Game update: 11/02/15

Next week is Mardi Gras, so let's get dressed up and have some fun!

Notification for Mardi Gras update

Let's take a look at the new content up for grabs, all of which is unlocked in the first few levels of the game...

Tables:

• Wrought Iron Table - 2 gems

Chairs:

• Wrought Iron Chair - 3,000 coins

Wall decorations:

• New Orleans Door - 8 gems
• Beads - 2,000 coins
• Gas Lamp - 2,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Riverboat - 20 gems
• Mardi Gras Parade - 30 gems
• Lamp Signpost - 15,000 coins
• Mardi Gras Float - 36 gems (LTO)

Wallpapers:

• Bourbon Street - 2,500 coins

Boxes:

• New Orleans Bundle - 75 gems (LTO)

In addition to all these goodies, there are three new recipes to savour too. Analysis on them to come!

For a preview of some of the items, take a look at this image from the TeamLava Blog:

Items from update as shown on TeamLava Blog

Since Mardi Gras is not very well known in my corner of the world, I'm slightly in the dark about this event! It appears to be a massive carnival headlined by a colourful parade, all designed as a big party ahead of the start of Lent, which ends at Easter.

The colour is demonstrated in the extreme by the Mardi Gras Parade which costs 30 gems. It has unusual dimensions - 4x3 - and a huge and highly disturbing model of Phoebe's head! I'm not sure if the big head at the front is supposed to be Phoebe as the gamemakers are known for a lack of variation when it comes to creating characters, but it certainly looks like her! I think this is a decent buy, with potential for use in lots of settings, not least a carnival theme which we have lots of other content for already.

The Mardi Gras Float is quite far into the floor decorations tab so you'll need do some searching to find it.

Mardi Gras Float limited time offer

It is a limited time offer for seven days, and is actually a returner having been initially released as an LTO in the one previous Mardi Gras update we had two years ago. This piece is 4x4 in size although that does include quite a lot of empty space around the edge. The alligator looks menacing, and overall I think I prefer this float. However it doesn't tick the flexibility box - how would you use a giant alligator for the rest of the year!

The other major floor decoration added is the Riverboat, which is another gem buy, albeit slightly cheaper. I'm sorry to say that I think this one is poor. It's 2x1 and has quite clearly been scaled down. As a result it looks quite ridiculous, with the bots the same height. When you compare it to the gigantic Riverboat Ride from last summer, this Riverboat looks pitiful.

While you're watching the parade, why not take a seat on a Wrought Iron Chair? This is a reasonable chair and is priced competitively, but I can't help but feel it's missing something. A cushion would have been nice, much like the Romantic Dinner Chair added last week has. I can just imagine myself getting a sore backside parked on that iron...

As for the Wrought Iron Table, it's a good match for the chair, but is also failing to really spark any enthusiasm from me. I've already got a couple of Garden Tables (for more gems!) that I bought many moons ago, and since the two are quite similar in style that may explain my lack of interest here.

Not to worry - I'm more than pleased with the New Orleans Door. Available for 2 gems less than the standard Door, I really love the various features of this one. The brickwork at the sides, the arched window above and the golden handle make this a lovely item, and one which I'm very much thinking about purchasing. It would go excellently with the Aged Brick wallpaper I'm using in my kitchen section.

There are two other new wall decorations as well. The Beads had me puzzled until some brief research yielded that strings of beads are thrown from the parade floats to the onlookers. I'm not sure how to go about implementing this one, although it might be useful for any last minute Valentine's decorating thanks to the pink colour and tiny heart shapes on top.

Meanwhile the Gas Lamp looks pretty cool, It's not that intricate but it's all the better for that. I can visualise this lamp being hung up in saloon surroundings, and no doubt the creative players will find other uses for it too. The only slight concern I have with the Gas Lamp is that it attaches to the wall very high up. Compare it to the Candle Holder from last week and you'll find that it's positioned much higher up. Bring it down a little TeamLava and I'll give it a ten out of ten!

The Bourbon Street wallpaper depicts a classic image of the actual Bourbon Street which is an old street in New Orleans. Unfortunately there is no link here to the Bourbon biscuit, which broke my heart! As for the wallpaper, it's okay but a little like the Beads I'm struggling to think of how to use it. Sadly the proportions aren't adequate to use the Gas Lamp as an overlay, so I don't think I'll be adding this wallpaper to my assets.

If you do opt to buy the Bourbon Street, then there's every chance you'll also take the Lamp Signpost. A lamp post with signposts attached, you could make a nice combination with the existing French Lampost. I've got long term plans to add a street to my place in Bakery Story, so would have loved to have had this piece added over there!

The last new item in the market is the New Orleans Bundle.

Notification for New Orleans Bundle

This is the second bundle added to the game, and for 75 gems you get at least one of almost everything in the update.

New Orleans Bundle

The only exceptions are the Mardi Gras Float and the Bourbon Street. I can understand excluding the former since it is an LTO, but am at a loss for why the latter is not listed. The wallpaper only costs 2,500 coins each though so it's not a big problem.

But that's not all. The Jazz Band is a floor decoration we've never seen before, and according to the notification is exclusive to the bundle. I'm not sure I like the idea of new items only being available in a bundle, but there you have it. With five band members, three audience members and a wall complete with two windows and framed pictures, there's a heck of a lot in this special item.

Now the notification claims that the market price for this selection of content is 125 gems and reduced to 75. The items openly available in the market come to 66 gems in value, which means you are essentially only paying 9 extra gems to also get the Jazz Band thrown in. It's a no-brainer if you're going big on this update anyway!

This bundle is only available for 12 days, so should vanish on Sunday 22nd February, the end of the week of Mardi Gras. I quite like the idea of each update coming with a bundle of the additions - we'll have to wait and see if that's going to become a regular occurrence.

Update: Take a closer look at the bundle notification - it may be that the limited time offer is for the discount price rather than the bundle as a whole!

So let's now take a look at the three fresh recipes which I mentioned earlier on.

New recipes

The Gumbo and Jambalaya are located on the Basic Stove with the Beignet found on the Basic Oven. All three are mainstays of Louisiana, although the Beignet does have its origins in France. It's a little strange that the unusual duration of 7 hours has been used twice here, although I'm not complaining as it's a good length for me - you can make two batches during the day and another overnight with enough of a cushion to deal with any delays to serving.

As for the recipe ratings, here they are...

Gumbo
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
10	10	10	7	10	9.4

Jambalaya
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
7	10	6	10	10	7.9

Beignet
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
10	9	10	7	9	9.2

What a different picture from the goals content report on Monday! There are lots of big scores there, which make these three dishes all very valuable. There is one negative too though - each of them is almost identical statistically to an existing food. The Gumbo matches the Pork and Persimmons (Basic Oven), the Jambalaya is the same as the Dragon Nachos (Basic Stove) and the Beignet mirrors the Airline Lunch (Basic Stove).

The only difference is the availability scores, which although not affecting the overall rating (to one decimal place at least) do give each of the new recipes the edge on their long standing rivals. And that is especially big news for the Gumbo, which now surpasses the pork to become the best all-rounder among 7 hour offerings. Welcome to the Hall of Fame!

We finish up with a quick reminder. The Valentine's Day sale ends in five days, so make sure to buy any of the marked items you fancy before then otherwise you might never get another chance! Note that they are no longer listed at the start of the various tabs so you'll need to do some searching to find everything. I'd also suggest purchasing any other Valentine's themed stuff while you're at it just in case the game's developers produce one of their boo-boos and remove the remaining Valentine's content too.

So an update which takes in the vibrant celebrations of Mardi Gras. How appropriate that we have such festivities in the week that the Restaurant Story Adventures Blog celebrates it's second anniversary! And with another new bundle and some sensational recipes to boot, it's an update which gets a firm thumbs up from me!