Multiplat AFL 26 - Releasing May 8th

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

A reminder before this game's alleged release.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
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In the wise, wise words of Jasper Beardsley:

 

[kingbob182]

Haters going to hate but I probably had the most fun with Live 2004. Even had a historical mode to recreate or reverse a notable footy match across the decades.

It was just funny that there was a version where they stuffed Port Adelaide so the commentary named a different player to the one you controlled.

98 felt pretty good too.

Why old stuff is more fun than anything WW or Big Ant has ended up doing does make me sad.

I don't think I'd enjoy it if I went back and played it now, but yeah, it was elite at the time. Added some key things 2003 was missing like snap kicks that made it a bit less robotic and it just flowed better, from memory at least.

2011 was a lot of fun and fast paced but my games never really looked like the way a real match flowed.

Evo 2 (maybe 1) was sick once you spent a few hours tweaking sliders. But was still rubbish for the time it was released.

 

[kingbob182]

I've been out of the loop for maybe a year. Saw some promising posts about sliders. Have the given us sliders for different stats/aspects like sprint speed, kick power, marking difficulty, etc? Or am I just dreaming? I was saying from day 1 that's all they needed to fix 90% of their issues.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I've been out of the loop for maybe a year. Saw some promising posts about sliders. Have the given us sliders for different stats/aspects like sprint speed, kick power, marking difficulty, etc? Or am I just dreaming? I was saying from day 1 that's all they needed to fix 90% of their issues.

It's the same as 23, it's just a $100 update. The controls are still unresponsive, the players still stall randomly, frozen contested marking contests, the players move like theyre ants on a skating rink. Live 1 and Evo 2 are still far better for different reasons, but yeah, no footy game has been "good" as truly reflecting the sport. I think it's been because of bad decision making like wasting the budget, labour and time on "photogrammetry", I don't agree with the "the sport is too hard to adapt into a video game" narrative.

 

[Treehill23]

It's the same as 23, it's just a $100 update. The controls are still unresponsive, the players still stall randomly, frozen contested marking contests, the players move like theyre ants on a skating rink. Live 1 and Evo 2 are still far better for different reasons, but yeah, no footy game has been "good" as truly reflecting the sport. I think it's been because of bad decision making like wasting the budget, labour and time on "photogrammetry", I don't agree with the "the sport is too hard to adapt into a video game" narrative.

It’s really not the same as 23 bro. I feel the exact same way you do about BigAnt as a company but you can’t keep running with this narrative especially if you haven’t played it.
Whilst 26 isn’t perfect, it’s far better than 23. Would be naive to believe the mechanics would be completely different from one entry to the next but overall, the game is much better

 

[Xtreme]

I don't agree with the "the sport is too hard to adapt into a video game" narrative.

Most AFL games have redeeming features that make them fun. The only game I severely disliked was premiership 2005.... and that was mostly to do with how basic the goal kicking meter was (if I was on BF at the time I would have RAGED about it here lol). 2006 was an improvement on it.

23 has its annoyances but I still got some "enjoyment" from it (smashing Syd, Geelong, Essendon etc by 1000 points lol).

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

It’s really not the same as 23 bro. I feel the exact same way you do about BigAnt as a company but you can’t keep running with this narrative especially if you haven’t played it.
Whilst 26 isn’t perfect, it’s far better than 23. Would be naive to believe the mechanics would be completely different from one entry to the next but overall, the game is much better

26 is what 23 should have been at launch.

 

[Treehill23]

26 is what 23 should have been at launch.

Agreed

 

[GoldbergsGold]

It’s really not the same as 23 bro.

It really is, I was shocked when I played it in November how much it literally is the same game, I thought they would have changed the user commands to make it playable, but they never did.

I feel the exact same way you do about BigAnt as a company but you can’t keep running with this narrative especially if you haven’t played it.

I did play it, what are you about? It's not a shocker it's literally the same as 23, either. Their employees admit they don't have any time or support to do any proper development.

Whilst 26 isn’t perfect, it’s far better than 23. Would be naive to believe the mechanics would be completely different from one entry to the next but overall, the game is much better

I've already said this, the user commands are still unresponsive, CPU players still move around like mindless fast ants, frozen marking contests, exactly like 23. Evo 2 which I wasn't even the biggest fan of at least gets the basics user commands right, I was able to get the controlled players to move as instructed. I think even that crummy Live 2 game gets that right, too, so how on earth does 23 and by extension 26 get that wrong is beyond me. Even Live 1 had players moving more like AFL players, setting up walls, not continuingly running around.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

26 is what 23 should have been at launch.

It should have been above Live 1 and Evo 2 at launch.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Most AFL games have redeeming features that make them fun.

The on the run mechanic of Evo 2 was that for me. I loved being about to out run opposition players but having a consequence for it, the fatigue meter with the meter dropping. It's too bad the best aspects of these games are never put into one game. I wanted the Live 1 protected area usage in future games, for whatever reason it's never been implemented again since 2011.

 

[Mr Gor]

I've been out of the loop for maybe a year. Saw some promising posts about sliders. Have the given us sliders for different stats/aspects like sprint speed, kick power, marking difficulty, etc? Or am I just dreaming? I was saying from day 1 that's all they needed to fix 90% of their issues.

It's not a complete amount of sliders, but enough to make a difference.

The most significant change I would recommend is to Lower player speed to 44-45. This the best solution to the ball "floating". Makes for a lot less marks (players don't always make it to the drop of the ball), and makes switching the ball a more effective because the players can't shift as quick. The ball drops short of players more often, which increases the significance of the 'ground balls' attribute, and also gives the chip kick mechanic more use. Just makes the pace of the game a lot better IMO.

I also lowered tackle distance to ~40, increased ball spilling from tackles to ~55, slightly increased field kick distance, and changed a few other things I can't really think of. Plenty of potential to tune the game to your liking.

Only thing lacking is CPU IQ - there's nothing that really scales difficulty outside of goal kicking ability.

 

[jwikked]

This game (and Big Ant) got a bit of airtime on SEN on Thursday (I think Thursday), on Midday Madness. Some guy rang in to say the game was terrible, bunch of people texting in saying the game sucked, and that Big Ant aren't capable because their cricket game sucks too.

Nothing will come from it, but I'd forgotten the game existed until that moment.