How similar is this game to EA UFC 4?

[Good Grappler]

Asking from more of a nerd, "hardcore MMA gamer" perspective.

I played, and was a top player on EA UFC 1-3. Mainly grappling. Wasn't really a fan of the grappling - particularly the wrestling and ability to "grind" - on any of them, but I made it work.

EA UFC 4 really dropped the ball on the wrestling by making it share an input with body straights. This created a delay in the response time of offensive shoot takedowns; they could no longer be seamlessly integrated into striking. Nor could they be used "on reaction" to counter, say, a haymaker. You had to pause, stop striking.... THEN shoot. This effectively eliminated reactive takedowns - limiting players to purely proactive takedowns - and they also had to be anticipatory, as we had to time the 1 second delay between your input & the shot to ensure you penetrated the legs during some sort of forward movement from the opponent; preferably while they throw a high punch or the early stage of a kick.

Fortunately, I enjoyed the striking on EA UFC 4 enough to forgive the grappling issues. The movement, the responsive leans, the ability to block WHILE leaning, the buffed stats for block durability & movement speed for certain fighters, the defensive resources... it really gave me the tools to fight in a more immersive, "realistic" manner. Removed the feeling that I have to engage in a certain, high-paced, high output type of fight whenever I stand with an opponent. I never became a top player on UFC 4 per se - but again I didn't care to, I was having a blast as a striker and had no interest in the type of gameplay I'd need to adopt in order to maintain some meaningless 'single digit ranking' next to my gamertag, just so everyone in quick match can back out of the lobby when they see "the relaxed guy" pop in.

I could finally use Romero realistically and just shell up, stand still, be boring, step just out of range when opponents overcommit, then time a flying knee or rear straight to rock them & steal rounds. I could use Sandhagen or Cruz and just dance all over the place and make my opponent miss 90% of their strikes. I could pick Conor and actually snipe with the left hand, potshotting with single shots instead of combos, standing still in striking range while not holding block to produce a visually satisfying & immersive "attack" that I felt was true to his style (anyone picking Conor and throwing a barrage of hooks and leg kicks is geh).

I kinda passed up on EA UFC 5, partly because of being busy, partly because of frustration with EA's lack of progress in the grappling for the 4th consecutive iteration (I mean, EA UFC 2, 3, 4 & 5 are essentially carbon copies on the mat, in regards to the denial, grapple advantage, use transition fakes, slowly progress from FG to HG to SC to mount, bland & stagnant meta, devoid of any sense of fluidity and "grindiness" that should be a part of any grappling system).

Looking at EA UFC 5, I see a LOT of similarities with UFC 4. The leaning system, the striking animations, the logic behind the combos, the clinch positions, etc. all look very similar, from my "educated spectator" perspective.

Even so, I'm getting that itch to play again, even if it is super similar to EA UFC 4. I did thoroughly enjoy the striking.

Can anyone give an honest assessment of the similarities (and differences) between 4&5, in terms of the striking, grappling, overall gameplay, and the competitive meta?

Thanks

XB1 GT: the relaxed guy

[Blackman316]

From my experience, the game has the same animations. I believe a developer claimed that they had to convert all assets (meaning hairs and animations I suppose), but somehow they look identical. Not a problem as most look great, but pretty absurd as they missed out on the opportunity to improve them. Even the outright moronic hairs have been "converted" so nobody can keep using them (I don't have the data obviously but come on... ).



There seems to be not a single new animation that isn't tied to the new submission system. If you count everything added in those positions, those are indeed about 10 new things. On the contrary, the gate positions have all been removed, so there's a loss there. A vast number of submissions also have been deleted along with their animations.


If you read the recent patch notes, they adjusted the combo takedowns, so that has been adjusted a bit.


I wouldn't go so far as to call all games carbon copies when it comes to grappling. They made huge strides from 2 to 3 (the end product then). It just looks that way given the steps back recently.



I get that you get the "itch" to play, but it's not worth it unless you really like the new submission system (like I do). Career mode is exactly the same. The roster at launch was exactly the same. The striking game feels exactly the same to me too. Normally it should be on sale very soon and at half price: why not? It's not strictly better than 4 due to the removal of content (a constant for EA games), but it did improve a little.

[tomitomitomi]

Mechanically the most notable difference is the submission system which is now an extension of the grappling system instead of an isolated mini-game. The basic idea of it is that both fighters can hold a button to burn both players' staminas. If you run out of stamina, you cannot deny a transition. At low levels this means that if your opponent has poor stamina management, then submitting them is a relatively fast process instead of the prolonged minigame that the previous games had. At higher level, there are some cool dynamics such as faking transitions to burn stamina, contextual transitions to "race" against the attackers submission attempt and also using the alternative position-transitions to use the threat of a submission to gain better position instead. For example, you can threaten a triangle but use it to get mount.

They also removed negative GA in a post-launch patch so the grappling in general seems to have less stalling but this may be different at div 20. I play little ranked because they changed ranked matchmaking. There are only a set amount of weightclasses that are enabled in ranked that swaps every hour. The issue is that you cannot pick the exact weightclass but instead you are given a random weight class between e.g. WBW, BW and LW. The lower weightclasses in particular feel pretty awful to play due to high stamina and low power. For me this is a deal-breaker in ranked.

Striking-wise there are definitely more animations. This is the most apparent when watching Leon Edwards. It is not 2k-levels or anything though. In general I would say quite many moves have similar variance to UFC 4's cross/celtic cross/Diaz cross. Take that how you will. The new damage system also makes it so targeting same areas results in more damage and stun and these scale with move levels. So for example, Pereira is better at busting people with with left hooks than Jack Hermansson.

Takedowns are now down with L2+two face buttons. Holding the buttons are reserved for strikes like overhand rights and different headkick variations. Overall the controls seem to prioritize convenient strikes, but spinning strikes etc are now quite cumbersome.

If you liked 4 over the previous installments, then you should like 5 more as well. The general things are similar (e.g. clinch and GNP are still limited) whereas the good things have had good quality of life changes.

[Ajax79]

Offliner. Hardcore fan here.

Overall....you're looking at pretty much the same game.

There are new animations in striking. Damage system is a fun add and looks good but tbh, even against legendary AI I very rarely have to worry about the damage I take (in terms of doc stoppage). I'll get knocked out or take an L (adjusting sliders in favor of the AI on legendary can make it challenging) but generally don't have to be overly protective of a cut I receive. In short, there are cool changes to striking but overall it's just a polished/prettier version of 4's striking IMO.

Grappling is the same pretty much. AI is still predictable and pretty easy to smash when you take them down. There are some new animations, particularly when you escape subs. I've had some fun mat exchanges but again, overall, it's just a polished/prettier version of 4's grappling.

That said, the new sub system is far and away better than the mini games of past. The struggle mechanic is a great touch. Subs look and feel more fluid. Thing is though, in my experience against AI on legendary the second same sub I lock in always win the game (like if i attempt 2 armbars...doesnt even matter if the second one is on the other arm, I win).

CAF for the most part is a mess. Same templates. Filling out accurate info like height, "fighting out of"...none of it matters because they stripped that commentary right out from Bruce Buffers intro. You can make serviceable looking CAFs, for the most part, but much of the time the archetypes don't like up with my vision and you're left with CAFs that all feel the same.

It's a decent time killer. I'm still getting some enjoyment out of it. The new fighter drop is an INCREDIBLE add, thank you EA. But dude...yeah...same game overall. Some cool adds. Some very big missed opportunities. Some bugs. Some beautiful moments. Worth picking up if you're an MMA fan and MMA gaming fan but you aren't going to be wowwed. After 3 years of waiting, you're playing UFC 4.1.