** NHL 15 Thread ** Part II

[getyourselfsomerest]

Despite claiming to have new player models, what I see in screens doesn't seem much different than the player models from previous years games.

which is why I'll probably stick with the pre-gen version.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Despite claiming to have new player models, what I see in screens doesn't seem much different than the player models from previous years games.

I was really hoping for some degree of authentic skating strides or something, but it looks like they just mean changing the faces up a bit.

 

[The Note]

Pietrangelo looks worse than Giroux They somehow made a 6'3 man look like he's 5'7.

Just from a quick glance and only catching the seven on the sleeve I thought it was Sobotka. A mistake no one could ever, ever make in reality.

 

[UncleRisto]

Why is everyone *****ing about player faces? That makes no difference at all to the game. You don't even see the faces in gameplay.

 

[Tom Brady]

Pietrangelo looks worse than Giroux They somehow made a 6'3 man look like he's 5'7.

Pietrangelo looks like Pronger in that pic.

 

[c4rdsh4rk]

Why is everyone *****ing about player faces? That makes no difference at all to the game. You don't even see the faces in gameplay.

Ea's got the bozo's right where they want em. This is why they have been able to produce a game in 20 years that others could make in 2. Ea is all about the money and the hoes. I Mean the marketing.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Why is everyone *****ing about player faces? That makes no difference at all to the game. You don't even see the faces in gameplay.

Do you realize that EA touts that they have the authentic players' likenesses that's supposed to be in the game? Taken directly from their features list on their page:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/features

UNPRECEDENTED PLAYER LIKENESS
Powered by the same technology that brought the most realistic representation of the athlete to EA SPORTS UFC, NHL 15 delivers groundbreaking player likeness, emotion and animation. From the strides a player takes to get up the ice to the emotion on their face after scoring a game winning goal, the players are as real as they’ve ever been.

So then fans start questioning exactly where are these "unprecedented player likenesses." And then you have some lemming make excuses for EA.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

EA can't force guys to come to the studio and do the face recognition software. Not sure what you would expect in terms of the actual faces themselves.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

EA can't force guys to come to the studio and do the face recognition software. Not sure what you would expect in terms of the actual faces themselves.

But they can also go to them. They also have access to these hi-res headshots on the NHL media page:

 

[UncleRisto]

Do you realize that EA touts that they have the authentic players' likenesses that's supposed to be in the game? Taken directly from their features list on their page:

Yes, I do but why care about that anyways?

I know it adds realism but it's a really minor thing and everyone makes it out to be a huge issue when they release screenshots.

 

[542365]

Why is everyone *****ing about player faces? That makes no difference at all to the game. You don't even see the faces in gameplay.

I wasn't referring to the face, because like you said you rarely see the faces, I was referring to the body type. Pietrangelo is a very tall and lanky guy and that picture makes him look short and stocky. When they're bragging about how realistic the players look, I'd like the players to look at least as good as they did in previous games.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

But they can also go to them. They also have access to these hi-res headshots on the NHL media page:

I can only imagine if they tried to plaster pictures on actual player models like when that was all they did. Would look ridiculously out of place, especially when it comes to grimacing or celebrating faces.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yes, I do but why care about that anyways?

I know it adds realism but it's a really minor thing and everyone makes it out to be a huge issue when they release screenshots.

It's all part of the presentation, and it is a selling point, which is why they are making such claims about having authentic player likenesses in the game.

I like that they've improved the game presentation to be more like a TV broadcast, and during in-game cutscenes, like player profiles, celebrations, or the Cup presentation, you get a good look at the players' faces, and when they don't look like their counterparts, especially for star players, then you start to question how much work they put into the little details. That includes player models as well which they are saying are new.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I can only imagine if they tried to plaster pictures on actual player models like when that was all they did. Would look ridiculously out of place, especially when it comes to grimacing or celebrating faces.

Well, they have this:

 

[UncleRisto]

I wasn't referring to the face, because like you said you rarely see the faces, I was referring to the body type. Pietrangelo is a very tall and lanky guy and that picture makes him look short and stocky. When they're bragging about how realistic the players look, I'd like the players to look at least as good as they did in previous games.

I wasn't talking about you specifically and I agree with you that in general the player model they hyped doesn't look very good as everyone looks like they're 300lbs. But some comments people make especially on the Facebook page about how someone's nose is WAY OFF is really kind of ridiculous IMO. They have bigger fish to fry than that with the game. One can only hope those bigger issues with actual gameplay are dealt with sooner rather than later.

All in all I don't really like complaining about those issues either myself as I'm going to clock a gazillion hours again this year but if they want realism they should start from gameplay. Hopefully the new puck physics work and aren't overdone. If they do well with that it's gonna add a lot more to the game than getting Joe Thornton's nose right.

I like that they've improved the game presentation to be more like a TV broadcast, and during in-game cutscenes, like player profiles, celebrations, or the Cup presentation, you get a good look at the players' faces, and when they don't look like their counterparts, especially for star players, then you start to question how much work they put into the little details. That includes player models as well which they are saying are new.

As for this I agree with you that a TV broadcast-like presentation is a nice touch but you mostly skip cutscenes after a while so it's more or less a gimmick. The NBC thing seems promising though so it's a nice addition. One thing I don't like about this year's game however, is the fact that skipping cutscenes of goalie highlights takes a while and quite frankly I'd rather not have cutscenes like that.

 

[Mijatovic]

They probably have a system of trying to get the elite players MOSTLY correct while the average pleb is probably not even close.

They are certainly far better than NHL14 [MOD]

I liked what I heard about the review. Espeically about what Sean said regarding people trying to game the game. I hated that some people just needed the right circumstances to get the same goal over and over, hashmark snap shot, pass crease to goal. Goalies should be able to see this happening and learn from it especially if a player/team likes doing it a lot. I am really hoping Goalie AI, and Defender AI are much better than they were. This gives me even more excitement for the game. It would be nice if they could really up the ante on the Commentary as well but I would think its pretty much set in stone by this time. Though being the off-season, maybe the commentators have more time to record/re-record what they need to.

In essence, I am bloody excited and will be a day 1 buy on my XBO for this.

 

[izzy]

Player models look much worse if anything.

 

[Dagistitsyn]

The player faces are hit and miss. It honestly doesn't bother me that much. They nailed it with Plekanec's face though

One thing I always found annoying / lazy though is the wrong eye color. That seems like it would be an easy and quick fix to get right. They have so many players with their actual faces but stuck them with bright blue eyes when they actually have brown, just throws the whole thing off IMO.
Again, not really that big of a deal though.

 

[vtdevils2k]

Here's a video with some gameplay in the background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCDfD40098E

 

[Shrimper]

From yesterday;

 

[Dagistitsyn]

From yesterday;

Hopefully they show that they fixed the bouncy ball dump ins.

 

[Shrimper]

At least we know in that picture Giroux isn't going for the puck.

 

[andyolly]

Here's a video with some gameplay in the background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCDfD40098E

Something tells me that guy was given a script of what to ask/talk about by EA.

 

[Rihis]

Here's a video with some gameplay in the background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCDfD40098E

You can see the group celebration at 7:52.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

I can only imagine if they tried to plaster pictures on actual player models like when that was all they did. Would look ridiculously out of place, especially when it comes to grimacing or celebrating faces.

How does every other sports game manage to have accurate player faces?

I'm playing MLB 14, with more players on each roster than on an NHL team, and about 80%+ of the faces are accurate. What about FIFA? NBA?

And I'm not an EA hater - most critiques on here are way off base. I just don't understand what's so hard about getting at least 50%+ accurate faces.