Game update: 23/09/15

It's Wednesday, and that should mean the buzz of update night in Restaurant Story. But a second box update in as many weeks with a less than appealing theme may just snuff out the excitement.

Notification for Dino Crate

The Dino Crate costs 24 gems, and upon opening this box you'll receive one of eight possible prizes. They are all floor decorations of varying size and quality - it's just your luck how satisfying an item you gain upon parting with those precious gems.

Before we look at the actual contents of the crate, some thoughts on the fact that this is yet another box. We've now had three boxes in five weeks, which is way beyond the typical haul. And for the first time in the game's illustrious history, a brand new box is released in consecutive updates. The box updates are generally the least favoured among the community, which is entirely understandable given that they exclusively involve gem content. But having two in a row does mean that Storm8 inevitably incur the wrath of the players.

The issue with the box updates is one of inclusivity. When a crate is released there's nothing else with it. No other decorations, no recipes, no limited time offers. This is completely deliberate on the gamemakers' part as they want the focus to be solely on the box. There are a small clutch of players out there who look to partake in every single update, and therefore they will inevitably spend big on gems to do so. The problem is that the rest of us are left to continue loading up our appliances
without participating in the new content.

Overall I'm actually quite relaxed about boxes. I know many would have them discontinued for all of eternity, but ultimately it's probably the box updates which keep Storm8 afloat. I doubt they experience as many real money gem purchases for other types of update, meaning that these are key weeks for the game's developers.

That's all fair and good, but when those crate updates become too regular an occurrence, my satisfaction with the balance of the game is tested. Consecutive boxes brings with it a whiff of moneymaking - it's not subtle enough for a freemium game. I called out the gamemakers once before for a tactic in the same vein when they re-released the blossom themed goal prizes for gems so soon after they were removed. It's a similar situation here, and I don't like the glaring greed.

Anyway, I think I'll hold my tongue for now and let the Suggestions Box finish my ramblings on that topic this coming weekend! In the meantime we should take a look at the stuff the Dino Crate actually contains. Here's an image borrowed from the Storm8 Blog which shows all of the prizes:

Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog

May my bad mood continue! What is this box all about?! A dinosaur theme is an interesting concept and would go along nicely with the Zoo Crate released back in July. A daycare theme has it merits and would fit in snugly with the back to school content added last month. Combining the two? No. Just no.

What are Storm8 trying to achieve here? They seem to have created a set of items where the animate objects are dinosaurs which is not really appropriate for a restaurant based game. Now I hold my hands up, the Ping Pong Table is one of my favourite decorations around and it features a tiger and a panda playing table tennis! But fuelling the fire here is the fact that these dinosaurs are rendered in bright colours which make them look rather corny.

It's just not happening for me. Either put the creatures in their natural habitats or switch them out for happy toddlers. As it is these items just don't work. It says it all when the single piece I'd be okay receiving is the plant at the door.

Despite my grumblings, I have a duty to draw up a distribution list, so here goes:

First Prize (1% chance)

• Dino Daycare

Second Prize (10% chance)

• 'Dino Tug 'O' War'
• 'Dino Dance'

Third Prize (35% chance)

• Dino Mobile
• Sleeping Dino

Fourth Prize (54% chance)

• 'Dino Egg'
• 'Dino Shapes'
• 'Dino Plant'

It could be that the Sleeping Dino is actually a second prize and one of the others is only a third prize. If you are mad enough to give this box a go then feel free to clarify below in the comments! Likewise the official names of the content is also appreciated.

There's not really any need for me to go through these decorations with my thoughts - as my earlier griping indicates, I dislike them all! To think that it costs 24 gems to obtain any of these items!

And so we reach an abrupt end to this rather sour post. Just the fact that this is a box update at all has caused some notable irritation, but combining that with the dreadful quality of the box gives for what is surely one of the very worst updates we've ever had! Hopefully that means much better stuff is just around the corner - I can't begin to imagine the outrage if Halloween and Christmas are given the heave in favour of updates like this one!