NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

[kelvinmak]

Didn't have a lot of time with it over this weekend, but overall, the AI, despite some quirky bugs, does give the game a new lease of life. Now every game doesn't feel the same, which is in and of itself a huge improvement over 12.

[MitchStan]

This years game is a lot of fun both on Pro and All Star - OFFLINE. I've had all kinds of games and types of goals. First game I played Rangers (me) v. Red Wings (cpu). I won 7-3. I was a little disappointed at first with all the easy goals, but after some slider tweaks I've had much more challenging 1 and 2 goal games. I've had some wins and some losses but a few things strikes me:

1) I'm playing ten minute periods and I am completely satisfied with penalties called on my team and on the cpu. I've had a 5 min major called against the cpu, a double minor against the cpu, and 2 minors for a 2 minute 5 on 3 against the cpu. Plus the usual minors called against me and my teammates. I've averaged about 4 penalties called in total per game. A little more would be nice but since I play 10 minute periods this work for me.

2) Pass accuracy sliders have no effect this year, again. Whether max or min, same pass percentages as last year. CPU around 70-80%, me 65-70%. Also, pass reception slider only effects me, not cpu. Plenty of bobbled passes by my team (which is cool), but zero for cpu team.

3) Have not seen any comeback crap, no bezerker mode. There is plenty of ebb and flow in the game going both ways which is fun.

4) If you put the line changes on auto, for some strange reason the CPU insists on putting in the 4th line way too often! I saw this in the demo and in the early release as well. Even if other lines have more energy, after a play stoppage out comes the 4th line for a face off! Weird bug.

5) About the AI. I have the feeling the old AI is completely gone - all the AI code. I feel like the AI is all new coding. And while it feels different and sometimes good, it's also sometimes bad. At times it feels like a hockey team and other times it feels like a bunch of players skating around playing hockey for the first time. I hope EA can continue to improve the AI over the years or even with tuner updates.

6) Love the goalies. I've seen them make some hell-a-saves, I've seen them let in bad goals. I've scored on some clean wristers. They play the puck behind the net very well. No more dumb *** trapezoid issues.

7) Skating is just great. Best! Board pinning is ridiculous, but skating is great.

Just my impressions after about ten games played.

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by kelvinmak

Didn't have a lot of time with it over this weekend, but overall, the AI, despite some quirky bugs, does give the game a new lease of life. Now every game doesn't feel the same, which is in and of itself a huge improvement over 12. But whoa, a game in my Be a GM save just headed into OT with 5 guys and 20 minutes. Anybody else got this?

You're sure you had your OT rules set correctly when setting up BaGM? I think you can still change it once in the mode, maybe check what the OT settings are in the menu.

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by kelvinmak

But whoa, a game in my Be a GM save just headed into OT with 5 guys and 20 minutes. Anybody else got this?

I believe you can choose which type of OT setup you want when you first make your franchise.

You can also choose how many points a team gets in the standings for an OT loss.

[goh]

After playing through the Blackhawks/Yotes moment again I noticed the lower right boards FPS hit was actually on the left side in Phoenix.

I started investigating other arenas but realized this is the exact same trash as NHL 12 with a new skating system and different glitches then deleted it. Since it did improve a little I'll give it a -29.99/30 whereas NHL 12 was a -30.

[kelvinmak]

Quote: Originally Posted by jyoung

I believe you can choose which type of OT setup you want when you first make your franchise. You can also choose how many points a team gets in the standings for an OT loss.

Haha yeah, silly me, I realized that right after I posted the message. Strange though because I don't remember fiddling with that setting (I never do). Now I have to try to rebuild the Jackets all over again

[nVschultz1325]

The last 3 or 4 games I've been getting dropped from games. Not kicked off the servers or kicked off live, all it says is "connection lost to other players"

[Segagendude]

Quote: Originally Posted by goh

Putting the goalie cover up puck slider to max helped a bit in that department but penalities are maxed out and nothing. Oh I should give them credit for having the side parts of the net actually work this year. Forgot about that issue last year where they'd just hit,drop and not count as goals. They're actually goals this time. Another issue with the lower right corner,on top of the huge frame hit every time,players go through the boards sometimes:

He's just trying to take a drink from the fan's cup, lmao.....