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Old 11-23-2019, 02:40 PM   #1
aaronck
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Isn't there usually a yearly thread for the new versions of this game? I see it's on sale @ Shoppers drug mart this weekend for $50- Is it worth the upgrade from NHL19?
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Old 11-24-2019, 08:20 AM   #2
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I can't speak to the game quality but the Ps4 digital version is currently $40.
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Old 11-24-2019, 05:33 PM   #3
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I have heard the AI has not gotten any better so until I hear that I am skipping the games.
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Old 11-24-2019, 05:50 PM   #4
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At half price the game is probably worth getting if you play online at all.

Otherwise EA doesn't care about improving the game from one year to the next. The same game-breaking glitches exist every year.
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Old 11-24-2019, 05:55 PM   #5
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Copied from my review in the video game thread:

NHL 20 might be the best hockey game I've ever played. They have overhauled, revamped, and added quite a bit. If you haven't purchased the game in a few years, or if you have been holding off because it always feels the same, I recommend this be the year to buy. It's the freshest looking and feeling the NHL franchise has been since they introduced the skill stick.

Apart from the same menu styles and familiar gameplay, the rest of the game feels brand new. They have overhauled the in-game presentation very effectively. Out are Doc Emerick and Gino Odjick, in is James Cybulski. That sounds like a bad trade-off, but oh my does it sound fresh. Funny to say, but it feels...alive. Ferraro and Cybulski mesh well, and it feels like they are bantering in real time. They didn't edit out when they are talking over or across each other, so it feels super authentic. Plus the play-by-play is really adaptive and follows along as if the game is happening for the first time for them. And hey, Ferraro has a little spiel about "Big Save Dave" which is pretty cool.

In Franchise they have added coaches and a reformed chemistry system. You have to adapt to coaching styles and line makeup to mesh with the proper chemistry. For instance, you can't set a line of grinders to play with 'skilled' strategies or else it will mess with chemistry and your attributes will be knocked. Also, they have FINALLY started to track teams played for in player stats. You can tell each players stats from their profile, AND the team they played for that year. It's small, but that recognition of depth just adds to the game.

The gameplay is familiar, but just so damned refined. Basically they took the foundations of gameplay over the last handful of years and just tightened it up. I've never felt like I've had more control in a hockey video game. Everything is responsive, and the play finally feels reactive. They nailed the physics this year. Oh, and AI seems far improved. No more worrying about the idiocy of my NPC teammates or unrealistic play of the CPU. It just feels so cohesive.

I've only played a small portion so far, but like I led off...this is probably the best hockey video game I have ever played. Incredibly impressed, EA. Kudos.
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Old 11-26-2019, 07:03 PM   #6
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I have the game and I really like it compared to 19
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Old 11-27-2019, 07:06 AM   #7
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I have the game and I really like it compared to 19
Be honest, is the AI actually improved though? Like if I play Be A GM and sim the games by playing CPU vs CPU and just letting the game play is it going to be a hot mess of bad decisions like every other installment is?
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Old 11-27-2019, 09:22 AM   #8
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I feel like it is. But I don't play those, I play hut usually but single player
The players seem to stay on side when skating more often too
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Old 11-27-2019, 09:26 AM   #9
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Be honest, is the AI actually improved though? Like if I play Be A GM and sim the games by playing CPU vs CPU and just letting the game play is it going to be a hot mess of bad decisions like every other installment is?
Whoa I never thought to do this and see what happens! I am gonna try it!

And no, the defensive AI is still garbage.

The offense AI seems alot better.

And the new dynamic body positions for goalies and players make for some sweet saves and goals you couldnt do before.

As well dynamic skating has sure changed the ability to get more break aways and mess with defenders.

I like it.

Its still hard and frustrating on All Star though.
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Old 11-27-2019, 09:27 AM   #10
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Forgot to say, the new game modes are pretty fun to play solo or with friends. I never usually play anything other than BaGM and I play some of the new modes now.
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Old 11-27-2019, 09:47 AM   #11
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Whoa I never thought to do this and see what happens! I am gonna try it!
This isn't a very useful test of AI though. Designing an AI system to make realistic decisions when it's playing a human player is a different animal from designing AI that looks realistic against itself, when it can predict what's coming. They understandably aren't aiming for the latter.
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Old 11-27-2019, 10:46 AM   #12
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This isn't a very useful test of AI though. Designing an AI system to make realistic decisions when it's playing a human player is a different animal from designing AI that looks realistic against itself, when it can predict what's coming. They understandably aren't aiming for the latter.
Which sucks because that is what I like the game for. I don't want to control the players on the ice, I want to build the team and then watch them play.
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Old 11-27-2019, 01:08 PM   #13
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Be honest, is the AI actually improved though? Like if I play Be A GM and sim the games by playing CPU vs CPU and just letting the game play is it going to be a hot mess of bad decisions like every other installment is?

This is easily the strangest thing I have ever heard when talking about ways to play a sports game.

Why not play the games? you get even more out of it!
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Old 11-28-2019, 07:38 AM   #14
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This is easily the strangest thing I have ever heard when talking about ways to play a sports game.

Why not play the games? you get even more out of it!
I don't want to control the game though, I don't enjoy it at all. I want to build the team and watch the fruits of my labour. I love playing EHM and FHM but you can't watch the game, you can just watch walls of text. I want to watch the games and play at being the GM.
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Old 11-28-2019, 11:39 AM   #15
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Yeah I find the gameplay so stale that I tend to play franchise mode 90% of the time, and sim at least 80-% of the games.
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Old 12-02-2019, 10:57 AM   #16
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This is easily the strangest thing I have ever heard when talking about ways to play a sports game.

Why not play the games? you get even more out of it!
I used a more traditional play style that led me to the same conclusion years back... For EASHL in the early days they had those locked stat upgrades. And the Fatas never really had a dedicated goalie. So in an effort to at least have the best stats as I could when needed as a goalie, I would try and get as many of those unlocked through the in game achievements as I could. So I would play the offline BAP career as a goalie in order to unlock a bunch of those. Grinding through those games was just awful. That was when I really learned how bad the AI was by watching them play against each other.
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Old 12-02-2019, 11:41 AM   #17
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XBL Gold has NHL '20 discounted to $39.99 right now. Picked it up.
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Old 12-02-2019, 08:23 PM   #18
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Its still hard and frustrating on All Star though.
Ugh.... It's so annoying! Pro is too easy and Allstar just isn't fun. It's nearly impossible to be creative offensively as the CPU can intercept basically everything,yet the CPU can pass right through your players.

NHL ea sucks but it is one of the last video game i play still, so I'm stuck complaining annually.
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Old 12-03-2019, 12:53 PM   #19
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Yeah I hate how changing the difficulty doesn't make the AI better tactically, it just makes them faster, speeds up their passing and makes them puck magnets
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Old 12-03-2019, 01:02 PM   #20
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Yeah I hate how changing the difficulty doesn't make the AI better tactically, it just makes them faster, speeds up their passing and makes them puck magnets
Apart from some cosmetic missteps, this is really my only current complaint of the franchise right now. The gameplay is much better, but EA has hit a wall in terms of realism in difficulty settings and increased AI. I account for this by creating my own challenge on Pro setting: intervening late in games when I am trailing. Giving myself 5 minutes gametime to come back from a 3 goal deficit is the best I can do, because if I play the entire game on 5 minute periods I'll win by 20 goals. On All-Star, I'll end up with a broken controller.

At least they compensated this year by tightening up said gameplay.
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