Will NHL Recover From a Down Year? (Roundtable)

[bxphenom7]

I'd say of course it will since all they have to do is put back the modes (right?). If anything, they should have MUCH IMPROVED modes for next year. I think that was the long term development plan.

[THESHAMISASHAME]

Almost posted when you started this thread last night as I dont understand the entitlement issue some have but I always talk with my wallet ? but what the heck I guess Ill say it again EA NHL did what it had to do because of lack of resources and Gameplay with a little work is amazing right out of the box and thats really all that matters to me .

I mean could you imaging if EA NHL didnt released the game like this ? It could have been 3 years to fix a have baked mess with all the modes bugs and glitches so Im glad they bit the bullet for NHL 15 but thank heavens they are releasing a playoff mode as its all I play anyways and 3 stars is a plus so Im set once that drops .

But now we at least have a wonderful deep base that hopefully will be built upon in future releases and many years to come .

[actionhank]

If EA actually shows some interest in more evenly catering towards it's player base, and gets the game back to a quality, innovative title. Then definitely. I sat out this year because the gameplay looks the same, they removed a ton of features and modes, and despite it all, seemed pretty content to not address the obvious issues.
That said, i've been growing more frustrated with EA year after year. This was just the final straw. A lot of people want and ask for a more realistic type gameplay, and despite this EA has continuously made their development team cater towards the HUT crowd and making the game have awesome hits and cool fights. I get that they need to secure a money pipeline when possible, but to constantly have frustrating AI year after year, and goalies that let in the most absurd and weak shots, while sliding across the ice and making insane dives on open nets while HUT gets promoted, and videos of fan selfies get focuses on just makes EA's marketing frustrating, and the game itself more frustrating.
EA's NHL has a ton of potential, and isn't a terrible game. But, it's still frustrating to play if realism is something that's important to you. EA has a lot of work to do to earn back a handful of people who usually defend the title, myself included.

[MDgolf]

This is the best representation of hockey I have ever played. Gameplay wise this is on par with FIFA. I don't play the modes that are missing so I'm good. Kudos to EA for making good madden, fifa and NHL games this year (gameplay wise). In my opinion the show was average just because of hiccups and framerate issues. Well done EA really great gameplay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[drog1602]

For me its more about the damage that was done with how everything was handled. That is going to leave a tarnish on this series, can we even trust this development team anymore. I know for me, I feel like they just don't care about their longtime customers.

Its this damage that could ultimately hurt this series. It will either take an honest apology from Rammer or a change in development team to win many people back, myself included.

As far as the game, it can't just be a rehash of the old modes brought back in. I expect a true next gen experience and some serious improvements to the core of this game.

Just my .02 cents, that will fall on deaf ears over at EA.

[GROGtheNailer]

People keep mentioning the game-play is solid, I keep hearing that. Can I get specific examples of what you think is so great with the AI? Besides improved puck physics?

I see large holes in the AI but what surprises me most is there seems to be legacy AI issues and this was supposedly built from the ground up? I suppose they could tweak it better but they never seem to get it right.

I suspect the main reason is the game is smoke and mirrors. If you think about it, what is going on underneath the hood? I really do suspect the game is built from fluff. I cannot prove it and hell I might be wrong too, but something just doesn't sit well here. Something isnt right and it is hard to put my finger on it (game-play-wise). That is the frustrating part. I think they used many spare parts from the previous engine.

Like how does a simple thing like a pass through an opposing player work to a player on your team? What ratings are in play here? I think it is a very simple base equation based on a global setting. Who knows really? Except EA and they wouldn't disclose that I am sure.

As a fan of sports and hockey being my biggest sports bro-love, things just ever add up correctly. My suspension of belief is always grinded away in EAs hockey game.

In a sports game, stats should rule the day. Here is the way a simple pass should work in my mind:

Me playing against the AI:

1. Player 1 wants to pass to Player 2.

2. Player A (AI) is between us.

3. I attempt pass to player 2, my individual pass statistic is 75%

4. Player A pass interception is 25% which comes right off the top of my 75%

5. The neutral chance the pass goes through is now 50% with out any modifiers

6. A modifier might be, if player A presses the appropriate pass intercept button on controller, he gets a 10% bonus to intercept

7. The chance my attempted pass goes through is now 40%.

8. If it is intercepted, the following rules apply. 1) it is knocked down and player A gains control (25%) 2) it is deflected away (75%)

9) Passing to an open player with no one in between is run off player 1's base stat of 75%

When you go look at your stats of your players, you can see these rating, you can edit these ratings if you want. This one rating now has it in the open so there is transparency. The stats will matter and you can see clearly why.

Another aspect or modifer of the above is "reach" or "coverage. Some players will have another foot or so of a larger area the puck may pass through (his intercept range). You can probably see where that might end up.

Also, I really wish speed was measured in feet/sec.

Alright, what was I talking about at the start? I got totally derailed.

[Knight165]

Grog.....I hear you.
The absolute horrific AI players(MY players) is front and center for year XX in a row.
I honestly don't see how it can be so easily dismissed.
It's really holding the gameplay back.
As for modes....well what can you say?....except ATROCIOUS.

M.K.
Knight165

[bigwill33]

"People" don't keep saying that the gameplay is great. One or two people keep saying that in here. They just happen to be the ones that are posting that in every single thread possible. Clearly trying to feed their own personal agendas.

If you look closely you can read in-depth details about all the flaws still plaguing the series in terms of gameplay. It is far from spectacular. And even if NHL 15 is the best it has been, that isn't saying much because to a lot of us the series has been awful for the past 5 years.

And to the question of whether or not EA can recover from this; that is relative to what is defined as "recover".

Taking 2 years of development to turn out a product that was not even a shell of what was expected and then keeping it under wraps and being as shady as possible in doing so really set things back. If the game even is able to be fully featured in the next year or two that won't take away from all the lost time.

And it could easily be said that all of the features missing were not that spectacular to begin with. There were severe issues with EASHL, Be a GM, GM Connected, and HUT to begin with. Simply putting them back into the game as they were already will not be enough in many people's minds to justify purchasing this game again. And I couldn't blame them.

Look around just these forums. These are the least used game forums on all of OS, pretty much. Yet we have people on just this site that can list pages of things that EA has removed from the game over the years that should be staples of any hockey video game. I, personally, have listed a comprehensive list of issues plaguing EASHL and overall AI with the gameplay in the series. So this game was far from being great to begin with.

So much would need to be done to even catch the series up to speed with other sports titles that it makes my head spin. And quite frankly, I don't think the current team at EA has the ability to do it with what they have shown me in the past half of a decade.

Say that last part out loud a few times, by the way. "Half of a decade. Half of a decade. Half of a decade." It has been at least that long since so much of this game was even touched. The goalies are nearly 8 years old in this game. If you knew how to score 8 years ago you can do the exact same things and be successful. Sliders don't work as they should. Tuners often break more things than they fix. The AI is downright putrid at times. Online is wonky and has disconnect issues. The producers are nowhere to be found 97% of the year until it is time to do damage control or attempt to sell games. And they are tighter than Fort Knox with allowing media or impressions of the game to be released to the public prior to launch.

Add all of this up and why would anyone have faith in EA to do right by their fans with the NHL series?