NHL 18

[Gabriel]

Couldn't find a thread for this, so here is one.

I just picked up the game, and am enjoying the Franchise 32nd team Expansion draft. Making two teams was pretty cool... but what sliders are everyone using right now? I'm trying to figure out how to balance the game so that the opposing team gets a realistic amount of shots without completely lighting up my AI goalie. It's one of the bigger problems I have with the game every year, is that I can't seem to get sliders that allow for realistic shot totals. I either get competitive games where they barely get any shots, or I'm trying to run up the scoreboard to keep up with the opposition, because no matter who I have in net, my goalie always seems to just be plain shit.

[Liam]

My games always end up with 5 or 6 goals per team. I generally play Be A Pro instead.

[Toe]

I finally gave up on the franchise this year. Maybe I'll buy it next year if they change things up. As is, I just haven't enjoyed the game as much as I used to 6 or 7 years ago.

[Gabriel]

12 hours ago, Toe said:

I finally gave up on the franchise this year. Maybe I'll buy it next year if they change things up. As is, I just haven't enjoyed the game as much as I used to 6 or 7 years ago.

I'm definitely in the same boat. 15 was cool to play for a bit because it was a complete overhaul, having been built from the ground up, but it was just missing too much to keep my attention.

16 and 17 featured EA's typical slight improvements, and it's looking like 18 is in the same boat... but I picked it up because it was on sale, the Expansion part of Franchise really appeals to me, and I haven't played a proper Franchise in NHL since last-gen.

I'm enjoying it enough, but in typical EA fashion, it has been incredibly frustrating trying to find the right sliders to balance the game and allow for competitive, somewhat realistic contests. I just keep adjusting things after each game to try and find the sweet spot. I think I may have settled on things in terms of my goalies, as the last few games I've played have had much more realistic goal-to-shot ratio's for my opponents. I'm still losing some of them too, which is vitally important to my experience. Now I'm trying to get their goalies back up to snuff to even it out better. It's been too often that I put up 4 or more goals in a game without putting 40 or more shots on net.

I created an NHL team in Kelowna called the Evolution, and set up my AHL squad as the Grande Prairie Storm. It's really cool to be able to set up teams in cities that I've lived in (or near, in the case of Kelowna). I'm just hoping now that I'll be able to make adjustments to my jerseys in future seasons, because the creation tool is really cool, but it takes a while and I definitely took some shortcuts, and can do a better job of making sexier uniforms.

[Ruki]

The expansion park sounds cool to me. But not enough to drop $40+

But...I tried a free trial of 17. The game is nice, but the menus are awful. It takes so long to do anything . Likely gonna be a few years before I buy another NHL game (I think the last one was 13/14?)

[Toe]

On 11/25/2017 at 16:11, Ruki said:

The expansion park sounds cool to me. But not enough to drop $40+

But...I tried a free trial of 17. The game is nice, but the menus are awful. It takes so long to do anything . Likely gonna be a few years before I buy another NHL game (I think the last one was 13/14?)

I hate that so much. Fifa has similar menus, but they are much more responsive. I guess it just boils down to the NHL team being a lot smaller then the one working on Fifa every year.

[apsham]

I was really, really tempted by the 3 on 3 mode this year. I hope it stays in next time around.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Picked this up in the PSN sale. Have only played a handful of matches so far but like it. I last played 16 on and off and had real issues with the difficulty settings (I could score 4 or 5 on semi-pro (or whatever the equivalent is called with no issue, had to work hard to not lose by the same amount on the next setting up) and could never get the sliders right. That issue feels less pronounced so far, but to be fair I've barely played with the difficulty or sliders yet.

Having read around it, I can understand why someone who plas a lot each year feels it's not a big enough step forward; but as a casual, occasional player the insane depth of creating a new team in franchise and the 3 vs. 3 arcade mode was just too good a deal to pass up at £25.

Now all I need is a few spare hours in a block to actually start my own team. >_>

[JasonM]

You better draft Jagr first in the expansion draft! 

[Ruki]

I want this for the 3s and the expansion draft, but I know I wouldn't play it enough to justify $40. 

 

But! I am playing the most up to date data for EHM. Managed to turn the Leafs into barely a playoff team in season 1 to the top team in season 2!

[Draevyn]

I got this for christmas. Installed the sliders based on the update and ended up with an 11-8 victory which is crazy. I mean I know my defense was a little off but not 8 goals off.

[Meacon Keaton]

Oh man, this version has an expansion draft? I'm always a sucker for expansion drafts.

[Maxx]

3 hours ago, Meacon said:

Oh man, this version has an expansion draft? I'm always a sucker for expansion drafts.

One or two team expansion draft no less

[Meacon Keaton]

Now I wish I had gotten it when it was on sale for $30. I can't justify spending $60 on it because I know I'll play it for 30 minutes every couple months like I do with NHL 16. But still. Expansion draft. 

[Timmoru Suzuki]

My only particular criticism so far is with Goalies. Either almost every shot I have against the CPU goes in, or almost every shot they have at me goes in, with no middle ground. Like my last two games in Franchise (I've brought back the Hartford Whalers as a 32nd team), I beat the Oilers 8-2, then lost 5-1 to the Stars despite out-shooting them 36-13. I know obviously it's not a dead on comparison with them being different teams, and yes that is partly hockey itself but I feel like I could pick any two games I've played so far and they'd be similar.

Anyway, still having fun with this generally. I'll probably have a play with the sliders a little.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah every game I’ve played has been 7-5, or 6-3 or 8-7. I definitely need better goalie sliders. Maybe just better defensive sliders because the computer will sit in front of my net and just rebound the hell out of their shots if I’m not there to clean up. Any help from my CPU teammates would be superb.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Just lost 5-4 in a game I was winning 4-2, and 6-5 in a game I was winning 5-2; all the CPU's comeback goals in period 3, most after they had shot after shot which blocked and deflected back to them over and over until they put a slap shot into the roof of the net from the blue line; or got a deflection that gave them a half open net from inches out. Gonna take a break from this for a bit as I'm fairly certain the game is trolling me at this point >_>

[Gabriel]

18 hours ago, Big Daddy T said:

Just lost 5-4 in a game I was winning 4-2, and 6-5 in a game I was winning 5-2; all the CPU's comeback goals in period 3, most after they had shot after shot which blocked and deflected back to them over and over until they put a slap shot into the roof of the net from the blue line; or got a deflection that gave them a half open net from inches out. Gonna take a break from this for a bit as I'm fairly certain the game is trolling me at this point >_>

The NHL series is notoriously bad for its Comeback AI. Publicly, they've denied that it's a thing in the past. Privately, I got one of them to admit to me at a conference that it is included to "keep blowout games interesting". He said it's designed to amp up the difficulty if you're doing too well, but that it (like many other things) needs to be fine-tuned.

[JasonM]

So NHL 18 is like 30 bucks for a digital copy on the Xbox right now. For the ones having played it, is it worth 30 bucks at this point of the season and for a guy who hasn't played an NHL since... Giroux was on the cover (NHL 13 iirc)

How's the career mode, more of the same or does it have more interactivity compared to years past? Also, is the franchise mode a solid play?

I'm unsure about whether or not to get it, because i'm a player that really wants to get into lengthy matches and play franchise modes. But with 82 games a season, it seems like quite a task to get into it now that I'm working 4 days a week.

[Gabriel]

5 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

So NHL 18 is like 30 bucks for a digital copy on the Xbox right now. For the ones having played it, is it worth 30 bucks at this point of the season and for a guy who hasn't played an NHL since... Giroux was on the cover (NHL 13 iirc)

How's the career mode, more of the same or does it have more interactivity compared to years past? Also, is the franchise mode a solid play?

I'm unsure about whether or not to get it, because i'm a player that really wants to get into lengthy matches and play franchise modes. But with 82 games a season, it seems like quite a task to get into it now that I'm working 4 days a week.

If you're interested, $30 is probably okay to spend. The Expansion mode in Franchise is really fun, and if you play 5 minute periods, the games actually don't take too long. I don't play NHL as religiously as I used to, because I have other stuff I'm playing more regularly, but sitting down and playing a game or two on my off days, or before or after work, is always nice. I bought the game around xmas time and haven't managed to finish my first season in franchise yet, but I'm also playing every game and won't be buying next year's unless there are some massive changes that I need. So I'm in no rush, and just having fun with it.