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:

 

[GoldbergsGold]

From memory, the story was that the beta everyone played at the launch event and the streamers used was absolutely destroyed by the day 1 patch. Then it took them months to backtrack and improve on it

No, I played the PC version when it came out at midnight release, and it was completely broken before any patching was done, ie couldn't even pick up the ball and the game turning into Soccer. The "finished" version Ross claimed was suppose to be far ahead in development compared to the beta version.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

They are charging $78 for this and AFL26 is $90

I want to know if there is any engine changes to the mechanics and game play. Otherwise this AFL26 is no more different to AFL23 + Pro Team

The fact there's no gameplay footage on top of everything else shady about them speaks volumes.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

The fact there's no gameplay footage on top of everything else shady about them speaks volumes.

Not even a coin toss!

 

[palmomagpie]

They are charging $78 for this and AFL26 is $90

I want to know if there is any engine changes to the mechanics and game play. Otherwise this AFL26 is no more different to AFL23 + Pro Team

Have a feeling they'll hold this stuff close to their chest and if anything, beat the drums about pro team

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Not even a coin toss!

I couldn't believe there was no wind meter at the coin toss for months, it made the coin toss completely pointless if you have no idea which way the wind is going.

 

[palmomagpie]

No, I played the PC version when it came out at midnight release, and it was completely broken before any patching was done, ie couldn't even pick up the ball and the game turning into Soccer. The "finished" version Ross claimed was suppose to be far ahead in development compared to the beta version.

God I remember those first few weeks before and during the daily patch phase. Grabbing the ball at FB and just walking it down to full forward unopposed. Kick a goal with 1 minute left, game crash. Open menu, game crash. Handball to James Worpel, game crash. I agree though - I find it hard to believe there was a finished version of the full game. The streamers / launch folk would have just been given a tech demo

 

[SugarShane]

No, I played the PC version when it came out at midnight release, and it was completely broken before any patching was done, ie couldn't even pick up the ball and the game turning into Soccer. The "finished" version Ross claimed was suppose to be far ahead in development compared to the beta version.

Steam would've released with the version that was the "Day 1 patch" instantly. PS5 only had a different "non day 1" version because the discs are not up to date.

From memory if you didn't have the patch, you couldn't play at all as it is always online and checked your version. I remember people trying to play off disc with the internet turned off but it wouldn't let them in the game without being online.

None of that however explains how this patch/version goes live without a single person in QA saying "Hey... um... are the opposition supposed to try and tackle you at some point?"

 

[SammaGilberto]

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I couldn't believe there was no wind meter at the coin toss for months, it made the coin toss completely pointless if you have no idea which way the wind is going.

I still like that the biggest gameplay innovation since launch was ... Letting us kick the ball where we want

Here's to AFL 26 letting us handball where we want

 

[GoldbergsGold]

God I remember those first few weeks before and during the daily patch phase. Grabbing the ball at FB and just walking it down to full forward unopposed. Kick a goal with 1 minute left, game crash. Open menu, game crash. Handball to James Worpel, game crash. I agree though - I find it hard to believe there was a finished version of the full game. The streamers / launch folk would have just been given a tech demo

The game mechanics were still being developed on in real time after release. I don't think I've ever experienced a game having its entire mechanics changed like that after buying it. Usually its just bugs/glitches removed, not the entire gameplay being changed.

 

[Michaels]

Have heard some murmurs about gang tackles being included.

I'm not sure if something similar already existed in their rugby game but if it did, that would make sense if it is transferable in some way.

 

[Gameova_]

Big Ant won't be posting here.

What happened?

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

What happened?

 

[GoldbergsGold]

What happened?

They moved over to their own forum, where they can control discourse on the game.

 

[SugarShane]

23 was an unfinished broken mess, it made national news for how chaotically glitched it was, they never fixed it, they were literally still developing the game, after it was released. If 26 isn't broken and actually playable, they should give it to those who bought 23 for nothing, since 23 was a total shovelware scam.

The complete lack of a mea culpa, or any sort of thank you for the paying beta testers is pretty shitty. It wouldn't have been hard to find who played the game in its early stages (it's always online), surely the least they could do is throw a handful of ProTeam coins/packs at anyone who played it in early 2023 to say thanks and sorry.

But nah. Here's the game mode we promoted 18 months ago but without any of the legends we promised. Like it or stfu. Oh, and make sure to buy some packs ya jerks.

Given where we are now, with the game barely finished and likely to be abandoned, you'd think they'd be grovelling. Give out some codes for $10 off digital copies of AFL 26 to anyone whose online ID logged in to the game in 2023 or something like that. But nah. "The kings of sports games are back suckers. You worms should feel grateful that you get the privilege to pay us another $100."

 

[Nicho50]

In defence to Michaels I have seen it happen with the 2K series in their WWE games where people got to play test like 3 months prior to release and it was a demo type set up where they could only select our of around 10 from the roster and could only do 1 or 2 match modes and upon release the game was different gameplay wise. Granted it wasn't a huge cluster **** like AFL become but I do believe that those that tested it probably did play a demo type version.

In regards to Twistie I have seen some of his videos and he isn't glowing of AFL 23 at all, seems to do a lot of content on Cricket 24 but still points out the bugs and flaws ?

Big Ant though... I really am surprised they are doing this after the last 24 months they've had. Nothing could be as cooked as AFL23 could it and the entire XBOX debacle........

One thing you have to say is how unprofessional are they? I mean this release news wasn't exactly smooth was it? Someone found the classification rating then all of a sudden its announced its coming out in a month. No screenshots or game play with it and as far as I can tell only JB are the only ones advertising it for pre order? Surely if your releasing a game your going to have some kind of promotion of your own behind it and not just a smart arse retweet and comment on twitter.

 

[SugarShane]

The game mechanics were still being developed on in real time after release. I don't think I've ever experienced a game having its entire mechanics changed like that after buying it. Usually its just bugs/glitches removed, not the entire gameplay being changed.

Absolutely. For a while I was only going back to it every couple weeks and half the time the goal on the run system had been overhauled again. And not always for the better. Somewhere near the end it got decent, but they refused to scale the meter so if you played on a wide camera angle like I did, you could barely see the bloody thing.

 

[Truetiger]

Don't see anything on Steam yet for this.

would want to see the reviews before i order lol.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I actually played on the weekend and managed to open some sort of time machine where the score worm went backwards just after 3qtr time 23 has the strangest bugs.

 

[dwwaino]

What happened?

Stuff.

 

[Quivorir]

Stuff.

You and Dannnnnnnnnn could co-write a book on what happened and make 10s of dollars.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

You and Dannnnnnnnnn could co-write a book on what happened and make 10s of dollars.

Would buy

 

[RPCB]

 

[Xtreme]

What happened?

Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!"

Absolutely. For a while I was only going back to it every couple weeks and half the time the goal on the run system had been overhauled again. And not always for the better. Somewhere near the end it got decent, but they refused to scale the meter so if you played on a wide camera angle like I did, you could barely see the bloody thing.

There was ONE run of patches where the game play got REALLY good, stuck in mud no longer existed. It was around the time where they added the spinning move after the ruck tapped the ball to the rover. Then the spinning move happened almost every possession. And shortly after they had to roll back several weeks of updates due to a screw up. The game play had obviously been tweaked since then but I still miss a lot of those additions, the different smothering/ball possession etc.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!"

Ross is Walter Peck?