NHL 23 Trial Available Now For EA Play Subscribers

[PernellKarl076]

Quote: Originally Posted by HipNotiiC_x

Karl, I'm glad you're loving the game. I've played a few hours of my trial and I've found it to be a better experience as well. I'm not saying it's not a better game, but there's certainly aspects that I don't like more than 22. That combined with the fact that there's only one area I like more than 22 (CPU goalies) along with the horribly misleading marketing practice of hyping intros and animations only for them to not be used in even 50% of your CAT games, I just can't justify a $70 purchase. I mean, I spent like probably 500+ hours on rosters alone to get 22 in an optimal spot for me. Another 300+ hours on sliders (still tweaking to this day) and I just don't see many things done $70 better in 23 than 22. I think the people like you and me are the niche market that could justify $70 purchases because we play the game in such a hardcore fashion and will 100% benefit from any small improvements and that's precisely why I'm posting critical reviews. I'm one of the few that COULD justify this price point for the hours I put in and even I'm not buying it haha. But again, I don't agree with the DSS nerf so I don't find 23 a 100% "upgrade" if you will. I sacrifice interactive stick play for goalies but at the cost of another 500+ hours in creation zone just to be forced into condensed broadcast settings...I can't justify the hours and price. I want people who were disappointed with 22 to have a well-informed opinion when they make their decision. If they're a casual offline player, I genuinely believe they should stay far away from this game at full price. That does not mean it's a worse game imo, but it's certainly not a $70 upgrade imo. If you're coming from NHL 21 or later, then sure! Go for it! It's a good enough upgrade at that point. I just want people to have realistic expectations as there's a lot of skill levels and commitment levels on these boards. If you put in the time like us, then 23 can probably be safely bought for $70. If you're a casual offline player who never enters the slider screen, this isn't an upgrade worth purchasing. I don't mean to knock your opinion down. I believe you and I can genuinely understand your PoV. I just want people to know that this is still EA hockey. This will not make you fall in love with the series if you're not someone willing to put in the slider, roster, strategy work imo. We are a select few, we will continue being the only ones who can find the diamond in the rough if you will.

Very good and well explained points HipNotiiC ! Don’t let the trollers bring you down 😉

I agree that for the casual gamer, it's probably not a $70 upgrade, but I've paid mine $93 CND and I find it to be worth every penny and I maybe only played 25 hours so far, lol !

Like I said, I will probably do an OFFLINE gameplay review pretty soon giving my thoughts on the game.

Don't get me wrong, NHL22 made me fell in love again with the series after being away for awhile, I don’t know if it was because I needed my hockey fix, but I fell in love nonetheless. And I came back to the series not long ago. BUT, I've put soooo many hours just trying to make the game even better, especially the DMen aspect on the O side of it. Don't know if you have seen my thread on this subject ?

To make a long story short buddy, I downloaded a good roster set, I've tweaked the sliders to my liking in 23 and that's where the magic happened ! That was it ! No tinkering with the rosters, no tinkering with the players and especially no tinkering with the DMen, XFactors and a special formula engineered by the NASA to make it really shine, lol ! It's a diamond and not so much in the rough 😀

I could go on and on about what I love more in 23, but to each their own I guess… But let me just name a few 😉 The gameplay nuances, the hitting (which felt weird at first), my AI teammates, the incredible crowd, the added commentary, the atmosphere, the liveliness of the puck, everything feels more organic, the poke checking as been nerfed, the deflections (they were almost non existent in 22), the goalies feel like the real thing this season, the overtime celebrations when a team scores, etc…

Is it worth $70+ "Upgrade" for a casual gamer ? Probably not. But for me it's already in my good purchased list. I have no regrets whatsoever 😀

[TeeWhy]

Quote: Originally Posted by HipNotiiC_x

I want people who were disappointed with 22 to have a well-informed opinion when they make their decision. If they're a casual offline player, I genuinely believe they should stay far away from this game at full price. That does not mean it's a worse game imo, but it's certainly not a $70 upgrade imo. If you're coming from NHL 21 or later, then sure! Go for it! It's a good enough upgrade at that point. I just want people to have realistic expectations as there's a lot of skill levels and commitment levels on these boards. If you put in the time like us, then 23 can probably be safely bought for $70. If you're a casual offline player who never enters the slider screen, this isn't an upgrade worth purchasing. I don't mean to knock your opinion down. I believe you and I can genuinely understand your PoV. I just want people to know that this is still EA hockey. This will not make you fall in love with the series if you're not someone willing to put in the slider, roster, strategy work imo. We are a select few, we will continue being the only ones who can find the diamond in the rough if you will.

You are a real hero, dude. There are not many folks that would play games just to warn others off, and not even get paid to do it.

How many years in a row have you had the same opinion? Or is it just these last two versions that got you all worked up?

Informed opinion? LOL! More like informed agenda.

[jake19ny]

So I post this with a huge disclaimer that it's only one game. I played an offline game on Pro with CPU difficulty maxed, which I have always found to play better than All-star and Superstar. I played as the Rangers on the road against Carolina. Prior to the game I went in and edited the Canes defense using PernellKarl076 D man fix from 22.
The only other sliders I touched were for penalties.

THE GOOD:

This was by far the most fun I've had with this series since NHL 14. There are a lot of little things I saw that definitely make a difference though I can't seem to describe exactly what it is, it made the game feel more like hockey. There were better behind the net battles, sometimes involving 4 players. Front of net battles are better as well. The CPU defenders took shots. Carolina defensemen tool 6 of their 28 shots and Burns scored on a point shot. I'm not sure if this is a result of the changes made to the D men because 1 game isn't enough to go on. I love how the goalies come out to play the puck behind the net. It seems to be at the appropriate times and looks better. The crowd reactions are a nice touch especially the way this game played out.

Trailing Carolina 2-1 in the 3rd with 1 min to go on a PP I pulled my goalie to have the 6 on 4 and scored the tying goal. OT was pretty crazy and I won in a shootout.

3-2 final in OT on 10 min periods.
NYR 34 shots Carolina 28 hits were good and I had 8 PP and Caroliana had 5. Can't believe I'm gonna say this but that might be too high so I'll scale back after testing more.

THE BAD:

Still no neutral zone play

The CPU still won't set up on the PP and it's still way to easy to kill penalties and even be dominant short handed.

The CPU doesn't dump and chase instead they still circle back over and over until they see a possible entry into the zone, totally unrealistic

Still some bad goalie animations

And while this game didn't need it I bet the CPU still won't use its time out or pull the goalie appropriately.

FINAL THOUGHT:

If this game continues to play like this, despite ongoing flaws, I can see myself completing a season and enjoying it for the first time since NHL 14. That said, while offline season mode is my go to, I do dabble online and I can tell you after playing 3 online games, I guarantee that the HUT babies, who like to dangle and post their self centered ego serving achievements on YouTube, are going to cry their eyes out and complain, if they aren't already. Sadly EA has a history of appeasing them and totally destroying the offline experience.

[PernellKarl076]

Quote: Originally Posted by jake19ny

Prior to the game I went in and edited the Canes defense using PernellKarl076 D man fix from 22.

Hey Jake hope all is well buddy and a big thank you for the shoutout, lol ! Very happy to see that you enjoy the game. I'm on the same boat in case you didn’t notice 😉 I'll try to give my 2 cents in your BAD section to see if it helps, because I don't see a couple in my game…

Quote: Originally Posted by jake19ny

THE BAD: Still no neutral zone play With my sliders I have lots, depends on the game speed I think and probably the aggression slider needs to be on the higher side The CPU still won't set up on the PP and it's still way to easy to kill penalties and even be dominant short handed. That's why I don't play with penalties, lol ! Try it, you'll never look back 😀 The CPU doesn't dump and chase instead they still circle back over and over until they see a possible entry into the zone, totally unrealistic Good news, because I see them dump pretty often also… In the lines strategies, I bump the dump slider a couple of clicks to the right depending on the lines…. And I also bump the pass/shoot slider a bit to the left this time, this promote the AI to setup plays more and not only looking for the slot and shoot Still some bad goalie animations And while this game didn't need it I bet the CPU still won't use its time out or pull the goalie appropriately. I've seen them pull the goalie, but it appears so far that they wait until there's less than a minute left… And you are right, I didn't them call a timeout yet

As for the HUT cry babies, I think from now on I'll go offline before I start NHL23 just in case they screw up the gameplay, lol ! Not a joke…. I mean if there's a patch fixing animation glitches and the little bugs I’ve seen here and there fine, but PLEASE EA, don't touch that gameplay !

Edit: Oh and Jake, if you really love Hockey, try my sliders with my "recommended" way how to play at least for a few games and let me know what you think ? This as never more felt like real hockey to me 😀

[Vobo]

Quote: Originally Posted by PernellKarl076

Very good and well explained points HipNotiiC ! Don’t let the trollers bring you down 😉 I agree that for the casual gamer, it's probably not a $70 upgrade, but I've paid mine $93 CND and I find it to be worth every penny and I maybe only played 25 hours so far, lol ! Like I said, I will probably do an OFFLINE gameplay review pretty soon giving my thoughts on the game. Don't get me wrong, NHL22 made me fell in love again with the series after being away for awhile, I don’t know if it was because I needed my hockey fix, but I fell in love nonetheless. And I came back to the series not long ago. BUT, I've put soooo many hours just trying to make the game even better, especially the DMen aspect on the O side of it. Don't know if you have seen my thread on this subject ? To make a long story short buddy, I downloaded a good roster set, I've tweaked the sliders to my liking in 23 and that's where the magic happened ! That was it ! No tinkering with the rosters, no tinkering with the players and especially no tinkering with the DMen, XFactors and a special formula engineered by the NASA to make it really shine, lol ! It's a diamond and not so much in the rough 😀 I could go on and on about what I love more in 23, but to each their own I guess… But let me just name a few 😉 The gameplay nuances, the hitting (which felt weird at first), my AI teammates, the incredible crowd, the added commentary, the atmosphere, the liveliness of the puck, everything feels more organic, the poke checking as been nerfed, the deflections (they were almost non existent in 22), the goalies feel like the real thing this season, the overtime celebrations when a team scores, etc… Is it worth $70+ "Upgrade" for a casual gamer ? Probably not. But for me it's already in my good purchased list. I have no regrets whatsoever 😀

I agree with your points. I like the game much more than 22 mainly because of the gameplay improvements. Especially the aggressiveness of the AI when entering the offensive zone. I even feel the need to dump the pucks which was never the case with NHL. In 22 it’s felt like you can skate to the slot and just take high percentage shot. That’s why the keepers needed to be superhuman not allowing nearly any snipes from the slot to go in. This is now much better in 23 and allows the goalies to be more realistic.

However, what I don’t like that much is that the AI is a bit too aggressive trying to lay down hits also when you’re settled it the offensive zone, dragging the players out of positions and making especially the power plays unrealistic. I tried to tweak this with sliders but it seems that the aggressiveness slider does not have any effect.

Anyway, the 22 is now unplayable for me due to the improvements in 23.

Do you have a suggestion for good rosters?

[HipNotiiC_x]

Quote: Originally Posted by TeeWhy

You are a real hero, dude. There are not many folks that would play games just to warn others off, and not even get paid to do it. How many years in a row have you had the same opinion? Or is it just these last two versions that got you all worked up? Informed opinion? LOL! More like informed agenda.

Why would I have an "agenda" if it's unpaid? I just want the AI to take a big enough step to a point where I can't put the game down and I want EA to not mislead paying customers by promising a ton of effort into features of the game that wind up being a much smaller part of the game than advertised.

Thank you for looking out for EA though. I hope you get a HUT pack out of this.

[PernellKarl076]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vobo

Do you have a suggestion for good rosters?

Take note that I’m on XBSX but that is the one I downloaded (Fixing EAS Mistake V2) dated October 15… Maybe there are better ones out there, but at a quick glance this one looked pretty good IMO…

For your gameplay complaints, give my sliders a try with my "recommended" way of playing them. If you love hockey, you owe it to yourself 😉😀

[Therebelyell626]

Quote: Originally Posted by TeeWhy

You are a real hero, dude. There are not many folks that would play games just to warn others off, and not even get paid to do it. How many years in a row have you had the same opinion? Or is it just these last two versions that got you all worked up? Informed opinion? LOL! More like informed agenda.

I’m just going to add this guy to the ignore list. He obviously has nothing constructive to add to this or any discussion.