Any issues that make Franchise Mode Unplayable?

[phillyfan23]

Quote: Originally Posted by JBlaze78

Love how all the people that have found their niche way of making this game playable dunk on all the people that dislike the game for what it TRULY is and want to pay for a product that simulates what it says it does. In this case NHL Hockey. Must make the same three people who say the exact same things on every single thread feel great about themselves. Echo chamber living, have never understood the appeal. The thing is the game is bugged. You have to mess with the sliders in order for it to even come close to simulating real Hockey. Kudos to those that post their findings for the enjoyment of others. Telling me I have to play at a certain camera angle with my position locked in order to fully enjoy the game is ludicrous. So you are saying I need to play Be A Pro which is a whole other pile of EA madness and untouched again this year. They finally fixed the offer sheet bug that was also present in NHL 22. They HAVENT fixed the created player skater glitch that was ALSO present in NHL 22. The AI will still trade for restricted Free Agents and then not resign them the next year. Leaving good young players rotting in restricted Free agency. Even though if the trade circumstances the game will not allow us to trade for anyone that will put us over the cap the next year or allow us to trade players to another team that will result in that team being over the cap next season. Young players having cages as 15-16 yo never transitioning to a visored helmet. The AI, oh my god the AI. How many times a game does yours or the computers D-man circle back around failing to pass on a d-zone breakout only to be pinned on the boards? More than Jen Psaki at her daily WH press brief. 5, 10, 15 plus times a game. Well that isn't what I watch most nights when I watch a real game. Or how often does your AI opponent actually cycle the puck in normal play? Or lord forbid on a power play? It literally never does. But then I might ask how often does the AI just steam roll right to the slot no matter the traffic and try a zero chance shot? Nearly the whole game. If I want the game statistics, most importantly opponents shots, to look anywhere near normal I have to allow the opponent to shoot. Because of the above AI tactic of beeline straight to the slot on every ozone entry only to run into multiple defenders or have it poke checked away. I use Alito's slider set with some minor adjustments. But the game limits what we can adjust with sliders and then does a poor job of explaining what each does. Not sure if anyone follows Tougie on youtube but that lack of real understanding lead to his Rosters being released last year to a lot of WTF's. Lets face facts there have been very few improvements to Franchise since 14, graphics aside. With many notable things removed. Intros are a SHADOW of what they were, if you doubt it just go to you tube and do a quick search. Reddit is also great for it. When is the last time EA had proper faceoffs, where one or both players could be booted out? Did they ever have it or am I dreaming of the best NHL game ever 2k10. No contract changes ie NTC. No dead cap or injured reserve. Removing our ability to edit players in an OFFLINE mode, first it was player style removed in 21, then it was position. Again its an offline mode who cares if I want to change a defender into winger *cough* Blake Burns *cough* The fact height and weight are still greyed out is crazy to me. What I loved about old 2k games was the editing ability. The speed, the QOL and the amount of things I could edit was truly awesome not to mention the speed in which I could edit players. Not sure why EA and others that dunk on the idea of giving us more editing capabilities in an offline mode makes me wonder about their personal control issues. Introduction of Coaches and Line Chemistry that is all over the map while failing to have any ability for players or coaches to adapt to their surroundings. I cant tell you how many times have I started a franchise as Edmonton and the coach is only 50/50 on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. You are kidding me right? Name me a coach that wouldnt want McDavid on his team or at very least couldnt find a way to make that work. And wtf dont we have real coaches? EA that cheap? <--Rhetorical question. Has anyone noticed that controls sticking on menus is getting worse? When loading the game I have to hit x twice just to initiate the game. Or when flipping through or scrolling through menus? Sticking and slow. To those that are enjoying the game, truly good for you. For those that still say this game leaves a lot to be desired, you too are right and free to express that as I have above. Its not a full list, is unorganized and doesnt begin to fully express my thoughts on the game, franchise or company. I have been BUYING games since the early 90's. To say this is the best in gaming is just sad. Its clear that EA no longer employs people with a passion for the sport they are creating a game to emulate. And in some cases begs the question of whether they even watch the sport they are creating a game to emulate....

to the guys saying the gameplay is horrible without any slider adjustments, strategy adjustments, player edits.

I completely agree with you all. The game is not worth 5 dollars. gamespeed too fast, every single player even the midgets like cole caufield can hit like Eric Lindros and send huge players a la Chara flying, shots are overpowered, teams play the same way, passing too accurate, not enough penalties, powerplay set up is non existent,cpu offense doesnt cycle, dmen dont shoot enough etc on and on and so forth.

but thats what sliders and strategy adjustments come in. Even One hour of slider testing and editing, CHANGES this game offline. I understand Franchise is semi broken,I dont play franchise at all, so it doesnt affect me, but gameplay with some adjustments is unparalleled. All of the points the previous posters said regarding bad gameplay are EASILY fixable.

CPU takes bad shots and attack only via the slots? change their strategy to more cycling, download Defenseman edited rosters, so you get a lot more point play.
CPU doesnt forecheck properly? change strategies for the teams that forecheck hard
CPU doesnt set up on powerplay? check your gamespeed, anything above 0 is too fast and will make Powerplays helter skelter. With proper speeds, powerplays from cpu, will look a lot like the real NHL.

If franchise has many bugs to kill the experience of people, try season mode with full team control, so you can manually edit strategies for all teams you play. Yes its not as deep as franchise, but the gameplay carries the weight here.

If you don't want to edit sliders, go to slider thread, get one you like as base and download rosters for dmen edits, . If you want more team differentiation, you can edit each team stratgieis including each line, powerplay, PK in the league to play differently.

The tools are all there, and they work and will give you a real NHL experience.
Frnahcise is a bonus. If franchise is perfect but the gameplay is lacking, it's still not worthwhile.

NHL 23 has the offline part down to a tee, and no I do not play player lock. Just invest just a little bit of time, it is well worth it for gameplay sake.

[phillyfan23]

Quote: Originally Posted by tariq071

I am very , very happy for you , honestly. Again, please stop with passive aggressive if you don't agree with other's views. Some people come here to see if there was a some patch, or solution, that makes game more palatable for their standards (no one expects perfect game, btw) It doesn't mean that either side is right or wrong, after all it's an opinion forum. And lot of us love hockey so much that they hope(probably hopelessly) to see something in line with NHL 04 or NHL 2k10 that would give them joy. Saying that i am done with this topic, so let's move on and play games that we perceive are good for our time....have a nice weekend.

NHL 2k10 was a great game save one game killing gameplay bug. CPU DMEN ai never brought the puck into the opponentz zone. They will never lead a rush, they will never join a 3 on 2, they will ALWAYS pass the puck to teammate at the red line or just before entering the opponents blue line. You could have Bobby Orr on the ice against a WHL team, and he would always pass the puck off.

I remember 2k10 had a great and robust franchise mode, but with this type of gameplay oversight, I completely shelved the game once I realized of the broken cpu off ai dmen. There is no such gameplay crippling things in NHL 23 that cannot be fixed via sliders, strat adjustments, rosters.

[BigBadAss33]

WOW...

Everyone has their own opinions about EVERYTHING nowadays but WE all must relax and RE-READ our posts before we hit send..

EVERYONE on both sides of this "ARGUMENT" makes it sound like this political garbage happening in todays society.

Lets keep in mind a few things before posting

1. This is an OPEN forum. So you have to take the GOOD with the BAD.
2. People can READ responses completely different than actually how they were meant. (Passive aggressive dig or key-board Warrior comment are 1 in the same)
3. WE all know that EA has forgotten about hockey in general and only cares about MICRO-TRANSACTIONS.

Anyway please lets all take a breath and relax a little and RE-READ your posts before you hit send

[Fishbone Walker]

Franchise mode is unplayable for me because you can't turn off "retired jerseys" and you can't control more than one team. It may seem petty, but I honestly can't handle Gretzky being #98 and Lemieux being #64. Can you imagine if Gretzky showed up at an alumni game and the organizers were like, "oh, wait, hold on a minute there, Wayne. You can't wear that jersey, it was retired by the league" lol

And you can't edit the league in season mode, so that's bunk too.

I will say though, the gameplay improvements seem to shine with teammate AI - they just seem more intuitive and actually try to get open on occasion. I went back to '22 the other day and noticed the difference. In '23, offense is way more fun to play.

[Funkycorm]

I don't have 23 so I can't speak to all of the back and forth above but I see some weaknesses in franchise that have steered me away from the game the last few years.

I think we need the ability to be able to edit player ratings in franchise. If I want to create a story line of a superstar past his prime getting another shot somewhere, it would require editing ratings to get him on a team and stay. Hand in hand with this, is we need the ability to have full control of all teams. And along the lines of 2k23, be able to easily switch what I can control, etc.

I really do like the depth to the scouting system in NHL and would like to see a game like MLB adopt a better scouting system. The depth here really shows the lack of depth in other areas of franchise, like being able to control everything.

Also, I would like the see the ability to force win, loss, shoot out loss as well.

Without the ability to control everything in a game I play, franchise mode is not enjoyable for me. NBA, MLB, and Madden I can control all teams or at least teams I want to. Give me that here.

[OutSider123]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fishbone Walker

Franchise mode is unplayable for me because you can't turn off "retired jerseys" a

You can turn them off.

[KomicJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by OutSider123

You can turn them off.

If I'm not mistaken, you can't turn them off in custom leagues. I assume that's what he meant.

[Travolterjohn]

Quote: Originally Posted by Funkycorm

I don't have 23 so I can't speak to all of the back and forth above but I see some weaknesses in franchise that have steered me away from the game the last few years. I think we need the ability to be able to edit player ratings in franchise. If I want to create a story line of a superstar past his prime getting another shot somewhere, it would require editing ratings to get him on a team and stay. Hand in hand with this, is we need the ability to have full control of all teams. And along the lines of 2k23, be able to easily switch what I can control, etc. I really do like the depth to the scouting system in NHL and would like to see a game like MLB adopt a better scouting system. The depth here really shows the lack of depth in other areas of franchise, like being able to control everything. Also, I would like the see the ability to force win, loss, shoot out loss as well. Without the ability to control everything in a game I play, franchise mode is not enjoyable for me. NBA, MLB, and Madden I can control all teams or at least teams I want to. Give me that here.

For every player a history including all taken trades, signs, honors, Stanley Cup rings would be a great thing. So you can search for your puzzle player to make a Team better. Told since years to EA but nothing. This things are saved during a Franchise mode dynasty and should be only implemented at every player ( not gamer ) site.