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:

 

[Hawked Wings]

It’s over for Big Ant now, they can’t keep treating people like this. What a stuff up

 

[carn tigez]

Played a few games for first time in ages, enjoying it a lot now. Properly caring about each game. Has come a long way.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Played a few games for first time in ages, enjoying it a lot now. Properly caring about each game. Has come a long way.

I played a game recently where Harley Reid kicked 5 goals from the midfield and now it's my GOTY.

 

[T2B_]

I played a game recently where Harley Reid kicked 5 goals from the midfield and now it's my GOTY.

I bet he still got pipped in the Brownlow by a ruckman or something

 

[Truetiger]

So I assume this game is a bust, lol, and not worth my time.

 

[Treehill23]

Good little patch
Thank **** Robert’s actually looks like Robert’s now

 

[dondolla]

Good little patch
Thank **** Robert’s actually looks like Robert’s now

Wtf. I’d love to be excited by this but I’m really just sitting here thinking about how this stuff should’ve been in the game when they released it in May.

 

[carn tigez]

Good little patch
Thank **** Robert’s actually looks like Robert’s now

Oh nice - some of that stuff exactly what I thought was needed. Especially protected zone, kick spraying based on foot + tackle pressure, and the interchange. New animations will be interesting to see, wonder how many players they've updated those for or if it's only AFLW players or something.

Edit - Probably need to create a manual difficulty but I tried very hard last night and was down 60-2 at half time, 3.5 minute quarters. Played exact same game on hard and won by 40. Cannot win a ruck or marking context on very hard, win appropriate amounts on hard but it makes the game a little too easy. Can probably tweak and get where I need it but annoying the jump is so significant by default.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Good little patch
Thank **** Robert’s actually looks like Robert’s now

I'll have to check if McQualter is still a random baldy or not!

 

[Quivorir]

The Saad "woof" has to be the cringiest thing in our sport.

 

[Del80659]

It’s over for Big Ant now, they can’t keep treating people like this. What a stuff up

r u kidding? the AFL 2028 thread will be hundreds of pages long again

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Can confirm McQualter is still a random baldy.

I did notice two changes. Opposition were pinged for a trip, hadn't seen that before but unsure if it's new, and a bunch of fences around the ground have been changed to advertise the real-world finals.

 

[wirra44]

The Saad "woof" has to be the cringiest thing in our sport.

Up there with random Melbourne clubs having a player in there team that they all collectively sound like they boo but are actually saying the start of there name

 

[PerfectFooty]

Up there with random Melbourne clubs having a player in there team that they all collectively sound like they boo but are actually saying the start of there name

Give is the van Rooyen, Rooooooooooo that sounds like Booooooo Bigant

 

[GetAroundHim99]

I have been looking on Reddit after trying out the update which I have enjoyed, and I happened to find this comment on a Reddit thread of AFL 26 and I think this probably explains what happened with AFL 23 and why things have been going the way they've been going for Big Ant recently.

It's pretty much what is expected. A mix of both Big Ant being overly ambitious and not having the structure in place to pull it off, Lack of quality control and Nacon giving them pretty much every sports license they have to make a game for it pretty much taking up any time they'd have to polish up and improve any of their projects.

Plus, from what I've seen posted about Big Ant from people in the local industry on Reddit, they don't seem to be big fans of theirs and are of the opinion that there's no real point in doing an AFL game because it's too niche of a market. Which probably tells you why we're in the spot were in.

 

[GetAroundHim99]

Oh nice - some of that stuff exactly what I thought was needed. Especially protected zone, kick spraying based on foot + tackle pressure, and the interchange. New animations will be interesting to see, wonder how many players they've updated those for or if it's only AFLW players or something.

Because you can set the Goal Kicking animations in the Player Creator, I did have a look at the ones that have been added since last time.

When the game launched, We had the following.

• A Generic Tall Forward Animation
• A Generic Midfielder Animation
• A Generic Small Forward Animation
• Patrick Dangerfield
• Jamie Elliott
• Lance Franklin
• Tom Lynch (Richmond)
• Andrew McGrath
• Harry McKay
• Aaron Naughton
• Christian Petracca
• Erin Phillips
• Mitch Robinson
• Darcy Vescio
• Taylor Walker

I've noticed since this update, They have added...

• Oscar Allen
• Charlie Cameron
• Jeremy Cameron
• Seth Campbell
• Mabior Chol
• Charlie Curnow
• Sam Darcy
• Mitch Georgiades
• Toby Greene
• Isaac Heeney
• Jack Higgins
• Jesse Hogan
• Ben King
• Max King
• Nick Larkey
• Brody Mihocek
• Harley Reid
• Riley Thilthorpe
• Josh Treacy
• Nick Watson
• Peter Wright
• Jacob Van Rooyan
• Cameron Zurhaar
• Logan Morris
• Tom Papley
• Patrick Voss
• Ben Long
• Kyle Langford
• Jason Horne-Francis

They've added 29 new animations to go along with the 15 that have probably been there since AFL 23 and were only selectable when editing or creating a player since 26.

That's actually a nice addition there. I will give Big Ant credit here, They are still putting work into this game even if it's a lot slower than we'd perhaps like and makes us wish that the game was like this at launch...

 

[Sixpence]

I have been looking on Reddit after trying out the update which I have enjoyed, and I happened to find this comment on a Reddit thread of AFL 26 and I think this probably explains what happened with AFL 23 and why things have been going the way they've been going for Big Ant recently.

It's pretty much what is expected. A mix of both Big Ant being overly ambitious and not having the structure in place to pull it off, Lack of quality control and Nacon giving them pretty much every sports license they have to make a game for it pretty much taking up any time they'd have to polish up and improve any of their projects.

Plus, from what I've seen posted about Big Ant from people in the local industry on Reddit, they don't seem to be big fans of theirs and are of the opinion that there's no real point in doing an AFL game because it's too niche of a market. Which probably tells you why we're in the spot were in.

View attachment 2421661

"BigAnt wanted to promote to sell copies"

That's the exact opposite of what happened! They didn't promote shit.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I have been looking on Reddit after trying out the update which I have enjoyed, and I happened to find this comment on a Reddit thread of AFL 26 and I think this probably explains what happened with AFL 23 and why things have been going the way they've been going for Big Ant recently.

It's pretty much what is expected. A mix of both Big Ant being overly ambitious and not having the structure in place to pull it off, Lack of quality control and Nacon giving them pretty much every sports license they have to make a game for it pretty much taking up any time they'd have to polish up and improve any of their projects.

Plus, from what I've seen posted about Big Ant from people in the local industry on Reddit, they don't seem to be big fans of theirs and are of the opinion that there's no real point in doing an AFL game because it's too niche of a market. Which probably tells you why we're in the spot were in.

View attachment 2421661

He says he used to work at Big Ant but then reckons another company should have made AFL 23. Like EA

Actually now that I think about it, it makes me believe he did work at Big Ant cos he sounds as delusional as the rest of them

Our only hope lies with the indies but I'm starting to think none of those promising games will ever be released

 

[SugarShane]

I have been looking on Reddit after trying out the update which I have enjoyed, and I happened to find this comment on a Reddit thread of AFL 26 and I think this probably explains what happened with AFL 23 and why things have been going the way they've been going for Big Ant recently.

It's pretty much what is expected. A mix of both Big Ant being overly ambitious and not having the structure in place to pull it off, Lack of quality control and Nacon giving them pretty much every sports license they have to make a game for it pretty much taking up any time they'd have to polish up and improve any of their projects.

Plus, from what I've seen posted about Big Ant from people in the local industry on Reddit, they don't seem to be big fans of theirs and are of the opinion that there's no real point in doing an AFL game because it's too niche of a market. Which probably tells you why we're in the spot were in.

View attachment 2421661

This guy sounds full of shit. I mean, he's not wrong, we all know they bit off way more than they could chew. But he reckons he worked on the game and then just parrots the same stuff everyone else says. No actual inside knowledge there that wasn't already figured out by everyone.

Pro-team was an afterthought? O rly? The mode that came out 18 months later was an afterthought?

AFL 26 is just AFL 23 but a little better. Well, yeah. It's a sports game. That's what they do.

Then they contradict themselves. "AFL 23 was set up for disaster, the goal was never realistic", followed by "AFL 23 had substantial time to be a top tier game." Which is it? Was the goal not realistic or did they have plenty of time and still stuff it? And if they're an insider, explain why.

It all reads like someone being critical from the outside, the Eddie McGuire/EA thing seals it. Not a single person ever involved in the game industry would even entertain that as a possibility yet old mate uses it as their mic drop moment. Oh right, just get EA to make it. Why didn't we think of that?

Criticisms are valid, but if that person has any inside knowledge or ever worked at BA at all, I'll eat my hat.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

AFL 26 is pretty decent now. Controls can be annoyingly sloppy at times (especially handballing, but it's improved out of sight since they enabled manual handpassing) but when it all comes together it feels really good. Like the Eagles are horseshit in real life but when I get no-name Archer Reid tapping it down to checked out years ago Tim Kelly

11

Tim Kelly

Age

31

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.6

5star

K

13.5

5star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

4.0

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

19.9

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

7.6

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

4.7

5star

CL

3.6

4star

D

21.6

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

3.8

5star

who then handpasses to the rampaging $2 million dollar man Harley Reid who then bombs a goal from 60m out, I can't help but have a grin on my face. Even when I do it three times in a row and the AI does nothing to try and stop that move.

So long as they don't shit the bed and go backwards like their cricket games have, AFL 29 could be something special if they keep tweaking 26 and build on that base. I see this year's reviews of Madden and NBA 2k etc and they've all focussed on career mode improvements this time around after years of Pro Team bullshit, with review score improvements after years of stagnation to show for it. Big Ant are perpetually behind the times (eg player contracts in Pro Team when all other sports games ditched them as grindy bullshit), but if they can join that trend and really double down on career mode, I will be very happy. And who knows, by 2029 they Eagles may have climbed out of the bottom 2 No Big Ant AFL release has cooincided with the Eagles being good (AFL Live came out early 2011 when we finished top 4, but player stats etc would have been based on 2010 when we were last), while I believe one of the Evo games used the Dom Sheed goal in some of their advertising

I still want Ross gone though. And I do feel for supporters of the two rugby codes who are going through their own AFL 23 moment.

 

[GetAroundHim99]

This guy sounds full of shit. I mean, he's not wrong, we all know they bit off way more than they could chew. But he reckons he worked on the game and then just parrots the same stuff everyone else says. No actual inside knowledge there that wasn't already figured out by everyone.

Pro-team was an afterthought? O rly? The mode that came out 18 months later was an afterthought?

AFL 26 is just AFL 23 but a little better. Well, yeah. It's a sports game. That's what they do.

Then they contradict themselves. "AFL 23 was set up for disaster, the goal was never realistic", followed by "AFL 23 had substantial time to be a top tier game." Which is it? Was the goal not realistic or did they have plenty of time and still stuff it? And if they're an insider, explain why.

It all reads like someone being critical from the outside, the Eddie McGuire/EA thing seals it. Not a single person ever involved in the game industry would even entertain that as a possibility yet old mate uses it as their mic drop moment. Oh right, just get EA to make it. Why didn't we think of that?

Criticisms are valid, but if that person has any inside knowledge or ever worked at BA at all, I'll eat my hat.

Yeah, I mean. I was a fair bit skeptical of it myself being an ex-Big Ant employee myself. I did have a look at their posting history. It didn't seem like an account trolling but it's not exactly been used often either. There have been other people who have talked in these threads before going on about them being in the industry or knowing people in the industry and saying things but it's always hard to truly believe what they're saying.

 

[GetAroundHim99]

Also, I think the reason why Andrew McQualter

Andrew Mcqualter

Age

39

Ht

179cm

Wt

74kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

5.6

2star

HB

7.2

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.6

5star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.6

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

0.2

3star

is a random bald guy is either...

• They've done his face scan but haven't been able to put it into the game yet. (Considering that they're slowly updating visuals and only just updated stuff like the attire for the person doing the coin toss and adding in David Rodan
  David Rodan

  Age

  42

  Ht

  173cm

  Wt

  87kg

  Pos.

  Mid

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  14.1

  4star

  K

  7.1

  3star

  HB

  7.0

  4star

  M

  2.2

  2star

  T

  3.1

  5star

  CL

  3.9

  5star

  No current season stats available

  D

  8.6

  3star

  K

  6.0

  3star

  HB

  2.6

  3star

  M

  2.0

  3star

  T

  1.0

  3star

  as a goal umpire? That reason does make some sense.)
• They've yet to do a face scan for him and this he is still random bald guy. (Knowing what happened with the NRLW and the fiasco the face scans for them have been in RL 26, Wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that he wasn't there for when they got the West Coast guys scanned.)
• He's declined to be face scanned and has to be subbed for random bald guy. (I know that's why Luke Beverage hasn't been in 23 and 26, So it's not unprecedented for a coach to not be in the game.)

I just wish you were able to customize the coach for any created team so every created team isn't just being coached by Random Bald Guy in a Blue Shirt. XD

 

[fargothegreat]

I really enjoy AFL26 personally, and they're still improving it with new updates all the time.

I think people struggle to judge AFL26 objectively because AFL23 was such a mess and because Ross' fan engagement is so hostile and untrustworthy.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

So I assume this game is a bust, lol, and not worth my time.

I'd say wait until AFL 28 to see if they get it right, but with their track record, you wouldn't think so.

 

[Treehill23]

Ambrose Burnside your boys are finally in the game !
Waterman and McQualter