NHL 20 Beta Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

[nikethebike]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I'm not arguing with you. But this is where a lot of sports game developers are short-sighted. You don't have to look anywhere else but NBA2K to see that you can have your cake and eat it too. I know lots of people who aren't even basketball fans who buy that game annually based on a tonne of offline content. I owned the game for a time as well. The game is so polished and the franchise modes as well as My Player are incredible. What the NHL fails to realize is that if your sport has a great video game representation, you will add to your fanbase. They should become involved to an extent and ask themselves why sales for this game are stagnant. I mean, we don't even see current goal/point totals in the overlay when a goal is scored. It's 2019 man!!!

It's not just sports game developers... It's all game development. They have a budget, development cost a **** load of money especially if you have good experienced devs. If you can make money on less effort, the company will try to do it.

[nikethebike]

And you cannot compare basketball or football/soccer to ice hockey. The markets are hugely different. The amount of potential buyers of those other sports...
And in the end that decides how much money you can spend to make a game.


But you can definitely argue they should focus their budget differently. But I have a feeling they want to catch the non-hockey fans more than please existing hockey fans, since that's the way they can expand the market beyond the limited existing hockey market.


But it is also one reason that limiting modding potential is a bad move IMO. The modders can keep optimizing their product toward a more realistic product, while the devs focus on catching a larger market share.


Now they manage to keep players like me that don't buy a PS4 just for one game or those that want to mod games away from the new versions or make us instead play old games or mods like 2KHS on PC for example.


If they'd release a moddable PC version on steam I'd probably buy it.


But on the other hand 2KHS is def good enough for me to not really bother about EA anymore.

[scagwi]

@nikethebike

Well said.

What they have effectively done is just keep me playing old versions on my PS3. Custom rosters, custom music, fun gameplay that was well evolved, especially by NHL 13/14 and newer.

I don’t know.
To me all the current gen stuff is mostly 1 step forwards and 1 or 2 steps back.

I just wish they would embrace the concept of a great core game that is extendable and moddable.

It’s possible we are blaming the wrong entity however. Perhaps the licensing and working with the official league gets in the way of creating anything that is obviously going to be moddable.

We probably need something like a “super mega hockey” that the community can morph into what we all actually want.

I personally really want a hockey game on the PC also.

[nikethebike]

Well if you haven't already you should really check out 2KHS and http://PlayNHL.TK for current roster.
Since it is emulator based it is a bit demanding CPU GHz wise but it is really good as a PC hockey game.


It is a great core that is very moddable through Dolphin.

[scagwi]

Quote: Originally Posted by nikethebike

Well if you haven't already you should really check out 2KHS and http://PlayNHL.TK for current roster. Since it is emulator based it is a bit demanding CPU GHz wise but it is really good as a PC hockey game. It is a great core that is very moddable through Dolphin.

I was never able to get it run acceptably for me.
I have an 8700 cpu, but back down to a lower level GPU right now.

What exactly do you run it with?

[nikethebike]

8700 and gtx1070 runs it flawless.


8750h and gtx1060 laptop ran it at 60fps with occasional drops.

[scagwi]

Quote: Originally Posted by nikethebike

8700 and gtx1070 runs it flawless. 8750h and gtx1060 laptop ran it at 60fps with occasional drops.

I'll give it another try when the next major release of it is out.
By then I'll probably have a better GPU

[VeNOM3099]

Hello, Boyos! Meesa Back!

It's funny, but I was at least expecting more positive reviews of the BETA. But almost everyone universally panned it. LOL!

For myself, I could only muster playing a few games on release day, then a few more on Sunday before uninstalling the damned thing off my Xbox One X hard drive.

I mean, sure there were some really neat things that EA added, like the different shot animations and goalie animations. But to me the BETA felt like NHL 19 v.2B.

I had the most fun playing it as it was intended in the arcade modes like ONES. Because make no mistake, EA's NHL was and always will be meant to be played as an ARCADE game, not a SIMULATION of hockey. Taken in that light, the game does have some fun to offer, but not at 80$ CAD (+tax). I don't think it's even worth paying half of that.

Also, it's kind of asinine of EA to release a BETA code that was 2 months old. What kind of "feedback" are they expecting to receive other than "It's NHL 19 but sorta patched" from the community? Though if you look at the history of EA's NHL, you'll see that the full game doesn't stray too far from the BETA, except for last year's NHL 19 BETA which was awesome, before EA patched it to being like NHL 17/18 all over again.

I'm kinda disappointed also in the fact that I was at least hoping that EA had learned it's lesson after they nerfed the AI and the Goalies after the 19 BETA and made them easier to score on for the "Chel Bruhs" on Youtube and Twitch. But now... They're still piss easy to score on now.

EA's NHL modis operandi is (as always); you don't need to actually play hockey to succeed. Just get to the money spots and shoot. Don't even need to pass, just dipsy-doodle until you can hit the sweet spots. There is no challenge, no rewarding smart hockey plays, just reward the scrubbery.

Oh, and the nerf to LT? Yeah, they only mildly nerfed it. It only affects skating if you go into a FULL turn, but a half turn still retains your forward momentum while helping you control and shield the puck away from pokes and hits. Pathetic...

The main part that stings is that Human goalies still get no love. EA's philosophy of "Goalies gotta get sniped sometimes" is still going strong. Whether you're in front of a shot or not, it's a crap shoot if you'll actually be able to keep the puck out of the net. Bacon Slappers are still a thing. Veering away from the net and shooting a weak backhander from the red line the goalie can't handle is still a thing. Goalies turning in towards their net to make a save is still a thing. Auto-saves that lock you into an animation without any possibility of canceling out of with your own inputs is still a thing. It's just awful.

I've suffered through 4 years of it and I'm tired of it. No more EA NHL for me. Not unless something drastic happens, like REAL changes are made to how the game is played competitively. LG scrubs might like the arcade aspect of it where they can dangle, snipe, celly 10 times each period by abusing the game's exploits, but I say it's about time that EASHL Club starts being the more SKILL and HOCKEY KNOWLEDGE based mode, while keeping HUT for the mindless throngs that need to have their "LT" abusing ways satisfied.

Not that EA would EVER listen to the hockey fans in a million years. But one can dream...