Game update: 29/04/15

Hawaii here we come baby!

This week's update sees a trip to America's smallest state, where we're going to be partying down on those luscious beaches! Everything is available from level 17, with the comprehensive list as follows:

Tables:

• Blossom Table - 2 gems (LTO)

Chairs:

• Blossom Chair - 2 gems (LTO)

Wall decorations:

• Tiki Mask - 5 gems

Floor decorations:

• Fire Dancers - 20 gems
• Hammock - 30 gems
• Luau Dog - 10 gems
• Island Drummer - 26,500 coins
• Tropical Torch - 18,000 coins
• Spring Picnic - 20 gems (LTO)
• Blossom Grove - 40 gems (LTO)

Wallpapers:

• Beach Bungalows - 10,000 coins

Floor tiles:

• Black Sand - 5,000 coins

Appliances:

• Fruit Bar - 30 gems (LTO)

Counters:

• Blossom Counter - 3 gems (LTO)

Boxes:

• Blossom Bundle - 75 gems

It appears that Android players do not yet have the Hawaiian items, so it looks like yet another new edition is on the way for you lot!

Update: 'Restaurant Story: Tropic Bliss' is now available via Google Play!

And just like last week there are four new recipes to get busy with. We'll study them in detail later on.

So, what is going on here?! The blossom themed stuff was from the Spring 2014 goals and is available on sale in the market for a limited time to all players - not just those who completed the goals at the time.

That is perhaps understandable - this is Storm8's cranky way of offering old goal prizes to newer players who never had the opportunity to get hold of them before. The fact they're up for gems and only for a few days is obviously a bummer for such users, but at least these coveted items are now accessible to them, even if it's only for a short while.

But now I'm really going to spit some tacks. The blossom goals content removal was only announced 12 days ago with the deed being done last week. The time between the removal and re-release is embarrassing. Seriously embarrassing. Am I supposed to get excited about this batch of limited time offers?! The Blossom Grove was the final prize in the Spring 2014 goals, and could be purchased (for those who had unlocked it) for 65,000 coins. Now it has a 40 gem price tag. I could go on but will save some nails. Essentially, every blossom themed piece you see here was a coin buy only a fortnight ago but now has a gem premium attached.

Just to compound the situation, I believe that the Blossom Counter was never included in that removal. It certainly was never listed as limited time, although admittedly I didn't check post-removal to see if it was still in the market. But if it was then that means that earlier this evening it went from costing 7,800 coins to 3 gems. Crazy!

Blossom Bundle

The short period from removal to re-release really irks me because of the message it conveys. A lot of what the game's developers do (indeed probably most of it!) is done with producing revenue in mind. That makes complete sense - never forget that this is a freemium game and to make it worthwhile the gamemakers need to encourage players to spend real money on in-app purchases. Generally they do a decent job of executing this subtly and in a way that can sometimes be of benefit to players. But this re-release is in complete contrast to that.

I doubt there will be too many players who fall for this ransacking. We've always liked to think of content removals as being a clean up and an opportunity to bring some order to the market, but this one was clearly done with only moneymaking in mind. Maybe they all are, but at least it's usually less in your face than this escapade.

Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. After all I've had free reign of the blossom items for the last 12 months and seeing such beautiful decorations being paraded around for serious gem prices is agitating. For those who have never had a chance to buy these pieces it is an opportunity, albeit an expensive one.

It's worth noting that there is a cheaper alternative for iOS players if you do want all these items - the Blossom Bundle is not currently listed as an LTO so looks like it will hang around for a while.

Notification for Blossom Bundle

I think removing goal content and then bringing it all back in a bundle is actually a good idea, but Storm8 need to be leaving a lengthy grace period before they do so otherwise it feels like a slap in the face!

Now that I've emptied my exasperation, let's get to the real content of this update, that being the Hawaiian stuff. For a good look at everything in the update take a look at this image from the Storm8 Blog:

Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog

Beware that a lot of the decorations shown above are existing items that aren't actually new. But the plethora of content on show there does emphasise the variety we now have in the beach theme department. There is enough stuff to get really creative.

Unfortunately, like last week, I feel that the pricing is the sticking point with this update. The three major floor decorations are all for gems, as is the new wall decoration. Once again I'm feeling a little let down after seeing the teaser and getting all excited!

Looking beyond the costs, everything is really nice. The Fire Dancers is a real beauty, with three Hula dancers dicing with danger. The attention to detail is astounding - two of the girls are smiling away as they do their stuff, but the third is very much feeling the heat. Her hair has caught fire! What a fantastic piece of design!

Then there's the Hammock. It is an item with so much potential, but I'm not all that impressed. It's the scaling that's annoying me - I'm pretty sure this was constructed to be a 3x3 or even 4x4 sized decoration, but instead has been limited to 2x2. That means that the palm trees are far too small and the hammock between them is not an adequate size for our bots. It's a shame because I've always wanted the Tropical Hammock which was a limited time offer nearly three years ago, and this one could have fulfilled my wishes, but falls short.

The remaining three floor decorations are all for coins and all 1x1. The Luau Dog, Island Drummer and Tropical Torch are all really cool pieces which I'll definitely be including when I put out my beach theme in the deep of the Summer. The torch in particular looks superb - an angry face is carved into the wood and it's wearing some shell jewellery!

The Tiki Mask is somewhat similar to the Tropical Torch, although this time the face looks strained. Perhaps this guy didn't want to be relegated to the wall?! I think it looks good though and can definitely help top off a tiki beach.

Since the Beach Bungalows is an outdoor wallpaper you can't really use the Tiki Mask on it, but that doesn't mean this isn't a winning wallpaper. It depicts a row of wooden buildings with thatched roofs that I think we'd all like to spend our days lazing around in! Definitely a well put together wallpaper.

As far as flooring goes, the Black Sand is an excellent choice by the game's developers. No, it's not as attractive as golden sand, but we've already got tiles which cover that base, so it's good that we haven't just received a duplicate. Players can even now choose what type of beach to model!

With no table, chair or counter in the Hawaiian mould that makes it four of the last five updates in which some of the key categories have been lacking. It's no biggie this week though because the likes of the Hawaiian Table, Coconut Chair Shell Table and Chair can do the business.

This is definitely a quality collection of stuff, even if it is somewhat expensive. I'm planning to haul out my riverboat for a lush scene in May and June with the beach taking over in July and August, so won't be investing in this new content yet. But once the time comes I'll definitely be looking to purchase some of them to complement the decorations I've accumulated previously.

What I'm won't be hanging about with are the four new recipes and the eight mastery gems they provide.

New recipes

The Ahi Poke and Laulau are located on the Basic Stove, the Taro Bread is found on the Basic Oven, and the Treat Punch is a rare addition to the Drink Machine. All four look interesting although I'm not too sure about the purple colour of the Taro Bread!

Here are the all-important recipe ratings:

Ahi Poke
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	10	4	3	9	5.6

Laulau
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	2	4	4	9	3.0

Taro Bread
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	5	3	4	9	3.7

Treat Punch
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
4	10	5	3	9	6.2

Lots of hot Hawaiian colours there, but of course that's not a good thing when it comes the the ratings. The Ahi Poke and Treat Punch both score quite well overall, mainly thanks to their perfect tens for XP. Both yield 60 XP which is yet again a constant across all the new dishes. As you'd expect that has an adverse effect on the two longer offerings, which has in turn dented their overall ratings.

And another constant for these recipes is the 2 coins per plate. When last week's foursome of additions provided 4 coins per plate I though we had maybe turned a corner, but alas that is not the case. For now at least it looks like we're getting a mixture of each, which wouldn't be all that bad if the gamemakers were willing to release dishes giving 6 coins per plate too in order to balance things out.

So after getting over my serious disapproval of the blossom content re-blossoming there's actually plenty to shout about. The recipes aren't all that strong ratings-wise but do mean another top up of gems, and the Hawaiian decorations are fantastic. I just wish I could be in Hawaii for real now!