[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpectralThundr

They have a juke, already on the right stick, actually there's a ton of different ones you can do. The rest of your points all are related to AI which I agree needs to be better going forward. I feel that if they would just allow the attributes effect slider to be more of a factor on player behavior it would resolve a lot of the gripes people have in regards to the AI. While I don't personally think it's as bad as people try to say it is with the Attributes slider set in the middle (why the middle I have no idea, EA should really explain how the various sliders work in more detail) the game on the whole certainly could use more differentiation between star players and 4th liners. I think the core gameplay itself though is extremely solid, I don't quite have the issues pulling the CPU out of position either but then again I cycle and set up more often than trying to shoot on the rush.

I agree, but aren't gameplay and AI attached at the hip?
If the AI is dumb, the gameplay suffers. Just like if the physics and mechanics are poor, but AI is awesome, again, the gameplay suffers.

In that regard, the gameplay needs a LOT of work.

I may also be in the minority (by a large margin I presume), but I've kind of cooled on the skillstick. I think it's taken away from the overall gameplay.
If someone is great with the stick, then everyone is a superstar on the ice.
But if you're bad with the controls, every player turns into a grunt.

I'm a terrible gamer. Because of this, when I play NHL14, I never feel like I'm awesome when controlling allstars. Datsyuk, Kane or Crosby always resemble a 4th liner when I'm controlling them.
Meanwhile, the CPU is doing outrageous things with scrubs.

In previous hockey titles, the attributes had more to do with how players felt and reacted.
So even poor gamers like me, could make Sakic play like Sakic. In fact, it helped exaggerate the difference in players even more.
That's why I kind of hope they tone down the skill stick for NHL15 and make attributes the primary catalyst in determining whether or not you'll thread a pass, score a goal, or deke the jockstrap off a dman.
I felt NHL2k2 and 2k3 did this very well.