Producer David Littman Talks NHL 14

[Crapula]

If EA advertised they overhauled the menus, making them lighting fast and reducing clutter, and added pinning favorites to the home screen... I would go pre-order this game right now.

But seriously, all talk and no video. I doubt they have anything to show. They're probably just releasing this crap to get a feel of what they should actually work on.

I'll help you out EA (because I know you are going to read this)... Defensive stick control allowing stick tie ups, tie downs, stick taps, aimed poke checks, manual hooking and slashing, pushing down on skates, stick and body control in front of the net and on the boards (not the automatic crap you have now), stick tie ups with body collisions while fighting for a loose puck, and stick control when fighting along the boards (and the quick stick lift, turn body into player to separate from puck).

100% collision detection with stick awareness (skaters actually move their stick away so it doesn't clip through bodies, faces, and legs). Pucks don't morph through skates, legs, goalie gloves, etc. If a shot is taken with the defenders stick an inch away the shooters stick collides with the defenders stick, ruining his shot. Awareness of stick during dekes, example, if you are 5' 7" pulling off a deke where the stick goes over your head, you should high stick the other player if they are a few inches taller. Ability to tap stick lifts or hold stick lifts. Ability to hook the stick from behind but also risking hitting the hands and taking a hooking penalty. Player awareness of boards, no more stick through boards and puck floating.

Remove everything automated including, poke checks, the hitting vortex (Hold check, let go of left stick and you'll see what I'm talking about), rerouting the puck mid flight to find the smallest gaps (offensive awareness attribute helping people who can't aim score), goalie desperation saves, goalie saves in general, deflections (give us control of deflections!), anything else that is automated.

Call checking from behind and interference penalties.

Have endurance actually mean something, force people to play a slower paced game and really pick their spots to go balls out. Hockey is not fast break basketball for f's sake. Breakaways happen way too often, it should be exciting to get one, not as simple as skating straight. Why does the AI offline on Superstar with difficulty sliders maxed give up 5 breakaways a game in 15 minutes?

5' 7" players with 92 speed are not faster than 6' 4" players with 92 speed, the fastest skaters are over 6'. The fastest people in the world, skating, running, swimming, are usually over 6' 3". What's the advantage to being small in sports? NONE! I know I know, if you had speed done accurately then everyone will create 6' 9" skaters with 92 speed. Ok, figure something else out. Pre-created skater types with certain heights and abilities (like selecting a player from pre-created players in an RPG game).

And last, the menus. They are slow, cluttered pieces of filth (GMC has the most frustrating menus in the history of video games). I don't care about cool backgrounds and animated text menus. Allow me to set favorites on the home screen, why do I have to go through 6 options to do something I do every day.


Sorry for all the name calling and general lack of respect.

[fmedges]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiddy

i have played hundreds of games with all the different player types in the EASHL. the best player type attempting deflections is the two way forward. attempts putting his stick up on majority of shots coming through and also does a lot of the jumping out of the way animation so he dont block the shot. next best, the sniper. yup. makes no sense, but the sniper build gets sticks on pucks almost as much as the two way. most the other builds, grinder, tough guy get some here and there but not like the above.

Oh I've never played EASHL I was talking about offline be a gm mode. In that mode I feel there isn't many deflections or "dirty" goals, just a lot of cheap ones

[Fiddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by fmedges

Oh I've never played EASHL I was talking about offline be a gm mode. In that mode I feel there isn't many deflections or "dirty" goals, just a lot of cheap ones

well, the player types are obviously involved. how many of those players i mentioned on the ice together at the same time? ya know? but yeah, the lack of these types of goals in the game in general really sucks. bc a lot of goals happen via deflections, rebounds, etc. not much grinding it out in and around the crease.

[addybojangles]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nittany

They better fix the AI teammates in EASHL. For 2 years straight now, the AI is horrible. How hard is it to have the AI know that if you are down a goal under 2 mins...but on the PK...to not dump the puck everytime. It's ridiculous. EA has to realize that not every EASHL team has 6 humans. Most are 2 and 3 human teammates with the rest AI. As a winger, I should not have to immediately head back to my own net on every faceoff since the AI is going to give the puck up.... Here's hoping....

Oh, man. How this hasn't been addressed is one of the silliest things ever. I am constantly dumbfounded by CPU AI behavior in EASHL.

Here's something else: the weird tie-ups in front of the net. Give me an option to get out of the weird jostling animation, please.

[onac22]

Quote: Originally Posted by addybojangles

Oh, man. How this hasn't been addressed is one of the silliest things ever. I am constantly dumbfounded by CPU AI behavior in EASHL. Here's something else: the weird tie-ups in front of the net. Give me an option to get out of the weird jostling animation, please.

Yeah it sucks when the puck is in the corner and the game won't release the player. Same happens when a player gets by another on the boards only to be sucked back into a battle. Hopefully all the sucking animations are gone this year.


Edit: Ha! sucking animations. that just sounds like no good in any context.

[Lindros88]

NHL 13 was an obvious step in the right direction, but if they don't fix some of the glaring problems, 14 is going to be a complete bust. I like the direction they went in with the new skating engine in 13, but it is in need of some serious fine tuning. Being able to blow by entire teams with ease, on the hardest difficulty setting is completely unacceptable. Having uncontested entries into the offensive zone is another unforgivable flaw. The CPU players routinely choosing to pass instead of taking a shot when they have a clear shooting lane is another indication of poor programming.

The hits are also atrocious. Players getting hit and bouncing like basketballs and balancing on the tops of their heads is mental. Not being able to nail a player cruising through the neutral zone with his head down is infuriating. The hits have never been good in any NHL game if you ask me.

I'm ecstatic about NHL 14 because of the new fighting engine (been waiting for an authentic fighting engine since I was 11) and contact physics, but I hope it doesn't come at the expense of some much needed fine tuning in other aspects of the game.

[CanuckJ]

how can I make my voice heard toward EA? I don't mind the way the game is now but I want create a team updated, just simple stuff, update all the available logos to reflect every team featured in the game and update all the available colors.

[canucksss]

Quote: Originally Posted by CanuckJ

how can I make my voice heard toward EA? I don't mind the way the game is now but I want create a team updated, just simple stuff, update all the available logos to reflect every team featured in the game and update all the available colors.

like you i did CAT and somehow disappointed that I am only limited in 2 uni's. why cant i have an alternate jersey/s?