NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

[homedadgamer76]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

First I love the fact that they finally added female pronouns to the game after adding female players many years ago. Being able to create an actually playable version of my daughter is very cool. I know there are those who don't like that EA put the option for female players but whatever.

I am a casual player who, admittedly, is far from an elite player. But it seems like adjusting the difficulty settings only seems to effect my team. If I set it to rookie/arcade my teammates will score 6 goals in a period and my goalie blocks the rare shots my defense allows to happen. But if I have the puck I still get swarmed by the defense and miss 90% of my shots even with aim assist on. Not saying I want it back to where the lane opened up and every one timer was a guaranteed goal but it makes BAP especially frustrating because winning the game is not as important as your individual performance.

Please no comments about me sucking at the game because that isn't my point. My point is that changing difficulty settings should make the game easier or more challenging for the player, not just tweak how your teammates play.

[Money99]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

My only real complaint with the game is the same as it is every year. The CPU has to basically cheat to win games and their AI are capable of doing things the human and humans AI teammates just can’t do.

This has been going on for far too long and is the #1 reason I stopped buying or supporting this series.
And it's because EA does not hire developers capable of programming realistic AI.

Maybe one day 2K will get back into making hockey games.
Until then, I'll get my fill with FHM.

Sent from my MAR-LX3A using Operation Sports mobile app

[CujoMatty]

Re: NHL 21 Trial Available For EA Play Subscribers - Post Your Impressions Here

This is something that I have never understood. The bashing of NJ Devils. Maybe it's because I am from Europe where the slower breakouts and more careful pressing is quite usual. Lately I have been rewatching the 94-95 Stanley Cup finals and I just don't see the Devils solely sitting in the NZ and waiting for Detroit to do something stupid. Instead they are actually quite willing to press with two guys. Only when Detroit clearly has the puck for ex. behind their net then they'll retreat in the 1-2-2 formation in the neutral and try to intercept the buck near the boards. This is a pretty similar system that the Flyers used in the last season. The only sin what I can see is the constant obstruction and slowing opponents down with the sticks, but NJ wasn't the only team doing that.

I would love the game have some sort of intelligent forecheck/trap system implemented in the game. I mean that the AI would understand that there is no point to forecheck if the attack is undermanned or the forechecks starts late (when the opponent clearly has possession and has enough guys back). I have found that adjusting the slider to "sit back" position is close, but it is still quite unpredictable for the user.

I can see maybe I'm coming off that way but I'm actually not bashing the Devils. They didnt do anything against any rules and in fact it was super intelligent coaching as well as execution. They forced dump ins and Brodeur was an amazing goalie handling the puck.

I can see how that could be appreciated but I cant see how anyone could say it wasnt boring AF. I cant remember which year it was but they played Toronto in the playoffs and held Toronto to something ridiculous like 8 shots all game.

That's incredible on the level of respecting NJ for accomplishing that but horrible for being entertained as a hockey fan.

[CujoMatty]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

This has been going on for far too long and is the #1 reason I stopped buying or supporting this series.
And it's because EA does not hire developers capable of programming realistic AI.

Maybe one day 2K will get back into making hockey games.
Until then, I'll get my fill with FHM.

Sent from my MAR-LX3A using Operation Sports mobile app

I'm not trying to make excuses for EA believe me...... lol but....

Every sports game does this right now.

MLB the show has a 50 page thread every year about comeback code or scripting.

It's a common complaint about Fifa.

NBA 2k is well known to boost the AI and nerf user on higher difficulties.

Madden has robo QB on all madden difficulty.

PES is the worst. Derby games completely nuke the users ability to do anything.

I'm not a developer but it seems to me that it's a by-product of the limitations in current gen hardware. I've read quite a few times that one of the most exciting aspects of next gen hardware is the ability for smarter AI. Is it true? I dunno but I sure hope so.

I'm with you guys, it sucks but its definitely not a unique problem to the NHL series.

[tjung0831]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Right now...i feel like this game plays a lot better on Pro. I'm going to have to adjust some sliders to increase cpu difficulty but i'm seeing a better game on Pro.
The Sabres return to the royal blue makes me very happy and their uni's and center ice logo looks beautiful. They might just be my team for season play.

[Travolterjohn]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Seems that in Franchise mode are Bugs. The Chemistry is broken.

https://twitter.com/xtechhockey/status/1317580937786322944?s=21

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Right now...i feel like this game plays a lot better on Pro. I'm going to have to adjust some sliders to increase cpu difficulty but i'm seeing a better game on Pro.
The Sabres return to the royal blue makes me very happy and their uni's and center ice logo looks beautiful. They might just be my team for season play.

The CPU goalies can actually be beat on well-placed 1st shots on Pro. I really like the way Pro feels, but it's just sooooo easy for me. Been trying to dumb goalies on Superstar down to chase the feeling of the Pro goalies but haven't had any luck. Will need to keep tinkering for sure.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Not exactly an impression but the Sabres new Jersey’s are a thing of beauty in game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have they fixed the white one yet? The stripes on the arms/waist were matching when they shouldn't.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Trial Available For EA Play Subscribers - Post Your Impressions Here

You arent wrong but having grown up with hockey here in middle Canada my biggest problem is real hockey is pretty boring.

I was a diehard hockey fan and EA hockey fan for a lot of my life but got away from it during the New Jersey trap days which was the era that killed hockey IMO.

I will admit that it is better now with rule changes and obstruction penalties but I still just cant get into real hockey.

That's probably why I like this game. It isnt that much like real hockey but it's fun to me.

I wish the settings worked better because unfortunately the sim setting isnt really close to "sim" enough so I feel for the hardcore guys.


edit...... meant to quote the guy you quoted lol

There's a reason there's arcade settings and sliders. If you want to score snipes, you simply up shot accuracy/power or dumb goalie reactions down. Boom, your problem solved pretty easily if you find real hockey boring.

For people who want more accurate hockey plays to be rewarded, there's no simple fix via sliders. I'm not asking for your experience to not be on that can be achieved, I'm wanting to see goalies play screens and tips more realistically so that I'm rewarded for changing angles and placing shots well. As of now, if you go too high on the two settings than determine how well screens work, you end up seeing a lot of bad looking goals because the goalie ends up not even reacting

It's a really hard balance I know, but I'd just like to see in-zone offense matter more than it currently does. Rushes are fun, but they also should be hard to generate. That's why I want to see good cycling and shooting for tips or through screens to be a little more feasible. Doesn't need to be a seemingly random mess either, there's a definite "skill gap" to be made out of knowing how to use a screen effectively.

[tjung0831]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

The CPU goalies can actually be beat on well-placed 1st shots on Pro. I really like the way Pro feels, but it's just sooooo easy for me. Been trying to dumb goalies on Superstar down to chase the feeling of the Pro goalies but haven't had any luck. Will need to keep tinkering for sure.

I upped some of the CPU goalie options...and dropped the sliders for human option. Also gave them and edge In shooting percentage and then lost 3 games in a row on pro but never felt cheated. Shot totals in all three games were even...no more than 3 more for one team either way and time of possession was equal as well.
I’ll play some more tonight for more testing.
All 3 games felt very good ...I’m sure I’ll tweak more stuff but right now I’m extremely happy with NHL 21.

[tjung0831]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I should also point out I’m playing Pro on version 1.0. I played a couple of games on 1.01 and didn’t care for it. I may try it again tonight with my current slider setting and see what I get but for now I’m sticking with Ver 1.0.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I should also point out I’m playing Pro on version 1.0. I played a couple of games on 1.01 and didn’t care for it. I may try it again tonight with my current slider setting and see what I get but for now I’m sticking with Ver 1.0.

That's funny because I found the v1.01 tuner better! Glad they offer the ability to choose as everyone has their own flavor haha.

[Stormyhog]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Would upping the AI difficulty slider on Pro improve the goalies? On default it's at 0 but may up it to see if that improves them. If not the I'll mess with the goalie sliders a bit. I do enjoy Pro it's just the goalies are a bit too soft at the moment. I'll never go above Pro as the higher difficulties are just to haywire for me & beyond frustrating.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Would upping the AI difficulty slider on Pro improve the goalies? On default it's at 0 but may up it to see if that improves them. If not the I'll mess with the goalie sliders a bit. I do enjoy Pro it's just the goalies are a bit too soft at the moment. I'll never go above Pro as the higher difficulties are just to haywire for me & beyond frustrating.

All goalie sliders other than cover/pass frequency should be at 50 by default. To play on "default" Pro, goalies should be at 50 reaction and 50 cross crease reaction. I personally haven't been able to play on anything less than 70-75 cross crease reaction time.

[tjung0831]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Would upping the AI difficulty slider on Pro improve the goalies? On default it's at 0 but may up it to see if that improves them. If not the I'll mess with the goalie sliders a bit. I do enjoy Pro it's just the goalies are a bit too soft at the moment. I'll never go above Pro as the higher difficulties are just to haywire for me & beyond frustrating.

Yes..I also upped that to like 4(which I might take down to 3)but I think upping two of the goalie slider settings helped the most. I upped reaction time and I forget the other one. I believe I also lowered human setting on that as well. It definitely makes the goalies stronger but I don’t feel cheated even though they are at an advantage. It just makes me work harder on my own game.