NHL 25 Gameplay Better Be Like This

Ea hearing this: “thanks but we already have the next 5 chel games ready to go. (Every game is the same with minute band-aid fixes that slightly differentiate them from each other)

we also need a better presentation for the offline modes then I would be satisfied.and we finally need better stick handling and realistic skating animation like in nhl 14 which look smoother than the current ones

All the points you make have been in my mind for YEARS. It's good that you finally make a proper video like this. The community doesn't demand enough from EA. The game should be COMPLETELY overhauled. The AI, THE AI, THE AI, THE AI, player switching, luck elements in every area (goalies, bounces, passes, shots etc) etc. All your points are 100% true and important.

I was watching some clips from NHL 19 the other day (imo the best of the PS4 era NHL games) and was blown away by how good it felt. Yea the back skating was unrealistic, but it created a skill gap and it was fine because you had the defensive tools to combat it. Keep a close gap, wait for them to face you, and then stick lift them. Now you can't even stick lift or poke check. Imo bring back the back skating cheese, and just lower the puck control and balance of players when they do it. Make them easier to knock off the puck when they back skate and the problem fixes itself. I agree with what you said about the band-aids. This applies to "skill zone" defense as well, or players just standing in front of the net instead of actively defending. If you just make a higher variety of snipes and one timers from more areas viable scoring chances, all of a sudden players will start actively defending. Instead they tried this stupid fatigue system that failed so miserably they scrapped it almost entirely. Their solutions are always just so bad it blows my mind.

EKI U READ MY FUCKING MIND

The band-aiding comment might be the biggest takeaway from this video. Just look at the pressure system, instead of fixing how pressure was gained (good shot, bad shots, normal passes, sauce passes, one touch passes) they just change the amount you need. then eventually nerfed full pressure so bad, that it's not even a mechanic anymore. Great Job Eki.

Also the penalties, bro you can do almost any hit and not get a penalty, but then when you try to pokecheck at all you get a penalty

I’m hoping EA watches this video asap

I made a post on the EA NHL forum about bad defensive AI being the cause of most of the game's problems, and the community manager responded and told me to learn how to manually defend and stop expecting the AI to do it for me... This let me know that not a single person at that company knows anything about hockey. I can't control all 5 skaters at once, and one lapse by the AI just abandoning his man for no reason causes a complete breakdown of the defense. THIS is what leads people to play defense like a constant penalty kill (see also. skill zone). But like you said, rather than address the root of the issue, they bandaid it another way: make offense clunkier because otherwise the braindead defensive AI would look even worse. Now you've got crap offense and crap defense...and thus, a crap game.

You forgot to add stop listening to sleeveless 😂 they listened to him after 22 and ruined the game

Sports games should not be overly realistic. Urealistic with some realistic features is the way to go. Either way I agreed with everything you said. Good video eki

8:32 is a fantastic point, even as someone who would love a game that gets as close to that as possible. a 100% realistic hockey game would not only be quite unfun overall, but it would be borderline unplayable for online matches.

I like what u said about goalies. It’s very inconsistent but that is how it is like in real life. Players have really good games and really bad games. I do think there needs to be a mechanic where the goalies and AIs adjust to things. Basically like what u said about the goalies adjusting to how they’re being scored on. I think that’s a fantastic idea and it would mean there would be a variety of different goals being scored bc u can’t just keep on scoring the same thing over and over and over again.

Super on point video. Iva had the exact thoughts about the create your own view. I loved it. And the created plays as well, loved them. I've been playing online since 2006 so I've seen the great evolutions and horrible removal of loved items as well. Thank you eki for bringing these up.

EA should let Eki develop the game

Awesome breakdown! Great video.

great vid! I'm not sure if they should remove "puck luck" if they're going for a sim. that's one of three ways on how you win a hockey game IRL; going on a run, not being injured and puck luck or things going your way.

Even if EA addresses all these problems for 25. They will immediately become broken once the first gameplay update releases after the first two weeks of release. It happened with 22, 23, and 24.

The thing I want most is to have the speed boost hitting removed. I hate that sooooo much.

Get rid of total control and the one button Michigan, charge up hits .. players just launch themselves at you and don’t get charging penalties?