NHL 17 Impressions

[Yuss]

Received a 5 man cutscene after scoring a goal

Its a start, nice touch

[MizzouRah]

Started my Blues franchise after the roster update yesterday. Menus are much quicker this year, which is great considering you have more to do if you enable the owner stuff, which so far, isn't as tedious as I thought it would be (and actually kind of fun, much to my surprise).

Played two preseason games and the game is definitely tougher this year, which is a good thing. The CPU AI on full sim/expert really uses stick lift and pressures you quite nice. Keeping the puck is much tougher so far for me. I'm getting out shot as well, which never happened in previous versions. Tie ups in front of the net are a welcome addition (again). Goalies are SO much better and actually look much more realistic! Small sample size, but I have yet to see those goofy cheezy animations that allow weak goals. I've had to work for my 3 goals in two games, haha.. much tougher to score, which is great!

Puck is much more lively and fatigue really makes a difference. I haven't changed much yet as far as sliders go, but I do love the bigger scale and more to tweak.

I'll post more in the franchise thread as I continue on with my season, but so far, NHL 17 has me thinking about it when I'm at work, itching to play more!

[NYJin2011tm]

I'm stuck. On Semi Pro I win easy, on Pro I get killed.

[SENS_AK27]

Quote: Originally Posted by SENS_AK27

Good to see the Grizzled Vets like OBG and Millienuim talking up this year's offline version. Was gonna pass on it but I just might have to pick this up. Before I do, can anyone tell me if I can create an undrafted underage player and draft them in a future draft? EG - Make a 16 year old and put in the OHL and then draft them in 2019. In 2016 they would show up in the Free Agents List !!! UGH

Really no one can help me with this?

[slickdtc]

My Gamefly rental of NHL 17 finally came today.

Got a couple of quick games in. I had been reading a good bit about the game here so I had a solid idea about what to expect and also having played a considerable amount of last year's game.

I think that was key. My expectations weren't super high, I knew the game's weaknesses already and wasn't going to try to force myself to believe it wasn't flawed.

Enjoyed my games. Perfect? No way. I still think the momentum/physics of skating and changing direction and trying to make it as realistic as possible has hurt the game in the last few years it's been implemented. Obviously it's a trade off of having realistic movements in exchange for a tougher to manage game, I just think it's caused more problems then helped. NHL 12, maybe 13 was the last one that didn't frustrate me. It's still a video game and the AI and switching between players isn't there yet and guys get caught going in one direction when you switch to them and are directing in another.

But the game has been loosened up a good bit to minimize this issue. The plethora of sliders, effective or placebo, is a good way to customize the game more then it ever has before. I can see a lot of wiggle room.

What's funny is I had a mental test at the end of my first game. Obviously comebacks for both CPU and human teams has always seemed a little extra in this game. I was down 4-2 late in my first game (was up 2-0 but gave up 4 straight over the course of the game). Although coming back is exciting, always a little curious when the CPU does on me. Sure enough, I scored to make it 4-3. I could just feel it coming... but it didn't. I lost 4-3. It felt... fair and right.

My second game I did score late to tie it, but lost in the OT quickly. But I was the dominant team in the game, so it felt earned.

My Gamefly trial is over and I'll be shipping the game back soon. But I think I'm gonna end up buying this. I know it's not perfect, but it's the only NHL option out there. It hurt to not be able to play a hockey game when I got fed up with NHL 16. With a renewed attitude toward the game, and a year of improvements, I think this will be a keeper.

The game is what it is. If you try to make it something it's not, it's an exercise in futility. It's not accepting an inferior product, it's accepting reality. I think that's what I've learned. I just want to have fun, get some pretty realistic results and still be challenged without feeling like I'm being cheated. I've been playing sports video games pretty seriously for a good while now and have experienced the best and the worst and still enjoyed most all games, so I think this will be okay.

[Gerg04]

Couldn't resist Best Buy giving $45 for a trade in, I had to pull the trigger. Won't be long until we see a sale, I'll definitely be picking it up again.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Earl1963]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYJin2011tm

I'm stuck. On Semi Pro I win easy, on Pro I get killed.

Same until i moved some sliders up 3 clicks for the CPU goalie. Play with the sliders.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NinthFall]

I don't like that they update the gameplay throughout the year, because just when I get used to whatever gameplay settings they have they update it and I get frustrated because suddenly I can't play the game like I used to and have to learn everything again.