NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

[Nwo4Life75]

I always thought the arenas in the NHL games look generic and each one looking almost the same. They really never showed you the arenas much during a game,really only at the start of the game! Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

[jfinger2013]

Ask about the career mode and what if any new changes did they make to improve it, also about the dynasty/franchise mode did they improve the trade logic

[shogunofharlem3]

No full stick control on defense????? Ugh.

[Eski33]

Any discussion of classic teams? Will Hartford Whalers jerseys still be represented? Classic logos ion ice?

[dodgerblue]

Will each team play like they do in real life so that there is more variety in games? If so, how is it accomplished (coaching, strategy, player skill sets).

[meep316]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

Who knows? May be a frame rate issue. It may be a clipping issue. Or it may just not be a priority to them. If it were easy to implement you would assume it would be in, but they never address what the issue is, which is part of the problem to me.

My fear would be that when they do implement it, finally, that it will just be a cut scene and get repetitive. That may be another reason why it isn't in yet, perhaps it just didn't look or work right.

The stuff they do in video games nowadays, the power of these consoles, there is absolutely no excuse to not have it. No way it's a framerate issue or anything like that. EA just doesn't pay any attention to detail.

It's why for years now, we still have not been able to save our lines for online play. And with how terrible the people who do the rosters are, you then have to sit there in pre game edit lines for 10 minutes, making necessary changes just to make your lines playable. They just don't care.

Gotta make sure fans have face paint on, though.

[hockeyyt988]

Glenn,

Fantastic read; thanks for the update.

My only question is will the custom sound feature be included on ps4? I know sony hasn't enabled mp3s but when/ they do, it would be nice to have this feature included.

[bigwill33]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

The stuff they do in video games nowadays, the power of these consoles, there is absolutely no excuse to not have it. No way it's a framerate issue or anything like that. EA just doesn't pay any attention to detail.

It's why for years now, we still have not been able to save our lines for online play. And with how terrible the people who do the rosters are, you then have to sit there in pre game edit lines for 10 minutes, making necessary changes just to make your lines playable. They just don't care.

Gotta make sure fans have face paint on, though.

I actually asked about the ability to edit lines online and save them a few years back and they told me it was by design that you can't. They figured that users that did would have an advantage over other users that didn't. Wasn't what I wanted to hear, but at least it was an honest answer, I suppose.

[meep316]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

I actually asked about the ability to edit lines online and save them a few years back and they told me it was by design that you can't. They figured that users that did would have an advantage over other users that didn't. Wasn't what I wanted to hear, but at least it was an honest answer, I suppose.

That is literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard, lmao. What does that even mean?? How would one person have an advantage? Everyone would be able to edit their lines and save them....

Do they mean that users who edited their lines to create better combinations that actually fit, would have an advantage over those who used the ****ty EA Lines? That is stupid. By that logic, you might as well take out dekes, and saucer passes, and any advanced controls at all. After all, people who use them, will have an advantage over the people who don't. Bizarro world stuff.

Not to mention the fact that the edit lines screen is a disaster. You have to click on a guy, then scroll through pretty much your whole team. Then go to the next line, replace the other guy you just put on that line. It is absolutely awful. It'd be one thing if it were like HUT, where you can hit Y and quickly interchange positions, but even still, that would be dumb.

They have wingers playing center on the PK, defensemen playing the wrong sides. Ugh it is so annoying just thinking about how inconvenient the entire system is. So, so bad. It's like nobody over there thinks logically at all. How is there not one person who doesn't put their hand up and just be like "This is terrible and it has been terrible for years. We have to fix this, right now." ??

Also there should be a 3rd PK unit, or at least an "alternate" option for the PK. If one of my PKers is in the box, I don't want the computer choosing who replaces him on the PK, they never pick the right guy. They'll put Gaborik on the PK or something.

[bigwill33]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

Keep in mind this was the answer given to me a few years back, when I was working here at OS on the regular. Things may have changed since then, but I doubt it.

They said the thinking behind it was that not everyone will set up their lines for a random vs. game online and that those who have it saved would have an advantage over the players that do not. I am guessing that they think the casual gamer would get frustrated playing an advanced gamer.

The other thing that they mentioned was that the rosters they had in the game were a true representation of what was going on in the league (laughable, I know) and as you alluded that people could stack lines. You would often see a player set up his fourth line with stars on it or place the top players on the pk to try and attack. The game wasn't good enough to handle this correctly (this part is my words, not theirs) and gave people that did this an unfair advantage.

Again, the hope was that people would just not bother editing the lines, or it would at least be even at the start of each game if you could see that your opponent was editing their lines so that you could take the time to do your lineup as well. The other idea was that the one pause in a vs. game was not a significant enough time to set all your lineup so that prevented some of the "unfairness".

I agree with you, however. There should at least be an option to save your lines for online play. Maybe you can only be matched up against others that have it set to the same, I don't know. But the lineups they have in this game are atrocious at best and the roster updates, when they finally occur, leave so much to be desired it is laughable.

In addition to what you are saying, you should get to choose who takes the draw when you are shorthanded. How you lineup should have more options for a face-off, they don't even let you have the winger flanked out wide to get to the point on a defensive zone draw. Not many teams put the winger inside of the d-man off of a own zone face-off.

They should also let us select any line towards the end of a PP or PK. If I make a final clear out of my zone I probably want a real line coming over the boards and not the other PK line. Same thing goes on the final rush up ice for a PP. No real team would trap themselves with tired or specialty players out in those situations.

These types of things are not even on the radar at EA. That is what I complain about. Unfortunately the casual fan, the ones that have the poll on the main page here that state they think NHL15 is the most promising EA game, don't know, understand, or care about most of what you and I just stated. The majority of the people that pick this game up in the US are the ones that played in that 2 minute video from E3 that was taken down by EA. They just want to fight and check and take slap shots to score 10 goals a game. They want to play the puck with the goalie every time and don't have a clue about match ups or face-off techniques. EA realizes this and to not cater to that crowd, which may be the majority at least here in the states, would be to take a large chunk of revenue out of their pockets on a game that is far down on the pecking order to begin with in terms of profit and marketability.

Having competition would do the consumer some good. But the best thing we can do is raise awareness and speak our minds to let EA know what is flat-out wrong with the NHL series. I do believe that is important to do this in a kind, productive, and professional manner in order to be efficient and respected, however. The main issue for me is that I lost their ear sometime a year or two after Littman was taken off the product and I haven't really gotten it back.

[Dolphins88]

I would take better realistic gameplay and differentiation in players/ teams over detailed fans and player models. I mean I remember nhl games on PC when certain players like Lemieux or Sakic or lines like legion of doom and detroits finesse team were on it was tough to defend against and it mattered. Hopefully EA gets this right.

[Dolphins88]

NHL 14 gameplay just seemed too generic.. Every player and team plays the same way and w same skills. It's just not exciting. Seriously get this right and I mean is rather see white towels waving then close ups of fans w face paint.

[meep316]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

Keep in mind this was the answer given to me a few years back, when I was working here at OS on the regular. Things may have changed since then, but I doubt it.

They said the thinking behind it was that not everyone will set up their lines for a random vs. game online and that those who have it saved would have an advantage over the players that do not. I am guessing that they think the casual gamer would get frustrated playing an advanced gamer.

The other thing that they mentioned was that the rosters they had in the game were a true representation of what was going on in the league (laughable, I know) and as you alluded that people could stack lines. You would often see a player set up his fourth line with stars on it or place the top players on the pk to try and attack. The game wasn't good enough to handle this correctly (this part is my words, not theirs) and gave people that did this an unfair advantage.

Again, the hope was that people would just not bother editing the lines, or it would at least be even at the start of each game if you could see that your opponent was editing their lines so that you could take the time to do your lineup as well. The other idea was that the one pause in a vs. game was not a significant enough time to set all your lineup so that prevented some of the "unfairness".

I agree with you, however. There should at least be an option to save your lines for online play. Maybe you can only be matched up against others that have it set to the same, I don't know. But the lineups they have in this game are atrocious at best and the roster updates, when they finally occur, leave so much to be desired it is laughable.

In addition to what you are saying, you should get to choose who takes the draw when you are shorthanded. How you lineup should have more options for a face-off, they don't even let you have the winger flanked out wide to get to the point on a defensive zone draw. Not many teams put the winger inside of the d-man off of a own zone face-off.

They should also let us select any line towards the end of a PP or PK. If I make a final clear out of my zone I probably want a real line coming over the boards and not the other PK line. Same thing goes on the final rush up ice for a PP. No real team would trap themselves with tired or specialty players out in those situations.

These types of things are not even on the radar at EA. That is what I complain about. Unfortunately the casual fan, the ones that have the poll on the main page here that state they think NHL15 is the most promising EA game, don't know, understand, or care about most of what you and I just stated. The majority of the people that pick this game up in the US are the ones that played in that 2 minute video from E3 that was taken down by EA. They just want to fight and check and take slap shots to score 10 goals a game. They want to play the puck with the goalie every time and don't have a clue about match ups or face-off techniques. EA realizes this and to not cater to that crowd, which may be the majority at least here in the states, would be to take a large chunk of revenue out of their pockets on a game that is far down on the pecking order to begin with in terms of profit and marketability.

Having competition would do the consumer some good. But the best thing we can do is raise awareness and speak our minds to let EA know what is flat-out wrong with the NHL series. I do believe that is important to do this in a kind, productive, and professional manner in order to be efficient and respected, however. The main issue for me is that I lost their ear sometime a year or two after Littman was taken off the product and I haven't really gotten it back.

Was this before fatigue was a factor? And even still, it makes no sense, because it still allows you to edit lines, they just make it like pulling teeth to do so. But they still give you the option. And just stacking all of your lines would cause you to roll out fatigued players who aren't effective after a couple of shifts.

And yeah, even if that was it, what's their excuse now? It's just so stupid and it's mind blowing that nobody over there thinks with one shred of common sense.

I could not possibly agree more with you with the rest of your post. It's honestly embarrassing for them to just ignore that stuff, and to cater to the types of people you mentioned. I wish I could sit down with them for 5 minutes and just run down even a few bullet points that would make the game a million times better. They could hire me as the "common sense consultant", lol.

I was talking to someone on IGN, and he said that he met Rammer and he said:

"He asked us how we liked the game (NHL 12), and we told him how we felt.
He took nothing we said seriously and basically put us down for it."

I don't think that should surprise anyone, they don't listen to the community at all. Their little "conferences" at E3 are always terrible. Anytime they talk about "increased crowd detail" and "new commentary teams", etc, that is red flag city. That stuff should be a million miles down the list of things they are talking about when hyping the game.

[FBeaule04]

I said to my wife that it's first time since 5 years I'm really looking forward for that game. The only thing that bug me a lot is the goal celebrations. No five-man huddles after a goal is just plain silly. I mean, we've been asking it for 3 years now and it's part of the game. It should be the first thing they've worked on.

The lines about Ray Ferraro is promising. Should make the commentary back in my hockey games, something that's been off for quite a while.

[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15: Hands-On Impressions

I said to my wife that it's first time since 5 years I'm really looking forward for that game. The only thing that bug me a lot is the goal celebrations. No five-man huddles after a goal is just plain silly. I mean, we've been asking it for 3 years now and it's part of the game. It should be the first thing they've worked on.

The lines about Ray Ferraro is promising. Should make the commentary back in my hockey games, something that's been off for quite a while.

Because everyone wanted "real time" presentation so badly, and now that they got it, they don't realize that it's difficult to do 5 man celebrations ALL in real time.