Favourite 5 & Least Favourite 5 Features of our Games

[nickdnz]

Leas t5 Favourite Things.
1. Faces are all great (could do with more) and I like how some faces from past players are in there (Christian Cullen!).
2. 08 tracking camera angle.
3. 06 drop goals
4. Stadiums
5. Simplistic

5 least favourite things
1. Getting tackled over the goal like while diving, it is infuriating.
2. Too few animations for tackles and dives. You can cover pretty much every animation in a 10 minute game.
3. Player names and face pics for especially France...
4. Star player system. Don't mind some players having high ratings and attributes, it's just the star that bothers me.
5. Not enough variety in commentry. A few more custom comments for players would be nice.

 

[TuneOnASpoon]

+ Different types of kicks (Punt, grubber, bomb, box, 06 style drop)
+ The pregame anthems/haka for internationals and team line up presentations
+ Rugby 01 had the best lineouts with the option to select your numbers, your target and whether you'd pass off the top or go for the maul
+ Options for foul play (hands in ruck, collapsing mall, high tackles)
+ The ability to beat players 1 on 1 using hand off/shoulder charge

- Instead of World League I want to play a season of S14, play Tri-Nations with my squad based on form/availibilty, do the same again for Spring Tours then do it all
over again for a few years.
- Even elite is too easy
- You can only play day games at Suncorp Stadium
- Tackles in goal always result in a try being scored
- The Big Game atmosphere isn't quite there

 

[dobduff11]

Pros:
1. The player editor in Rugby 2004 it was quite simple and if i remember correctly you could edit the player names and stats.
2. Lineouts 2004 lots of variety and you could actuallyl out think the person you were playing against.
3. World League idea although i agree with TuneOnASpoon about the domestic control then the international tours. You select the players that are on form.
4. The faces are mostly good although lots of them are generic
5. The option to create players- although they look ridiculous and if you give them a scrum cap they automatically go bald.
Also the goal kicking is good just make sure players like giteau are left footed not right.

Cons:
1. The rucking animations are dire, you cant predict who will win them and the momentum gimmick has little or no effect on the rucks.
2. The difficulty is silly elite should be like legendary on fifa where you actually have to really concentrate to win.
3. The running animations are bad with the sidestep and hand off they were a great introduction in like 2001 but now they are just dated
4. The scrolling down on squads is so irritating it takes 20 minutes to get the full back. I suggest like on madden that they are separated into their positions by using the right trigger for position and left trigger for team.
5. The scrums are quite bad as i have suggested before and so did another forumer you need some kind of control on the hit with the right stick for instance this would create an entertaining mini game.
2. Kicking is poor it takes too long

 

[Faatau82]

5 Favourite Features
*The choice of stadiums in Rugby 04
*World League in Rugby 08
*Camera views on Rugby 08
*Menu system on Rugby 04 or Rugby 06
*Dropkick system of Rugby 06

5 Least Favourite Features
*Team to team Trades in World League (It's not the NBA :|)
*No global stats/charts in any competitions
*Pointless scrums and rucks
*No team/player editor
*No custom tournament feature

 

[Celestial Panda]

Favourite things:
1) Control Scheme, although I still don't know how to sidestep on a 360 controller.
2) Set-Plays are a good idea. But things like instant-initiation after scrums are a pain.
3) Variety of kicks. Although in 08 they are too slow, and there is no real/useful up-and-under kick. The pink one is just, silly :/
4) Tournaments (Mostly World League and 6 Nations), and more specifically, the ability to either custom-pick the team, or autofill. Even better is that autofill is just the roster selected in the options, so you can change that according to your tastes.
5) Custom Camera angles, as I prefer quite a wide, post-facing camera so I can see all/most of the pitch. Although I don't like how each time I start up the game I have to reselect Advanced Camera > View I like.

Least Favourite Things:
1) Rucks are seemingly "random".
2) By making the front jumper jump for every throw, you can often win every ball. Same happens when AI does it.
3) AI defenders (often on players' team) will get within tackling distance, but not tackle. Very frustrating.
4) Set-Plays are slow to both initiate, and perform. By the time my players are in position, the ball has been turned over, and the defence is lined up to deck me.
5) Opposition kicking is appalling. From the 22 metre line, I have lost 5 consecutive lineouts, and the opposition has kicked the ball into the EXACT same place as the lineout was just taken.

 

[alex]

favourite (in 06)

1. world league, but as everyone else said, it needs improvement.
2. the drop goals
3. quick lineouts and taps, how about quick 22's?
4. the super 14
5. being spain and winning the world cup.

least favourite

1. Morne Steyn has 50 kicking power
2. no player editing, which would fix number 1
3. the rucks and mauls
4. tackled mid-dive
5. stolen by lawrence dalalligio! or whatever his name is.

 

[SavageLez]

5 Favourite features

1. Good control system (just needs to be enhanced, do not change the controls all together)
2. Dummy was great but needs to be more exagerated when done to fool HUMAN opposition.
3. Place Kick for poles. Accurate and realistic
4. Offload Mode: Option to make it SIMULATION was good coz it prevented ARCADE passes!!!
5. Grubber was great but does not work against humans coz it takes too long and opposition can see what you are going to do before
committing to a tackle.

5 Least favourite features

1. Superman dive tackle when playing against friends. The AI was realistic when tackling however.
It is not a true reflection when you break the line dive for a try and you get caught from 15 metres behind with a Superman dive.
2. There was NO CREATE OWN TOURNAMENT for when you have friends over and you want to play 4 people in a Tourny.
3. Drop kick is good coz it is hard as it is in real life but a good fly half should be able to get it over from betwwen half way
and the 10 metre dotted line.
4. No quick penalties to be taken by player closest to ball at time of penalty
5. No chip through or over to counter rush defence

 

[SavageLez]

Favourite things:
1) Control Scheme, although I still don't know how to sidestep on a 360 controller.
2) Set-Plays are a good idea. But things like instant-initiation after scrums are a pain.
3) Variety of kicks. Although in 08 they are too slow, and there is no real/useful up-and-under kick. The pink one is just, silly :/
4) Tournaments (Mostly World League and 6 Nations), and more specifically, the ability to either custom-pick the team, or autofill. Even better is that autofill is just the roster selected in the options, so you can change that according to your tastes.
5) Custom Camera angles, as I prefer quite a wide, post-facing camera so I can see all/most of the pitch. Although I don't like how each time I start up the game I have to reselect Advanced Camera > View I like.

Least Favourite Things:
1) Rucks are seemingly "random".
2) By making the front jumper jump for every throw, you can often win every ball. Same happens when AI does it.
3) AI defenders (often on players' team) will get within tackling distance, but not tackle. Very frustrating.
4) Set-Plays are slow to both initiate, and perform. By the time my players are in position, the ball has been turned over, and the defence is lined up to deck me.
5) Opposition kicking is appalling. From the 22 metre line, I have lost 5 consecutive lineouts, and the opposition has kicked the ball into the EXACT same place as the lineout was just taken.

You don't have to reselect your camera angles: Go to MY RUGBY - CAMERA SETTINGS. Change it to your preferred view andsave it. I suggest Angle: End On, Preset Standard.

 

[SavageLez]

leas t5 favourite things.
1. Faces are all great (could do with more) and i like how some faces from past players are in there (christian cullen!).
2. 08 tracking camera angle.
3. 06 drop goals
4. Stadiums
5. Simplistic

5 least favourite things
1. Getting tackled over the goal like while diving, it is infuriating.
2. Too few animations for tackles and dives. You can cover pretty much every animation in a 10 minute game.
3. Player names and face pics for especially france...
4. Star player system. Don't mind some players having high ratings and attributes, it's just the star that bothers me.
5. Not enough variety in commentry. A few more custom comments for players would be nice.

you can remove the star in the my rugby menu

 

[bala]

good graphics, lineout throwing is fine, blah blah blah, everything but the stuff I now list is fine:


More than 5 things (11)I don't like:

1)Fix the turnover rate, EA Rugby 2008 allowed you to retain the ball 5/6 times max before you got turned over. In reality Rugby Union teams retain possesion in the breakdown 95% of the time, so on average you would have to be tackled 20 times before losing possession.

2) Fix the offloading, make it so that if you are tackled, while you are still on your feet you can pass the ball right or left same as in normal gameplay with the same buttons to a player near you.

3)Give us control over whether the flyhalf stands deep or flat so we can control tactics.

4) Give us control over how flat the team plays so we can control tactics.

5)Fix the dropkick.

6)Fix the glitch where if you play a player slightly out of position he can't catch or throw a ball.

7)Fix the AI,
(a)the team in possession of the ball always has all it's players on one half of the pitch near the breakdown, so if you are in possession you always get raped whenever the ball is turned over as there is a huge overlap.

(b)I'm sick of watching my players running alongside/away from the guy they are supposed to tackle.

8) Apart from the present situation where you are assigned a player when the other team has the ball, have a mode where you are the player closest to the opposition ball carrier, and another mode where you can play as one player for the whole match.

9)Allow us to come up with plays the players will execute off set pieces.

10)Allow us to run fast diagonally

11)Allow us more tactical control, you could come up with formations support players have to adopt around you and which could be activated by pressing a button. Likewse if you want support players to go wide you should e able to get them to do so by pressing a button.

Basically the graphics are fine, but the gameplay in EA Rugby 2008 is appalling. It isn't fun to play at all and is a very different game than rugby union.

 

[bala]

One of my biggest issues has always been 'bunching'

*All the players on the field are within a very small radius and all follow each other. The wingers should really stay wide on their wings, looks a bit silly when there is miles of open space.

*Defence should work a as a unit, moving up as a line - not one off rushing stuff.

*The turnover mechanism needs a lot of work

this too, AI is terrible.

 

[Joni89]

5 Favourite Features

1. Wide Range of Teams (Rugby 08)
2. Camera Angles (Rugby 08)
3. World Cup Challenge Mode/Unlock-able Features (Rugby 08)
4. Replay Feature (perhaps could be better if can Save Tries / OR rate them Online like Singstar)
5. Star Players


5 Least Favourite

1. Commentary (Lack of Northern Hemisphere Commentators)
HB Please note:
Jonathan Davies lives around the corner from me. If HB requires his address to send him a letter I can provide it to them!!!

2. Season (with a Team) (Not realistic enough)
3. Lack of Tournaments (Especially HC where you have to play the same Pools every time)
4. General Difficulty of Gameplay (Difference between Easy and Hard)
5. Difficulty to Transfer Players from one team to another to update squads/Scrolling to find players/teams is too time consuming perhaps a search feature would improve this aspect.

HB- Thanks for taking the time to post things on these forums

 

[Rams5]

Favourite Features
1) The Rosters, love having the teams and players, but if there's only going to be one game every four years we need roster updates or a good enough editing tool to create new players.
2) Goal kicking, great system in place just needs some work on the animations e.g Julian Huxley
3) Game modes, World League is great except for the trade market, far too easy to buy players..

Least Favourite Features
1) The AI Defence, far to easy to run past them and get massive scores
2) The player stats, being a tahs fan, theres nothing more frustrating then spreading the ball to Lachie Turner on the wing and having him chased down in a second cause his speed is only 46!! or seeing Benn Robinson outrated by Matt Dunning!!
3) The rucks, scrums and lineouts.. enough said in previous comments already
4) The set plays. you can always tackle the flyhalf before he makes a pass.
5) The animations are to slow, need animations like madden - quick jukes and palms.. I have been playing madden as a running back just to try simulate rugby without the passing and kicking


I want to say thanks to the guys at HB for making this game. Been waiting on a rugby game for so long.

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

My favourite features so far:

1. Player manoeuvrability and passing responsiveness (excellent control of a player at present).

2. The amount of licensing we have received so far (would be better with edibility).

3. Goal kicking (is fairly well implemented, perhaps more difficulty on higher settings).

4. Number of competitions (wouldn't say no to more though).

5. Unlockable Lions Team from '06 and unlockables in '06 in general. ('08's were a bit weird and a bit pointless).

My least favourite things so far:

1. That the ruck/breakdown situation is bested by Jonah Lomu Rugby to this day (as unrealistic as it is). It should be a quick 2-4 second contest.

2. The drop goal was changed from '06, (why, oh why?).

3. The terrible AI on defence, attack was sometimes up to par, but defence is still bunchy at many times. Holes in defence have to be there, but they need to close if the attacking player doesn't take his chance quickly.

4. The lack of customisation available (editing players, their look, name and abilities in all off-line modes would be awesome). Please don't think if you make it too customisable that we won't buy the next one. I'm 100% sure people will.

5. Lack of unlockables (I said above I liked '06's ones, but more could've been done too, classic players, maybe being able to create a much better player in create-a-player than you would ordinarily, things like that).

6. Kicks. Being charged down all the time and grubbers powering a shade too slowly, chips not existing. We all know the gamer will push the kicking power to the limit, so will take too much time and probably get charged, but just a bit of an adjustment ie Jonah Lomu Rugby's timing.

There are probably more in either category, but anyhow that's me for now.

 

[flyingjohn]

1.number of clubs in even unlicensed ones 2.stadiums were good3.haka 4.penalty kicks 5.lineouts things i dont like 1.no editing 2. lack of licences due to no editing.3.no sevens 4.arrows when kicking 5.scrums

 

[mohamed_ali12]

1.number of clubs in even unlicensed ones 2.stadiums were good3.haka 4.penalty kicks 5.lineouts things i dont like 1.no editing 2. lack of licences due to no editing.3.no sevens 4.arrows when kicking 5.scrums

that was:

1. number of clubs, even unlicensed ones
2. stadiums were good
3. haka
4. penalty kicks
5. lineouts

things i dont like:

1. no editing
2. lack of licences due to no editing.
3. no sevens
4. arrows when kicking
5. scrums

(in case you didn't catch it first time)

 

[ranger]

My favourite features so far:

1. Player manoeuvrability and passing responsiveness (excellent control of a player at present).

2. The amount of licensing we have received so far (would be better with edibility).

3. Goal kicking (is fairly well implemented, perhaps more difficulty on higher settings).

4. Number of competitions (wouldn't say no to more though).

5. Unlockable Lions Team from '06 and unlockables in '06 in general. ('08's were a bit weird and a bit pointless).

My least favourite things so far:

1. That the ruck/breakdown situation is bested by Jonah Lomu Rugby to this day (as unrealistic as it is). It should be a quick 2-4 second contest.

2. The drop goal was changed from '06, (why, oh why?).

3. The terrible AI on defence, attack was sometimes up to par, but defence is still bunchy at many times. Holes in defence have to be there, but they need to close if the attacking player doesn't take his chance quickly.

4. The lack of customisation available (editing players, their look, name and abilities in all off-line modes would be awesome). Please don't think if you make it too customisable that we won't buy the next one. I'm 100% sure people will.

5. Lack of unlockables (I said above I liked '06's ones, but more could've been done too, classic players, maybe being able to create a much better player in create-a-player than you would ordinarily, things like that).

6. Kicks. Being charged down all the time and grubbers powering a shade too slowly, chips not existing. We all know the gamer will push the kicking power to the limit, so will take too much time and probably get charged, but just a bit of an adjustment ie Jonah Lomu Rugby's timing.

There are probably more in either category, but anyhow that's me for now.

I dont know about player maneuverability myself.. I feel the players change direction far too easily. You can just zigzag down the field without losing much pace and due to the nature of the defensive setup its very hard to tackle someone when they do that. The passing too needs a bit of tweaking

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

I dont know about player maneuverability myself.. I feel the players change direction far too easily. You can just zigzag down the field without losing much pace and due to the nature of the defensive setup its very hard to tackle someone when they do that. The passing too needs a bit of tweaking

They do change direction pretty responsively, but if your defence is really good you can defend against it pretty well. I'd agree that the way the defence is for a second or two at the breakdown, that they are too out of position to defend well. That's where holding the ball into the ruck for a second or two helps you get your defence right. That's actually realistic, as many real life teams slow the ball at times to get their defence right.

I'd really hate to lose control of my player and have a feeling of them being more controlled by the AI. I think defence options just need sharpening. Maybe having players speed up a bit more when they are scrambling back into defensive lines and the programming adding a few extra speed points to defensive players, rather than taking away from the attack?

The most popular rugby game of all time is Jonah Lomu Rugby and that's built on having pin-point control at speed.

 

[ranger]

They do change direction pretty responsively, but if your defence is really good you can defend against it pretty well. I'd agree that the way the defence is for a second or two at the breakdown, that they are too out of position to defend well. That's where holding the ball into the ruck for a second or two helps you get your defence right. That's actually realistic, as many real life teams slow the ball at times to get their defence right.

I'd really hate to lose control of my player and have a feeling of them being more controlled by the AI. I think defence options just need sharpening. Maybe having players speed up a bit more when they are scrambling back into defensive lines and the programming adding a few extra speed points to defensive players, rather than taking away from the attack?

The most popular rugby game of all time is Jonah Lomu Rugby and that's built on having pin-point control at speed.

I don't mind at all myself, I've got tackle evading by direction change down to an art. Its just the people i play against always complain that the quick zig-zag direction changes are unrealistic, my brother refuses to play me unless i refrain from using it. I would hate to see it slowed down like madden has in the latest edition, its like they are crawling.

Maybe if the player has to throw a side step if they want to change direction quickly, otherwise they can swerve. If a player is sprinting at the right corner, then quickly switches to the left, they should be slowed down like real life.

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

I don't mind at all myself, I've got tackle evading by direction change down to an art. Its just the people i play against always complain that the quick zig-zag direction changes are unrealistic, my brother refuses to play me unless i refrain from using it. I would hate to see it slowed down like madden has in the latest edition, its like they are crawling.

Maybe if the player has to throw a side step if they want to change direction quickly, otherwise they can swerve. If a player is sprinting at the right corner, then quickly switches to the left, they should be slowed down like real life.

I think I have a good idea to cover this. It's actually based off something Fifa does. In that when you push the standard "x" (on PS3) tackle the defensive player will be drawn towards the attacking player and steal the ball if he's close enough.

In Rugby, the same thing could happen, but only on amateur controls. I know HB will want to broaden the rugby market and appeal to newer players who can't handle all the in-depth intricacies that experienced players can. So, in an off-line multi-player game, your friend would be able to select amateur controls and you could stay on standard.

With online multi-player, those on amateur controls would have to play against other amateur control users. That sound workable?

The idea is that the experienced players out there can finally play their "not so good friends" and have a bit more challenge.

Basically it'd make defending easier for the not so great defender. As for sharp direction changes. The should be left the way the are for 0-60 degree turns, but sharp 60-90 degree turns should be slowed a little. I'm not sure if a programming trick exists to do that.