Hey guys. I see there's plenty of suggestions and complaints about the game. I wanna share some of mine too, but I'll do my best to keep it fresh.
Also note that I really dig UFC 2 and UFC 3 and these are just friendly suggestions. Aaand that these are concerning the newbie experience and offliners. So I'll leave the online matchmaking stuff and vulnerability frames discussions for the pro.
ROSTER SELECTION
An annoying thing in UFC 2 was that the roster selection reverted back to the default everytime you exited the window. No UFC2! I don't care about Conor Vs Aldo! Sooo many times have I played with friends and we select our fighters and then someone presses the back button. we enter again, and now we have to scroll through a million fighters again.
UFC 3 kinda fixed this. Now the last selection is remembered (but only if you play them.)
But I wanna take it a few steps further:
1) remember my selections in every weightclasses.
Maybe I love fighting with Mark Hunt in heavyweight. I would love if whenever I opened Heavyweight it would be on my last selection. That way whenever I wanted to go to my heavyweight fav I wouldn't have to scroll through a bunch of fighters.
2) let us asign belts and interim belts for anyone in the different weightclasses.
right now I can't have a unification bout between Tony and Conor. Or maybe I wanna strip conor and make Tony the real champ? pluss look at how nice that picture look. You get to give them shiny belts and whenever you scroll over them there they are, looking all champy.
DIVISION MODE
I love Tournament mode! The visuals are awesome, and you kinda get to make your own little universe. But I am kinda confused. Tournament isn't really a UFC thing, in fact with the recent Bellator heavyweight tournament it feels kinda off-brand. But how awesome wouldn't it be if it was a custom division too? It would be fairly easy to make. You would fill it up with 20-30 of your fighters and simply pick two and either sim it, or fight. there could be a simple algorithm that assigned certain points for W, early KO W, early KO L, L and move the fighter up or down the rankings. look at that picture, i would love for this to be a mode.
WOMEN'S DIVISIONS
We have come a long way, and I understand that things in the divisions are moving fast. W-Featherweight and W-Flyweight both are pretty weird at the moment. W-Featherweight is basically Cris Cyborg. There aren't even any official rankings for that division, and W-Flyweight was born yesterday. But the fact that Cris Cyborg is a bantamweight non champ in this game is so annoying to me. Fair enough. Don't build a featherweight career around her, but give her a roster division. fill it up with the usual suspects like Holly, Germaine, etc. I'm hoping for all the UFC champs, and all the UFC divisions in this game in the future
CUSTOMISE REAL FIGHTERS
I noticed that in the intro RL Conor is getting ready for his fight against Aldo, then it cuts to the game engine and he's a bulky fighter with his hair shaven. It kinda pulled me out. His UFC2 model has long hair. So they removed his long hair and then when they needed a long haired Conor they used the new model. I can't be the only one who would like to play old Conor, or mayweather fight Conor with the slick cut instead? Also, you just know when he comes back, he'll have a new haircut. This made me think about all the other fighters on the roster, a loooot of these boys fluctuate between a few different looks. Beard, or mustache, more tattoos or less? Hell what about weight classes? Welterweight Conor and Featherweight Conor looks the same! I'm not saying you have to go crazy, but I would love if i could customise the fighters between maybe 2 to 4 different looks.
CUSTOMISE RECORDS
How many times must I hear that my CAFs are debuting in the Octagon? It's the middleweight championship, but they're both 0-0-0? let us customise the record. It would be great for couch multiplayer. Also it should be fairly easy to link it up to bruce buffer's speech (like it is in career).
DIFFERENT VENUES
There are several venues in this game that you can't access for a quick fight with friends. The WFA, the gyms, and the sparring cage. Also, I'm thinking it was a missed opportunity not to model and put the UFC Performance Institute in the game. that cage looks gorgeous with the settings, it would be a great look for the UFC, and a fresh venue for the fans.
CROWD ANTENDANCE
I'd love to have some more control over the venues. Maybe you're playing with friend X before the big rematch with friend Y. well then the first one deserves minimum attendance and the latter one would be a title match sold out. It would let us control the backdrop... which can get a little bit monotonous at times.
A weird thing with the game is how much time has been spent to perfect the entrance (which looks amazing!) But whenever I play with ANYONE they just skip it. Such a shame that so much time has been spent on something so many people gloss over. Here are a few suggestions to make it a bit more interactive.
CUSTOMISE CORNER MEN
I'm walking out! and who.... who are these people following me? Some white dude with tattoos, who are these people? What if I could create my own crew to have my back? It wouldn't have to be super complicated either. Random skins cheapens the entrance a little bit. I can choose the song, but not the boys I walk out with? Also you could let us look through the different Reebok outfits for the crew. Everyone wins.
ENTRANCE TAUNTS
In EA FIFA, whenever you score, your player runs down the field and depending on what you press, he'll do a celebrations. You could do multiple and run around in circles if you want to. Now, maybe moving the fighter during entrance is a bridge too far for UFC 3, but what if we map the taunts? UFC3 has so many animations already captured, all they would have to do is let you access them by pressing a button. Like in FIFA. If you press nothing your fighter will do his regular thing, if you press LEFT directional button, he'll raise his left hand and bump his head or whatever. It'll make the entrance so much more fun.
RANDOM ANGLES
The cameras are usually on a set framing, and when you've played 5 fights with your favorite fighter you know every tiny move the camera man takes. My suggestion is that they randomise the composition. Now it wouldn't have to be anything super drastic, just a tiiiny bit of randomising of every camera angle would make every entrance feel fresher. The background edges would off course have to hidden, but as it is right now every movement is exactly the same.
GENERIC REFEREES
There are currently 3 refs in the game, and it's kinda underwhelming when Herb Dean refs the first fight in the WFA. What if we have some generic refs to mix it up a bit?
OLD HEALTH BAR
The health bar (or bars) are a bit overwhelming. I can see why a person would prefer the new design over the old one, but for a first time player it seems a bit daunting to me. I'm all for the yellow with STAMINA written on it. But I am missing the voodoo doll. It's such a pretty visualiser. If I was to show this game to a friend, I think it would be much more easier for them to understand quickly with the voodoo doll. than a bunch of words they have to quickly read (Submission game for example is a damn nightmare, people see that and most of my friends just stay the heeell away from it. But I am so glad you guys added the simple sub option though, good thinking!
)
JAB MEASURING
I'm a bit more unsure about this, but I was wondering if maybe it would be cool if there's a way to keep your hand out there. The striking in this game is great, and you can implement real life tactics to do a lot. In real life i love to keep my jab out there to either measure how close I have to be for a right straight, keep them at a distance, or for a quick cheeky left flick hook. In the game I've ended up jabbing like crazy, not cuz i want to hit the person. Maybe it's good like it is. This one is more spittballin'
These next parts will be old news for most, but I do wanna throw my weight in for it too. if there was an issue with TKO looking barbaric, then doctors and quick ref interaction is the remedy
REFEREE INTERACTION
Herb Dean just standing there as your face is crushed on UFC2 was really disturbing. Having referee interaction animation should be high on EA's priorities. For casuals the referee is what separates this from backyard brawling. An expert with doctor gloves jumping in and saving anyone from further damage.
DOCTOR STOPPAGE
Speaking of doctor gloves. A doctor is also a great way to show the mainstream that this sport is not just mayhem. Having a doctor come in and check if the fighter is not injured is a great addition.
SITTING KO
And lastly having an animation where the KO'd fighter is looked over by a doctor to make sure he's ok is a lot better than him magically standing there.
DRAWS
It sucks getting a draw. You know what else sucks? losing. Are you gonna remove that too? FIFA has draws. At least have it as an additional option in advanced options. I know you'll have to do additional mocap, but with the much needed referee interactions needed, I would argue you'll have to do ref mocap regardless.
INSTANT REPLAY
Another thing that most of the other EA sports games have. I would love to go back and change the angels of my insane KO, or if me and a friends arguing about something. Youtubers would LOOOVE instant replay. Imagine all those awesome thumbnails = more views.
I've said this many times before. UFC 2 and 3 are great games and I love playing them. I recognise that what I'm suggesting here will cost someone days and weeks of their lives to fix (and money), and I don't take that likely. Just throwing my 5 cents into the octagon. Looking forward to the next patch, and having many fun nights with this game!
Also. CAF space....
Also note that I really dig UFC 2 and UFC 3 and these are just friendly suggestions. Aaand that these are concerning the newbie experience and offliners. So I'll leave the online matchmaking stuff and vulnerability frames discussions for the pro.
ROSTER SELECTION
An annoying thing in UFC 2 was that the roster selection reverted back to the default everytime you exited the window. No UFC2! I don't care about Conor Vs Aldo! Sooo many times have I played with friends and we select our fighters and then someone presses the back button. we enter again, and now we have to scroll through a million fighters again.
UFC 3 kinda fixed this. Now the last selection is remembered (but only if you play them.)
But I wanna take it a few steps further:
1) remember my selections in every weightclasses.
Maybe I love fighting with Mark Hunt in heavyweight. I would love if whenever I opened Heavyweight it would be on my last selection. That way whenever I wanted to go to my heavyweight fav I wouldn't have to scroll through a bunch of fighters.
2) let us asign belts and interim belts for anyone in the different weightclasses.
right now I can't have a unification bout between Tony and Conor. Or maybe I wanna strip conor and make Tony the real champ? pluss look at how nice that picture look. You get to give them shiny belts and whenever you scroll over them there they are, looking all champy.
DIVISION MODE
I love Tournament mode! The visuals are awesome, and you kinda get to make your own little universe. But I am kinda confused. Tournament isn't really a UFC thing, in fact with the recent Bellator heavyweight tournament it feels kinda off-brand. But how awesome wouldn't it be if it was a custom division too? It would be fairly easy to make. You would fill it up with 20-30 of your fighters and simply pick two and either sim it, or fight. there could be a simple algorithm that assigned certain points for W, early KO W, early KO L, L and move the fighter up or down the rankings. look at that picture, i would love for this to be a mode.
WOMEN'S DIVISIONS
We have come a long way, and I understand that things in the divisions are moving fast. W-Featherweight and W-Flyweight both are pretty weird at the moment. W-Featherweight is basically Cris Cyborg. There aren't even any official rankings for that division, and W-Flyweight was born yesterday. But the fact that Cris Cyborg is a bantamweight non champ in this game is so annoying to me. Fair enough. Don't build a featherweight career around her, but give her a roster division. fill it up with the usual suspects like Holly, Germaine, etc. I'm hoping for all the UFC champs, and all the UFC divisions in this game in the future
CUSTOMISE REAL FIGHTERS
I noticed that in the intro RL Conor is getting ready for his fight against Aldo, then it cuts to the game engine and he's a bulky fighter with his hair shaven. It kinda pulled me out. His UFC2 model has long hair. So they removed his long hair and then when they needed a long haired Conor they used the new model. I can't be the only one who would like to play old Conor, or mayweather fight Conor with the slick cut instead? Also, you just know when he comes back, he'll have a new haircut. This made me think about all the other fighters on the roster, a loooot of these boys fluctuate between a few different looks. Beard, or mustache, more tattoos or less? Hell what about weight classes? Welterweight Conor and Featherweight Conor looks the same! I'm not saying you have to go crazy, but I would love if i could customise the fighters between maybe 2 to 4 different looks.
CUSTOMISE RECORDS
How many times must I hear that my CAFs are debuting in the Octagon? It's the middleweight championship, but they're both 0-0-0? let us customise the record. It would be great for couch multiplayer. Also it should be fairly easy to link it up to bruce buffer's speech (like it is in career).
DIFFERENT VENUES
There are several venues in this game that you can't access for a quick fight with friends. The WFA, the gyms, and the sparring cage. Also, I'm thinking it was a missed opportunity not to model and put the UFC Performance Institute in the game. that cage looks gorgeous with the settings, it would be a great look for the UFC, and a fresh venue for the fans.
CROWD ANTENDANCE
I'd love to have some more control over the venues. Maybe you're playing with friend X before the big rematch with friend Y. well then the first one deserves minimum attendance and the latter one would be a title match sold out. It would let us control the backdrop... which can get a little bit monotonous at times.
A weird thing with the game is how much time has been spent to perfect the entrance (which looks amazing!) But whenever I play with ANYONE they just skip it. Such a shame that so much time has been spent on something so many people gloss over. Here are a few suggestions to make it a bit more interactive.
CUSTOMISE CORNER MEN
I'm walking out! and who.... who are these people following me? Some white dude with tattoos, who are these people? What if I could create my own crew to have my back? It wouldn't have to be super complicated either. Random skins cheapens the entrance a little bit. I can choose the song, but not the boys I walk out with? Also you could let us look through the different Reebok outfits for the crew. Everyone wins.
ENTRANCE TAUNTS
In EA FIFA, whenever you score, your player runs down the field and depending on what you press, he'll do a celebrations. You could do multiple and run around in circles if you want to. Now, maybe moving the fighter during entrance is a bridge too far for UFC 3, but what if we map the taunts? UFC3 has so many animations already captured, all they would have to do is let you access them by pressing a button. Like in FIFA. If you press nothing your fighter will do his regular thing, if you press LEFT directional button, he'll raise his left hand and bump his head or whatever. It'll make the entrance so much more fun.
RANDOM ANGLES
The cameras are usually on a set framing, and when you've played 5 fights with your favorite fighter you know every tiny move the camera man takes. My suggestion is that they randomise the composition. Now it wouldn't have to be anything super drastic, just a tiiiny bit of randomising of every camera angle would make every entrance feel fresher. The background edges would off course have to hidden, but as it is right now every movement is exactly the same.
GENERIC REFEREES
There are currently 3 refs in the game, and it's kinda underwhelming when Herb Dean refs the first fight in the WFA. What if we have some generic refs to mix it up a bit?
OLD HEALTH BAR
The health bar (or bars) are a bit overwhelming. I can see why a person would prefer the new design over the old one, but for a first time player it seems a bit daunting to me. I'm all for the yellow with STAMINA written on it. But I am missing the voodoo doll. It's such a pretty visualiser. If I was to show this game to a friend, I think it would be much more easier for them to understand quickly with the voodoo doll. than a bunch of words they have to quickly read (Submission game for example is a damn nightmare, people see that and most of my friends just stay the heeell away from it. But I am so glad you guys added the simple sub option though, good thinking!
)JAB MEASURING
I'm a bit more unsure about this, but I was wondering if maybe it would be cool if there's a way to keep your hand out there. The striking in this game is great, and you can implement real life tactics to do a lot. In real life i love to keep my jab out there to either measure how close I have to be for a right straight, keep them at a distance, or for a quick cheeky left flick hook. In the game I've ended up jabbing like crazy, not cuz i want to hit the person. Maybe it's good like it is. This one is more spittballin'
These next parts will be old news for most, but I do wanna throw my weight in for it too. if there was an issue with TKO looking barbaric, then doctors and quick ref interaction is the remedy
REFEREE INTERACTION
Herb Dean just standing there as your face is crushed on UFC2 was really disturbing. Having referee interaction animation should be high on EA's priorities. For casuals the referee is what separates this from backyard brawling. An expert with doctor gloves jumping in and saving anyone from further damage.
DOCTOR STOPPAGE
Speaking of doctor gloves. A doctor is also a great way to show the mainstream that this sport is not just mayhem. Having a doctor come in and check if the fighter is not injured is a great addition.
SITTING KO
And lastly having an animation where the KO'd fighter is looked over by a doctor to make sure he's ok is a lot better than him magically standing there.
DRAWS
It sucks getting a draw. You know what else sucks? losing. Are you gonna remove that too? FIFA has draws. At least have it as an additional option in advanced options. I know you'll have to do additional mocap, but with the much needed referee interactions needed, I would argue you'll have to do ref mocap regardless.
INSTANT REPLAY
Another thing that most of the other EA sports games have. I would love to go back and change the angels of my insane KO, or if me and a friends arguing about something. Youtubers would LOOOVE instant replay. Imagine all those awesome thumbnails = more views.
I've said this many times before. UFC 2 and 3 are great games and I love playing them. I recognise that what I'm suggesting here will cost someone days and weeks of their lives to fix (and money), and I don't take that likely. Just throwing my 5 cents into the octagon. Looking forward to the next patch, and having many fun nights with this game!
Also. CAF space....
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