Why this series is dying

[jake19ny]

I think the #1 issue facing this series and why so many of us are struggling to continue playing or have just flat out given up, is because it's very hard to tell the difference anymore wether were playing a new game or NHL 11, NHL 12, etc, etc,....overall there are things to love about NHL 16 and I have had some great games but I also had that same feeling regarding every release of NHL for years. The flip side, there are things that will just flat out make you pull your hair out wondering how they can have that in the game or why won't they fix that?...the game looks a little better each year and they add some new features or modes but the core gameplay, AI, and issues that ruin the hockey experience remain the same for years.

Imagine playing GTA series each time they release and despite some graphical improvements, a few new weapons, and new missions, your playing in the same city driving the same cars...I know this seems like an odd comparison but with the NHL series, at first glance you would be hard pressed to notice a difference between watching a game of NHL 12 and NHL 16. The same, poorly used cyber faces, the same goalie masks, the same flawed AI, the same overused deke move, the same glitch goals, the same crappy celebration, the same animations....etc. they add eye candy all around but at it's heart, it's the same old same old.

Years ago a new system usually meant a new looking and improved NHL game. I noticed big jumps and improvements in the NHL series from SEGA Genesis to Play Station, Playstation to Play Station 2, and Play Station 2 to Play Station 3. However, the Series has not only not improved since the jump to Play Station 4 but it has taken a clear and obvious step back. NHL 15 was an unprecedented disaster and NHL 16 is last gen NHL 14 with a facelift. This game trails so far behind other sports games that it's not even funny and this includes other EA sport titles. I understand NHL is not as popular as the other main sports but this is a poor excuse to release a poor product. I also, after much thought, will no longer buy the budget and resources excuse I have used to explain this poor series away for years. That should have nothing to do with releasing a bug filled product. This should have nothing to do with fixing the AI. This has nothing to do with lack of player seperation. This should have nothing to do with no five man celebration. This should have nothing to do with not implementing roster share. This has nothing to do with poorly some roster updates. This has nothing to do with so much.....I could just go on and on. If they really want to run with that reason get out of the game making buisness.

In truth I have no idea what happened to this series and you will theories abound....the Devs don't care, they don't have resources, they dont have budgets, they only focus on HUT and Online, blah blah blah...I'm sorry but NHL 16, while it can be fun at times, is a poor release and follows a trend in the series that points to it's coming demise. Just one mans opinion.

[Honome]

Excellent post and i think it really reflect the feeling of so many people in this same forum.

Although there's no simple answer for the reason this series is going downhill i think there are two main factors for that.

First factor is the lack of competition, it seems that since 2k left the nhl market EA decide to reduce the budget for the series drastically because we haven't seen ANY real evolution in gameplay since NHL10, when board play was introduced, and coincidentally was the last year 2k released their nhl game to compete with EA (360 & PS3).

The second factor is that since Ultimate Team was introduced in Fifa, i believe in 2011, and EA realized how much money they could gain from it, the company quickly put this mode as #1 priority in all of their games. Of course it took some time for UT be implemented in all EA games but the scenario now is that UT is the mode that receives the majority of the budget in all EA games and the only mode that new features are being included. The NHL series will surely suffer more with this UT mentality because of it's already low budget and, differently from Fifa that even with UT being the priority we see advances in gameplay and presentation in the PS4 & XBO versions, we won't see any significantly improvement from one year to another.

The only hope for nhl gamers like ourselves is that a new company decide to produce a hockey game with the main focus on gameplay instead of making easy money from online addicts.

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[Fiddy]

Bottom line, go back to NHL 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and now 16. Look at all the posts and reviews on here. It's more of the same over and over. Maybe this is why this series going down hill?

I mean most of us die hards, all we want is proper hockey to be simulated. A Positionally sound game with strategies that work.

[jake19ny]

Here are few things to further my argument that this series is dying. Already dead for offline hardcore hockey fans. I started a season with the New York Rangers. I have it set to auto rotate goalies. The FIRST game of the season the Rangers have Raanta in net. I had to swap him out. Game 2 Stepan scores a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Columbus. The next game opens with Doc and Eddie talking about Stepans scoring, I think cool. Then it shows Stepan skating with a banner that says "career season stats" whatever that is and it's 0's across the board. Then it shows Lundqvists "Season Career Stats" 0 across the board despite being 1-1 already. Oddly in game two it had his stats from game 1. These are the kind of things that budget and manpower have zero to do with and are unacceptable. This is the reason people on forums call out the Devs and make disparaging remarks. These are things that shouldn't be there but worse are never fixed with no response from EA. These are things that ruin the offline experience

[bigwill33]

But we have Game Changers and Community Leaders representing OS at EA now, remember? Should only be a matter of time before we see everything going great.

[Tsuki]

Everything about the game is incredibly vanilla out the box.

The reason I have walked away is because I can take vanilla but not in the roster. I play other games like 2k where atleast out the box there is player separation, signature animations and team styles that force you to play sim and give the game new life every time you boot up a game.

In EANHL every player is just as good as the next guy, every player has the same animations, thus makes every team play one linear style that never changes. It is 2016 we are on PS4 this is simply unacceptable, esspically considering the fact that they dont give us the tools to change it at the very least.

[jake19ny]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

But we have Game Changers and Community Leaders representing OS at EA now, remember? Should only be a matter of time before we see everything going great.

In fairness to the Gamechangers I think I remember them saying they were given little to no time playing the offline parts of the game. It's clear EAs focus is on the Online experience and HUT and it's clear they didn't want anyone getting hands on with the regular gameplay. That said it sounds like the online community is just as disappointed as us offliners

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by jake19ny

In fairness to the Gamechangers I think I remember them saying they were given little to no time playing the offline parts of the game. It's clear EAs focus is on the Online experience and HUT and it's clear they didn't want anyone getting hands on with the regular gameplay. That said it sounds like the online community is just as disappointed as us offliners

We're still talking about the same kids that joined OS to become eligible for the position to represent our concerns/needs/desires and now never post here, right? An EA designed and run program in an attempt to improve the overall product and gameplay.

If any of that doesn't exactly sum up the state of this franchise and series, then I don't know what does.