Am i too good to play against AI?

[Swedishgamefreak]

Hello!

I have played NHL since 2000. I have played a lot against the AI. But the last couple of years i have wondered if i am too good to play against the AI. I love Franchise Mode but it does not feel too realistic when i win too often and outshoot the AI in all of my games. I play on Superstar and im using Altitos sliders for 6 minutes and also 6/6 in AI difficulty.

So my question: Am i too good? Is the AI that bad? What can i do to make the AI shoot more and give me a challenge?

[actionhank]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

Hello!

I have played NHL since 2000. I have played a lot against the AI. But the last couple of years i have wondered if i am too good to play against the AI. I love Franchise Mode but it does not feel too realistic when i win too often and outshoot the AI in all of my games. I play on Superstar and im using Altitos sliders for 6 minutes and also 6/6 in AI difficulty.

So my question: Am i too good? Is the AI that bad? What can i do to make the AI shoot more and give me a challenge?

You may need to try a different set of sliders, or different difficult mix with sliders.

Sadly, there are some things you can bank on the AI to do. My biggest frustration is that in getting sliders and difficulty to the point that I can get relatively realistic seeming games, I have to endure a lot of AI weirdness, based on their ability to move in ways that just aren't possible as a human player.

[Steven547]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

I've been playing this game a lot more lately. I do play on position lock, however, I feel like I also win quite a lot more than I should. My problem with this series, is the lack of "realism" based on the player ratings. I think the player ratings become "washed out" when you start adjusting the sliders.

After awhile, you're playing a game based on sliders and not ratings, which I think makes the AI feel easier to play against. It also ruins the realism which is supposed to be based off the player ratings.

I would love to see a game where the only sliders we see, are game related like clock speed, sound level. Any sliders that affect a player ratings (shot accuracy, pass accuracy, etc), we should be able to turn off.

[Swedishgamefreak]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

There's tons of slider sets in here,a few are very realistic,I've played this game since the first editions and I'm getting really tough games this season using realistic sliders.

Oh dont get me wrong. I get some realistic parts of the game. But its way too easy. I win majority of the games and outshoot the AI like 35-10 almost everytime.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

Yes. You may not have meant to do this, but you ruined the game for yourself. It happens a lot in sports games.

You might be able to house rule yourself back into a decent challenge, but that will probably just make the game feel more shallow to you. So play online or find a new game to master.

This is always a danger as we obsess on sports games. AI is nowhere near flexible enough to take on humans that have mastered the stick skills and strategic portions of a game. But 90% of us never get to that point. And since the 10% that do buy the game anyway, it's not a real problem.

Even if it was, developing the AI required to keep up is not something for a $60 video game. Best case scenario is that someone trying to develop AI to solve another problem use a video game to help develop it. Poker Academy Pro was developed by researchers at the University of Alberta to study how to train a computer to make decisions based on incomplete information. They wanted it to use to sell to logistics companies.

And even then, the best they got was a bot that could beat a poker pro playing limit hold'em heads up. No limit and a full table was still more than the bot could handle.

[Swedishgamefreak]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

Yes. You may not have meant to do this, but you ruined the game for yourself. It happens a lot in sports games.

You might be able to house rule yourself back into a decent challenge, but that will probably just make the game feel more shallow to you. So play online or find a new game to master.

This is always a danger as we obsess on sports games. AI is nowhere near flexible enough to take on humans that have mastered the stick skills and strategic portions of a game. But 90% of us never get to that point. And since the 10% that do buy the game anyway, it's not a real problem.

Even if it was, developing the AI required to keep up is not something for a $60 video game. Best case scenario is that someone trying to develop AI to solve another problem use a video game to help develop it. Poker Academy Pro was developed by researchers at the University of Alberta to study how to train a computer to make decisions based on incomplete information. They wanted it to use to sell to logistics companies.

And even then, the best they got was a bot that could beat a poker pro playing limit hold'em heads up. No limit and a full table was still more than the bot could handle.

And you know what? I find more of a challenge in other, older hockey games. It just feels like the AI in EA Sports NHL games are not challenging enough. And sure, i could play those games instead of NHL 17. But i want to play NHL 17 because its the most recent game.

I really miss NHL 2K games. There were not perfect but those games was fun for us offline gamers.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

And you know what? I find more of a challenge in other, older hockey games. It just feels like the AI in EA Sports NHL games are not challenging enough. And sure, i could play those games instead of NHL 17. But i want to play NHL 17 because its the most recent game.

I really miss NHL 2K games. There were not perfect but those games was fun for us offline gamers.

So now we get to what you really wanted to talk about. Good luck with that.

[Swedishgamefreak]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

So now we get to what you really wanted to talk about. Good luck with that.

I just mentioned 2K Hockey games, since they were good and i had to compare it to something right? My point with this thread was not to talk about how great 2K was. I just wanted to see if there are other people who feels the same thing about the AI right now.

[rangers9911]

Re: Am i too good to play against AI?

I use AlTito's sliders with a few personal adjustments on Superstar and use Cycloniac's Team Systems. I get really close games and then I have the OCCASSIONAL blowout games both for and against.

Here's the post for AlTito's slider set (if interested).

Here's Cycloniac's Team Systems. It's a few years old but, it feels like it adds the challenge to the game- especially on the PP and PK cycling