EA Sports UFC 2 Impressions: Gamechangers Event 2

[aholbert32]

OK, so I'm back after almost a week of nothing but UFC events (UFC 2, TUF Finale, UFC 194). Here are a few quick impressions. Some of them are vague because I cant speak specifically about a few things that haven't been discussed (cant go into great depth about the striking yet):

- Roster: The roster is about final and it's the largest MMA game roster ever. There are some BIG surprises that I cant talk about yet but I think everyone will be excited about them.

- Grappling System - I've played every MMA game ever created (back to the Dreamcast days) and this is the most natural system I've seen. Past systems have always felt turn based. For example, I'm in half guard, I try to move to Side Control but you block it...now its your turn and you try to move me back into full guard.

This system feels like grappling. There are more positions, more sweeps and more escapes. Now before you flip out these moves aren't available to everyone. For example, I primarily used Welterweights when I was playing the game because that division was the only one with some of the AI fully installed and the complete move-sets implemented.

In one of my first fights I used a non- top 10 WW who is primarily a striker vs an unranked WW who is primarily a grappler. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, the grappler was successful in taking me down by using trips in the clinch. Both times, he proceeded to keep top control for over 2 minutes. I didn't feel cheated at all because my opponent had a much better move-set and ratings on the ground than I did. This sort of thing would've happened in a real fight.

In round 3, I started sick of being held down and managed to get my opponent back into half guard. I started spamming trying to get out from under him and that worked to my detriment. He passed to full mount and submitted me with an arm-bar. That seemed perfect to me. I spammed, it cost me a ton of stamina and my opponent was able to move into a dominant position and finish me.

This never happened in UFC 1.

Bottom line: I love the new system and the devs are still working with the GC's on ways to continue to improve it. There were some small issues that I brought to the Dev's attention (AI fighters were aggressive with position advances on top but not mixing enough strikes; CPU would sometimes randomly stand up from half guard) but even with those issues the system looked great.

AI and Movesets: I have to be a bit vague here because its not fully installed but I like what I see so far. My biggest frustration with UFC 1's striking AI was everyone was a kick-boxer. EVERYONE. Guys who rarely throw kicks would throw kicks constantly.

There were only 10-15 guys who had their full AI and movesets installed but you could see a difference. I played against one boxing HW who rarely throws kicks in real life and in the game...he rarely threw any kicks. Hopefully, Skynet will talk a little about the work he's done on the AI because it deserves some attention and praise.

With that said, I've only seen a small bit of it and I'll really be able to dig into it closer to release. If its stays consistent with what I saw Wednesday, the AI will be in good shape.

Regarding move-sets, the dev team has taken a more intelligent approach. The move-sets for the most part are still works in progress but I was satisfied with the completed ones I saw. There will likely still be discussions about whether fighter X should have a spinning back fist or not. But I don't think there will be any similar to UFC 1 where HWs had Capoeira kicks and Showtime kicks.

I'll answer some of the questions from last week's thread a little later.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Sounds good. I like what you said about not everyone having the same reversals. When I play online, everyone's go-to move when you stand up from their guard is to do that little leg sweep reversal that gives them top position. I don't ever get caught by it anymore, but everyone shouldn't be able to do that.

Can't wait to see the roster editions, the women especially. I want to put in work with Joanna, JoJo, Rose, and Eye among others.

As far as the men go there's a lot of dudes who we need in there too. Michael Johnson, El Cucuy, Rothwell, Sterling, Iaquinta, Bobby Green, Masvidal, etc. Tons of fighters. Can't wait to see how this shapes up.

[aholbert32]

"Gameplay
I know you will already pay attention to this stuff, but for gameplay I'd keep an eye on the AI and how the game is balanced. Just make sure that each fighter fights realistically and that they don't use the same patterns (which was flurry, back off, another flurry for the most part) that they seemed to fall into in the last game. In the last game I thought that submissions were too easy on Normal, but striking was perfect for my skill. If I went up a level subs where much better, but the AI became a parrying machine and it wasn't very fun.

Presentation
Make sure to let it be know that we want so suspense to decisions.

Also stuff like when you go to different arenas like Brazil, Mexico and Ireland (assuming those last two are in the game) does the crowd get behind the "home fighter"?

Event Mode
Can you set up events to be different from one another (PPV's, Fox/FS1 cards, Fight Pass). if so, do they feel authentic?

CAF
Think about the most difficult CAF to make for in the past and see if you can create them in the game. Examples someone tall for the weight-class like Stefan Struve or George Roop, or someone flabby like Mike Russo. Also check out things like ages and more importantly the name database (although I'm not sure if there is anything they could do about that at this point).

That's about all I have, but I'll let you know if I think of anything else."


Regarding presentation, I tried hard to get a split decision so I could see if they fixed the announcer bug but I didnt get one.

The Brazilian crowd gets behind the Brazilian fighters. The "Uh Vai Morrer" chant is present.

Event Mode feels authentic and I like the way it flows. You can watch a short clip of replay highlights from each fight. It has the new PPV presentation package. Performance awards are included. We have a few months until release so who knows what they can add but I'm not sure the Fox stuff will be added because that requires a separate license.

I cant confirm everything that is in or isnt in CAF but I can confirm that I've talked to the devs at each event about the things u listed above.

[jeremym480]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

"Gameplay I know you will already pay attention to this stuff, but for gameplay I'd keep an eye on the AI and how the game is balanced. Just make sure that each fighter fights realistically and that they don't use the same patterns (which was flurry, back off, another flurry for the most part) that they seemed to fall into in the last game. In the last game I thought that submissions were too easy on Normal, but striking was perfect for my skill. If I went up a level subs where much better, but the AI became a parrying machine and it wasn't very fun. Presentation Make sure to let it be know that we want so suspense to decisions. Also stuff like when you go to different arenas like Brazil, Mexico and Ireland (assuming those last two are in the game) does the crowd get behind the "home fighter"? Event Mode Can you set up events to be different from one another (PPV's, Fox/FS1 cards, Fight Pass). if so, do they feel authentic? CAF Think about the most difficult CAF to make for in the past and see if you can create them in the game. Examples someone tall for the weight-class like Stefan Struve or George Roop, or someone flabby like Mike Russo. Also check out things like ages and more importantly the name database (although I'm not sure if there is anything they could do about that at this point). That's about all I have, but I'll let you know if I think of anything else." Regarding presentation, I tried hard to get a split decision so I could see if they fixed the announcer bug but I didnt get one. The Brazilian crowd gets behind the Brazilian fighters. The "Uh Vai Morrer" chant is present. Event Mode feels authentic and I like the way it flows. You can watch a short clip of replay highlights from each fight. It has the new PPV presentation package. Performance awards are included. We have a few months until release so who knows what they can add but I'm not sure the Fox stuff will be added because that requires a separate license. I cant confirm everything that is in or isnt in CAF but I can confirm that I've talked to the devs at each event about the things u listed above.

That's good to hear. The only thing that I forgot to mention about CAF is their records. Nothing kills presentation more than seeing an older fighter like Cro Cop or Gomi coming out with a 0-0 record, especially now that we have an Event Mode. Do you know if we can input their records and if not could you contact them about it?

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeremym480

That's good to hear. The only thing that I forgot to mention about CAF is their records. Nothing kills presentation more than seeing an older fighter like Cro Cop or Gomi coming out with a 0-0 record, especially now that we have an Event Mode. Do you know if we can input their records and if not could you contact them about it?

I talked to them about it. One thing I can talk about is that some people on the dev team dont think about CAFs the same way we do. Most people use CAF to create themselves or a real non-UFC fighter for Career Mode or for use online.

Most people dont use CAFs the way we do or create tens of CAFs for use in a league. So things like the 0-0 record werent even on their radar. Now I've brought this issue and other ones like the names database up and they are aware of them now. Hopefully these changes can be implemented.

[pdandy]

Great stuff!

On your note about AI standing up. Was it like EA UFC 1 where the AI will stand back up and immediately dive back into guard with a punch?

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by pdandy

Great stuff! On your note about AI standing up. Was it like EA UFC 1 where the AI will stand back up and immediately dive back into guard with a punch?

That happened once in half guard. The other times the Ai stood up and backed off.

I probably played 50 plus fights the day I played the game so its not a big issue since it barely happened. I pointed it out to the devs so lets hope they eliminate it.

[sportsfan8812]

Thanks for all the info alholbert. I'm an offline guy so i'm incredibly excited for a large roster and event mode. Can't wait to play with guys like El Cucuy, Barboza, Bermudez, Cejudo, Sterling, Magny, etc.

-Any word on if there will be a demo this year?
-Any word on arenas in this years game?
-Any cool little tidbits you can share like post-fight interviews or anything extra like that?