I'll repeat what alot of others have said and thank Alastair for coming on and answering those questions put so far, its great to hear it direct from the horses mouth as we say.
Now, I've a bucket load of questions (to equal my level of excitement!)
I do like the sound of the ruck play, but would like clarification on when the Nearest Man/Balanced/Forwards Only option is selected. Is it an option that's chosen in the main menu, or can it be modified during a match on-the-fly (via the d-pad or whatever)?
I'd also like to hear what happens if I take the ball into contact but choose not to apply that much intensity to the ruck, will I always loose possession if the AI/other player use alot of intensity? Or do the stats of the players count and therefore if I pick and go with my hooker and props, I'm likely to keep possession with my limited intensity used regardless (more or less) of what opposition intensity is applied?
Does using intensity have any adverse affects e.g. on a players stamina/condition during a game (if you go hammer and tongs early in a match, will it become harder to apply that same intensity in the 75th minute with the same players)?
Alastair - I appreciate that you have advised the unlicensed unions that you won't take the **** with likenesses and ways around it but can you tell us that NZ (and similarly for Aus) will still be the best team in the game, with the best loose forwards, a supreme fly half and best rated backs division (etc, etc) in the game. That is, have you given your stand-in players (red-haired Joe Bloggs the NZ flyhalf for example) the equivalent stats and rating of his probable real world counterpart? (okay, so he can't look like or have a name like Dan Carter, but can he kick/play like Dan Carter?) Or are the unlicensed teams randomly rated to avoid upsetting any unions?
And a final question for Alastair, (I really don't want to seem nit-picking or negative with this one, so please take it the right way) but where the community might discover a bug/flaw/rules inconsistency in the game, will HB Studios be able and be interested in follow-up game updates or patches to resolve these? (I know this might sound cheeky prior to the game actually being released and I do appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that have gone in to it from you, but some things can be missed accidentally and as this game has been your own project I am confident to think you will want to support it at least until your next iteration)
Getofmeland, some questions direct for you from your gameplay experience...
1. Alastair mentioned that scrums and lineouts are largely similar to past versions of the game - did you find they play exactly the same way as R06, R08 or was there some slight variation or addition to their mechanics?
2. Who did you play as?
3. Is it still possible to infringe? If I don't want to give up what seems to be an inevitable try coming, can I spoil a ruck to conceded a penalty instead (or some other player controlled infringement that will cause a penalty to be blown, I don't mean an offside that might lead to an adv and still end up conceding the try)?
4. Did you play against the AI at all? If so, on what difficulty level and how well did they "play" rugby (could they score against you)?
5. If you played against the AI, did they ever infringe? That's one of the things about the last ***les I didn't like, the lack of penalty opportunities against the AI as they played to much within the rules to infringe.
6. Did you encounter any mauls in your game time and if so how did these play out?
7. Do quick lineouts/quick tap pens still feature?
8. Has the kicking game changed much/at all? If so was it an improvement? I primarily liked the core kicking options and controls from R06/R08 so interested to know if they felt anything needed to change.
I must have missed a post or thread somewhere along the line, but where did that screenshot of NZL v RSA appear from, and are there others?
Anyways, I'll catch a breath now and let these questions sink in (and sit constantly refreshing this page to see if any answers are forthcoming!)
Once again, I feel like this great info has justified my decision to pre-order in April... HB you have my money, now show me the rugby!
