NHL 13 Thread

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

You guys seem to play a game that sucks so bad a lot.

What other option is there? This game sucks compared to previous NHL games, but its still fun.

Especially when you master glitch goals and make people send you angry PM's. this is what this game has turned into. All the players I play who are at level 54 or higher score 90% of their goals by glitching.

You have to play a certain way to win and that's being cheap. The game is broken.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by Iginla

What other option is there? This game sucks compared to previous NHL games, but its still fun.

Especially when you master glitch goals and make people send you angry PM's. this is what this game has turned into. All the players I play who are at level 54 or higher score 90% of their goals by glitching.

You have to play a certain way to win and that's being cheap. The game is broken.

Well I'm guessing you don't HAVE to play the video game. Just not sure why you'd continue playing something that seems to cause such discomfort.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Well I'm guessing you don't HAVE to play the video game. Just not sure why you'd continue playing something that seems to cause such discomfort.

That's my biggest gripe with myself. I get minor enjoyment out of the game, but I mostly feel annoyed and frustrated. Yet, I can't stay away from the game for more than about a week.

All that I can think of is that it's a 20 year developed force of habit.

[AR_Six]

Originally Posted by Iginla

All the players I play who are at level 54 or higher score 90% of their goals by glitching.

What specific glitch are they exploiting, or is it a menu?

[Mr.Coffee]

I like this version more than others for a few reasons. I like that they made trading harder in GM mode.

But I just feel like EA is lazy. Like come on, you can't even change the way your menu looks year-to-year? Or you can't even change things like uniforms / logo selection for custom teams? These are easy changes that at least give the feel of a new game, but all these things have quite literally been the same for like 5 years. Brutal.

[AR_Six]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I like this version more than others for a few reasons. I like that they made trading harder in GM mode.

But I just feel like EA is lazy. Like come on, you can't even change the way your menu looks year-to-year? Or you can't even change things like uniforms / logo selection for custom teams? These are easy changes that at least give the feel of a new game, but all these things have quite literally been the same for like 5 years. Brutal.

This kind of stuff though isn't stuff I care about. Any time they spend on this takes away from time they could be using to make the game work the way it should. I mean right now you have an AI opponent that essentially cheats as you increase difficulty. The AI doesn't play better, it just gives the CPU players superpowers that you don't have. That's not a well designed game. Don't even get me started on the catch-up logic.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

What specific glitch are they exploiting, or is it a menu?

It's just the same goal..coming down the wing holding the stick back a little bit and going top shelf short side.

Or coming from the side boards and holding the puck out a bit until the goalie comes out of net and you have an empty netter.

All the good players use these moves to score. It's really just a challenge onto how cheap you can be and it forces you to play that game as well.

[Cheerio]

For some reason when I sim in be a GM I can't stop simming until I reach the day I originally planned to sim to. It says press Y to stop sim but Y doesn't do anything. Has this happened to anyone else?

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Cheerio

For some reason when I sim in be a GM I can't stop simming until I reach the day I originally planned to sim to. It says press Y to stop sim but Y doesn't do anything. Has this happened to anyone else?

Are you holding it down?

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

This kind of stuff though isn't stuff I care about. Any time they spend on this takes away from time they could be using to make the game work the way it should. I mean right now you have an AI opponent that essentially cheats as you increase difficulty. The AI doesn't play better, it just gives the CPU players superpowers that you don't have. That's not a well designed game. Don't even get me started on the catch-up logic.

What are they supposed to do, if they don't do something you'll say wtf, my all star team wins every game 10-0, why don't they make this game harder?

Also, agree to disagree. The game barely changes year to year enough as it is, I think the LEAST they could do is hire one ####ing guy to make a new menu. As it stands EA looks cheap and the game 5 years recycled. It's just a lazy product to have the same look and feel year to year with nothing changing, it just is bad optics for a game that probably needs the look of change more than others. And I can't imagine these changes are a big drain on resources (not as much as the other in game changes) but could be wrong.

Even if they changed it once every 3 years. This is getting ridiculous though.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

What are they supposed to do, if they don't do something you'll say wtf, my all star team wins every game 10-0, why don't they make this game harder?

They should actually do what they promise and subsequently announce each year: improve(ed) AI. Instead, we are left with difficulty increments that don't make your opponents smarter, they give the opponent abilities and advantages that are unfair and/or unavailable to the user (the magnetic stick/strip puck move immediately pops to mind).

However, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I suspect that they have either reached the limitations of the current console's AI improvement capacity OR they simply don't prioritize it because they are directing the series to depend on online play. If it is the latter, we may never see AI any better than it currently is because they expect us all to play 6 vs 6 and spend money on microtransactions in the process.

Whatever the excuse, the current AI is borderline rage-worthy and it frustrates the living hell out of me.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

This kind of stuff though isn't stuff I care about. Any time they spend on this takes away from time they could be using to make the game work the way it should. I mean right now you have an AI opponent that essentially cheats as you increase difficulty. The AI doesn't play better, it just gives the CPU players superpowers that you don't have. That's not a well designed game. Don't even get me started on the catch-up logic.

Why not improve BOTH?

Anyone else remember the days when NHL was available on the PC?

NHL 95 (DOS) - Looked like an exact copy of the SNES/Genesis version for gameplay, but had different menus. Improved version of the soundtrack for the PC. Had some fun features (like being able to get a game misconduct for hitting the referee).

NHL 96 (DOS) - EA's first foray into 3D, using a 3D arena and 2D sprites. The menu was brand new. Soundtrack was all made in-house and it was awesome. Nothing from the consoles carried over. Brought back fighting.

NHL 97 - Developed for DOS *and* had a Windows 95 version of the executable. The 3D arenas were improved and now the players were 3D models as well, including actual player faces. Menu was again drastically different, the soundtrack was brand new and in-house. First time play-by-play was featured, and it was just Jim Hughson. Brought back "Abuse of Official" penalties... and there was also a neat easter egg: if you used the 'fight' code, then immediately hit the ref, you could fight him. He was actually an incredibly good fighter and at the end of the fight, the other team would serve the fighting major for the referee.

NHL 98 - Native Windows application. 3D acceleration was introduced exclusively by way of 3dfx Glide, and added things like numbers on the backs of helmets, sleeves, and captaincy/alternate lettering. Player face technology was again improved upon. Menu was again redesigned, and the soundtrack was all brand-new, still in-house. Jim Hughson returned for play-by-play, and Daryl Reaugh was brought in for color commentary. My beloved 'Abuse of Official' penalty was removed. Spearing penalties were introduced.

NHL 99 (Win9x) - 3D acceleration was enabled through a number of supported chipsets including 3dfx, ATI Rage, and NVidia Riva TNT. Gameplay was improved, 'face in the game' was introduced, menu completely redone. Music was again in-house except for the inclusion of one track each by David Bowie, Gravity Kills, and Noise Therapy.

NHL 2000 (Win9x) - The start of EA's laziness. Very few improvements over NHL 99, new menu, new soundtrack but included more licensed music. Bill Clement came aboard as color commentary.

NHL 2001 (Win9x) - The laziness continues. Basically the same game as 2000, brand new menu, and a 'Momentum bar' which was a stupid idea. Sound-track starting to move more and more towards using licensed tracks exclusively.

NHL 2002 (Win9x/XP) - EA briefly snaps out of it, providing graphical and gameplay enhancements. Again, new menu, but more licensed music pushing out the in-house stuff. Also added the unfortunate 'NHL Cards' feature. Don Taylor becomes the color commentator; everyone loudly wonders why Abbott and Costello are now the broadcast team, and mutes the commentary volume.

NHL 2003 (Win) - A bit more laziness. New menu, game makes use of licensed music exclusively for the first time. NHL Cards feature is built upon. New franchise mode. Don Taylor returns to ruin the game.

NHL 2004 (Win) - Considered to be the best game in the series. Massive improvements to gameplay and a new dynasty mode. Create a team, goalie fights, the ability to choose not to fight, etc. The menu was JS/HTML based, allowing for massive customization. The modding community for this game is huge and still exists today. Sound track is all licensed music.

NHL 2005 - The lockout edition, stripped down quite substantially from what was available in previous versions. The beginning of the end for the PC NHL series.

From here, the PC version stagnated until finally no longer being available for the PC from the 2009 version onward.

My point of recalling all these things is that EA can do BOTH. Freshen up their menu and introduce something really awesome for the front-end, while still improving on gameplay and graphics. NHL 13 they did a little, but I miss the really cool stuff like the arena fly-bys.

I stand by the statement that EA has gotten incredibly lazy with the games as they've realized there's almost a sort of Madden-esque following (to a lesser degree of course) with their NHL series and they can get away with pretty well anything. This is the second year in a row that I've decided NOT to buy the NHL series after playing it. And I've owned every version of the game from 1995 to 2011.

[AR_Six]

Whoa whoa whoa. Don Taylor was colour commentary because of Rock the Rink and I absolutely did not hit the mute button. "OH They felt that hit in the rafters! ... Which begs the question, 'why are there people in the rafters?'"

[AR_Six]

"He hits with a scowl on his face, Jim! But he also barbecues with a scowl on his face, so I wouldn't read too much into that!"

[TorqueDog]

lol It was funny for the first few games if only because it was a radical departure from how the game's commentary had normally been and I was a bit of a goofy kid. But you get my point, right? Those games were pretty clearly distinguishable from the moment you started it. They made far more drastic changes from version to version than we see today. And unlike in the PC versions, they have just two fixed hardware profiles to worry about: Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. No need to add support for new video cards and changing APIs.

There's no arguing that NHL 13 is incredibly advanced where the AI and gameplay is concerned, but the lack of change and uniqueness to the front end just leaves me feeling a bit cold. I get the desire to attempt to standardize the menu across their sports franchises for all the drooling idiots out there who get confused every time the interface changes, but man.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

This kind of stuff though isn't stuff I care about. Any time they spend on this takes away from time they could be using to make the game work the way it should. I mean right now you have an AI opponent that essentially cheats as you increase difficulty. The AI doesn't play better, it just gives the CPU players superpowers that you don't have. That's not a well designed game. Don't even get me started on the catch-up logic.

I think this is half the problem. The group who likes the game have certain metrics which NHL 13 succeeded massively on, and some are just left rotting.

As a player of the game, I love the tweaks made. After a little adapting (and sticking to 1.04 sliders as the basis), I have made the game something that feels to me pretty good. It kind of handicaps the AI down to a reasonable player skill (the default skill I think) to prevent "cheese" goals most of the time (I have one memory of Oleksiak going coast to coast inexplicably...another story and pretty good for the number of games logged) and the update of skating prowess and goaltender movements are actually quite appreciable from this isolate atmosphere (I have quite a few aesthetically pleasing goaltender saves). From a theoretical perspective, these are wins.

That being said, I can understand that this game has major failures too. It doesn't improve AI...or at least, not to an appreciable level. Under default settings, the goals seem as rage-worthy as last year, the last-minute down by a goal AI making even more so. Checking isn't improved and board play took a step back unless you seriously tried to work down its importance with homebrew sliders. And faceoffs are still just a game of rock-paper-scissors that you can win easily.

And a major killer for me is how the Custom Team/Player areas barely get touched from year to year. The major update in, what, 4 years has been adding a custom female character? It's cool and all, but it's still pretty bare bones and somehow less than what NHL 04 offered on custom teams.

[vektor]

I traded in my NHL 13, glad I did.

[AR_Six]

Talking about sliders is basically wasted talk to me because it has zero impact on your online play where everything is default. I have 2 GM Connected leagues and that's all I do.

[secol]

Originally Posted by kirant

I think this is half the problem. The group who likes the game have certain metrics which NHL 13 succeeded massively on, and some are just left rotting.

As a player of the game, I love the tweaks made. After a little adapting (and sticking to 1.04 sliders as the basis), I have made the game something that feels to me pretty good. It kind of handicaps the AI down to a reasonable player skill (the default skill I think) to prevent "cheese" goals most of the time (I have one memory of Oleksiak going coast to coast inexplicably...another story and pretty good for the number of games logged) and the update of skating prowess and goaltender movements are actually quite appreciable from this isolate atmosphere (I have quite a few aesthetically pleasing goaltender saves). From a theoretical perspective, these are wins.

That being said, I can understand that this game has major failures too. It doesn't improve AI...or at least, not to an appreciable level. Under default settings, the goals seem as rage-worthy as last year, the last-minute down by a goal AI making even more so. Checking isn't improved and board play took a step back unless you seriously tried to work down its importance with homebrew sliders. And faceoffs are still just a game of rock-paper-scissors that you can win easily.

And a major killer for me is how the Custom Team/Player areas barely get touched from year to year. The major update in, what, 4 years has been adding a custom female character? It's cool and all, but it's still pretty bare bones and somehow less than what NHL 04 offered on custom teams.

i don't really find it that way haha.....95% of the time i just aim it how i want it and pretty much keep using without needing to play rock paper scissors.

[undercoverbrother]

I know this may have been covered in the 50 previous pages, but how does this game compare to NHL 10. That is the last one I bought. My 7 yr olds son is loving that game. He has found out that in NHL 13, you can play WHL teams and want to play as the Rebels.