TRF Staff get hands on with Rugby World Cup 2011

[UlsterG]

Olyy, did you notive were all the annoying bugs from 08 ironed out? eg penalties for a crooked lineout, losing advantage if the other team got a free kick/22 drop out (eg if you have a drop at goal when you have penalty advantage)?

Also, how did the new rules about carrying the ball back into your 22 effect the game? I always thought it was a bit too easy to keep the other players pinned into their half by passing the ball into your 22 and then kicking out on the full. And on that what about quick lineouts, are these more effective now?

Lastly (sorry a good few questions!), did the new rucking system give you a real chance of keeping ball after a line break, unlike 08 when you would hate to make too big of a break as you are guaranteed to lose posession!

Great of you guys to take time to answer our questions, cant wait for the demo!

 

[Teh Mite]

You able to elaborate on what you feel is wrong/broken/awful with the offloads Teh Mite?

Is it not intuitive, does the offload option appear for too brief a time, is there any decision to who you can offload to, does the AI not always pick the best offload option etc? Can they be easily intercepted leaving them too big a risk to attempt?
Any detail would be appreciated.

And do the rest of the guys feel the same way?

Hard do describe really. they just feel a bit, well, shitty. The player who collects the offloads rarely seemed to be who I'd have expected to - Typically it's a prop instead of the wing when there's 40m to go and 10m of outside space - and it never seems to appear when you want to. Or, annoyingly, you start tapping "a" early to get the ruck mini-game in swing, the offload icon appears and suddenly you've offloaded to the guy who tackled you. In the 80th minute. when you need a score. To be annoying.

*grumblegrumblegrumbleFiji*

 

[raziel_eire]

I had been thinking the same thing as Hatch97, that grubber kicks were now a 1 press option, with control over power/distance removed so each grubber would always go the same length but direction was still controllable.
I'd thought I'd read that this was done to improve the use of the kick in general as opposed to the "hold button to attempt grubber:animation kick in:get tackled:knock-on" scenario of the past.

So if that's not the case, where the hell did I dream that up from???

Or, annoyingly, you start tapping "a" early to get the ruck mini-game in swing, the offload icon appears and suddenly you've offloaded to the guy who tackled you. In the 80th minute. when you need a score. To be annoying.

I can see the problem with that alright, I think the mantra will be "offload with caution" then

 

[David Smith]

Ask nicely and say please.

Can you please edit the Clip, Faster than expected. With a expected Release date of Tomorrow. Thank you for you hard work or You can just send me the raw footage and I'll be forever grateful. Thanks

 

[wlshby09]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions! Are there loads of interceptions when offloading like previous games? Also, if your playing with a low rated team against a higher rated team, is it possible to actually keep the ball for a few phases rather than being turned over pretty much every ruck?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Olyy, did you notive were all the annoying bugs from 08 ironed out? eg penalties for a crooked lineout, losing advantage if the other team got a free kick/22 drop out (eg if you have a drop at goal when you have penalty advantage)?

Also, how did the new rules about carrying the ball back into your 22 effect the game? I always thought it was a bit too easy to keep the other players pinned into their half by passing the ball into your 22 and then kicking out on the full. And on that what about quick lineouts, are these more effective now?

Lastly (sorry a good few questions!), did the new rucking system give you a real chance of keeping ball after a line break, unlike 08 when you would hate to make too big of a break as you are guaranteed to lose posession!

Great of you guys to take time to answer our questions, cant wait for the demo!

We did pick up on one thing that was wrong in the laws, but we notified the relevant people so hopefully that can be changed (I imagine it's fairly simple to do)
I didn't actually try the dropgoal with advantage thing, I wish I had now though - I'd hope that's in there
I believe the carried-back-into-the-22 law is there

I only took one quick lineout, was pretty much the same as in previous games to be honest
Didn't see any not-straight lineouts so can't comment on that

Definitely allows you to keep possession - you just need to get good at the ruck system (and working out what you want the rucking set to i.e forwards only, etc.)
Like I said before, GetOfMeLand, with the superior pack, managed to pick and drive for 50m, which is somethign you'd never see in 08

Hey, thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions! Are there loads of interceptions when offloading like previous games? Also, if your playing with a low rated team against a higher rated team, is it possible to actually keep the ball for a few phases rather than being turned over pretty much every ruck?

Interceptions are less in this than in previous games, but still a few there
Definitely possible to retain ball, with a weaker team, once you learn the best way to attack the rucking system

 

[HB_AJ]

I can see the problem with that alright, I think the mantra will be "offload with caution" then

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking the time to travel to play the game. This is the feedback that is most important to us given our focus and priority has been on creating familiar, fast flowing rugby.

A lot of stick recently for using animations from 08. I'll be brutally honest with you, getting the game playing the way it does today on a new animation engine was no simple task and if people say it reminds them of 08, then I take that as a compliment as it took significant effort to get there. We're proud of the foundation we're building on and as you've now seen through playing it, HD Rugby 08 it's not.

Two quick ones on grubbers and offloads.

Grubbers: tapping Y now does a quick grubber kick, but you can still hold Y to do a longer one. The problem in the past was that you couldn't get a quick enough one off by tapping Y to be useful. Now you can.

Offloads: the quote above is exactly how the system has been designed. You have to use judgement when deciding when to offload. Mashing A is going to serve up interceptions and poor passes. Being more selective about when to offload is the key to success. Also magic passes that find the best eligable receiver from players with low ratings are not part of the design.

In 08 you were less likely to have an eligible receiver but those who were were better positioned to run on to the pass.

In RWC2011 there are more eligible receivers but not all likely to be good choices. So while the ball is kept alive more frequently, that doesn't translate to more magically successful offloads by players with eyes in the backs of their heads. You still have to work to determine the best contexts for these passes.

Also inadvertent offloads are a risk of mashing the ruck intensity button before the Ruck has formed. Quite like it actually, as it is a perfect translation of the overexuberence and impatience demonstrated by indiscriminate button mashing input. As designed.



Keep the feedback coming guys!

Will be interested to see how the hard core respond to the demo on easy. Going to have to buy the game to play on harder difficulty levels.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Grubbers: tapping Y now does a quick grubber kick, but you can still hold Y to do a longer one. The problem in the past was that you couldn't get a quick enough one off by tapping Y to be useful. Now you can.

Ooooh, I like this!
I didn't realise you could do that, so I just held it down like I would do in 08

Like I said before, the chip kicks work great, so if the quick grubbers are as good then that's a great addition





Also: Big big thanks for the opportunity to play the game

 

[spies8]

Thanks for describing that for us AJ as I carn't wait to play the demo and the buy the game when it comes out on the 26th of August. I hope this game is successful and we have another game before the next world cup...I also appreciate all the hard work you guy's have put in so thank you

 

[Getofmeland]

Just finished playing Rugby Challenge


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[spies8]

Just finished playing Rugby Challenge


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you giving us a liitle review of it bro ?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

WhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlikeWhatsitlike????!!!!

 

[Hatch87]

what he said ^^^^^

 

[Getofmeland]

As I am now on the train home, it will have to wait til then


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[jmaher92]

As I am now on the train home, it will have to wait til then


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give us a little clue Good or not?

 

[Getofmeland]

Good and bad points


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[jmaher92]

Good and bad points


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ok, i'll wait for your review

 

[raziel_eire]

Did I really just get quoted by HB-AJ... haha, I'll take that as confirmation that I've said something pertinent to the discussion (if not necessarily useful)!!!

... does that mean I get a credit on the game now?

On a serious note, when reading Teh Mite's explanation about why he didn't like the offloads, I did think that there should be (and as Allistair said "by design") an inherent danger/problem with using them.

Hell, it happens enough in real rugby that an offload is attempted at the wrong time or to the wrong person, and if we could guarantee when playing that every offload was perfectly timed, hit the right player and have no chance of interception, then surely the game would be referred to as "broken".

How many times have you played/watched a game and a player has made a poor decision in terms of an offload and you've cried out in anguish (or just plain cursed him to hell and back)? It happens, and its real.
Part of the problem with a video game version of rugby is that we want to be in total control all the time, but in reality, it is impossible to simultaneously control all 15 players and all options available to each of them at any one time, so you have to allow for some element of "giving up control" when it comes to who is there to receive an offload and when that happens, isn't it to be expected that things that you don't want to happen can actually happen?

It wouldn't be re-creating the game of rugby if offloads were under so much control that you could guarantee it to be made 100% of the time.

Anyways, just some thoughts on the matter...

 

[lionmaull]

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking the time to travel to play the game. This is the feedback that is most important to us given our focus and priority has been on creating familiar, fast flowing rugby.

A lot of stick recently for using animations from 08. I'll be brutally honest with you, getting the game playing the way it does today on a new animation engine was no simple task and if people say it reminds them of 08, then I take that as a compliment as it took significant effort to get there. We're proud of the foundation we're building on and as you've now seen through playing it, HD Rugby 08 it's not.

Two quick ones on grubbers and offloads.

Grubbers: tapping Y now does a quick grubber kick, but you can still hold Y to do a longer one. The problem in the past was that you couldn't get a quick enough one off by tapping Y to be useful. Now you can.

Offloads: the quote above is exactly how the system has been designed. You have to use judgement when deciding when to offload. Mashing A is going to serve up interceptions and poor passes. Being more selective about when to offload is the key to success. Also magic passes that find the best eligable receiver from players with low ratings are not part of the design.

In 08 you were less likely to have an eligible receiver but those who were were better positioned to run on to the pass.

In RWC2011 there are more eligible receivers but not all likely to be good choices. So while the ball is kept alive more frequently, that doesn't translate to more magically successful offloads by players with eyes in the backs of their heads. You still have to work to determine the best contexts for these passes.

Also inadvertent offloads are a risk of mashing the ruck intensity button before the Ruck has formed. Quite like it actually, as it is a perfect translation of the overexuberence and impatience demonstrated by indiscriminate button mashing input. As designed.



Keep the feedback coming guys!

Will be interested to see how the hard core respond to the demo on easy. Going to have to buy the game to play on harder difficulty levels.

Hello AJ, I have been posting like a mad man, trying to show there is some depth to the rucking system. I hope my theory is correct. If you have chosen a rucking tactic, can you change it the middle of the play on the fly? For example you choose forward play tactic, but then decide to go out wide, will you have a better chance a retaining possesion if you change to first player to ruck on the fly, granted there is a closer player by that is not a forward?
I keep thinking this will add greatly to the way the game is played. Also, maybe the way you go into a tackle determines which way you can offload?
Cheers and Salu

 

[HB_AJ]

Hello AJ, I have been posting like a mad man, trying to show there is some depth to the rucking system. I hope my theory is correct. If you have chosen a rucking tactic, can you change it the middle of the play on the fly? For example you choose forward play tactic, but then decide to go out wide, will you have a better chance a retaining possesion if you change to first player to ruck on the fly, granted there is a closer player by that is not a forward?
I keep thinking this will add greatly to the way the game is played. Also, maybe the way you go into a tackle determines which way you can offload?
Cheers and Salu

Correct and correct again.