Multiplat AFL 23 - Part 2 with added Pro Team

[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

 

[Michaels]

Live on twitch now if anyone wants to watch and drop by!

 

[ItsJonesy777]

it’s pre the game being launched and the gameplay looks incredibly smooth like nothing I’ve seen in person. I just wonder why we are still nowhere near that

Because that may not have even been what day one gameplay would have been had someone not screwed up.

That build they played pre-release could have simply been a beta stage build, stripped of plenty of features (like the current game) which limits the amount of things that can go wrong.

 

[RU_]

Had a few games over the last couple days on the steam patch (management mode)

Bugs here and there, drafted a 99 rated super beast but the player progression seems to work now, I reckon I simulated around 3 or 4 seasons.

Gameplay feels like it’s gone a fair way backward from 2 weeks ago though. On hardest it’s mainly just a tackle fest and impossible to get marks anywhere around the ground. Seems like the balance of the game is forever being tuned but just going in circles now hoping for a silver bullet when in reality I feel like major changes to the fundamentals of the gameplay are required. Personally starting to feel like the game will never get “there”.

I’m quite enjoying the management mode and just drafting random rookies and progressing them, as barebones as it all is if you can get past some strange things happening it’s ok.

If anyone gets a chance go and watch Cados shorts video on Clayton Oliver having a set shot, it’s pre the game being launched and the gameplay looks incredibly smooth like nothing I’ve seen in person. I just wonder why we are still nowhere near that

Are the rookies actually progressing in overall?

 

[PostPaolo]

Any tips on marking online?

 

[extractasam]

Are the rookies actually progressing in overall?

Yep they are for me - a few guys I drafted are 88 overall rated now.

 

[RU_]

Yep they are for me - a few guys I drafted are 88 overall rated now.

Sorry if I’ve missed it - PS5/PS4 or steam?

 

[Xtreme]

One thing that I do like (and must have been adjusted in the patch ?) the set shot distance/power for kicks outside the 50m line must have been increased for most players ? All of a sudden I'm able to kick goals from 60-70ish meters out once again, so either something was tinkered with... or I've discovered the "sweet spot" in the power meter that makes long bomb goals from outside 50 possible once again!

 

[A Tiger 4 lyf]

So no patch tonight?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

So no patch tonight?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Sometime in the next 7 days

 

[extractasam]

Sorry if I’ve missed it - PS5/PS4 or steam?

Steam

 

[extractasam]

Found this humorous - season 2028 filtering through box hills list in management mode to see if there’s anyone worth drafting… a 46 rated Dangerfield still putting the boots on in the VFL

 

[jwint43]

Are there sliders and if not will they be added at some stage?

 

[new0066]

Are there sliders and if not will they be added at some stage?

Not yet but there will be. Ross talked about it today

Once we've got Quick Codes and Custom Difficulty, we'll share a list of additions that will come to management mode, that will be like across all formats.

Quick codes are to find downloads fast without searching.

Custom difficulty is the ability to customise difficulty settings beyond "easy" "hard" etc.

 

[hooked on fishing]

Big ants latest tweet. Steam getting daily updates and console weekly. I don’t feel like console is near where it needs to be to be rolled back to weekly updates as yet.

Looks like I’ll be watching streams to find out if it’s going to be worth playing in a week I guess. Disappointed


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[jon0011]

Once we've got Quick Codes and Custom Difficulty, we'll share a list of additions that will come to management mode, that will be like across all formats.

Woohoo!

 

[Kidneykid95]

Big ants latest tweet. Steam getting daily updates and console weekly.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

So going by this : Steam to get patches from tonight, and we don't get a patch till next week, which means we (Console PS4/5) may be up to 2 weeks behind Steam ??

 

[T2B_]

PC master race strikes again!

 

[Xtreme]

So going by this : Steam to get patches from tonight, and we don't get a patch till next week, which means we (Console PS4/5) may be up to 2 weeks behind Steam ??

The actual tweet said Steam/pc would still get patches "most days" (which I guess is code for week night updates when required, no weekends or public holidays etc).



Playstation reverts to a weekly schedule, explanation being that it's a safer process (the Steam updates can be rolled back.... whereas if they release a bad patch for the Playstation they would need to do extra work to get it back up to scratch..... I think that means starting from day 1 again or something ?). Effectively the pc userbase are the testers picking up bugs/glitches that they may miss while implementing the changes made in their patches. So that the console release (including the eventual Xbox version) doesn't suffer long term.

Think of it as short term pain, but long term gain.

 

[Kidneykid95]

Playstation reverts to a weekly schedule, explanation being that it's a safer process (the Steam updates can be rolled back.... whereas if they release a bad patch for the Playstation they would need to do extra work to get it back up to scratch..... I think that means starting from day 1 again or something ?). Effectively the pc userbase are the testers picking up bugs/glitches that they may miss while implementing the changes made in their patches.

I'm happy for Steam to get it first only because it can be rolled back incase of bugs/glitches, I just feel we are a bit behind and going to be playing catch up to be on the same level, unless we are getting a patch early next week to be only a 'few days' behind Steam?

 

[Xtreme]

I'm happy for Steam to get it first only because it can be rolled back incase of bugs/glitches, I just feel we are a bit behind and going to be playing catch up to be on the same level, unless we are getting a patch early next week to be only a 'few days' behind Steam?

Not putting words in Big Ant's mouth, but I'd wager the last patch that Steam got on the 8th will be made available to the Playstation user base by Tuesday/Wednesday. My interpretation of what they said essentially - it's tricky with Sony being on UK time and with our public holiday situation on Monday throwing things up in the air.

Or it might be a case of they'll collate the update from the 8th plus whatever other patches they do for Steam across Tuesday-Thursday in a major Friday update for Playstation users. As I said short term pain (the waiting game sucks I agree lol) but long term gain = Playstation (and eventually Xbox) users get a more playable + stable game to enjoy

 

[Kidneykid95]

it might be a case of they'll collate the update from the 8th plus whatever other patches they do for Steam across Tuesday-Thursday in a major Friday update for Playstation users. As I said short term pain (the waiting game sucks I agree lol) but long term gain = Playstation (and eventually Xbox) users get a more playable + stable game to enjoy

I'd be more than happy to wait, just hopefully we do get a patch early next week to make up for what Steam got to finish this week, because I can't wait for Tactics to come to PS5 to be fair LOL

It seems a bit strange I have them on PS4, but not PS5 yet, but knowing it's going under more testing before coming to PS5 than awesome as

 

[palmomagpie]

M.Lewis with a lazy 39 sausages!





It was REALLY good last Thursday night, best it had been since the evade tackle animation was added weeks before. But it's regressed a little since then. If the teleport tackles/marks/spoils get further removed AND the stuttering + stuck in mud motion is also reduced to how it was 2ish weeks ago. The game goes from a 3-4/10 to an 8/10 for me.

I believe the Lewis part, but Koschitzke kicking 17 goals and only 2 points? You’re dreaming. Reverse that haha

Also agree, game has regressed since last Thursday. Constant crashing, little glitches and just feels to have slowed a bit. I haven’t watched any recent YouTube vids of the game since the latest steam patches but I hope the stability has been worked on more. It’s a great game and lots of fun - more fun in my 60-70 hours of this than I had in my >500 hours (probs 1000ish) of Evo 2. I just want it to be stable, have those tactics and management mode to have a bit more oomph and I’ll be locked in for another 1000 hours until AFL24-25

 

[Xtreme]

To answer a few questions that came up last night (nobody really cares about the answers I know but for the curious minds........)

1) The higher score games are obviously done via 20 minute quarters. Prior to this weeks run of patches it WAS possible to score a goal every 9-12 seconds on the run or 12-17 seconds when taking set shots at goal. With the updated game and slightly tougher AI (with the extra ball ups) I'm finding goals are now scored every 15-25ish seconds OR longer depending on the AI doing AI things. At worst it can be a goal per minute or so.
The AI (like us) can have lapses of concentration which enables faster scoring. Previously it would be like 5 goals within 2 minutes or so.... now it's more like 3 if you play your cards right.


2) Difficulty level - we all know the journey of the AI competency over the last month (easiest being impossible, hardest being easy etc etc). I play the majority of my games on medium, I do give myself a challenge and play on hard from time to time. Excuses excuses, but I'm waiting for the marks/spoils (as well as the player movement to be a lot more 'free') to be tuned a bit more to avoid getting super frustrated before I just launch an all out assault on HARDEST.

In most games I'll start off slow, build up a pattern of how to play the game - then boost the difficulty when necessary. AFL games from developer to developer have their quirks, things that make it seemingly impossible (eg: the constant ball up situation AFL '23 is currently throwing at the user base). Even the older Acclaim/IR GURUS titles had their quirks, where the hardest difficulty was extremely difficult. But if you had the timing down from ruck contests to marks and kicking goals, it was a fairly routine procedure to dominate the AI from start to finish.

With the recent patch work for '23, I had to adjust the way I previously played the game and have adapted to the changes fairly well (except when being screwed over by wonky decisions by the corrupted AFL umps!).

3) The clips I have been posting, tiresome for some ? I guess nobody wants to be reminded of the quirks of the game!! I'm just posting them as I see them, clearly the less I play the game, the less frequent I'll be posting videos of the quirks I witness during games. That said it would be beneficial for everyone if they were fixed and the game was cleaner than it currently is.

The quirky moments have taken over the focus I guess, prior to last week I did share some "cooler" game highlights of goals that I had kicked (or seen kicked against me via the AI).

Some of the speccie animations look pretty good, others look more like jumping at ankle height (again it depends on camera angle). The funnier ones I've seen are when they jump up for the speccie....... but it turns into a fisted effort rather than a marking attempt (the air/hang time is impressive regardless).


I'm seeing high tackle frees being awarded a lot more (saw it only once on week 1 of having the game, then didn't see it again until a few weeks later... but I've seen it get awarded to both myself and the AI opposition throughout multiple matches in recent nights).

Liking the incorrect disposal calls also being done more often for users (instead of just AI).

Tackling CAN be good when it actually works, When I can GET to the ball carrier at least. Fighting a few things along the way (occasional invisible barriers blocking the EASIER path to chase the ball carrier down. Also sometimes the direction to lock on to the ball carrier isn't always 1:1 from what you do on the controller to what you see on screen. So the ball carrier is free to waltz away unimpeded. But when tackles stick, they do stick!

I'm liking the kicking motions, mastering the short passes and long passes, and the varied ways to kick for goal. I sometimes forget who kicks with what foot during set shots, which leads to hilarious misses for goal (mocking my own user error here, shock horror). As I wrote last night, unsure if they adjusted the power slightly or if I've found the "sweet spot" for shots beyond 50m as I'm making the distance now more often than I was previously during the last week and a bit (since the set shots were adjusted in last weeks patches). Also accounting for the wind a lot better than I had been previously from such a long distance away.


And here's one odd moment from a recent game. Geelong player takes the mark and plays on........ Brisbane player goes to stand the mark despite the play already having progressed from that situation

Spoiler

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I just remembered my biggest red flag about Evo was when Sam Reid

20

Sam Reid

Age

32

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

4.7

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

12.0

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

6.0

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

0.0

1star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.4

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.4

3star

was on the cover

 

[Archer_11]

Big ants latest tweet. Steam getting daily updates and console weekly. I don’t feel like console is near where it needs to be to be rolled back to weekly updates as yet.

Looks like I’ll be watching streams to find out if it’s going to be worth playing in a week I guess. Disappointed


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Hands are tied I suspect. Has to make sure the patch isn't introducing an issue that is worse than something they are fixing, which means a metric shite ton of more testing.


Had my first break since launch, about five days. Looking at it with semi-fresh eyes -

- the immediate thing that hits you is how gorgeous the game is to look at, and just how short sighted it feels to be in this forum rubbishing the developer day in day out. There will come a day where you will look like a total goose and it's astonishing to think that so few of you realise this.

- with that out of the way, posters saying it played better before do have a point. The patch last Monday 5/6 took us close I think to how it was. To be specific, I am seeing repeated instances of controlled players refusing to sprint (yes, they have the stamina) or running to a contest and then stopping / walking etc.

I do though notice tackling is more responsive so this is turning into quite the journey. I had my first dour game the other night, something like three goals each and then decided on points, which is probably a good thing. Need to move away from the shoot out dynamic.

And in a huge tick to the tactics, I set my forwards to 'high' last night and during the game had to change them because the defenders were getting too much space around goal, working it up the ground with chips and passes. Another first, really good to see.