Favourite flawed EA NHL logic

[vandymeer13]

It's insane how some basic features just "disapeared" over the years.
After all these years I still think that 2k10 (I believe is the right year) was the most realistic hockey game I've played (the most fun being NHL Hitz Pro from 2004).

2k10 had roster sharing, more fun prospect development (that I recall), better trade platform, easier to navigate menus, etc. etc. The gameplay was a little weird at time (ie deking was kinda random), but it was just the begining of using the left joystick to control the player's stick so I can excuse that.

Also, you could control multiple teams in dynasty mode, and the simulation was FAST. It was really easy and fun to set up an evening of 2k10 gaming and do some dynasties with friends and play each other's teams.

I remember one of the 2k games had a great fight engine to. You could grab with either hand switch it up ty different punches and even turtle or go for a takedown. And to top it off on your way to the box they would play like bad boys (cops theme) or keep em separated or why cant we be friends pretty bad ass. It was hard to get in to a fight though, you couldn't just initiate. Wish that game would come back.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I finally got NHL21...the defensive AI is atrocious. Also, the harder difficulties just mean that the AI is faster and stronger than the human controlled players. Got a clean break with MacKinnon and Maroon easily caught up and launched him about 15 feet on the backcheck. Makes sense.

 

[Favster]

World of CHEL on D, the winger comes down your wing, you poke the puck perfectly which bounces it off the boards, right back to the winger who got a ridiculous speed boost because of the animation and blows right by you. Way to reward good Defense EA LOL

 

[Favster]

It seems like each year they add animations when they should be removing them, it's just mind boggling to me that they don't see this.

 

[Tak7]

I finally got NHL21...the defensive AI is atrocious. Also, the harder difficulties just mean that the AI is faster and stronger than the human controlled players. Got a clean break with MacKinnon and Maroon easily caught up and launched him about 15 feet on the backcheck. Makes sense.

The harder difficulty literally just means the AI hits "harder".

It's ridiculous.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I finally got NHL21...the defensive AI is atrocious. Also, the harder difficulties just mean that the AI is faster and stronger than the human controlled players. Got a clean break with MacKinnon and Maroon easily caught up and launched him about 15 feet on the backcheck. Makes sense.

The skating has always been so wildly unrealistic. There are maybe a couple d-men in the league who stand a chance of doing something to decrease the quality of chance when a player like McDavid/MacKinnon/Eichel gets half a step on them, but with EA logic, Zdeno Chara can catch up while backskating. It's like the skating ratings don't even matter.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

The skating has always been so wildly unrealistic. There are maybe a couple d-men in the league who stand a chance of doing something to decrease the quality of chance when a player like McDavid/MacKinnon/Eichel gets half a step on them, but with EA logic, Zdeno Chara can catch up while backskating. It's like the skating ratings don't even matter.

I don't think any of the ratings matter. There should be a more dynamic range for players, or the stats themselves need to have a higher impact. There are some really fast skaters in the league that handle the puck like a grenade, so in game you should be able to fly around the ice, but if you do that with the puck you should more easily lose control of the puck.

Some of the replacement level players should be rated in the 40s to 50s IMO.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I don't think any of the ratings matter. There should be a more dynamic range for players, or the stats themselves need to have a higher impact. There are some really fast skaters in the league that handle the puck like a grenade, so in game you should be able to fly around the ice, but if you do that with the puck you should more easily lose control of the puck.

Some of the replacement level players should be rated in the 40s to 50s IMO.

100% agree. If the difference between 99 speed and low 80s speed isn't going to make any discernible difference, then EA needs to start rating league average skaters in the 60s-70s and below average skaters maybe down as low as the 20s-30s. Also, they need to figure out who's actually a good skater. Like, why is Joe Pavelski always in the 90s for skating when he's literally never been above average at that?

Also agree on your other point. The game is missing some relevant ratings categories, including for the ability to handle the puck at speed. I think Maxim Afinogenov is kind of the perfect illustrative example (even though he's obviously not a current player): guy could fly, guy could dangle, but he could only very rarely achieve both feats at the same time.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

100% agree. If the difference between 99 speed and low 80s speed isn't going to make any discernible difference, then EA needs to start rating league average skaters in the 60s-70s and below average skaters maybe down as low as the 20s-30s. Also, they need to figure out who's actually a good skater. Like, why is Joe Pavelski always in the 90s for skating when he's literally never been above average at that?

Also agree on your other point. The game is missing some relevant ratings categories, including for the ability to handle the puck at speed. I think Maxim Afinogenov is kind of the perfect illustrative example (even though he's obviously not a current player): guy could fly, guy could dangle, but he could only very rarely achieve both feats at the same time.

the reason Pavelski is in the 90s in skating is because he’s an incredibly strong hockey player. Puts up points.. in EA they need to make him a strong/fast skater to replicate his abilities. It’s not necessarily indicative of his actual speed but there’s no other attributes that can make him as strong. I think..

 

[Puckstop40]

The harder difficulty literally just means the AI hits "harder".

It's ridiculous.

I barely get bumped and the computer completely separates me from the puck. I do the same and some how, it always goes right back to one of their players. Not to mention the computer passing is always at 95% or more.

 

[Tak7]

I barely get bumped and the computer completely separates me from the puck. I do the same and some how, it always goes right back to one of their players. Not to mention the computer passing is always at 95% or more.

Yeah, it's a huge problem, honestly.

I spend a lot of time every damn year trying to tweak sliders in order to find a balance that feels right for me - toning down the AI passing accuracy just a little bit, and then finding the sweet spot between turning my team's aggression up & turning AI's down, until it doesn't feel like they are monsters and I'm some Timbits kids team.

..................and EA being EA, you can't transfer sliders across from one game to the next. Thankfully Xbox Series X Quick Resume makes it much easier to bounce back and forth between 2 games quickly to match things up, but it's still an utterly ridiculous system for a game that I've fast fallen out of love with.

 

[CasusBelli]

Always thought it’s silly that ratings move in response to performance. Production doesn’t increase quality; production reflects quality.

 

[Glennsoe]

Poped in the game and played a little BAP mode..

After 1 game in which I score 5 goals and had 3 assist I have a meeting with the media in which the text says:

"You managed to win the game,but were not noticable during the game"

I then turned the game of..

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Poped in the game and played a little BAP mode..

After 1 game in which I score 5 goals and had 3 assist I have a meeting with the media in which the text says:

"You managed to win the game,but were not noticable during the game"

I then turned the game of..

Had the same message after scoring the OT winner that sent my team to the Stanley Cup Final. BAP is garbage.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Just had two scenarios that were mind-boggling in NHL20.

I typically like to play the season opener, and a few milestone games during the season. I have four NHL debut players, and who does Mike Emerick decide to focus on? 35 year old Ilya Kovalchuk

In another instance, someone on our team was the ‘top goalscorer in the league’, where does the game shine the focus on? My fourth-line enforcer with a whopping 3 points

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

My favorite now is when you retrieve the puck in the defensive zone… your winger then break out but stay as close as possible to the opposing teams defence making it incredibly easy for the opposing team to intercept the puck.. like can they not try and avoid the defensive players?

also when the offensive team is breaking out of their zone through the neutral zone and my AI bursts at them full speed instead of back skating creating odd man rushes..

 

[mattihp]

I had two funny new things happen to me yesterday.

My goaltender takes his hand up to signal icing and the puck goes by him into the goal.

Play of the period was the opponents defenseman making a big hit and getting caught out of position. In the background one can see me scoring the game winning goal due to the defenseman being out of position..

 

[russ99]

I barely get bumped and the computer completely separates me from the puck. I do the same and some how, it always goes right back to one of their players. Not to mention the computer passing is always at 95% or more.

This annoys me on pretty much every sports game. I need to make crazy passes and moves to keep the puck since if the opponent even touches me they get the puck/ball, but can't get it away from them without an infraction or a gimmick like the poke check button.

At least with NBA 2K you can adjust sliders for everything.

 

[kirby11]

A few classic hits from the years:
-Getting checked from behind on breakaways
-Repeatedly stick-lifting the computer with perfect positioning and not getting the puck, then using puck protect and still getting stick-lifted from behind when they try it
-CPU players bouncing off multiple checks along the wall and somehow retaining puck possession, then passing the puck to the front, where my AI defender is standing next to them, doing nothing as they score

 

[kirby11]

It's insane how some basic features just "disapeared" over the years.
After all these years I still think that 2k10 (I believe is the right year) was the most realistic hockey game I've played (the most fun being NHL Hitz Pro from 2004).

2k10 had roster sharing, more fun prospect development (that I recall), better trade platform, easier to navigate menus, etc. etc. The gameplay was a little weird at time (ie deking was kinda random), but it was just the begining of using the left joystick to control the player's stick so I can excuse that.

Also, you could control multiple teams in dynasty mode, and the simulation was FAST. It was really easy and fun to set up an evening of 2k10 gaming and do some dynasties with friends and play each other's teams.

I had 2k10 for the Wii back in the day and it was more enjoyable than a lot of the newer NHL games. The CPUs actually did realistically stupid stuff once in a while like making passes up the middle in their own d-zone, contact generally felt solid without veering into the dumb "I crushed this guy into next week in open ice and he popped back up a second later" thing, and you could feel significant differentiation between top-end guys, mid-level players, and scrubs, as well as individual skills of shooting, passing, deking, etc. To contrast, I remember one NHL game when a late-career Brooks Orpik came flying down the boards to pinch, collected the puck on his backhand, cut to the middle of the ice, one touch deked his way around my defenseman to the inside, and beat my goalie with a bar-down snapshot from the high slot. Like...have any of you people making the game EVER watched the sport?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I was recently playing NHL 2002 (yes, it's 19 years old). I took a minor penalty and, before play was stopped, I tripped an opposing player on a breakaway. The game gave my opponent a 5-on-0 (apparently combining the two separate infractions). They scored pretty easily on that.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I was recently playing NHL 2002 (yes, it's 19 years old). I took a minor penalty and, before play was stopped, I tripped an opposing player on a breakaway. The game gave my opponent a 5-on-0 (apparently combining the two separate infractions). They scored pretty easily on that.

That's amazing, and should be a thing that can happen in real life.

 

[Gaud]

Every single person on my team is at 99. Every single one, including my backup goalie. My team is 98 because apparently having two 99 goaltenders equals 98.

My O and D rate as 99s way before i even get one 99, but its different for the goaltenders. A backup is never as good as the #1, so you shouldnt need two maxed out #1s to equal 99

 

[Elvs]

I love how all these realistic player names are still summoned into franchise mode. I start a new franchise, on NHL 23, and take a look at the upcoming draft class ...

#1(ahead of Bedard) Anthony Brind'Amour from Denmark
#3 Gustavo Grantham from Austria
#4 Russ Rycroft from Denmark
#32 Dallas MacLellan from Poland
#41 Malachi Fedoruk from Norway
#43 Braydon Corazzini from Poland
#58 Christiano Carlton from Poland

Yep, this all makes perfect sense to me. Just like that time on NHL 21 or NHL 22 when there was a guy named Paul Kariya from Romania drafted in the 4th round. Love it.

 

[mattihp]

I love how all these realistic player names are still summoned into franchise mode. I start a new franchise, on NHL 23, and take a look at the upcoming draft class ...

#1(ahead of Bedard) Anthony Brind'Amour from Denmark
#3 Gustavo Grantham from Austria
#4 Russ Rycroft from Denmark
#32 Dallas MacLellan from Poland
#41 Malachi Fedoruk from Norway
#43 Braydon Corazzini from Poland
#58 Christiano Carlton from Poland

Yep, this all makes perfect sense to me. Just like that time on NHL 21 or NHL 22 when there was a guy named Paul Kariya from Romania drafted in the 4th round. Love it.

Seven seasons into dynasty on NHL 20 Lithuania had five NHL goalies and Finland one. Poland, S.Korea and Italy had one each. 10 season in and Kazakstan had 30-40 players and Finland around 15.