the time your player receives the ball, they’re tackled because the ball takes too long to get there and also players from 2 meters away can teleport and tackle you

They need to finish their "receive" the ball animation which takes unrealistically too long and therefore won't respond to user commands, whereas a player in real life can move as soon as the ball hits the palms of their hands.

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Creating an engine from scratch and maintaining it takes away labour from the programmers, who have to work on the engine rather than the game. They would be better off doing what Wicked Witch did for Evo 2 and Konami did for eFootball and just use Unreal Engine 4.

I’ve got a feeling……..the bloke at the helm has way too much ego to want to replicate what his alleged mortal enemies did and use the same system. Alas, here we are now! Still cooked a year later