NHL 09 First Look

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:08 am

I still have the game and would be up for some more OTP.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:44 am

After many games, I'm just not feeling EA's NHL series this year.. the game still feels pretty much the same to me and the goalies are still too stout for my taste.

That being said.. I'll play some more with the patch and see what I think.. I do know most with the ps3 patch said scoring is even lower..

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:54 am

Scoring is definitely lower, and the goalies are just ridiculously good. That's the most frustrating part of the game. I have all these great scoring chances, and I'm lucky to net one or two goals a game. I don't know how you fix it unless you go in and edit each individual goalies stats.

I love this game....I hate this game.

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:12 pm

I'm still down with this. Will have to grab the patch.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:14 pm

Unfortunately EA has been going the super-goalie route for several years, and shows no sign of stopping. I wish they'd put in separate goalie difficulty settings from the rest of the settings, but that still wouldn't help online where the settings must be uniform.

I still think the brilliance of a game like winning eleven is how it models 'shot technique,' in that the challenge is getting into a good shooting position with proper momentum and time to step into a shot. This is equally crucial in a hockey game, but has yet to be done properly. You shouldn't need to know the hot-spots to shoot and the right-stick tricks to regularly score on a open wrister from the slot.

Make the goalies easier but harder to get off a strong shot. It seems though that this isn't what the masses want. They want wide-open play with big hits and ridiculous moves, yet still want realistic scores. Obviously the math doesn't work without super-goalies.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:55 pm

Played my second game now.... I think scoring is off. Or at least, with the reduced accuracy, hitting the open parts of the net is more difficult. I've upped accuracy by one click to see if that makes any difference.

The other thing I've noticed is the AI now seems to be TOO patient. Giving up a one timer that would be a good chance for a pass, which usually gets knocked away or something.......

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:00 pm

Thanks for the info Gang, will get the update later. With so many games out there I hope we can get the league going soon again at least a once a week OTP event.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:00 pm

Naples39 wrote:Unfortunately EA has been going the super-goalie route for several years, and shows no sign of stopping. I wish they'd put in separate goalie difficulty settings from the rest of the settings, but that still wouldn't help online where the settings must be uniform.

I still think the brilliance of a game like winning eleven is how it models 'shot technique,' in that the challenge is getting into a good shooting position with proper momentum and time to step into a shot. This is equally crucial in a hockey game, but has yet to be done properly. You shouldn't need to know the hot-spots to shoot and the right-stick tricks to regularly score on a open wrister from the slot.

Make the goalies easier but harder to get off a strong shot. It seems though that this isn't what the masses want. They want wide-open play with big hits and ridiculous moves, yet still want realistic scores. Obviously the math doesn't work without super-goalies.

It had issues in other areas, but NHL Hitz PRO had AWESOME sliders that allowed the user to how often certain situations would lead to goals. You could adjust things like this individually:

Possession time in o-zone
Breakaways
One Timers
Open Space
Wrap arounds

etc...

Awesome, awesome stuff.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:12 pm

webdanzer wrote: It had issues in other areas, but NHL Hitz PRO had AWESOME sliders that allowed the user to how often certain situations would lead to goals. You could adjust things like this individually:

Possession time in o-zone
Breakaways
One Timers
Open Space
Wrap arounds

etc...

Awesome, awesome stuff.

Ahh Hitz Pro, it was intensily fun and arcadey but the way I could have possession of the puck, the way you could set up on a PP, the one timers, the hits around the board, it had the NHL license too. I miss it.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:23 pm

10spro wrote:
Ahh Hitz Pro, it was intensily fun and arcadey but the way I could have possession of the puck, the way you could set up on a PP, the one timers, the hits around the board, it had the NHL license too. I miss it.

I played it again when my 360 bit it recently. It still plays a very fun (but not exactly realistic) game of hockey.

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:29 pm

Hopefully we can get enough people to put down their soccer balls and chainsaws for a bit and get some more league games in.

Will be interesting to see how the cheesers do without being able to score with the glitch goals.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:48 am

Sigh......

Is it just me or has the patch possibly brought more grief in then it solves?

Firstly, I'm having no problems on All Star having the CPU score on me. In fact, they seem to be doing it easier then before with my Shot Accuracy at 3 and Shot Power at 3. However, it seems to me now that the CPU goalies are even better then before.

While goalies seem to give up more rebounds, and have the puck loose in the crease more often, usually nothing happens with them. Before the patch, I'd score a ton of goals where the goalie would get a piece, and it would trickle in. Now, they are covered in Stick Um.

On this topic, the CPU has two new ways to score, which is causing me my grief..... either coming off the half boards along the goal line, or from behind the net, my goalie goes down, I'm guessing in a poke check animation. The scorer then jams the puck at the post, and it trickles in. I just had a game where Stamkos did it twice. It's not that he did it, it's that my goalie does the same thing, on average once a game!

The other annoying thing is poke check goals. I've had tons of goals on me where my goalie makes the save, and "appears" to have the puck under control. The CPU comes in and hacks at it about 4 or 5 times, and presto! a goal.

Maybe i'm just ticked because i'm in a slump with the OIlers, but I feel like the game is totally barfed now, at least offline. Why oh why is there no goalie slider? At least if I could score, say, on a hard wrister from the slot like I used to, I'd overlook the other deficiences........

If I don't figure it out soon, it may be going for a trade.......

Is anyone else noticing anything like these things, or is my coffee spiked???

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:29 pm

Nope Gangrel.. I feel the same and I traded it in. Neither game does it for me this year, but I'm going to play my season with 2k9 this year.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:05 pm

Wish I could comment on the offline stuff but I play almost exclusively online games (Ranked VS). Post-patch I'm having an easier time scoring against computer controlled goalies but a tougher time against human controlled ones. Case in point I'd win about 50-50 during Ranked SO matches (human goalie) but now I'm considerably worse post-patch winning around 30%. In single player ranked matches with a CPU goalie I'm scoring more goals (dropped 5 in on a guy last night) mainly from one timers but I'm also getting better at keeping my eye on the goalie while passing the puck around at least 5-10x before taking a quick shot into a free corner. The 5-hole opens up a bit more when moving the puck around quickly now.

I haven't played an OTP in a long-while so if anyone wants to schedule a session let me know.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:30 am

Is there no more SO's on OTP after the patch? Played with Mac a game where it went OT like 3-4 times before someone scored.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:40 am

10spro wrote:Is there no more SO's on OTP after the patch? Played with Mac a game where it went OT like 3-4 times before someone scored.

Yeah they went to playoff rules for Club and OTP games in the patch. Part of that is so no one has to sit out when you have 5 on a side.

It being Wednesday, I would normally try to get an OTP night gong for this, but I'm going to have an early call again tomorrow so I have to be done by 10:30 est or so. Next week will be no go again (out of town for T-giving), so I'm hoping the week after that I can get the Wednesday night NHL OTP back up and running. Ol' Hackenbush is getting lonely!

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:04 pm

Well, I had it with me to trade in, but I decided to keep it through the week as I had some good free time this weekend to really give it some more time post patch.

After really playing it alot this weekend, I'm back in the NHL 09 camp. I still have a hard time netting more than two goals a game.. but I do play with the Blues and they have a hard time scoring as well. The penalties are now there and shot totals seem to be just about perfect.

Playing on AS defaults with penalties maxed seem to yield a decent game of hockey - although I think 8 mins is too short.. might have to bump that up to 9 or 10.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:34 pm

MizzouRah wrote:Well, I had it with me to trade in, but I decided to keep it through the week as I had some good free time this weekend to really give it some more time post patch.

After really playing it alot this weekend, I'm back in the NHL 09 camp. I still have a hard time netting more than two goals a game.. but I do play with the Blues and they have a hard time scoring as well. The penalties are now there and shot totals seem to be just about perfect.

Playing on AS defaults with penalties maxed seem to yield a decent game of hockey - although I think 8 mins is too short.. might have to bump that up to 9 or 10.

Glad to hear you held on to it Mizzou. Its not a perfect simulation of the sport to be sure but I'll be darned if it isn't a ton of fun to play. Some of the moves that people can pull of with the skill stick are amazing, poetry in motion I swear. I'm also a big fan of playing goalie. EA did a great job of making playing between the pipes a lot of the fun.

Let's get some OTP going soon guys!

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:04 am

Just beat a guy in OT with this goal. Absolute luck on my part. I actually feel bad when I beat someone just out of pure luck like this. The puck fell to Ovechkin and he just taps it through the goalies pads. Ouch.

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HipE · Post by **HipE** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:43 am

Is there a way to uninstall the patch without losing my season? I'm now 71 games into my season, with about 10 of those being post patch, and it is really killing my enjoyment of the game. I'd rather get no powerplays again than see the CPU flip the puck over the boards for a delay of game penalty 2 or 3 times a game. And the shot accuracy change is absolute garbage, there is no way in hell I should be shooting the puck over the top of the goal from two feet away time after time. It's funny, before the patch I was leading the NHL in scoring at 3.6 gpg, with shots being in the mid 20s for both teams. Now I'm outshooting the cpu about 40-15 each game, but losing 2-1 and 1-0 often. I knew I should have waited to finish my first season before downloading...

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:12 pm

HipE wrote:Is there a way to uninstall the patch without losing my season?

Maybe try clearing the cache?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:19 pm

They took away the power and the accuracy of the wrist shots compared to NHL 08 even before the patch.

There seems to be more goals where the goalie makes ridiculous moves like doing the splits when he didn't have to.

Then there is the snatching rockets but letting these slow shots sneak in.

Play of the defensemen is inconsistent too. Sometimes, they strip the puck every time, while in other games, they just stand around and let opponents get off point-blank shots.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:18 pm

macsomjrr wrote: Glad to hear you held on to it Mizzou. Its not a perfect simulation of the sport to be sure but I'll be darned if it isn't a ton of fun to play. Some of the moves that people can pull of with the skill stick are amazing, poetry in motion I swear. I'm also a big fan of playing goalie. EA did a great job of making playing between the pipes a lot of the fun.

Let's get some OTP going soon guys!

Yes, we need to to that!

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:11 pm

sports game of the year...again.

and where the f*** are my jersey codes?

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:05 pm

I won't say sports game of the year, though then again, it might be by default.

Anyway, one trick I've done is put gamespeed back up to 1, and pass speed to 1, and that appears to put some zip back on the wristers, and the faster passes sometimes catch the goalies out of position.

I do agree though, whereas a top shelf wrister from the slot had a good chance of going in before, now even scrub goalies have larcenous glove hands.......

I have my AI learning at 3, I might lower it and see if that makes things a bit eaiser.