EA Sports UFC Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (Xbox One, PS4)

[GameplayDevUFC]

Quote: Originally Posted by phillyfan23

dear EAUFC DEV, have you checked playing on a.higher difficulty figghting against a cpu ai MACHIDA? can you comment how his AI is and how many strikes doea he throw per round?? You said ladt friday that his monday you woild check this and see how different MACHIDA is compared to the rest of the fighters. thanks a lot Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Doing that right now...

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameplayDevUFC

Doing that right now...

Also if you can ask around about the total number of CAFs allowed and if there are scorecards in the game that would be appreciated.

[GameplayDevUFC]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeremym480

If you could record a video of Machida versus Anderson Silva and post it that'd be great. If there's a single strike thrown within the first three minutes of the fight the game isn't realistic! I kid, I kid. How does fighting against a bigger, stronger, grappler feel? In my opinion another great Litmus test would be fighting against someone like Cormier and purposefully letting him take you down. If you can easily get back up to your feet or get a reversal at the rate were seeing on the demo, then that's not a good sign. I want to fear great grapplers, you know? I understand that the demo is on easy, so maybe I'm off base here, but that's definitely one of the first things that I'm going to check out.

I'm not going to record and post any videos...it's not something I'm really in a position to do and I imagine the red tape of trying to get something like that approved is more work than I have time for. You'll just have to take me on my word when I describe things. I have no doubt that someone on these forums will post videos of pretty much everything discussed once the game comes out so you won't have too long to wait.

So I played a bunch of games this morning with the intention of testing out a few scenarios. I played Weidman (me) vs. Machida (CPU) a few times on different difficulty levels and employing different strategies.

I also played Jones (me) vs. Cormier (CPU) on pro.

The TL;DR of the whole experience is that CPU Machida does employ a more defensive, counter striking fighting style, but if I was to guess it's not as extreme as you'd like to see. DC however was a pretty damn good representation and was a stark contrast to Gus. I was much more pleased with his representation.

So on to the details...

I played against Machida on Easy, Normal, Hard and Pro. I did several tests on each level.

In the first batch I performed no takedowns to maximize the time on the feet, but played a regular standup game otherwise. I also intentionally didn't finish the fight on the lower difficulty levels to make sure we went the distance each time.

In the second batch I tested not performing any strikes at all, and just dodging and parrying to see how that would alter the stats and strategies.

Finally, I played a normal game where I performed takedowns and played a normal ground game mixed in with everything else.

Number of strikes thrown by Machida in these scenarios ranged from 130-230 depending on the test I was performing and the difficulty levels. According to fight metric, Machida threw 61 strikes in the 3 round fight against Phil Davis, and 108 strikes in the 5 round fight against Mousasi. That's roughly 20 strikes per round on average in real life. I'm actually surprised it wasn't more against Mousasi as I seem to remember him being much more aggressive in that fight. Although perhaps it skewed higher in the earlier rounds...who knows. Anyway, it looks like we're trending best case having him throw twice as many strikes as in real life, and worst case 3.8 times as many as in real life. I couldn't find stats for how long each of those fights were spent standing up vs. on the ground, so it's possible taking that into consideration would put our results in a more favorable light.

Doubling his strike output compared to real life isn't that bad in my opinion, but I would have liked to see it lower I think, especially in the tests where I didn't engage him at all. I got the most realistic numbers when fighting normally and mixing in the ground game. I found when I parried him, his AI slowed down a bit more that if I dodged him. Not sure why. I found myself circling into kicks quite often when employing the dodging strategy and almost got KO'd a couple of times. Since I wasn't trying to finish the fight, I had to hold off striking him which may have increased his output artificially...not sure.

I found there would be 5 second breaks (real time not on the clock) between strike attempts by him on average, which is different from what I'm seeing in the demo videos for sure. He also threw kicks considerably more than punches, and he targeted the body a lot more than the head (this was very noticeable). I saw the occasionally jab flurry, but not that often. Only other punch I remember seeing was a few superman punches. Lots of kicks.

He only attempted 2-3 takedowns a fight on average, and seemed very happy to stand up if the fight ended up on the ground (which didn't happen often as I was mostly trying to test the standup).

He was clearly a counter puncher, but did push the pace when I deliberately held off engaging. I'm thinking this and overall strike volume are where people are most likely to find fault. The AI does behave differently depending on what you try and do in the fight, so this is more of a general impression over multiple fights and not a guarantee of how he will perform when you fight him.

I guess that's it for my Machida scouting report.

As for Cormier, he was way different. He felt slow but powerful when standing, threw strikes that looked completely different from Gus (again, slow, deliberate but powerful looking), nothing flashy at all. The reach difference was very noticeable and had him rocked when we were standing up. I think maybe i could have finished him, second guessed myself since I wanted the test to continue, and then he took me down.

Once on the ground I definitely felt his strength and wrestling skill. I had a hard time getting out from under him...I think we ended up on our feet again but I don't remember how. Didn't dominate as much once we got back up, he clinched me, dropped for a takedown, got to side control and smothered me until he got the GnP finish. I could not get out of his side control for the life of me.

That fight felt really authentic to me and was a really nice thing to see after the slight disappointment with my Machida test.

Hopefully this gives you guys a taste of what's to come. I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'm just trying to give you my honest assessment of how the game stacked up in those two tests from a "sim" perspective.

I love the game and think it's a ton of fun, this was more an exercise to break down some of the sim aspects for the hard core guys. I don't want anyone reading this post to misunderstand my thoughts on the game overall. I love what we've built. There are things we could have done better no doubt, but overall I'm very proud of what we delivered.

[GameplayDevUFC]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Also if you can ask around about the total number of CAFs allowed and if there are scorecards in the game that would be appreciated.

Just want to make sure I understand you when you say "score cards are in the game". I haven't played the demo build much myself so I don't know what was taken out or left in.

If you win by split decision, Buffer will say "the first judge scored the round 29-28 Machida, the second judge scored the round 29-28 Weidman. The third judge scored the fight, 30-27 for the winner by split decision...".

Is that what you're referring to?

[aholbert32]

Thanks man. I'm not that upset about the Machida numbers because it shows that there is some real life strategy employed by the AI. Compared to UFC 3 (which I love) this is an improvement. In that game, Machida fought like an aggressive striker and that was frustrating. I accept that its a video game so having him strike more than normal isnt the end of the world.

Love the Cormier stuff too.

[2_headedmonster]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Also if you can ask around about the total number of CAFs allowed and if there are scorecards in the game that would be appreciated.

Developers really dont realize how important reading the cards are, but I remember some of the most tense moments playing Knockout Kings were when it went to the cards.

I had a rivalry, wit Rocky Marciano and my cousin had one with Sugar Ray Leonard. My fights were always with me on my bike, Rocky was swinging cinder blocks on that game. But I remember he once went to hell and back with Sugar Ray for 15 rounds. Slugged, boxed, knockdowns on both sides; all the makings of a Rocky movie. I was sweating and i didnt even have a controller, but we both just knew that he'd won a close bout. They read the cards in a dramatic fashion, they'er even closer than we thought. It was a split decision...the anticipation built. "and stiiiilllll"...wtf, Sugar Ray pulled it off. Our jaws hit the floor.

I cant imagine that moment being anywhere near as dramatic if it was as dry as a simple: " And the winner by split decision is Sugar Ray Leonard"

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameplayDevUFC

Just want to make sure I understand you when you say "score cards are in the game". I haven't played the demo build much myself so I don't know what was taken out or left in. If you win by split decision, Buffer will say "the first judge scored the round 29-28 Machida, the second judge scored the round 29-28 Weidman. The third judge scored the fight, 30-27 for the winner by split decision...". Is that what you're referring to?

YES IT IS. The demo just has Buffer say "the winner by split decision is Jon Jones". I was hoping that they game would read the cards just like you described. I'm so happy thats in the retail game.

[Sgt_Carnage]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameplayDevUFC

Just want to make sure I understand you when you say "score cards are in the game". I haven't played the demo build much myself so I don't know what was taken out or left in. If you win by split decision, Buffer will say "the first judge scored the round 29-28 Machida, the second judge scored the round 29-28 Weidman. The third judge scored the fight, 30-27 for the winner by split decision...". Is that what you're referring to?

Yeah, that's what he's refering to.