NHL 16 News Post

NHL 16 Available Today For Xbox One & PlayStation 4, Post Your Impressions

08:38 AM - September 15, 2015 by Steve_OS

NHL 16 has officially launched for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Get a few games in and post your impressions!

On another note, NHL Legacy Edition is available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers.

Game: NHL 16Reader Score: Vote Now
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# 261 phillyfan23 @ 09/29/15 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven547


	I feel EA has lost touch with creating a SIM game. Why? Because the focus seems to be on sliders and adjusting what they do or the affect they have on the game. Whatever happened to letting the game play out according to player ratings?? If I have a player with a high pass accuracy rating, but I decrease the pass accuracy slider, that basically washes out the ratings. This game seems solely based on the sliders and not ratings, which makes it NHL Hitz 2015. The tuner notes focus on sliders. Why have ratings if they mean nothing at all? Goalie reaction should be rating based, not a slider. Why do you think a lot of the text based sports games are pretty close to accurate? No sliders....based on ratings. I have DEF always scoring from the point because SHA slider is 3 or more. If EA could tell us how to adjust the sliders so the game is ratings based, things would be good. But it's been silence from EA again.

sliders and attributes should work in conjunction to create a realistic experience for the user.

example:

with default sliders goalies give up around 3.5 goals a game .Lundqvist, Quick (best rated starting goalies) give up 3 goals a game while Pavelec, Hiller (worst rated starters) give up 4 goals a game.

Just by this, we can say that the attributes are doing their job. The best rated goalies are performoing significantly better than the worst rated. But the problem is, it still doesn't match real NHL stats where the average goalie gives up 2.5 goals a game. the best give up around 2 and the worst give up around 3 .

So what do you do ? You jack up goalie SLIDERS to approach real life statistics.
Proper sliders in my view are basically global attribute ratings. If you take out sliders, for this example, you will feel the different skill levels of the goalies, but you won't be achieving realistic stats.

So by rasing goalie skill slider, HYour lundqvist has a functional overall rating boosted say from a 93 OVR to 103 OVR while Pavelec is raised from a 82 to a 92 functional rating.

# 262 Steven547 @ 09/29/15 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillyfan23


	sliders and attributes should work in conjunction to create a realistic experience for the user. example: with default sliders goalies give up around 3.5 goals a game .Lundqvist, Quick (best rated starting goalies) give up 3 goals a game while Pavelec, Hiller (worst rated starters) give up 4 goals a game. Just by this, we can say that the attributes are doing their job. The best rated goalies are performoing significantly better than the worst rated. But the problem is, it still doesn't match real NHL stats where the average goalie gives up 2.5 goals a game. the best give up around 2 and the worst give up around 3 . So what do you do ? You jack up goalie SLIDERS to approach real life statistics. Proper sliders in my view are basically global attribute ratings. If you take out sliders, for this example, you will feel the different skill levels of the goalies, but you won't be achieving realistic stats. So by rasing goalie skill slider, HYour lundqvist has a functional overall rating boosted say from a 93 OVR to 103 OVR while Pavelec is raised from a 82 to a 92 functional rating.

I understand what you're saying, but have yet to achieve anything close to "realistic". Taking out sliders, IMO, would be a good thing. I do want to see the different skill levels. That's the whole purpose of ratings. Raise the rating to increase skill level, decrease to lower it.

In your example with the goalies, it makes sense to help boost the better goalie, however, the "lower" goalie is still getting a boost which in turn, affects his game play...causing him to play on superstar level. A test I always run, is to play Team Japan. If you raise the reaction slider or any other goalie sliders, what you are doing is raising the rating of Japan's goalie, hence the "all star" gameplay that happens. Play game and get frustrated at how good Japan suddenly becomes.

When I play Pro Evolution Soccer or EA's FIFA, those games are pretty good realistically because there are hardly any sliders that affect the player and his ratings. Putting this game at "default", I don't think is "default" at all to have the game play according to ratings.

In the long run, we will all have our different opinions. I welcome any constructive feedback to help make this game better. I'm a position lock player...and my first game after the latest tuner....I was winning 6-0 as TOR over CAR....in the first period! To me, EA resorted back to arcade.

# 263 fleaman @ 09/29/15 03:44 PM

Guys have you noticed that in ps4 the disc player starts spining making noise in cutscenes during a game?Do you get this as well or is it only me?

# 264 jake19ny @ 09/29/15 03:56 PM

This is how bad the CPU AI is under this new tuner. Your CPU teammates have never been the brightest but this is so bad now. I am the Rangers vs the Sharks. Sharks D man dumbs puck to the corner and I have control of Yandle and Pin the Sharks forward to the boards. Look at all 3 forwards clustered up and covering nobody. Hayes and Stepan look like they are whispering in each others ear or at the very least trying to skate through each other. Look at the wide open Shark heading to my net

Pinned player squirts puck out from between his legs to another uncovered Shark player. I switch control to nearest defender to cut off pass to no avail because my 3 defensively challenged teammates are still covering nobody in mid ice, Kreider lazily skates toward the wide open Shark who receives a perfect pass and puts in the back of the net.

# 265 phillyfan23 @ 09/30/15 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven547


	I understand what you're saying, but have yet to achieve anything close to "realistic". Taking out sliders, IMO, would be a good thing. I do want to see the different skill levels. That's the whole purpose of ratings. Raise the rating to increase skill level, decrease to lower it. In your example with the goalies, it makes sense to help boost the better goalie, however, the "lower" goalie is still getting a boost which in turn, affects his game play...causing him to play on superstar level. A test I always run, is to play Team Japan. If you raise the reaction slider or any other goalie sliders, what you are doing is raising the rating of Japan's goalie, hence the "all star" gameplay that happens. Play game and get frustrated at how good Japan suddenly becomes. When I play Pro Evolution Soccer or EA's FIFA, those games are pretty good realistically because there are hardly any sliders that affect the player and his ratings. Putting this game at "default", I don't think is "default" at all to have the game play according to ratings. In the long run, we will all have our different opinions. I welcome any constructive feedback to help make this game better. I'm a position lock player...and my first game after the latest tuner....I was winning 6-0 as TOR over CAR....in the first period! To me, EA resorted back to arcade.

You are misunderstanding.... for example: on default ratings and default sliders a good goalie gives up 3 goals a game....a bad goalie gives up 4 goals a game. Ratings govern this...but the godd goalie currently is performing as a bad goalie if u compare him to.real life stats.

The low rated goalie is not performing like a lower rated nhl starter but he is performing like a fringe AHLer.

You raise the goalie sliders and you boost your top rated bhl goalies from a bad nhl goalie ( 3 goals a game) to an elite nhl goalie ( 2 goals a game).

And in turn you boost your lower rated goalie from fringe AHLer ( 4 goals a game) to a serviceable nhl starter 3 goals a game. With raised sliders the 83 ovr goalie is not playing like a superstar and they will perform as they should.

You said you want to increase rating to make the game difficult....what rating would you increase if you had no sliders as u proposed? If we had global edits we could....but sliders act as global edits. Theyre just named differently.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

# 266 Splitter77 @ 09/30/15 08:52 AM

just wanted to say even though this game has problems.
Its probably the best hockey game ive played.

before this- nhl2k3 and hitz pro were my faves.

next year they just have to redo the goalies with more sliders for them.
player separation
tighter gameplay
more play stoppages
boxscores for all season games
highlite show??

# 267 Money99 @ 09/30/15 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splitter77


	just wanted to say even though this game has problems. Its probably the best hockey game ive played. before this- nhl2k3 and hitz pro were my faves. next year they just have to redo the goalies with more sliders for them. player separation tighter gameplay more play stoppages boxscores for all season games highlite show??

That's some high-praise my friend!!!

I'm a HUGE fan of NHL2K3.

A highlight show would be fantastic! Maybe even plays of the week?
I would like the EA team to look at some of the Franchise options featured in NHL2K10.
I loved looking through the various team news seeing who was hot, injured, traded, etc.
It really immersed me into the universe.

Would be nice if EA gave their NHL team a lot more resources for things like this.
Considering they shared the fighting engine from FN with the NHL and UFC teams, I wonder if implementing a 'Highlight Show' engine across all their games would be possible?
(I realize how ignorant I am when it comes to programming. For all I know, I'm asking the devs to split an atom with a universal Highlight Engine)

# 268 phillyfan23 @ 09/30/15 12:19 PM

after the latest tuner ( sept 30? )....cpu misses passes again just line NHL 15 and no more ping pong cpu robot passing. As some may remember, when I first played nhl 16 pre patch/tuner, it was painfully obvious how perfect and pinpoint the cpu was in passing. Well after playing one game, with the tuner it is now obvious the cpu passing is back to nhl 15 levels or at least close to it.

I'm on my 2nd game now and in the first shift ALONE, the cpu controlled maple leafs have made 3 errant passes . THREE! that's really a great sign.

Money99....I am a 2k3, 2k5 and 2k10 fanatic, and I enjoyed nhl 15 more than those 3 titles as a complete gameplay package. Hopefully, now that the cpu ai passing is taken care of, the other new gameplay features of nhl 16 could propel it past nhl 15.

# 269 actionhank @ 09/30/15 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven547


	I feel EA has lost touch with creating a SIM game. Why? Because the focus seems to be on sliders and adjusting what they do or the affect they have on the game. Whatever happened to letting the game play out according to player ratings?? If I have a player with a high pass accuracy rating, but I decrease the pass accuracy slider, that basically washes out the ratings. This game seems solely based on the sliders and not ratings, which makes it NHL Hitz 2015. The tuner notes focus on sliders. Why have ratings if they mean nothing at all? Goalie reaction should be rating based, not a slider. Why do you think a lot of the text based sports games are pretty close to accurate? No sliders....based on ratings. I have DEF always scoring from the point because SHA slider is 3 or more. If EA could tell us how to adjust the sliders so the game is ratings based, things would be good. But it's been silence from EA again.

As others have pointed out, the sliders and attributes should work together. They should function like they do in other games and help to enhance the experience, and fine tune it to what a user wants, without having to go through and adjust individual ratings.

I think at a middle setting, the tuner should have little to no affect on the gameplay, with only attributes controlling things. Say you had pass accuracy on a 0-6 slider, and a player with an 80 rating in passing. Leaving the slider in the middle of the bar would mean only that 80 rating affects that. A guy with a 90 might complete 95% of his passes, a guy with 80 might hit around 75% of the time, and someone with a 30 rating might only have a 20% passing percentage, ignoring the potential (I honestly don't know if EA factors any other factors in, so this is just a hypothetical) of influence from things like defensive pressure, skating speed, body position, and things like that (ice condition, in a perfect world).

So, then you take the slider and move it down to 0 (maybe a -3 to +3 scaled would make more sense?) then the attributes are all pulled down with it, with the extent of the pull being exponential. So, that guy who was a 90 overall suddenly has his percentage dropped to 90%, not huge, but still a change. The guy at the 80 rating sees a drop to around 65%, and the 30 rated player might see a drop to 10% or lower. The lower the rating to begin with, the heavier the toll is for the slider adjustment. Likewise, if you adjusted it all the way to the right and had the slider maxed out, that 90 rated player could now be sitting at 98%, the 80 player at 85%, and that 30 player could get a boost all the way up to 70%. These obviously aren't real numbers, I'm just trying to make an example of how I think a slider should affect ratings in game.

That way, moving the sliders actually has an affect that helps to distinguish the ratings. Higher rated guys move less up and down, so they stay exceptional in their ratings. Lower guys on the other hand are more heavily affected. Slider moves down will more negatively pull their skills, and moving the sliders up will help to raise their skills to make them more comparable with higher level players.

Things like this would give people the ability to fine tune the game, without having to individually edit players. If you thing everyone passes too well, you could just drop the passing slider and see the majority of players have a harder time, while playmakers who are dominant in passing wouldn't see a big change. Moving the slider up would mean more of your players are more evenly matched with superstars, so people could more easily make the game realistic or more arcade oriented depending on what they want.

As you said, it would be nice if EA discussed how they work, and how to adjust them to get the desired results. Currently it's a game of trial and error, and the results aren't always easy to notice. Penalties seem almost random depending on the game, with the slider not seeming to increase or decrease the probability of a penalty happening, or a penalty being called when it does happen.

Edit: Shogunofharlem, that is the greatest username.

# 270 Ziostilon @ 10/01/15 04:34 PM

Example of passing difficulty in online HUT:

A right handed player from behind the net passing to a left handed player in front of the net.

I can't aim any better, if I could we would not need vision control.

Why would it pass to the player who's further away and not open at the time of the pass. Please tell me its not because the open player is TWF, while the other is a SNP

Video at regular speed:

Slow Motion:

# 271 go expos @ 10/01/15 07:37 PM

yeah, that happens to me alot.. but what's even more frustrating, and happens to me alot.. is when my D passes to the other D, and it goes right to the stick of the CPU forward, shoots and scores.. The guy that intercepted the pass was nowhere near my D where i aimed it. How it went to him, I have no idea. I have lost many games in OT like this. Very Frustrating!

# 272 shogunofharlem3 @ 10/01/15 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by go expos


	yeah, that happens to me alot.. but what's even more frustrating, and happens to me alot.. is when my D passes to the other D, and it goes right to the stick of the CPU forward, shoots and scores.. The guy that intercepted the pass was nowhere near my D where i aimed it. How it went to him, I have no idea. I have lost many games in OT like this. Very Frustrating!

Thanks Money. The Shogunofharlem is the villain in my favorite kung fu movie. To you youngin's out there, go rent, or download, whatever the hell it is you do, and watch, Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon". No need making a thread to thank me. You're welcome in advance.

Now, back on topic. I was actually about to post this and I have before about previous iterations of the EA NHL series. The AI, in my opinion, reads your controller inputs. Ever try to take a quick shot, from a crazy angle, and as you press up, the ai guy hits the deck and your shot is blocked? Happens to me all the time.

I always thought this, but now in 16 using the pass preview thing, if I already have the puck in the in the zone, and am going to use the pass button to send it behind the boards, as I charge it up and aim to go behind the net, the ai players will start to go JUST prior to you releasing the button.

They read your controller and inputs, so when you have a clean line d to d. They read that is where you are going and once you release, somehow they are there.

I found putting ai learning down, I don't interpret that slider as them learning my style but more reading / learning my inputs. However, what we want is the computer to change strategy if they can't do anyting. So I put that up a bit on the slider side.

# 273 THESHAMISASHAME @ 10/01/15 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shogunofharlem3


	Thanks Money. The Shogunofharlem is the villain in my favorite kung fu movie. To you youngin's out there, go rent, or download, whatever the hell it is you do, and watch, Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon". No need making a thread to thank me. You're welcome in advance. Now, back on topic. I was actually about to post this and I have before about previous iterations of the EA NHL series. The AI, in my opinion, reads your controller inputs. Ever try to take a quick shot, from a crazy angle, and as you press up, the ai guy hits the deck and your shot is blocked? Happens to me all the time. I always thought this, but now in 16 using the pass preview thing, if I already have the puck in the in the zone, and am going to use the pass button to send it behind the boards, as I charge it up and aim to go behind the net, the ai players will start to go JUST prior to you releasing the button. They read your controller and inputs, so when you have a clean line d to d. They read that is where you are going and once you release, somehow they are there. I found putting ai learning down, I don't interpret that slider as them learning my style but more reading / learning my inputs. However, what we want is the computer to change strategy if they can't do anyting. So I put that up a bit on the slider side.

I havent had to use the tricks you mentioned in a while but it works and hopefully I wont have to raise my hu Acc to make up for the speed advantage too as its pretty fair but sometimes my D slows down with poor response as the cpu goes turbo speed probably a tilted ice advantage as my passing also get really bad after a big cpu hit .

I didnt notice much of this in 15 but it looks like Intimidation is now a key factor again at least on default allstar with huge hits ruling the day .

# 274 Money99 @ 10/02/15 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shogunofharlem3


	Thanks Money. The Shogunofharlem is the villain in my favorite kung fu movie. To you youngin's out there, go rent, or download, whatever the hell it is you do, and watch, Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon". No need making a thread to thank me. You're welcome in advance.

OT: I haven't seen "The Last Dragon" all the way through, but the parts I have are freakin' hilarious.
Definitely a cult classic.

# 275 SpritePuck @ 10/02/15 08:33 PM

I kinda wanna get the game but am wondering... is there a side camera that makes it like watching games on TV, if so is the camera playable or just two lacking in showing the spacing well?

Thanks to anyone who answers.

Also, I am a newb to hockey video games... I have a PS4 is this the game to get?

I play offline sim style in sports games. I like dynasty or manager/owner modes. Not the Be A Pro modes, if that changes things. I do not play FUT either.

# 276 SpritePuck @ 10/02/15 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	OT: I haven't seen "The Last Dragon" all the way through, but the parts I have are freakin' hilarious. Definitely a cult classic.

Anyone seen Iron Monkey, that is a great film! Is Last Dragon anything like that? I need go find it online....

# 277 csamuelsvt @ 10/05/15 10:01 AM

For anyone that has played in the playoffs...does Doc have any OT goal calls where he goes nuts besides the game winning OT goal in game 7 from last year?

They said they updated commentary for the playoffs and Doc gets more excited during them I believe.

Are there any specific playoff goal calls tired to certain players? Thanks!

# 278 nddurst @ 10/06/15 10:17 AM

Is anyone else not happy with how 3-on-3 overtime plays out in this game? It seems like there is no real urgency by your offensive teammates to find open space in the zone for a good shot opportunity. I've run into many situations where I'll have a single forward playing near the front of the net, and the other two are just hanging back by the blue line.

Is that how it plays out in real life?

# 279 actionhank @ 10/06/15 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nddurst


	Is anyone else not happy with how 3-on-3 overtime plays out in this game? It seems like there is no real urgency by your offensive teammates to find open space in the zone for a good shot opportunity. I've run into many situations where I'll have a single forward playing near the front of the net, and the other two are just hanging back by the blue line. Is that how it plays out in real life?

The few 3-on-3 OT's I've seen in the preseason, players have been cautious, but they were still moving around and trying to get open, and more importantly, when they got any sort of pressure, they capitalized. I think the 3 I saw, only 1 went to a "shootout" while the other 2 ended within the first two minutes if I'm remembering right.

That's been one of my biggest gripes with the AI in the NHL series for the past few years. There's no sense of urgency...ever. Your players, or the computer team's players...no one has any idea what to do. Ignoring even just the general inability of the AI to play defense well, or setup offensive scoring chances that look like more than just random passing, the AI don't know what the hell to do in certain scenarios.

I can remember playing NHL14, and in a lot of situations where the game was 2-1, the AI wouldn't really pressure to score a tying goal. I don't really remember them using timeouts, and most of the time, whatever line happened to be out during the last minute was the line they rolled with. 4th line out there? Screw it, let the big guys give it a shot. They also wouldn't pull their goalie until the last possible moment.

Again when down by a goal, or on the powerplay, there's no urgency to get to the puck. Guys move at the same speed, no matter what they're doing. Guys don't rush to the line trying to keep the puck in, and they don't really play defense any differently, even with a wide open net down at the other end of the ice. They would still lazily skate around the neutral zone, but there was no hustling and rushing. Just like the Blues/Brewers, I'm really hopeful that the next season brings some real changes. The AI in this game has been stagnant, and while I haven't gotten to play any hands on time in NHL16 yet (still hoping to rent it or find it used...game rental isn't fun to do anymore) I also haven't seen anything from the videos online that indicate anything has really changed.

It would be great if the AI 'knew' what the situation was. Down by 1 goal in the 3rd with the playoffs riding on this win? That bench is going to get short, and you're going to be throwing out your top lines until those guys physically can't stand. Your defense is going to pinch more and take risks, and when the goalie gets pulled (which the AI will hopefully do before the 30 second mark, despite sitting in the zone for the past minute) you're going to throw your best scorer out there, and use a timeout when you can, to rest them and give them a chance.

On the opposite side of things, when you're trying to guard that lead, your guys are going to backcheck harder and your defense will spend more time worrying about not getting beat.

This and players that play different would go a long way to making the games themselves feel more unique and alive, and the player separation would help to make the teams play more uniquely. You have to pay a lot more attention in the game when someone like Karlsson or Shattenkirk are out there to help tie a game, instead of the AI sending out someone like Steve Ott to help tie the game.

# 280 nddurst @ 10/06/15 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionhank


	The few 3-on-3 OT's I've seen in the preseason, players have been cautious, but they were still moving around and trying to get open, and more importantly, when they got any sort of pressure, they capitalized. I think the 3 I saw, only 1 went to a "shootout" while the other 2 ended within the first two minutes if I'm remembering right. That's been one of my biggest gripes with the AI in the NHL series for the past few years. There's no sense of urgency...ever. Your players, or the computer team's players...no one has any idea what to do. Ignoring even just the general inability of the AI to play defense well, or setup offensive scoring chances that look like more than just random passing, the AI don't know what the hell to do in certain scenarios. I can remember playing NHL14, and in a lot of situations where the game was 2-1, the AI wouldn't really pressure to score a tying goal. I don't really remember them using timeouts, and most of the time, whatever line happened to be out during the last minute was the line they rolled with. 4th line out there? Screw it, let the big guys give it a shot. They also wouldn't pull their goalie until the last possible moment. Again when down by a goal, or on the powerplay, there's no urgency to get to the puck. Guys move at the same speed, no matter what they're doing. Guys don't rush to the line trying to keep the puck in, and they don't really play defense any differently, even with a wide open net down at the other end of the ice. They would still lazily skate around the neutral zone, but there was no hustling and rushing. Just like the Blues/Brewers, I'm really hopeful that the next season brings some real changes. The AI in this game has been stagnant, and while I haven't gotten to play any hands on time in NHL16 yet (still hoping to rent it or find it used...game rental isn't fun to do anymore) I also haven't seen anything from the videos online that indicate anything has really changed. It would be great if the AI 'knew' what the situation was. Down by 1 goal in the 3rd with the playoffs riding on this win? That bench is going to get short, and you're going to be throwing out your top lines until those guys physically can't stand. Your defense is going to pinch more and take risks, and when the goalie gets pulled (which the AI will hopefully do before the 30 second mark, despite sitting in the zone for the past minute) you're going to throw your best scorer out there, and use a timeout when you can, to rest them and give them a chance. On the opposite side of things, when you're trying to guard that lead, your guys are going to backcheck harder and your defense will spend more time worrying about not getting beat. This and players that play different would go a long way to making the games themselves feel more unique and alive, and the player separation would help to make the teams play more uniquely. You have to pay a lot more attention in the game when someone like Karlsson or Shattenkirk are out there to help tie a game, instead of the AI sending out someone like Steve Ott to help tie the game.

Very well said. I agree with everything. AI really needs to be a major focus for NHL 17 to finally get this series where it needs to be. And not just tweaks--it needs to be re-built for every situation. I bought NHL 16 after not buying '13, '14 or '15 and already I'm getting both bored and frustrated by the same old AI that just gets re-used year after year.

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