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

[oosterbe]

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

And the effect of that slider has been cleared by an EA representative, so I'll value that explanation a little more than some random board guys's who seems to have an attitude issue anyway.

I still believe more on my eyes than anything about that. I mean the slider works exactly like a say. Just have a test, it's easy thing to do. Set the slider on zero and you will see everybody plays exactly same when you bodycheck AI (huge hitting power), put it on 10, do the same with a guy whose bodycheck attribute is low, and you see and feel the difference. I haven't issues with you, instead I like share my knowledge, opinions or impressions about the game as you do. My experiences are based on playing the actual NHL 21 game, customizing sliders and testing and re-rating player attributes a lot. I don't have interest to continue on this. If somebody likes to have more player separation, he absolutely gets it more, if he maximizes the slider. You can get a lot more player separation when you edit player attributes using wider scale. I have different kind of scale for every attribute based on two years testing and re-rating players. Scales I use re-rating players vary between 79-99, 51-99, 59-99 and 69-99 depending how the attribute effects the gameplay. Using too wide scale with some attributes could make the gameplay worse. I like to play Season mode, so I don't need to think about problems Franchise mode could have if re-rated players are used on it.

[mikey87]

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

Sorry, I have to reply to that attribute effect slider part. It has really been explained by a EA representati e, that in the middle, at 5, the attributes are just as you can see in the player info. Moving this slider to 10 will make all the attributes (this is from my sleeve, I don't know the exact numbers) say in range of 85 to 99 play like 99. So bumping this slider to max will decrease player separation on a "macro level" but does indeed generate huge differencies between star players and nobodies. I find this implementation of the slider effect to be pretty stupid to be honest, but that's really how it is, as long as we can count on EA team. It SHOULD be just like you described, but unfortunately, it isn't.

[stooge 1010]

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

Sorry, I have to reply to that attribute effect slider part. It has really been explained by a EA representati e, that in the middle, at 5, the attributes are just as you can see in the player info. Moving this slider to 10 will make all the attributes (this is from my sleeve, I don't know the exact numbers) say in range of 85 to 99 play like 99. So bumping this slider to max will decrease player separation on a "macro level" but does indeed generate huge differencies between star players and nobodies. I find this implementation of the slider effect to be pretty stupid to be honest, but that's really how it is, as long as we can count on EA team. It SHOULD be just like you described, but unfortunately, it isn't.

So you’re saying that default setting(5). Will make the players play to their attributes?


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[mikey87]

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

Yes, that is how it has been for years.

[stooge 1010]

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

Yes, that is how it has been for years.

So on 5 attributes Conor mcdavid will skate faster than say Brent seabrook , there will be a noticeable difference between players is basically what I’m saying, I usually play on ten and I don’t want it to seem like all players are the same


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[oosterbe]

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

Moving this slider to 10 will make all the attributes (this is from my sleeve, I don't know the exact numbers) say in range of 85 to 99 play like 99. So bumping this slider to max will decrease player separation on a "macro level" but does indeed generate huge differencies between star players and nobodies.

If the slider would work like that, moving attribute slider to 10 should make game faster, hitting harder, passing more accurate. But it doesn't make that.

Instead of that, game goes slower, hitting loses some power and passing is less accurate. So the slider works just opposite direction. It changes the mathematical formula which the game uses, giving player attributes more weight. In game situations are then more tied to player attributes and the same in game situation similarly played with same players will give different result than when the slider is set to 5.

[tcnumba10]

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

This is my first NHL game since NHL 94 and I have no regrets on this purchase. After playing a lot of Play Now games to get and adjust the best slider sets, I have started a Franchise mode and I am blown away on how deep it is compared to other sports games like The Show and NBA 2K. Having the ability to control and set prices on concessions, parking, merchandise etc, the ability to relocate, hire/fire coaches, set promotional nights and all the other bells and whistles, it truly makes the player immerse and invested in your Franchise compared to other sports games.

So far I’m loving this game, and it could be my best experience of a Sports game Franchise mode ever with the level of depth and customization available from different aspects to running a team.

[dubplate]

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

This is my first NHL game since NHL 94 and I have no regrets on this purchase. After playing a lot of Play Now games to get and adjust the best slider sets, I have started a Franchise mode and I am blown away on how deep it is compared to other sports games like The Show and NBA 2K. Having the ability to control and set prices on concessions, parking, merchandise etc, the ability to relocate, hire/fire coaches, set promotional nights and all the other bells and whistles, it truly makes the player immerse and invested in your Franchise compared to other sports games.

So far I’m loving this game, and it could be my best experience of a Sports game Franchise mode ever with the level of depth and customization available from different aspects to running a team.

Mind PMing me the sliders you are using? I’m in the same boat as you and haven’t played an NHL game in decades.

[tcnumba10]

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

Mind PMing me the sliders you are using? I’m in the same boat as you and haven’t played an NHL game in decades.

I won’t be playing till Sunday but at the top of my head My settings are: I’m playing on Pro with 8 mins period. I use Cycloniac but game speed 0, Dynamic High camera, AI learning/adjustments at 5, checking aggressiveness at 50, shooting accuracy at 40 and checking assistance was 40 I believe. But I’ll double check on Sunday

[mkharsh33]

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

I played "play now" games for 3 hours last night. I LOVE this game!! I started with simulation, all-star, and then went with the default settings for sliders. speed at 0. I have tweaked some sliders to my personal preference (mostly to stop the cpu from being unrealistically dominant - i WANT the challenge, but not nonsense.) I also have toned down the hitting slightly. But man - the neutral zone play is a blast. board play is great. and when you FINALLY get that odd man rush, it truly feels earned.

I've got to hand it to EA - GREAT job with this, their best effort in a long time. (I'm not into bells and whistles and all the peripherals, so I have zero opinion on that. I don't notice jersey stuff and nor do little things in franchise mode kill me - I just want it to look like the NHL we all watch. This game gets that. I only wish, periphery wise, we had Doc Emrick).

[tcnumba10]

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

Also getting a lot of variety of games in Franchise mode, no 2 games feel the same. Some nights are back and forth, some games are grinders 1-0 games, some games are blowouts etc. Best Franchise mode of all the current sports games out there IMO.

[speels]

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

I was just messing around last night with the game playing a bunch of play now games and I remembered someone complaining that playing an NHL team vs a WHL team was kind of a joke because the game were maybe 5-2 or such when in reality it shouldn't even be close. This got me thinking so I tried something new and it was amazing!!

Now, just to make you all aware, I usually play the game on All-Star but sometimes will drop to pro for a little more fun and a little less frustration. Anyway, I played on All-Star default sliders as the Leafs against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, GO CANES GO!!! The game was pretty tight but I felt like I was able to control it for the most part. I won 5-2 with an ENG.
Like I said, it felt okay. Anyway, I then decided that I would play the same game, but on Rookie with default sliders. OMG!!! I was absolutely dominant, exactly how I feel a game would play out IRL between the 2 teams. It was amazing.

So I tried a couple different games and play NHL vs AHL. This is where Pro default felt the best. It was like the sliders actually created the differentiation between player that there should be with ratings. It was a lot of fun.

[JayhawkerStL]

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

Mind PMing me the sliders you are using? I’m in the same boat as you and haven’t played an NHL game in decades.

If you ever want to enjoy sports gaming again, stop worrying so much about anyone's else sliders. If there is anything that drives new gamers away from sports games, it's this notion that the game can't be good out of the box, and it starts the moment the game is announced.

And this game is a perfect example. It plays great out of the box, but the slider guys will complain for months about this and that.

And if you have any interest in playing HUT, BaP, or Chel, you will do well to adapty to default settings. Competitive environments require default settings to create an even playing field, so they can't be tweaked.

For solo, adjust your own sliders when you see something, not because someone on a message board said something. Tune the game to be what you want.

The one thing the drive to more competitive play in sports gaming is really better attention to game balance. It's been so good for the last few years, that most licensed sports games really need very little tweaking.

Slideritis is a bad habit that only hurt the sports gaming genre in the end. There was a place for it at one time, and then publishers used it as a feature. But once most sports gaming went online, whether in collectible card games or multiplayer team modes, settings have to be baked in first.

I've been really enjoying 21, and I had not planned to buy it. But the trial sold me on it big time. But I am one that has loved the gameplay for the last decade, and the new features are right up my ally.

HUT Rushing is a blast, and is kinda bringing me back to HUT. While HUT is the first card mode that got me sold on the idea, I've long since preferred the versions in other games. But really, I play thing for Chel, and it's still great.

It's been fun enough that I've gotten pulled into training and learning more moves and such. I love the game because it is feeling like they have some of the same DNA as Metal Head does in how they emphasize fun over realism, while still making the minute-by-minute decision making to be very hockey centric.

[fiddlerpaul]

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

If you ever want to enjoy sports gaming again, stop worrying so much about anyone's else sliders. If there is anything that drives new gamers away from sports games, it's this notion that the game can't be good out of the box, and it starts the moment the game is announced.

And this game is a perfect example. It plays great out of the box, but the slider guys will complain for months about this and that.

And if you have any interest in playing HUT, BaP, or Chel, you will do well to adapty to default settings. Competitive environments require default settings to create an even playing field, so they can't be tweaked.

For solo, adjust your own sliders when you see something, not because someone on a message board said something. Tune the game to be what you want.

The one thing the drive to more competitive play in sports gaming is really better attention to game balance. It's been so good for the last few years, that most licensed sports games really need very little tweaking.

Slideritis is a bad habit that only hurt the sports gaming genre in the end. There was a place for it at one time, and then publishers used it as a feature. But once most sports gaming went online, whether in collectible card games or multiplayer team modes, settings have to be baked in first.

I've been really enjoying 21, and I had not planned to buy it. But the trial sold me on it big time. But I am one that has loved the gameplay for the last decade, and the new features are right up my ally.

HUT Rushing is a blast, and is kinda bringing me back to HUT. While HUT is the first card mode that got me sold on the idea, I've long since preferred the versions in other games. But really, I play thing for Chel, and it's still great.

It's been fun enough that I've gotten pulled into training and learning more moves and such. I love the game because it is feeling like they have some of the same DNA as Metal Head does in how they emphasize fun over realism, while still making the minute-by-minute decision making to be very hockey centric.

Good comments. There's many silent players out there like you who play the game and love it. I'm one.
Every time I see someone who says this or that feature makes it a deal breaker and they'll wait to next year, well...their loss is all I can say.
I always like to see gameplay improvements and this year's AI game is definitely different and, I think, somewhat better (I play offline mostly in HUT). It's definitely more run and gun down the wings with cross creases this year, the way the AI is defending on the rush clogging up the middle more. Mind you, that's in Pro mode and I've not got into the flow I did last year able to win on Superstar against the lower teams so that is the next challenge.
It's definitely not exactly like hockey in real life in a lot of ways but it has the excitement and flow of real hockey and in the end for me it's the overall feeling I get from playing and that's been good once again this year.

[mikey87]

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

Good comments. There's many silent players out there like you who play the game and love it. I'm one.
Every time I see someone who says this or that feature makes it a deal breaker and they'll wait to next year, well...their loss is all I can say.
I always like to see gameplay improvements and this year's AI game is definitely different and, I think, somewhat better (I play offline mostly in HUT). It's definitely more run and gun down the wings with cross creases this year, the way the AI is defending on the rush clogging up the middle more. Mind you, that's in Pro mode and I've not got into the flow I did last year able to win on Superstar against the lower teams so that is the next challenge.
It's definitely not exactly like hockey in real life in a lot of ways but it has the excitement and flow of real hockey and in the end for me it's the overall feeling I get from playing and that's been good once again this year.

You can certainly talk for yourself, but what makes you think that you can decide that it's a loss for someone else if that someone is not willing to play the game for whatever reason it is that makes the game unplayable? If I talk about myself, I like the gameplay improvements a lot. However, when a junior team and a Stanley Cup champion are competing evenly, that really kills all the fun for me. If the teams mentioned above are playing evenly, the little differences between NHL teams aren't certainly making ant difference and the game results are completely a roll of dice. So for anyone, like me, looking for a realistic game in all aspects, there is not nearly enough to justify the 60€.