EA Sports UFC 2 Community Impressions

[Phenomenal01]

Quote: Originally Posted by JRed529

You're entitled to your opinion, but I respectfully disagree. The game is not perfect by any means, but is definitely amazing, at least to me.

You're entitled to your opinion as I am mine, this game isn't close to perfect, it could be amazing, if it can overcome all of the game breaking elements that plague it.

Praise is pointless outside of noting specifically what is done right. Criticism is constructive and you're not going to hear much of anything but criticism no matter how much I enjoy a game.

I always want games to be the best they can be, and believe me, I loved the Undisputed Franchise and I was on their boards ranting and raving about their exploitable mechanics, glitches, and general faults as well. As I played that game every day for years and was easily top 10 in it. I still gave criticism on mechanics I utilized for advantage as well as those used against me indifferently and without bias.

In fact Many things I suggested while it was in beta regarding stamina and damage adjustments were slightly tweaked before final release on UD3. And a few patches and tweaks I had a word on made it in the game eventually as well.

I can't expect what makes sense in my head to make perfect sense in text, let alone have the developers read it, agree with it to an extent, make adjustments, and expect the final product to even closely resemble what makes perfect sense to me when its written in code.

Nor am I that arrogant to think my opinion is gold and I'm not just bias or plain wrong at times, but I definitely believe their is some obvious glaring issue that need to be addressed and at times I offer constructive criticism along with general concepts and valid logic to back up my reasoning. At the end of the day it is my opinion and everyone is entitled to agree or disagree. I'm not about whining or complaining because I lost any given match and I try to be as unbias as possible when it comes to criticism and concepts to adjust gameplay.

Its up to the devs to take note with humility and continue to make the best game possible. Their are many elements which they're striving to achieve which make perfect sense on paper logically but they're just not executed or "polished" yet. In many instances they work perfectly as intended however they need to make adjustments for instances where unintended results come from those same mechanics.

I could simply say all grappling positions are OP in general and leave it at that but then I'll get troll responses like earlier with the "git gud". And I can't rant and rave all day like this and then I'll get responses like "TLDR". I could care less, if devs truly want to make this game as successful as possible they'll take note and that's all that matters at the end of the day.

A perfect example is the interrupt strike animation. In many instances its fully justified and makes perfect sense, depending on timing and what shot lands first, if you're loading a big shot, what I call a "true counter" as opposed to the boxing parry that you rarely ever see used to counter in MMA, is a more effective strike. In FN Emmit even got his pinky or ring finger broke attempting to parry a wheel kick.

Even in jabs and straights to catch your opponent while he's committing, pepper, use combos, frustrate, and eventually wear him down, mixing up high and low strikes, tiring and going for big shots and counters as they open instead of opening with them. This all makes perfect sense on paper.

However, in many ways this system being used is broke.

First of all it was patched in with only developer testing, not sure if any of that was online.

You can't expect it to be perfect first time around. I'm not the only one, in fact its one of the major issues I see complained about, the 1-2 spam, interrupt animations, how you can be 95% to landing a spinning wheel kick to the face and all the sudden a glancing jab high or low lands, interrupts your strike, completely reverses your momentum, and sends your fighter stumbling backwards for a second or two, open to any strikes that can reach, unable to do anything but wait for the ability to control your fighter again.

That's just one example of the interrupts and where it goes wrong, there are many.

And that is just one issue, there is many. Clinch strikes ARE OP, there's no question, its so rare to see someone get finished from the clinch in MMA yet the possibility is 1 strike away in this game at almost any given moment.

The guessing game of blocking is wrong. It should be a choice between transitioning, which should be an escape at will if your opponent chooses to strike, or he can block/deny and secure position and wear on you. Maybe not the most exciting gameplay wise, but that's real MMA. It should be a chess match, not a rock paper scissors guessing game with instant flash stuns, wobbles and TKO's that never happen in MMA.

No one goes full Plum IRL, they can't hold the plum IRL, they're lucky to get it and land 1 or 2 strikes, when they do obtain it, in order to hold it they still need to lean on their opponent which takes away the ability to throw knees to the head unless they're ridiculously flexible and able to spring up those awkward angled knees up the side while slightly forcing their opponent to that side bringing his head down in range.

There are few fighters who can use MT and especially full plum effectively, Overeem is one of few who actually seeks full plum and looks to knee to the head.

What really ends up happening is much more like UD3, grinding, leaning on your opponent from non-collar-tie positions, or even in collar tie, peppering with baby shots.

Again rarely do we see power strikes from these positions, it does happen but its one in 50 fights, yet in this game its multiple times per round nearly every fight.

And they never lead to KO outside of Silva/Franklin, Mir/Carwin, and maybe you can count MM/Cejudo which shows how strikes are thrown and land on the break and the position is never held. MM rocked Cejudo on the way out and followed up for the finish.

Most instances are one and done without any significant strikes landing, rarely rocking, stunning, or wobbling opponents, and often breaking out at will if they're attempting any MT strikes rather than going for underhooks and leaning on their opponent looking for TDs.

Defensive positioned fighters often land as significant if not more significant strikes, landing knees to the body and head just as likely as the fighter in dominant position. And either fighter can break plum tie seemingly at will 99% of the time.

Arm trap is pointless other than the fact that you can't absorb more than a few strikes straight blocking before your arms magically go limp and you get TKO'd.

If you risk blocking 1-3 strikes and attempting a transition, anyone with decent G&P and ground stats/perks will finish and even if they don't its worth it and its TOO easy to obtain dominant positions, too difficult to stand up and way too easy to finish on the ground in general. Again, you don't see fights finished instantly on the ground in MMA anywhere near as much as you do in this game. Rarely you see a grappler outclass and sub or obtain dominant positions easily, more likely you see them grind and slowly and methodically obtain each position and secure it by NOT posturing and throwing as that typically leads to losing position.

So again, what really happens in MMA is top fighter postures, throws one blow, and secures position. Grinds and attempts to maintain position, not postures and throws at will without any penalty. Bottom fighters can trap and scramble much easier, avoid heavy shots much easier, fatigue much less, break submission spamming with ease in the rare event that we see it in MMA, and more likely we don't because fighters don't go for subs without setting them up first. This game in no way represents any of that.

I should be able to intelligently defend myself. I'd rather be drowned in lay and pray and peppering shots and lose a decision attempting to defend and get the fight to the feet, than be magically TKO'd or submitted with ease.

These are game breaking elements IMO. They are broke, there is no debate.

In the least the damage and stamina systems have to be adjusted in various areas to make this fair and balanced and lead to realistic output and outcomes.

Truly I don't mind having the ability to sub or G&P or throw elbows and knees from the clinch, the reason I don't like these positions in the game is because they're unfair, unbalanced, and just feel cheap. Its way too easy to attempt subs, obtain positions, and way too easy to finish on the ground.

Fighters going limp and being unable to do anything other than attempt useless transitions that'll just get them KO'd that much easier, or blindly arm trap unable to block is just unrealistic, unfair, unbalanced, and makes no sense logically. Its a joke, and clearly the devs of the game aren't MMA fans or it never would of made it in the game to begin with.

Clearly the beta testers and people not complaining / praising the game enjoy easy wins exploiting broken mechanics and those are the types of players / customers that will drive the rest away because everyone else is just going to feel cheesed and helpless to broken mechanics.

There are phantom strikes that land and even finish the fight. The arm punch from backside that TKO's is still there post patch. You get rocked and recover but end up in any bottom position with your opponent postured and your hands just fall limp and you can't defend. Or backside control or side control and one shot can end the fight.

Its way to easy to trap someone in side control, saddle, crucifix positions, which also rotate to backside control. All of which are OP based purely on the ability to deny transitions and eventually finish the fight in any one of the given positions with ease, I do it against ground fighters with 57 G&P (Or less from other UT fighters), and mediocre all around ground stats.

Fighters that control me on the ground are typically utilizing close to max stats, perks that drain my stamina and make it all that much easier, quicker and more powerful, rendering my denial attempts useless, and leaving me little to no options to intelligently defend myself in any way.

Arm trap is suppose to be the one way to defend high risk high reward, and when you eat shots attempting it, finally get it, just to have the guy posture instantly and resume spamming non LB strikes because there is no reason to waste stamina and timing on aggressive strikes when basic strikes KO just as easy if not easier, it feels, broken. It is broke.

Its not realistic or fair or balanced in any way. The only people who will disagree enjoy exploiting it. I went through similar exploits in UD3 and never focused on learning any of it because I knew it was cheese. And once it was patched I dominated the fighters who spent the majority of their time mastering it with ease.

That game was robotic in many ways, but its because it sacrificed animations for fairness and feel and true simulation experience, just as NBA 2k has done and dominated NBA live for over a decade now. Its more robotic because the controls are better, it feels more realistic, its more responsive to touch, you're able to control the outcome far better than when you have all these cheesy, fake animations you can't control, which EA is notorious for.

That's where people make the sim vs arcade comparison, and EA has always been more arcade simply on the basis that they introduce all of these animations to make it look more realistic on replay while sacrificing gameplay and fairness, control etc.

And its not like I'm complaining because I can't do the same things, I shouldn't have to be a ground guy, I shouldn't have to finish in grappling positions only, I shouldn't have to rock a guy literally 10 times and still end up finishing with leg kick TKO, body kick TKO, or "Finish the fight" because I go to the head.

I should have the equal and fair option to attempt regular KOs and attempt to keep the fight standing as a majority of MMA fighters do. Honestly wrestling and grappling is becoming a dying breed as fighters get more well rounded, they utilize their skills defensively, master the stand up, and only truly go for grappling exchanges of any kind when they're losing, tired, or simply trying to score points.

I'm working on uploading a few highlights that illustrate and highlight some of the cheese in this game. Part of the problem recording is when I am dominating stand up, and get clinched and rocked with 1 strike, it typically takes me longer to recover than the normal 30 sec record snapshot. I'll start recording 1-5min when I get cheesed to make a better video soon.

From 1 strike TKOs from the clinch in fights I was dominating, then the fight was over.

Submission attempts in fights I dominated from guys with 0 stamina and lv 1-3 submissions, even from the bottom.

Submission spamming which we all know exists, where I escape 20 submissions straight just to get subbed on #21.

Spamming transitions even with 0 stamina to avoid G&P and actually drains my stamina if I'm missing denials or attempting to strike.

Phantom strikes that I land and my opponents land can be seen through out the video, and I even highlight a spinning elbow that barely touches my opponent if at all and ends the fight. Another can be seen from one of my opponents landing on me. Phantom kicks and jabs/straights that don't fully reach but still register, stun, wobble and even lead to TKO's.

Denials that don't work/register, being unable to defend/deny transitions and strikes in general, whether its falling limp from dominant clinch when it breaks, or going limp if they attain postured position after I'm rocked, or cimply spamming transitions I'm denying well ahead of time and its simply not registering, which is impossible to illustrate in a video without taking my work for it because it doesn't show if I attempt to deny it either works or doesn't and that's all there is to see. So I just look like I'm getting taken down and passed at will, there's no real way to show I am properly defending passes or TDs and it simply doesn't work.

Which leads me to grapple advantage, again on paper makes sense in a lot of areas, but in game I see where its exploited for free TDs, passes, and exploited a lot. On one hand I can throw a crazy kick and still defend a TD, on the other, I can throw a jab but my opponent can do something to gain advantage like slip the jab, and all of the sudden its automatic TD and I'm not allowed to defend.

All of these things and more need polishing. I played a "free to play"/ "pay to win" game the other day, it had hundreds of updates on their last patch. Yet this game which is both pay to play $60+ USD, and pay to win on top of it, can only patch roughly 5-10 things, none of which really fixed anything as much as they did change them and create new issues.

I'm super grateful for any/all attempts to patch this game as I don't really care to play anything else, I purchased XBOX ONE specifically to play MMA games, but again I'm not here to give praise, I'm here to give constructive criticism.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Quote: Originally Posted by Haz____

Hey Pappy, that avatar is awesome. What is that from, or where did you find it?

Mike Tyson's Punchout. Unfortunately, everyone from Twitter has suddenly started rocking it too lol.

[rob3563]

I am a martial artist and have followed the ufc for 23 years and i say EA UFC 2 is by far the best mma game period even with its faults and will improve with patches i am sure. I have had more fun with this game than previous UFC games including the Undisputed series even though i do miss title mode and Pride but still prefer EA UFC 2 gameplay more with far better movement and animations along with a great ground game.

I have been playing offline on hard with all huds off for the last 6 weeks and have never turned the huds on again making it much more realistic not knowing your stamina levels and damage. PS- pro difficulty is rubbish i hope the devs fixed it in the next patch because HARD is way better AI wise.

[EJ_Manuel]

So I just hit division 6 and I think I'm going to put the game down, or just play unranked. Seriously, this is beyond stupid. Literally every fight is clinch spamming. I just fought one guy where it's literally ALL he did. I didn't even have my finger on the block button anymore, I could just leave it on clinch denial. Wouldn't even throw a punch. Had some insane record. Fortunately I knocked him down in the third and eeked out a decision.

And I'm not trash, I have a record like 320-171, and I know what I'm doing. But this is stupid. The power of clinch strikes HAS to be toned down. It's like a money play in madden, there's a reason every top player runs it. Just like the clinch in UFC. It's just too unbalanced. It's so stupid and absolutely frustrating when you just bloody the piss out of a guy for 3 rounds on the feet, headshot after headshot, and 2 clinch knees later you're dead. The margin of error difference between standing and the clinch is just ludicrous at this point. Add on the fact that people throw the same combo multiplier BS 1-2's and it becomes pretty much unplayable. Oh, and the fact that when you do avoid the 100 clinch attempts and get a health event, your opponent can back away quicker than you can move forward, pretty much making impossible to stop someone unless you do it off the combo multiplier. And then they had to make it so on body rocks you can block both body and head, making it even easier to survive. So let me get it straight, when I rock someone, they can move faster backwards than I can forwards, and they perfectly block both parts of their body..........

..............


........... So yeah, I'll either play unranked or just play something else.

Oh, and the Division system..SUCKS. The way it was last year was fine. You have ten fights, if you ain't good enough, you're relegated. Now with this, if I am outclassed in division six, literally the only way I can drop back down and have fun with the game is to intentionally lose twenty times in a row. I'm ranked like 1100 and facing people in the top 50 on a consistent basis. It's insane. Perfectly example of fixing something that isn't broken.

[Phenomenal01]

Quote: Originally Posted by EJ_Manuel

So I just hit division 6 and I think I'm going to put the game down...

Not going to quote you're entire post but this is exactly what everyone needs to be talking about. And the ground is no different. If someone has low stamina they're easily finished by spamming x and y. In reverse, you can cheat to survive by spamming transition fakes. Its broken, the only way to win in this game is to exploit cheese if you're fighting anyone who knows anything about it.

You can fight for 20 minutes in a somewhat balanced stand up granted you know how to avoid 1-2 spamming and make your opponent think, but the only way the fight is finished is you clinch or TD. Its beyond unbalanced and unrealistic to say the least.

And you can ban me for being disrespectful if you'd like, I don't care anymore, I can just as easily put this game down and not post on this board or give any feedback and let EA run this franchise in to the ground. This is a joke.

Tone down clinch and ground damage, tone down arm damage. Lets get this game playable so we can focus on other things beyond the obvious.

[TheLostHighway]

All they have to do is tone down clinch knee damage.

Sure, it's unrealistic because clinch knee's are deadly in reality, but this isn't reality.

People wouldn't try to clinch spam if there wasn't a super heavy damage advantage to doing so.

Remove the super damage, remove clinch spamming. Easiest fix in the world.

[TheLostHighway]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phenomenal01

You're entitled to your opinion as I am mine, this game isn't close to perfect, it could be amazing, if it can overcome all of the game breaking elements that plague it. I'm super grateful for any/all attempts to patch this game as I don't really care to play anything else, I purchased XBOX ONE specifically to play MMA games, but again I'm not here to give praise, I'm here to give constructive criticism.

Dude, 157 lines of text here... Public forum, let others have a chance to speak, lol.

EDIT: Joking, but G-D, that's a wall of text.

[Phenomenal01]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheLostHighway

Dude, 157 lines of text here... Public forum, let others have a chance to speak, lol. EDIT: Joking, but G-D, that's a wall of text.

You counted? I type quick. And there's a **** load of things to address in this game.