Demos for this week are already out. The Madden demo just came out today...and that game releases on 8/27. So, even if the NHL demo comes out on 8/20 (ie. 3 weeks before the game comes out), it'll still be a week better than Madden, lol.
I think that's about as much as they had last year (which is still a good amount). Last year I think they had some NHL Moments or whatever it's called. That seems to be replaced with NHL 94 Mode this year. I think there was even a practice/free skate thing too to show off the new skating. I wonder if that'll still be in the demo. Kinda sucks that you only get to play one period of an actual game. I remember hating that last year...having to restart over and over again.
Just got it downloaded myself. I'm going to just sort of "live tweet" this as I go, haha.
GameStop has it for 39.99 http://m.gamestop.com/catalog/product/99329
LMAO..that's just wrong.
Yeah, I think all they did to the skating was speed it up. It definitely feels less labored than in 13. Like in 13, it felt like it took a good amount of effort to get moving. In this demo, you kind of just take off...which almost brings back a little of that "sliding around the ice" feel of 12...but it looks better because you at least have a better skating animation. I know a lot of people thought 13 was too slow though, so maybe this will be a happy median...or be the best they can do.
It's interesting that you bring this up because I wouldn't mind moving back to defenseman. I only played a couple games, but something about the faceoffs just feels weird. I didn't realy get a sense that I was winning or losing them for a specific reason. It just felt random. Plus, my scoring was definitely weaker in 13. As long as we're not getting shut out on the front line, I don't mind sticking with d.
EA... 
with Lucic.
I'm as critical of NHL as anybody, but the guy was scoring basically 50% in one on one situations with the goalie. I think it would be worse if the goalie was stopping everything. Like we've said before...if this just means don't give up breakaways/penalty shots, teams smart enough to play good defense (AI not withstanding) will have success. I can live with that.
The thing with NHL 94 mode is it basically feels like a juiced up arcadey version of the game (which, honestly...is what NHL 94 was). I was scoring on just basic slapshots and any check pretty much sent somebody flying. They did a decent job capturing the feel of the older games, where the objective was almost more about making you feel good and letting you dominate. I could definitely see how that would appeal to people. But it's a different kind of game from what the NHL series has been lately.
Do you mean swatting the puck like one timing a loose puck out of the zone? If so, yeah. I've fanned on a few. If you mean swatting a puck while it's in the air, I think that was too effective in past games. There were times when players would slap it back and forth like they were playing tennis.
Exactly what I meant... I guess I'll just have to mess around with it some more. I haven't even been able to do it for the life of me yet. I usually end up throwing some weak poke and then getting either crushed or put into board play.
Absolutely. This is pretty much a yearly thing. It's crazy, for a lot of us...the version of the game we like the most is the launch 1.0 tuner set. Then, EA starts tinkering and screws up the game worse and worse. It's good to have a developer that listens to the community, but at the same time...they're the ones getting paid to make the game. If it's not good enough when they launch it, what the hell are they doing? Honestly, if you think about it...it defeats the purpose of the demo. A demo is supposed to give you a feeling of what the full game will be like. If the full game plays nothing like the demo...again, what the hell are they doing? lol...this is the state of sports games these days.
Graphically, it basically looked the same. The skating was slower though. I guess you could say the presentation is better in 14 since fights just break out without changing cameras. From NHL 10 to NHL 13, fights switched to an awkward first person perspective where people could just throw endless amounts of punches in your face. I think changing that helps make the game feel smoother.
Yeah...it might be something like if they have a fighter rating of "rarely", it will at least give you the option of fighting. But for the "often" or "always" guys, the game is just like "
it! let's go!" lol.
i think this could be said for most ea sportgs games. you really dont see the flaws till you play the full game
I've seen a couple flukey ones, but at the same time they weren't as bad as 13. I am yet to hit a D-man and have it float over the goalies head at a lightning fast .5 MPH like in 13.Yeah...it might be something like if they have a fighter rating of "rarely", it will at least give you the option of fighting. But for the "often" or "always" guys, the game is just like "
Man, I'm still seeing some incredibly flukey goals. I mean, when I know the alternative is NHL 13 and the supergoalies, I can at least appreciate being able to score at all on good shots. But the CPU just had a shot get blocked straight up into the air, go flipping toward the net, hit the post, and then get put in by a forward camping on the post. It was seriously like the steamroller scene in Austin Powers. "Noooooooooo...."
For whatever reason, I feel like I'm seeing this more in HUT too. Not sure if that's still the "ice tilt" or not. But it is annoying when it happens in OT. But again, I'd still rather have this than reboundapalooza. Just means the defense needs to be top notch. They can't win if they don't shoot.
Yeah, I honestly think the goalies are about as good as they can do. They feel pretty well balanced. I really hope they'll just leave them like this because too much tweaking one way or the other, and we're going to either have NHL 13 goalies who stop everything or NHL 11 goalies who are susceptible to numerous "money shots". I've had a decent variety of goals already. I've scored on slapshots, one timers, wrist shots coming across the slot, and even a couple cross creases. But none of these has worked even 75% of the time. I think any weaknesses or "always goals" at this point are going to come from the defense not giving the goalie any help.
I think most people would like to. It's just a question of how we feel about having to play all 82 games again (since it's almost guaranteed that that will be the only option). For me, personally, I feel the same way as last year. I'd love to have an NHL league on CAG that spans multiple seasons like the Madden leagues. I just don't know if that's possible when the game makes you play 82 game seasons.
How were you using/buying contracts? Obviously in the auction house, but how long and for how much?
Right now, I think it would be better to operate under the assumption that 82 games will be the only option, and see if we can come up with a way to handle that. Maybe something like only play games against teams in your conference? That would knock it down to around 50 games (which is still a hell of a lot for anyone who's ever done a league before). The way the NHL is doing the schedule this year with the new division alignment, Western conference teams play 29 divisional games and 21 in conference non-divisional games...for a total of 50 games. Eastern conference teams, meanwhile, play 30 divisional games and 24 in conference non-divisional games...for a total of 54 games.
Are you proposing another lockout Nate Bettman?
