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

[jhawk826]

I'm interested in purchasing this game. How frequent are the roster updates and how accurate are they? What sliders should I use to get a balanced experience?

[jake19ny]

Quote: Originally Posted by jhawk826

I'm interested in purchasing this game. How frequent are the roster updates and how accurate are they? What sliders should I use to get a balanced experience?

Roster updates are few and far between and when they do one they are lazily done and full of errors. There are guys here that do fantastic rosters but EA won't allow roster sharing so were stuck with the garbage they release. Perfect example; first and only roster update so far Eichel has no picture, looks nothing like him and has no play by play name despite his name being available in their play by play list.

You can find decent sliders but as far as balance goes it's very difficult because fixing one thing generally detracts from another area of the game. At the end of the day though it's almost moot since EA releases gameplay tuners that overwrite the old ones and they almost always require you going back to the drawing board with your sliders. Again EA decided we cannot choose from gameplay sliders like in the past.

Long story short NHL 16 can be very enjoyable but at the same time very frustrating. Many of the offline issues that plagued this game for years still exist. You can have some great games but more often than not something will happen that just ruins it for you and you realize how great this game could be with very little effort on their part. The overall consensus is that EA puts forth 95% of it's effort to the online community and cash cow HUT.

[bingyp]

I would say buy NHL 11. It wont be as pretty, but you'll get a better game at a tenth of the price.

This is a typical EA game. All the effort goes to making it look good with none to improving gameplay.

At least with last gen, we could edit and share rosters to improve the game.

[MizzouRah]

The Wednesday night rivalry stuff is pretty cool.

THIS is what we need MORE of EA!!! Playing the Blackhawks via Wednesday night rivalry was pretty intense and the crowd seemed much more into the game.

[AdamJones113]

Quote: Originally Posted by MizzouRah

The Wednesday night rivalry stuff is pretty cool. THIS is what we need MORE of EA!!! Playing the Blackhawks via Wednesday night rivalry was pretty intense and the crowd seemed much more into the game.

Yeah, I can only agree on the presentation part, which is really, really nice. I don't think the crowd is really more into it—that might just be a placebo effect from playing the 'Hawks.

[robinson]

Quote: Originally Posted by THESHAMISASHAME

Just got a gameplay update prompt but didnt read anything here or at EA ? anyone else get one ? If so it must have been a tuner over write as its still just V1:00 and latest .

Not sure what the official terminology is but we call the 1.00 and 1.01 he Tuner.


The gameplay updates that are downloaded when your on the line we call Patchs.

We are using the 'out of box' in terms of no Patch updates after release of game by having firewall on to block psn from network connection. Which means we are using the original Patch when game was released and the gameplay is better.


There is a diff between 1.00 and latest for Tuner. Which means there is 1.00 and 1.01 (1.01 is latest).

[robinson]

Quote: Originally Posted by THESHAMISASHAME

Been playing tons of games and lovin it on near Allstar default hardcore win or lose for a week now in playoff mode so heres a few more impressions and discoveries I made after the 9/28 overwrite tuners . I believe for me I have one of two choices to bring back organic gameplay pre 9/28 and thats to make the cpu tougher on Pro or make the Cpu less boosted on Allstar or higher . While I can create realistic gameplay at a slower pace on Pro It just doesnt do it for me challenge wise and with so much control I only had 1 penalty called on me in 9 games so to fix that I would have to destroy everything I created . Now on Allstar hardcore default with penalties maxed I find the key slider for me is the cpu strategy slider ! at 3 clicks or higher all teams play the same almost in a boost mode especially when their behind but IMO keeping it lower like 1 click teams have more variance and play more to their attributes because they arent in constant boost mode . Well just my two cents so if you play near default allstar and hate cpu laser fast ping pong passes and one timer goals while having no control , always losing board battles , cant get to loose pucks or pucks hopping over your stick look into lowering the CPU strategy slider. I also like Attributes Effect at 4 clicks for now as I think it sets superstars apart a bit more at least scoring wise as my stats are very realistic and players like Ovie and Kaner really stand out as elite scorers after 15 playoff games .

We use attributes on 6 but 4, 5 and 6 are better then 3 because of the hitting physics. On 6 theres a low amount of big hits and mostly bump and grind/knock off puck checking.

[robinson]

Quote: Originally Posted by shogunofharlem3

I played 4 games yesterday. I went 2-2 and didn't feel cheated once (one goal was complete bull, you knew they were gonna score, they played keep away by that move where they can completely turn their body and stick away from you so you can't do anything, then when they get the step on you they bull charge at the goalie). With hitting assistance up to 5 once I lock on them they dump, the puck is loose. Everything was really really fun. Jostling along the boards was fair. Had a great hockey moment. The AI had a 2 on 1 and my 1 had just broken his stick. I took away the passing lane as best I could, they ripped the shot instead of the pass, my goalie made a great blocker save. I then took a forwards stick, to end up clearning it out of the zone. I'm back to having fun with it. Still not as good as the original tuner set but it is getting better. Really wish they'd fix the AI's hell bent way to side step in the neutral zone, bring it back out, and continue that until they get a step on you. Really is bad looking and annoying to defend because you KNOW they WILL GET BY at some point. My testing last night was with aggression slider. Played 2 games with it at 0 and 2 games with it maxed. Both were great. Haven't decided which I like better but there was def a difference in game play

If you want to use the original Tuner, go to my thread (or Northmans) and there is info on how to do so.


We use 'out of box' Patch (some call it Tuner) and the gameplay is better then any Patch update since then. It also makes a diff which Tuner (1.00 or 1.01) you use with most recent Patch.