Is this looking as great as I think it is or is disappointment looming?

[Diehardfan]

The big difference was that Littman was an actual minor league hockey player...he knew the game, he knew the sport. Rammer and crew continues to disappoint on a yearly basis, mostly because the things requested are always something they are looking at down the road. IMOP, they have spent WAY too much time looking "down the road" and no where near enough on what's right in front of them....TODAY.

[Simple Mathematics]

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism. I want to hear what everyone wants to see in the game. Point out something that you haven't seen in the game (or last year's game since we haven't seen much offline gameplay). I think the more ideas we float out there, the better. And even if the EA devs never even see the ideas, at least it will be less depressing to read things on here.

[The Visualizer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism. I want to hear what everyone wants to see in the game. Point out something that you haven't seen in the game (or last year's game since we haven't seen much offline gameplay). I think the more ideas we float out there, the better. And even if the EA devs never even see the ideas, at least it will be less depressing to read things on here.

good call

I reread the discussion from the EA Forums after the first gameplay video was released where Ben Ross drops a lot of knowledge and touches on a lot of gameplay topics and am way more optimistic about this year, especially after getting hands on with some of the drastic gameplay changes in the EASHL beta

Heres the link to the discussion I am referring to if anyone is interesting in skimming that thread, lots of good stuff in there: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10341715.page

My callouts for stuff that seemingly has yet to be addressed yet:

1- Neutral zone pressure and the A.I, puckhandler reaction to it. Something needs to be done to force players and A.I. to need to dump or chip and chase moving forward. Its a huge part of hockey that is completely ignored due to the freedom to gain the blue line with little to no resistance. The A.I. seemingly will do everything in it's power to not drop the puck in previous years including that awful circling back in the neutral zone that completely kills the immersion for me.

2- Play along the boards and in the corner. The current implementation of board play is just not good enough. I haven't put a ton of thought into how this gets improved this but it needs to be more seamless so that it just happens when it should when players are in the corner.

3- Highlight unique player styles. Most of the other major sports games capture the unique styles/mannerisms of star players whereas in NHL its pretty difficult to tell them apart.

4- Difference in player skills levels need to be more noticeable. The first step is to significantly penalize players who try to dangle and deke with those who just can't do those kind of things. In some cases I feel like the moves should not even be available to some players depending on attribute levels. This will force them to play their type of game or just keep turning the puck over by playing outside their capabilities. It seems like passing, shooting and skating may have been addressed this year where ratings matter more so I'll withhold any criticism on those areas until I play the game enough.

[actionhank]

The AI is the huge one for me.

The AI on your team just doesn't seem to do much of anything. They have no awareness of what's happening on the ice. Pulled goalie? No rush to keep the puck in, or work towards open ice. Best center circling around behind the net? Well, maybe both defenders should skate towards him and leave the opposing wingers alone in the slot. They don't move any different on the powerplay, they don't support you along the boards or move to open ice. They just struggle with the most basic elements of defense and offense. The AI skates around like novice beer league players.

AI that knows how to handle situations would be a huge step up.

[daflyboys]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism.

I believe that was done between 1995 and 2014. I could be mistaken.

[JezFranco]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism. I want to hear what everyone wants to see in the game. Point out something that you haven't seen in the game (or last year's game since we haven't seen much offline gameplay). I think the more ideas we float out there, the better. And even if the EA devs never even see the ideas, at least it will be less depressing to read things on here.

Like many others before me I also think that the AI part of this game really needs to be improved, as an offline online player there's to many times I've scratched my head thinking "what? this again?"

And with this game being on latest gen only, I really think it's time to raise the bar, not only make last years game look a bit shinier.

And then I'm back on one of the points I've been touching for a few years now; a Defensive Skill Stick.

Since the skill stick was introduced ('06?) it's been tuned, changed and fiddled with... for the offense. Shooting, dekeing and toe-dragging feels great and you really feel you're controlling your players stick movements for the most part.
But on the defense, absolutely nothing has happened when it comes to innovation on the stick handling. We can push R1 for a poke check, but that's basically it.
I'd like to be able to steal the puck and try to block passes and shots with the stick stretched in any direction I choose.
Like how you see some skilled offensive players like Datzuyk, working great defensively with their stick, stealing the puck and rushing out on breakaways, or defensemen taking on a 2-on-1 in creative ways, using body, positioning and the stick.

I imagine it wouldn't be to hard to implement either. Of course it's a rebuild on some hard code animation and whatnot, but for the user;
R1/RB (tap): Poke check (triggers on release of the R1)
R1/RB (hold): Free Stick, using the right stick to freely poke, stretch and wave with the hockey stick.

Anyway... just an idea that I hope EA would consider looking at.

[jake19ny]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism. I want to hear what everyone wants to see in the game. Point out something that you haven't seen in the game (or last year's game since we haven't seen much offline gameplay). I think the more ideas we float out there, the better. And even if the EA devs never even see the ideas, at least it will be less depressing to read things on here.

I would settle for:
A) Way better player separation. Still cant tell much difference between my 1st line and 4th line.
B) Better AI. Pretty generic statement and I'm not sure how they fix it but I'm looking for smarter and more aggressive dump and chase by CPU, cycling, and passing. Smarter special teams for CPU. for the past decade its been way to easy to kill penalty by skating end to end with puck. Better defense positioning and more physical board play.


A bonus in addition to above, but not ahead of gameplay would be 5 man celebrations and more creative looking team masks for the goalies

[GlennN]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I think we all need to give more constructive criticism. I want to hear what everyone wants to see in the game. Point out something that you haven't seen in the game (or last year's game since we haven't seen much offline gameplay). I think the more ideas we float out there, the better. And even if the EA devs never even see the ideas, at least it will be less depressing to read things on here.

1) I'll join others above, who mentioned that we need much more separation between skill level of the players. Essentially, for BeAGM to work, the players must truly play to their ratings. I have not really felt that in the NHL series.

2) Give us more immersion in the BeAGM universe. Give me a trade finder function. Let me see the career stats of players on their player card, along with teams played for, all star teams made, cups won and awards received.

3) I kind of miss the ability to mix it up after the whistle from NHL 10. I know this is a minor quibble, but it just added a bit of fun for me. If a guy took a late swipe at the puck being covered by my goalie, I could hit the guy and start a fight right then. I am just disappointed that was removed.