NHL 13 Hands-On Preview with Lots of Good Info (Game Informer)

[JezFranco]

This all sounds amazing.


I just really hope that EA nails it, and don't screw up. Cuz really the last few years their intentions have been great, but it's like they screwed up just before the goal line.


I really love 12 and have played it to death, but there is a feeling about it, like if EA lost control somewhere with the patches & tuner sets... Not only do you feel it because there are some things not working in 12, but what happened to the feedback from EA? It's been very quiet this year.


Specifically I'd like the sliders to be more effective.
If I put penalties on "0" the game should basically allow anything, for anyone that wants an arcade game... When it's on 50% it should reflect a "normal" setting and on full, it should be penalties even in cases where it's a legal check.
Some sliders is already working like this, but to many does not (penalties, pass reception, flip pass etc).




Bar the skill stick, I'd say that the introduction of the full slider set is one of the most important things to this series. So it's important that it works properly.

[Dazraz]

I don't actually have a problem with the commentary team but boy do they need far more lines to improve the true broadcast effect. Dynamic commentary to keep pace with season progress & more historic team/player specific anecdotes are required. Sadly there is little to suggest that we will see much improvement in this area.

[Broncos86]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dazraz

I don't actually have a problem with the commentary team but boy do they need far more lines to improve the true broadcast effect. Dynamic commentary to keep pace with season progress & more historic team/player specific anecdotes are required. Sadly there is little to suggest that we will see much improvement in this area.

I think the issue is simply that the commentary isn't horrible. It really isn't. It's decent. The problem is simply that it's very stale. We've heard it before. Every single line. Whereas you look at Madden, and the commentary was in absolute disarray. Thus, resources and priorities have been placed elsewhere. I did read that some new lines were recorded for NHL 13 to directly relate with the new skating and AI.

One hopes that next year, an emphasis can be placed on new commentary.

[hollywood_cpm]

Quote: Originally Posted by JezFranco

This all sounds amazing. I really love 12 and have played it to death, but there is a feeling about it, like if EA lost control somewhere with the patches & tuner sets Bar the skill stick, I'd say that the introduction of the full slider set is one of the most important things to this series. So it's important that it works properly.

This and this.

The tuners always seem to fix something at the expense of other things. And the fix almost always is for online at the expense of offline. There's too many online players who just exploit a good game and EA has to dumb it down to keep things "fair" which comes at the expense of the entire game experience.

As for sliders. Spot in. If they worked properly in NHL 12 I know I would have had a lot more challenging games and thus more enjoyable games.

[Rogie Vachon]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Sounds great on paper. Let's hope it actually translates to the gameplay as it's written up. Couple things in that bullet list stood out at me Part of the AI work includes making sure there is better player differentiation on the ice. Fourth liners will go into corners more aggressively and finish their checks. Excellent and it's about time, Hank I think they finally heard us. 12. EA is also working on making sure teammate AI knows what to do when you have an odd-man rush on offense. If you cross over into their lane, they will know that they should criss cross and position themselves for a scoring opportunity Also excellent along with players being aware of situations rather than just where the puck is. Goalies coming out to challenge to cut down the angle on a 2 on 1 for example. my edit -...this isn`t really correct,the goalie has to be conservative and still play both the shot and the pass ,....if his defenseman can tie up and nuetralize the open guy,then we can hedge our bets the puck carrier will shoot and wait him out. If the pass does happen,we can get across with our whole body in butterfly,instead of having to do the splits from being too far out,and out of position for the pass. If we come out and challenge too far,..then we are sitting ducks for a cross crease pass every time,whether we have an all star Dman on the play or not,.... Really digging what I'm hearing, I still want to SEE it in action however before I get a chubby about it.

I made and edit with an explaination.

[Rogie Vachon]

Quote: Originally Posted by hollywood_cpm

I had a chance to speak with someone at EA regarding this issue at a recent playtest session. I think we'll be with Gary and Bill for a while still. He said that audio is EXTREMELY expensive when making a game. Surprisingly more of a budget goes to audio than people would expect - and obvs he did not mention exact numbers. But the the time and effort that go into making sure one of a number clips plays when a situation happens is very high. Redoing all they've done with new guys would be a major undertaking. Frankly the time is better spent working on gameplay - like the new skating engine

Some of the phrases are absolutely fine,......if they could run the clips through a speech emulator or something...LOL

I`ve suggested they use an impressionist to add some commentary,....guys like Hewitt,Gallivan,Irvine,Howie Meeker,Cherry,Bob Cole,....and many more might be able to be used.
At least they wouldn`t need all those personalities to go through the ordeal of the recording sessions.For some it would be a neat trick.

Seeing that all the audio must be "digitized",surely they could find some sort of speech emulator effect to modify what they already have.

If they were able to spend a period of time where they improved the audio by swapping out stuff in bits and pieces,....as they were produced and tested,.....another reason for a temporary, inhouse voice mimic?

I`m just thinking out loud here.

[Rogie Vachon]

Quote: Originally Posted by hollywood_cpm

This and this. The tuners always seem to fix something at the expense of other things. And the fix almost always is for online at the expense of offline. There's too many online players who just exploit a good game and EA has to dumb it down to keep things "fair" which comes at the expense of the entire game experience. As for sliders. Spot in. If they worked properly in NHL 12 I know I would have had a lot more challenging games and thus more enjoyable games.

I agree,with these sentiments.

If what we already have worked much better,...NHL12 would have been a better game.

Hopefully,with NHL13 and future versions,....a better and more in depth degree of adjustability will be available for the offline/single player user.

I understand that EA needs "their way" for online,.....that is fine,....for I can choose to not play online then.
For offline,I should have been able to do much more with the sliders they provided in NHL12.......could have done much,much more.

[Therion7]

That was quite a list.

If half of the things mentioned, and CPU pens must be in that, make it to the shelves then I can live with the commentary.

Getting rid of the cutscenes in favour of an AI-driven approach might mean goal celebrations are more like FIFA rather than a quick few seconds to get your user move in then a canned cutscene.

Five hole goals? Fantastic news.