NHL 25 Gameplay Trailer and Details Revealed

[SuperGoalies]

i already bought it, just waiting on 27th of this month,i liked what i saw in trailer, you realize they always do trailers on low pass interceptions and low holding penalty, what always happens we pass judgement, but don't see sliders in the game, if you like high interceptions and high holding, get the game and increase interceptions and holding.

my main complaint each year was lack of creavity from AI USER and AI CPU.
but looks like they answered my wish.

[The EVHL]

I wish they’d build this game with a slower default game speed. Everything just looks so “twitchy” and weightless with guys just buzzing all over the place. Sure, the new skating animations look good, but they still don’t look like they have any weight to them. It’s been the series’ biggest issue since forever really.

To add to this point, the only reason we needed an LT nerf and these skating animations to truly take a step, is because they tuned the game to be waterbug speed with no weight. I can throw on NHL 20 right now with my sliders and get a “realistic” experience with LT due to puck carrier agility sliders and just general pace of place being slower. The actual mechanic isn’t OP, it was the sliders that everyone had to suffer through that was the main culprit for 19-23 being such a joke online.

Shooting still looks weightless, goalies have looked insanely robotic since 23 and that trailer didn’t make me think it will be any better. No idea what this new team did to goalies in 23 but as a IRL goalie, they kill my immersion instantly. I can’t stand to watch them.

5-on-3 PK and we have two guys in line with the faceoff circle, not a great marketing clip when trying to talk up the AI.

Also saw them mention better AI rush reads, but honestly I’m not convinced since we saw no center driving (haven’t seen in since 21 because they just removed it in 22 and marketed it as “better rush defense/better NZ gaps” but they just removed center driving lol.)

Finally, icon passing and the pressure gauge on the ice are the final two pieces to leave me completely skeptical that this game will be even worth an hour of my time (like 24) because I simply don’t enjoy being reminded that this is a video game in such a blatantly obvious fashion. I don’t agree with the pressure system implementation, I certainly won’t play a game that slams it in my face without any regard for the playing surface or sim/offline players, and it doesn’t even have controllable sliders that could make me tune its implementation the way I want. Icon passing is the same, I just want to load a pass. I don’t want 4 buttons on my screen because I’m loading a pass. It’s ridiculous from both a sim/offline experience and a game balance/competitive standpoint.

I envy the ones who can look past all of it, but with kids and less time, I don’t see myself moving on from 20 which still imo has just a better “base” approach to the sport from AI, goalies, incidental contact, skating, and even not visually assaulting your screen with controller buttons and pressure gauges plaguing the playing surface.

[desouza7]

Quote: Originally Posted by kariasi

Are they also skating towards carrier? They do not even try to defend one timer shooter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For a 5 on 3, I wouldn’t expect them to defend that pass with the guy in front. I’m more impressed they are in an actual triangle since they usually just skate around and cover nothing or keep any shape since NHL 14. I need to see more 5 on 5 AI defense to see if it’s actually improved since that’s where it was truly abysmal.

[kariasi]

Quote: Originally Posted by desouza7

For a 5 on 3, I wouldn’t expect them to defend that pass with the guy in front. I’m more impressed they are in an actual triangle since they usually just skate around and cover nothing or keep any shape since NHL 14. I need to see more 5 on 5 AI defense to see if it’s actually improved since that’s where it was truly abysmal.

I understand your point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tariq071]

I hope so that you are all aware that these trailers and gameplay were all recorded on Rookie difficulty and as such will not really show you what true game will look like.EA has been doing that for years now in order to customize most appealing trailers.

In addition, in some , if not half of the trailers , it appears that opposite goalie was human controlled.

It's your choice to be optimistic over something that didin't improve for a decade now, but be cautious.

[Feros Ferio 7]

IceQ thing looks good. But the stupid zone timer being in the game is terrible and then on top they're adding a pulse icon under players. Hope that can be turned off. I don't need the game to tell me when a player has hips turned and open looking for a one-timer. I have eyes.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[bwiggy33]

I like the ideas behind vision control and the one-timer as it adds to the realism you see these days. Not every player should be allowed it though. I think the deep dive mentions it which is good. The defense also needs to be able to stop this, which on my next point shows they unfortunately can't at least on whatever difficulty setting they were.

At 46 seconds of the video is a summary of this game over the past however many years from a CPU AI perspective. I understand this is probably on the easiest setting and they are showing off the vision control addition, but that flailing missed check/push from McAvoy to allow the User to easily get around, and then the brain dead CPU Zadorov protecting the front of the net not even trying to stop the User from getting to the net is enough to be a game breaker, at least for me. I can't help but think this is still the stuff seen in the game even on the higher difficulties because it has been that way for a long time. I know it's one video, but it seems like IceQ didn't touch this area.

A) No guy, especially Charlie McAvoy, is attempting a body check at the top of the circle and no coach even in youth hockey is teaching defense like that ha. This scenario is what I'll call a "legacy issue" as of at least the past 4ish years. It may go back further but I don't recall. Like why the heck can we not have CPU Dmen who play stick on stick and body that guy to the corner rather than flail and give the User an easy chance to get to a high danger scoring chance. I just don't get it.

B) The User gets an easy path to the net and I will say, Zadorov does a decent job at least backing up McAvoy's crazy check attempt and is in position to make a play, but he does absolutely nothing. He just stares at Caufield. Even on easy there should be at least an attempt to stop Caufield from getting to the slot.

I understand there needs to be mistakes from the AI in order for any goals to be scored but somehow there needs to be a balance where a mistake is made and it's not just due to absolutely brain dead AI or idiotic decisions like a flailing body check at the top of the circle. It's frustrating ha. This is why I'm happy there's a 10 hour trial. It's plenty of time to see if this stuff is still occurring on the higher difficulties. I hope it's not, but there's no reason to not believe that when it's been an issue for years. I definitely want to hear more about the game and am still excited to try it out, but just that short clip at 46 seconds makes it hard to get overly excited.

[speels]

I would be interested to know how this game is developed from an AI stand point. I would guess it is programmed on maybe pro mode the dummied down for Rookie and ramped up for the higher levels. I think this is the problem.

The game should be developed on the highest level. Making that level as close to actual hockey as possible. Only die hard hockey fans with a great knowledge of hockey and the strategies of hockey, should be able to win consistently at that level. Then you can adjust down for the easier levels. By simply adjusting the speed the AI makes decisions at would make the game easier and even after that you can adjust how the ratings affect the player, for example maybe a 90 speed player vs a 90 speed AI player is a 10-10 ratio at the highest level and more of a 10-7 ratio at the lower levels. Although i think just lowering the decision making speed would change the game enough for the different levels.

They also need more awareness by the AI. For example, in the above stated case with Zadorov. As soon as McAvoy misses that hit, Zadorov should instantly notice the circumstances have changed and he needs to abandon what he was doing before the mi**** and change his tactic to stop the puck carrier. Again, at the highest level of difficulty, this should happen immediately whereas at the lower level what happened in the video should actually happen. The problem with the game is that what happened in the video just always happens, no matter what difficulty rating you are playing.

Anyway, just my thoughts.