NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

[mdgoalie37]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

I’ve played a few games, on Pro level (mostly default, I increased the penalties) and the CPU was a challenge. Now, I haven’t played much NHL the last few years so I’m rusty, but it was fun.
I like to start by playing the Champions League tournament. I randomly picked Sparta. First game was 1-0, plus 2 EN goals for a 3-0 final. I felt pretty much in control of that one. Second game was wild, it went back and forth. They would score and then I would tie it. Lost 5-4 in OT. Incredibly fun game.
It’s far from perfect, guys still run all over the place, but it’s been fun so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[MiracleMet718]

Re: NHL 25 Impressions Thread

I played 2 online versus and my only impression was skating seemed really slow. Like they were in mud.

The skating being slower is actually a huge improvement. Hockey is fast, but not anywhere near as fast as it was in last years game.

[MiracleMet718]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

For some i don't see the 10 hour Trial for the Series S/X.....can someone tell me where to find it? Thanks!

Either search for the game in the store and just pull up the X/S version, or go to the standard edition pre-order and scroll down to the NHL 25 X/S and open that, then you’ll see the option to download the trial.

[bcruise]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

On the "AI is overpowered" point, I did want to mention that the default setting for "CPU Difficulty Adjustment" has moved from 0 in '24 (and previous) to 6. So, that observation isn't exactly wrong - that setting is making the CPU tougher on every difficulty. Putting it back on 0 feels more fair so far, though I want to be careful about making big adjustments on small sample sizes.

One other default setting you might want to be aware of is the "CPU Teammate Penalties" setting on 1. This is a change made in a title update last year, presumably for the competitive players who didn't want their CPU teammates committing random penalties. You are probably going to want this at least as high as CPU penalties (defaults to 40).

I agree with others that the pace of the game does seem slowed this year, which is surprising because that's true even on the default game speed setting of 4. I know game speed 0 is an automatic adjustment every year for many people on this board, but you might want to rethink that one this time - 0 could very well feel like skating in mud.

Hit counts are my main complaint with the gameplay so far - they are comically high, similar to last year. I feel like it mostly has to do with the way hits are registered - it seems like just about any graze with a check animation active counts as a hit, regardless of the impact or result. That said the hitting power is way too high on default anyway and it'll be one of the first things I try to dial in while keeping penalties in existence. Due to the way the game is counting hits I'm probably not going to concern myself too much with the number - I just don't want to see players getting blown up every trip down the ice.

[bransen]

Re: NHL 25 Impressions Thread

I'll give a deeper impression after more time but quite simply put it's nothing but a full blown arcade game now that barely resembles the actual sport. For years EA NHL has ignored, even lamented the true hockey fan and sim gamer but NHL 24 was the first real step toward arcade only play and NHL 25 is the completion of that transition. It's not a surprise because Madden is the sane way now as it's impossible to get anything to resemble real football out of that game too.

It's been like this for a long time now. Played the trial and ended up uninstalling it. CPU keeps crashing the net no matter what team you play. That's all they do. That's not hockey!

[bcruise]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

BTW....I'm pretty sure the settings and sliders presets not sticking when you start a game is still a thing. And the same workaround from previous years still works: On the very last screen before a game starts, go to Game Settings and then either Rules or Gameplay Sliders. Even though your preset will show up at the top of either screen, the settings and sliders will most likely not match it - that's the bug. To fix that, just highlight your preset and d-pad left or right to a different preset, then dpad right back to the original one. The settings you had for that preset should now be correct, except one...for some reason I can never get the Post-Whistle Rules to stay on Authentic like this. But honestly, those kind of penalties are never called anyway.

Yes, you have to do it before every game (or you at least should check it, to make sure the settings are right). Yes, it's a pain in the ***. Yes, EA sucks for making us go through this. But it's still better than trying to individually edit every single slider you wanted to change before every game, or being forced to play on the defaults. Also, fortunately, the settings and sliders you choose do seem to stick in BAP without having to go through any of this nonsense (it's fortunate because you can't bring created presets into that mode - you can only use the "Custom" one if you want to change settings or sliders)

[phillyfan23]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

Dont have a final verdict about this game but here are more details that I saw during more game time

There are more inaccurate passes from the cpu so their pass pctgs are consistently at low 80s, high 70s compared to mid-high 80s last year.

Its harder to make passing cycle plays than nhl 24 due to better defense and perhaps even more unpredictability. Or maybe even worse human offensive ai. Still need to play more games to make a final judgement.

Cpu uses boards to break out more, they do more hard dumps, and genereally more unpredictable to defend, they will manipulate more during one on one encounters on a rush play and dangle you. Significantly harder to just poke check and be safe. You miss a poke check, odd man rush city.

Entering the zone is also harder, definitive improvement.

You cant give any space in the d zone or the forwards will shoot. Gives me more the impression that cpu offense is slightly more shot happy. They will cycle more if you close their space.

Cpu takes the body more in defending, I have hit power all the way to 3/100 and it feels much better than default for sure. More nudges and bumps instead of crushing hits.

The deciding factor will be the hum off ai, if it's a believable representation.

All this gameplay were from games that I used heavily modified sliders, extensive strategy adjustments to promote cpu dmen shooting, and more cycling by cpu forwards.

[kariasi]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

Dont have a final verdict about this game but here are more details that I saw during more game time

There are more inaccurate passes from the cpu so their pass pctgs are consistently at low 80s, high 70s compared to mid-high 80s last year.

Its harder to make passing cycle plays than nhl 24 due to better defense and perhaps even more unpredictability. Or maybe even worse human offensive ai. Still need to play more games to make a final judgement.

Cpu uses boards to break out more, they do more hard dumps, and genereally more unpredictable to defend, they will manipulate more during one on one encounters on a rush play and dangle you. Significantly harder to just poke check and be safe. You miss a poke check, odd man rush city.

Entering the zone is also harder, definitive improvement.

You cant give any space in the d zone or the forwards will shoot. Gives me more the impression that cpu offense is slightly more shot happy. They will cycle more if you close their space.

Cpu takes the body more in defending, I have hit power all the way to 3/100 and it feels much better than default for sure. More nudges and bumps instead of crushing hits.

The deciding factor will be the hum off ai, if it's a believable representation.

All this gameplay were from games that I used heavily modified sliders, extensive strategy adjustments to promote cpu dmen shooting, and more cycling by cpu forwards.

Maybe I need to try your slider set again this year? 💪🏼 Sounds promising.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Redwings19c]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

Dont have a final verdict about this game but here are more details that I saw during more game time

There are more inaccurate passes from the cpu so their pass pctgs are consistently at low 80s, high 70s compared to mid-high 80s last year.

Its harder to make passing cycle plays than nhl 24 due to better defense and perhaps even more unpredictability. Or maybe even worse human offensive ai. Still need to play more games to make a final judgement.

Cpu uses boards to break out more, they do more hard dumps, and genereally more unpredictable to defend, they will manipulate more during one on one encounters on a rush play and dangle you. Significantly harder to just poke check and be safe. You miss a poke check, odd man rush city.

Entering the zone is also harder, definitive improvement.

You cant give any space in the d zone or the forwards will shoot. Gives me more the impression that cpu offense is slightly more shot happy. They will cycle more if you close their space.

Cpu takes the body more in defending, I have hit power all the way to 3/100 and it feels much better than default for sure. More nudges and bumps instead of crushing hits.

The deciding factor will be the hum off ai, if it's a believable representation.

All this gameplay were from games that I used heavily modified sliders, extensive strategy adjustments to promote cpu dmen shooting, and more cycling by cpu forwards.

Do you do a slider set? That sounds very promising and the way, I want to play. I lowered hit power to 10 and it was not enough. With "extensive strategy adjustments" you mean the slider on 6?

[phillyfan23]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

Do you do a slider set? That sounds very promising and the way, I want to play. I lowered hit power to 10 and it was not enough. With "extensive strategy adjustments" you mean the slider on 6?

I will post my sliders in a bit so you can have a look.

The strategy adjustments I mentioned are actual team specific strategies. I edited the flyers and used the penguins to play against them. I edit each line strategy ( some more dump heavy than others) and zero out forward shooting and max it to the left to favor cycling). Also change off strategy for each line (behind the net, crash net or overload)

I also max out each dmen line shooting tendency, so in general cpu dmen shoot more, while depending on individual dmen player ratings to dictate their shooting frequency. This slider just raises each dmen pairing baseline for shooting tendency.

Also team strategy I edit, flyers are a stretch transition team with Tortorella, so the strategies reflect this ( leave early), you can really get more in depth with PP/PK and forecheck/trap strategies.

It this game passes the bill, I will release a roster including each team strategies in the NHL.

[tcnumba10]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

How’s the goal variety against the CPU goalie? Do you still have the cheese to score? Are sliders effective this year?

[Fiddy]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

I played 14 EASHL Club games yesterday with my buddy, 12-1-1 on the day. I also only played 2 offline games on default All Star and 1 HUT Wild Card game which was just 1 period.

Just gonna post some bullet points.

Gameplay much slower, this is bc default acceleration is set at 42 this year and speed is at 36. (I went back to NHL 24, default all star and just made the speed adjustments, feels just like 25 minus the new skating left trigger movements)

Noticed shot power much slower, again that's because since they slowed the game down they had to adjust this. Default shot power is set at 41. With that said Slap Shot Power went up and is at 53, which is why you see that marketed one timers going in a lot from the point.

Passing seems a bit less accurate, can't put my finger on it bc none of the sliders are different. Might just be bc movement is slower and I wasn't adjusted to the slower stick movement for my usual backhand and sauce passes. Probably user error here.

CPU AI/Teammates felt a bit tighter if that makes sense. Didn't notice a lot of WTF moments, they seem to move the puck a tad better, but still not up to snuff as to where it should be IMO (This would go for Be A Pro/Player Lock as well). But in general, seemed better.

Hitting still is over the top with guys getting laid out a bit too much, not sure if that ever will change. The hip check button still is OP, but toned down even more I think than what they did to it last year, so that's good, but still will be the only way I hit online. They should really take the hitting assistance that's set to 40 and make it like 10, then you wouldn't see as many guys laying on the ice because people would be whiffing way more.

Goalies, meh. Seemed better, but the same minor moves etc and shots all go in at the same rate. That at this point has to be a program thing. Go to practice, turn on the control visuals, when you green both, bang its in 99.9% of the time. That's been a thing since NHL 07.

Skating, seeing guys slip around defenders without the puck is nice to avoid the Mario running/skating is nice. It still happens time to time, but not as noticeable. Guys stumbling that was an issue in the past seem to be much improved as well.

Penalties seemed to be in a decent spot online, offline would like to see more so we shall see how adjusting the sliders works once I start playing more offline. But I'm assuming it will still be like the last few years.

EASHL, they got rid of some matchmaking options, can't match club size no more. I can see this being frustrating for the 5 and 6's crowd looking for casual games because you will get matched up against 2's and 3's more. Unless they have this set to match up properly under the hood. Need more modes here, what they have is just meh. We need EASHL Squad Battles like in HUT, can play with teammates against offline CPU teams for rewards etc. Maybe even every two weeks have a weekend Champs mode as well, that could last 4 days or something and give teams something else to play for instead of waiting for the playoffs.

HUT, more of the same. Nice that we can play unlimited squad battle games and have a reward path now. More of a casual way to play and not feel like you being left in the dust each week. I'm not sure how much more I will touch this though, 1v1 versus is where I'll spend my time when not in EASHL with my bud.

Menus are still a mess, take forever to load. This is just beyond unacceptable after seeing how much better CFB25, FC25, and M25 menus are. They did try and dumb down things so there isn't as many tabs, but man going through the World of Chel is painful still.

Franchise, changes they made needed to be made, but until we see a co-op offline type option or even a CFM like Madden it's going to fall short for most. Even though it's really well done depth wise compared to other sports games.

Graphics look more crisp, but I don't know I wasn't blown away. Just basically thought oh yeah, this is what this should have looked like years ago if they would have left old men behind.

On Ice Trainer settings, some still don't turn off. Dump arrow indicator etc.

That's about it off the top of my head. Overall, again feels like the same game we have been playing since NHL 15, with some minor tweaks etc. But when we see some of the tweaks are just slider related that gets a bit frustrating. But let's see what this team comes up with patch wise and where their plan takes them into NHL 26, bc that's the one for me. They said 3 year plan and that is year 3 I do believe.

Settings, I've had my cameras and control settings reset twice, not sure why. We shall see if it happens again today.

[Redwings19c]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

I will post my sliders in a bit so you can have a look.

The strategy adjustments I mentioned are actual team specific strategies. I edited the flyers and used the penguins to play against them. I edit each line strategy ( some more dump heavy than others) and zero out forward shooting and max it to the left to favor cycling). Also change off strategy for each line (behind the net, crash net or overload)

I also max out each dmen line shooting tendency, so in general cpu dmen shoot more, while depending on individual dmen player ratings to dictate their shooting frequency. This slider just raises each dmen pairing baseline for shooting tendency.

Also team strategy I edit, flyers are a stretch transition team with Tortorella, so the strategies reflect this ( leave early), you can really get more in depth with PP/PK and forecheck/trap strategies.

It this game passes the bill, I will release a roster including each team strategies in the NHL.

Good to know! But will the strategies not automatically be changed by the CPU, when you play against them? Aren´t the CPU coaches changing the strategies, when starting Franchise mode?

[Fiddy]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

BTW....I'm pretty sure the settings and sliders presets not sticking when you start a game is still a thing. And the same workaround from previous years still works: On the very last screen before a game starts, go to Game Settings and then either Rules or Gameplay Sliders. Even though your preset will show up at the top of either screen, the settings and sliders will most likely not match it - that's the bug. To fix that, just highlight your preset and d-pad left or right to a different preset, then dpad right back to the original one. The settings you had for that preset should now be correct, except one...for some reason I can never get the Post-Whistle Rules to stay on Authentic like this. But honestly, those kind of penalties are never called anyway.

Yes, you have to do it before every game (or you at least should check it, to make sure the settings are right). Yes, it's a pain in the ***. Yes, EA sucks for making us go through this. But it's still better than trying to individually edit every single slider you wanted to change before every game, or being forced to play on the defaults. Also, fortunately, the settings and sliders you choose do seem to stick in BAP without having to go through any of this nonsense (it's fortunate because you can't bring created presets into that mode - you can only use the "Custom" one if you want to change settings or sliders)

This has been confirmed that will be fixed in an upcoming patch. They had no idea this was a thing until I tweeted Mike about it a last weekend. They did an audit and found the issue and it will be fixed.

[Fiddy]

Re: NHL 25 Early Access and EA Play Trial Available Today - Share Your Impressions

They didn't fix whatever the issue is with d-men constantly leading rushes up the ice either. That's a huge annoyance gameplay wise.