Multiplat AFL 23: Launch Thread (Xbox release date TBC)

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

STATE OF PLAY:

• The game is out for Steam and PlayStation. There have been issues with Xbox release and it is unclear when the game will be available.
• Big Ant are aware that there are playability issues & bugs at present.
• Content has been temporarily removed from the game to identify where the issues lie.
• This content will be re-introduced via patches in the coming days.
• Big Ant have released a summary of what is to be reintroduced, which can be seen below.

Spoiler: Features to be added

Spoiler: MOST RECENT PATCH NOTES

Issues & constructive criticism are best communicated to: support.bigant.com

Michaels Twitch video with QA from Ross(BigAntStudios) from 31:40

 

[Free Agent]

You gotta try to put a bit of thought in, spoil in the direction of a teammate, or towards a neutral point if you are outnumbered.

Games unplayable without being able to L1 switch players. Was playing online. If you don't win the Ruck you can't defend opponents tap outs because game won't allow you switch players.

Enough with the excuses. It's had a few weeks and still plays like absolute garbage. What sports game doesn't allow you to control your player. It's so bad. I've given up. I can't play this until they fix L1 player switching. Really is unplayable in its state.

 

[Free Agent]

There are plenty of people saying they can win on Medium, and people being able to play defensively.
Change Player (just L1) will surely get a look... but for now, people have been using L1 + R Stick.

While the Spoil stumble is true, and could be maybe reduced, the rest of these sound more like skill difficulties you're having, rather than the game.
I would not say it is anywhere near 'dead and can't be fixed'.

They have done something since the patch today. Might have to go back to hardest again.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

This was the dumbest looking animation, let alone the fact that it killed the flow of play.

Not defending it cos I agree it's dumb, but part of me thinks that things like this, things that kill the flow of play, are deliberate design decisions. Kill the flow of play and it's easier to hide dodgy AI because you can't play a more free flowing style. If you could play that way, you'd see a lot more cases of dumb AI as you cut through them like a knife through butter.

I really hope I'm wrong and the things we see in this game that do the same thing in practice, like teleporting tackles just as you get free, aren't deliberate and do get fixed.

 

[kicksome]

I purchased Evo 2 for cheap on Xbox and I regret it. Watching AFL 23 on YouTube today and it looks so much better. Guess I might just have to suck it up and get it

 

[CrowsArmy]

I will gladly sacrifice the coin toss for the crowds to be fixed on PS4!!

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

There are plenty of people saying they can win on Medium, and people being able to play defensively.
Change Player (just L1) will surely get a look... but for now, people have been using L1 + R Stick.

While the Spoil stumble is true, and could be maybe reduced, the rest of these sound more like skill difficulties you're having, rather than the game.
I would not say it is anywhere near 'dead and can't be fixed'.

I think his use of “fair to say it’s dead and can’t be fixed” is wrong.
Don’t think it’s fair to say that at all.
Might be an opinion but it’s not everyone’s.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Games unplayable without being able to L1 switch players. Was playing online. If you don't win the Ruck you can't defend opponents tap outs because game won't allow you switch players.

Enough with the excuses. It's had a few weeks and still plays like absolute garbage. What sports game doesn't allow you to control your player. It's so bad. I've given up. I can't play this until they fix L1 player switching. Really is unplayable in its state.

Also, there's no quick select tactics yet to flood players back or to add support. I thought that was coming, this week?

 

[richmond_88]

I will gladly sacrifice the coin toss for the crowds to be fixed on PS4!!

All sub to work !!

 

[doctor_evil]

One thing I hate is if you go the spoil player becomes so slow and unmovable after and it's always to the advantage of three opponents who then go in to kick easy goals.


Patch has done something to medium difficulty as it's harder now. Lost by about 50 points but mostly due to the lack of movement in my players that I can't control while opponents seem to be all running into space all over the ground. Ruck is an issue at times where you just can't even break even. Likewise the switch player is still unable to do anything which is the most important thing in the game and can not understand how that wasn't patch first before anything.


Fair to say after all these patches this game is dead and can't be fixed. Lost all faith in this game and developers being able to fix it.

They do it on purpose. If they were to give us free movement and control it would expose how poor the mechanics of this game actually is.

They want you to sit still and cop a 6 goal run against because its the easiest way to make a game “harder”.

They are controlling momentum swings like real life.

Its a helpless feeling.

I am defensive minded and am hating it.

Yes the times you get a chain look good, but its not because you play good.

Its the worst sports game i have ever played.

Im thinking of getting into NHL or something.

This game was supposed to be my time sink this year.

Sad.

 

[illnino]

Have set shots got harder at all online? Very easy still. Haven't had time to play an offline match yet to compare.

 

[andy_c91]

Had a quick game during my lunch break with the update on ps5

Hard
5 min qtr
Play now

Stk got off to a quick start and I was rusty as heck as I tried to bomb it into the 50 and got out marked. I slowed down my play style and decided to go out wide and play a heavy kicking game (lots of stab passes). surprisingly my most effective player was b.close who I was able to get the ball to 45m out and he was able to easily slot goals from 40-45 m out (goal kicking still way too easy and honestly that is really what has kept me in the games so far) I didn’t even bother trying to time it in the blue zone and went early and the kick was gun barrel straight.

Spent the majority of the game chasing until the last qtr where via the centre bounce got it to max Holmes and he was able to get the ball from the centre, run and gun it from 50m out.

Pretty damn exciting game, was able to mark, chain kicks and handballs, tackle and get some important spoils in my Defensive 50 after using l1+right stick to pick a man to run in and spoil from the side.

Should have honestly lost seeing I was out played really but easy goal kicking really dug me out of a deep hole.

Movement still needs improvement
Marking contests really needs positioning and jostling to play a bigger part and player switching still needs improvement. With the manual switching I really do hope ba puts in something that tells the player which player is being selected to be switched to before it occurs. With other sports games such as fifa there is less players and a smaller field to deal with so it really isn’t needed (visual indicator) but with afl, lots more player whom are more spread out and further apart so a visual indicator would help. Game is coming along nicely and haven’t had a crash in a while albeit I’ve just been playing play now as I’m holding off at management games until ba has indicated that the game is at the level they expected it on release.

 

[BlackMamba]

They do it on purpose. If they were to give us free movement and control it would expose how poor the mechanics of this game actually is.

They want you to sit still and cop a 6 goal run against because its the easiest way to make a game “harder”.

They are controlling momentum swings like real life.

Its a helpless feeling.

I am defensive minded and am hating it.

Yes the times you get a chain look good, but its not because you play good.

Its the worst sports game i have ever played.

Im thinking of getting into NHL or something.

This game was supposed to be my time sink this year.

Sad.

I disagree... I had moments of 'Geez I've worked that well'.... and moments of 'Geez the AI played well there'....
Sure there are some moments of 'Urgh, I've fighting the game mechanics here...' But I am finding that less often.
Good chains, smart play (kicking to free players), smart defensive play (moving an extra man back) and smart strategic plays (correct matchups) make there feel less hopeless.

Plus...what GoldbergsGold mentioned, when tactics get introduced, we'll feel even more in control.

 

[palmomagpie]

This was the dumbest looking animation, let alone the fact that it killed the flow of play.

Yeah 100%. You’d have space and your winger would take a hero dive uncontested and use up 5-6 seconds

 

[hooked on fishing]

Is the precision kick OP? Doesn't seem difficult to pull off considering you can freeze your opponent out? More an issue for multiplayer I guess which doesn't sound like is working properly.

Depends on what difficulty I’ve noticed. Might not be the same for everyone. (I think that was on easy from memory). I’ve also been playing a manager career on medium. Definitely makes rebounding 50 a lot harder than that, even worse on hard. I can’t do anything on hard so for the moment medium is my right level.

I’m playing as the crows and obviously aren’t the best team in the game so the lower ranked teams I beat usually and the better to higher rates teams are a good challenge which usually result in a close game win or loss.

Haven’t tried last nights patch yet with improved goal kicking, not sure if it’s any different or not, but think that could play a part in even medium games becoming more challenging knowing you can kick a goal every single set shot.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I disagree... I had moments of 'Geez I've worked that well'.... and moments of 'Geez the AI played well there'....
Sure there are some moments of 'Urgh, I've fighting the game mechanics here...' But I am finding that less often.
Good chains, smart play (kicking to free players), smart defensive play (moving an extra man back) and smart strategic plays (correct matchups) make there feel less hopeless.

Plus...what GoldbergsGold mentioned, when tactics get introduced, we'll feel even more in control.

Every score worm I've seen has shown pretty obvious momentum swings/rubber banding. Tone that down and I reckon it will help people feel more "ín control".

 

[A Tiger 4 lyf]

Playing an AFLW career atm while we wait for fixes to do a proper AFLM career,

3 rounds left in the first season, need 3 wins to make the finals, having a blast

 

[CrowsArmy]

We’ve been asking for tactics to be added into the game for a while, you’d hope tactics are added in the upcoming patch.

 

[MarcLocksCrustySock]

I played last night and found spoiling to be almost impossible now. Maybe I suck. Game definitely improving though.

 

[DTLSchulzy16]

This kick while getting tackled is ridiculous

 

[SugarShane]

I played last night and found spoiling to be almost impossible now. Maybe I suck. Game definitely improving though.

What difficulty? I played a game on Hard and it felt great, except I could barely effect a single spoil inside defensive 50. Everything that went in got marked. Admittedly it was Hawkins clunking them. Around the rest of the ground I was ok. That was a great back and forth game but it felt frustrating to drop it since the only difference in the end were 2 goals were my players ran the other way to where I was pointing, or kicked backwards over their heads when trying to chip short from a kick in.

Then I dropped to medium and kept the opposition scoreless for the whole game. Hard definitely seems to be the spot for me at the moment.

 

[haydo]

Lol at all the people saying this game is “unplayable” and “dead in the water”….
This game is already the best AFL game we’ve ever had. Graphically looks amazing and is slowly but surely becoming fun to play. With player movement to some really fun passages of play that you can create. I can’t wait to see more in depth features in the future.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Every score worm I've seen has shown pretty obvious momentum swings/rubber banding. Tone that down and I reckon it will help people feel more "ín control".

If you could get total control over your players movement and have instructions to give your CPU controlled players, ie quick select tactics, it would circumvent that rubber banding very quickly.

 

[MarcLocksCrustySock]

What difficulty? I played a game on Hard and it felt great, except I could barely effect a single spoil inside defensive 50. Everything that went in got marked. Admittedly it was Hawkins clunking them. Around the rest of the ground I was ok. That was a great back and forth game but it felt frustrating to drop it since the only difference in the end were 2 goals were my players ran the other way to where I was pointing, or kicked backwards over their heads when trying to chip short from a kick in.

Then I dropped to medium and kept the opposition scoreless for the whole game. Hard definitely seems to be the spot for me at the moment.

That's what happened to my useless ass on Medium.

 

[MarcLocksCrustySock]

Lol at all the people saying this game is “unplayable” and “dead in the water”….
This game is already the best AFL game we’ve ever had. Graphically looks amazing and is slowly but surely becoming fun to play. With player movement to some really fun passages of play that you can create. I can’t wait to see more in depth features in the future.

People have short memories and higher expectations with a jaded recency bias due to the bungled release. It is easily better than all of the others but is also riddled with bugs still to be fair. I think it presents an incredible foundation to build on and hopefully the corporates at AFL house forgive BA so they can do the next one.

There are some areas BA will need to get better at though. It's great they post in here but their PR/Marketing is dreadful and wouldn't require a mega talent hire to get better at. As someone who works in that space I am dumbfounded by the way they comm but give them some credit for direct interaction with the nuffies in here (ie me) who love and play AFL games.

Okay gotta go, mum said dinner is ready.

 

[Lazza2023]

Its already the best AFL game yet, once they fix the player switching, movement a bit more and add in tactics, it’ll be a ripper.