It's with the Alaskan Cruise Catering Event we begin. Launching on 21st August, this event fell into line with all the other recent cruise specials. The overall aim was to make it through to the end, this time unlocking Park Ranger Sesi and the Baked Alaska recipe aboard the Celebration Stove.
For me the event appeared to fall at a bad time as it was during the week I was away on holiday. However my fears were soon abated - I held off until the event automatically started and caught up quick enough.
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| Automatic start for Alaskan Cruise Catering Event |
When you have a strong set of resources it is absolutely possible to complete two (maybe even three!) days in one near the start, so I was soon back on track.
And from there I coasted through the remainder of the cruise event. It's the easiest one I've undertaken yet! Why that was is difficult to pinpoint, but I certainly benefited from a more balanced ratio of ingredient and recipe based orders than has sometimes been the case. Sadly it appears I was among the few who found the cruise so comfortable...
This cruise event came hot off an app update, and those who had kept up-to-date found that there was a serious flaw. Usually if an order pops up that is for a dish you have on a counter already there is an option to add the food to the order. On this occasion however, this feature was absent, leaving many players much more work to do. Anger was commonplace over on the Storm8 Forum, not least because the gamemakers belatedly revealed that no solution would be implemented until after the cruise was finished, primarily because it would require another app update.
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| Main page of Alaskan Cruise Catering Event |
As I've already said, I completed this cruise quite smoothly. But this wasn't because I hadn't updated the app - the counter bug was certainly present for me. The key was that I don't stack my counters with handy recipes anyway, and never have! Storing most of my chairs is too much like hard work, plus counter space can be difficult to come by outside of cruises, so I just don't bother. And it is entirely possible to finish a cruise event without using this technique, albeit it is significantly trickier and requires more time and effort.
For those who did battle on through the event, there were some really good prizes to be won. Clearly the gem producing recipe is the main attraction, but the Otter Pool and Sled Dog were both impressive decorations complete with animation. Definitely a cruise event worth investing some time into.
As the cruise departed, the levelling up goals arrived. As you progress up the levels new strands of goals (with no time limit) appear, largely to provide a guide to newly unlocked recipes and ingredients.
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| Levelling up goals in To-Do List |
But in a peculiar twist, these goals were re-released to everyone, regardless of current level. For those up at the top end this meant a barrage of goals already completed once. Okay you get some bonus coins and XP for going through them again, but generally the high volume makes these goals a nuisance, especially when there are lots of other activities ongoing too.
The reason given by Frozen Turtle over on the Storm8 Forum for this re-release was that the early goals had been 'recently updated' which caused them to refresh for everyone. Certainly an oversight somewhere along the line there, and hopefully one that won't be repeated!
Now to the daily goals, exclusively for iOS players at present. These didn't appear without some hiccups either. Sometimes they disappeared before the timer ticked out, had no timer at all, or there were multiple goals active simultaneously.
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| Vanity Fair daily goal |
A few months back I'd have shrugged my shoulders at this and got on with life, but with the game now well established, these continuing errors are becoming tiresome. I really urge the game's developers to be more careful when they are releasing new stuff - there have never been such regular cock-ups in the original game.
Anyway, once the daily goals feature had settled down, we could start laughing at the ridiculous requirements and rewards. My personal favourite from those I've seen is the one entitled 'Chic Filet': 3 Lobster Bisque and 3 Prime Rib are called for. Both of these dishes are on the Chateau Stove, so without purchasing a second one with gems, you need 26 hours to cook everything, and that's before considering the long refresh time of the Lobster! It's ludicrous! But hey, there's a single Nail up for grabs if you can get it done so really concentrate!
There's definitely scope for daily goals, but they need to be far more realistic and rewarding if players are going to take them seriously. Specifically, I'm looking for some invaluable Hammers and Shovels here!
Next up was the Cheese goals. Only lasting a weekend, this was a relatively simple activity with just the one new proper recipe, that being the Ultimate Grilled Cheese.
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| Notification for Cheese goals |
The Three Cheese Blend was a feeder dish used to prepare the Ultimate Grilled Cheese, and required Pepper Jack Cheese (from customers) and Goat Cheese (from the Butchers) as special ingredients to put together. So much cheese! After the tension which comes with a cruise event, this goal set was much welcomed since it was nice and relaxing.
The same can be said of the quest currently active. The Bacon goals came with an app update and consist of an eight step main strand with three recipes all involved. The Jalapeno Poppers, Spaghetti Carbonara and Cinnabacon Buns all need to be mastered to get to the very end, and several new decorations need buying too, all to gain access to the Bacon Wrapped Filet.
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| Step from Bacon goals |
The special ingredient in this goal set is unsurprisingly Uncured Bacon, dropped by none other than Kevin B. Aken! The play on the actor's name did make me chuckle and is something I'd be happy to see done again, much like the Game of Scones event a while back.
The only downer with these goals has been the lack of Mastery Spice for mastery. Usually at levels 1 and 2 you have a fair chance of getting a Mastery Spice, but they seem to have been completely replaced by Simple Spice when it comes to the bacon themed recipes. When mastery is the primary aim of the challenge that can complicate things, although in this quest there is ample time to get everything done without applying Mastery Spice.
As well as the main strand of goals, there are a couple of secondary strands which are more difficult. The first of these is designed for higher level players with access to the Commercial Oven and Chateau Stove. Jelly Donuts was the recipe to master, and required copious amounts of sugar as well as another feeder dish, the Berry Bacon Filling.
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Meanwhile there is a third strand calling for three of the bacon themed wallpapers to be unlocked. These come at 15 gems each, meaning an outlay of 45 gems. With the reward for this goal being only 3 Cream, you should essentially only be completing this one if you actually want the three wallpapers.
I have to say the concept of having a separate goal strand for higher level players is really nice. It's satisfying to make use of different appliances and ingredients in a quest for a change, and by having it run separately from the main strand lower level players don't miss out, as was the case with the Valentine's Day goals back in the early days.
We've just about brought home the bacon here, except for one development which came our way last night. The app update for those Bacon goals included a nugget of very interesting information:
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| Restaurant Story 2 app update on iTunes App Store |
As indicated above, the level cap has been raised beyond level 50. Until now it was only possible to get to level 49 as the XP requirement for level 50 was deliberately astronomical, so this is an exciting advancement. For now the cap has been set at level 55, but I wouldn't be surprised if it will be upped again before long.
Of course, such an alteration couldn't go without a hitch, and so it was that many veteran players reported problems upon their first login following the cap increase. At first level 56 was the new ceiling, but those with enough XP to reach it were finding that the game would immediately crash every time they opened it. That particular problem has now been rectified with affected players being shifted down to level 55. However it has come at a cost - all their XP has apparently been erased!
I doubt this is a terminal issue. Those who have zero XP are probably safe in assuming that their old XP score is still somewhere in the system and will hopefully reappear sooner rather than later.
Finally, in that same paragraph of description for the app update there's a teaser for a brand new appliance whose recipes are 'crispy'. I daresay this could be a deep fat fryer which would make perfect sense for a new standard cooker. At last we'll be able to make chips (fries for you US readers!) in our diners!
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