RS2 News (Nov 2015)

It's only a fortnight since my last Restaurant Story 2 round-up, so that means we have a little less to dissect in this edition. So we'll go deeper with the thoughts and analysis!

The focal point of this post is the Ghost Pirate Cruise Event, which was just getting underway at the last review. This was the culmination of a really impressive Halloween season in the sequel game, and featured a slightly different final prize from the norm.

Notification for Ghost Pirate Cruise Event

Until now all but one of the cruise events have featured a gem producing recipe as the end goal, but on this occasion the big reward was the Ghostly Stove, which contains six new recipes. I'm not sure what to make of this. The prospect of unlocking six more dishes and therefore access to another 18 mastery stars is clearly exciting, but it's not on the same level as adding to gem production.

For me the opportunity to create a gem income which should last forever is absolutely fantastic. Indeed it's one of the things which has made Restaurant Story 2 such an enjoyable experience. In the original game you can find yourself stuck on a certain number of gems for a good while at a time, whereas in the sequel your gem tally can always be ticking over if you have completed previous cruises.

Gem producing recipes

A regularly increasing gem total really does keep me glued to the game. I feel like everything in the market is within my grasp, no matter how expensive, and that is a fine feeling. I'm in control, and get the sense that I'm not the only one who is invigorated by the ability to have gems flowing in continually. I guess it's very similar to the pleasure felt by those with a gem dispenser in the original game.

Anyway, getting back on track, I now have some mild fears regarding future cruise events. Will we be seeing recipe laden appliances from now on? Are fresh gem producing recipes going to become a thing of the past? That would be a real disappointment, but at the same time I could understand such a rationale on Storm8's part. After all they need users to buy gems, and those who are most likely to spend big are probably long term players who are heavily invested in the game. Yet over time such folks could end up with so many gem making sources that real money purchases are no longer necessary.

 Restaurant Story 2 cruise guide

 Click here for 10 tips on how to increase your chances!

So it's a tricky balance, and I do have to admit that the gamemakers have allowed it to tip in our favour until now. Don't be surprised if the opportunities to harvest gems dry up over the next while!

In this particular cruise event, I found that the pattern of difficulty was very similar to the last couple of cruises. For the first eight days I was in complete control - attentiveness wasn't necessary and key decisions didn't have potential for serious consequences. I was really meandering along nicely, and enjoying how relaxing the event was turning out to be.

But as my tone suggests, storms were gathering, and on the last two days I had major problems. I even planned ahead by commencing the challenge at a time which would ensure that I was free to mollycoddle the game over the last couple of days, yet that didn't help one iota!

Main page of Ghost Pirate Cruise Event

One of the main issues I was running into came in the shape of the Deep Fryer. It's six recipes have all got tough ingredient requirements, meaning that being set to cook any of them is difficult. Then there's the fact that we only have one Deep Fryer. This is obviously something we have to suffer with the Chateau Stove and Chateau Oven too (unless you've invested the gems in a second one!) but that doesn't stop it being a real pain.

Also, I've yet to learn the Apple Fritters, having only moved up to level 55 recently. Technically that shouldn't be causing me to lose sleep, except that those fritters popped up during the cruise event far too often! It's the only dish which the cruise calls for that I haven't learnt, and yet it seemed to appear a disproportionate number of times. So infuriating! And I refuse to believe that it was just a bad roll of the dice...

 RS2 News

 24/10/15 October 2015
 19/09/15 September 2015
 22/08/15 August 2015
 18/07/15 July 2015
 20/06/15 June 2015
 02/05/15 May 2015

Another quibble with the Deep Fryer (best get it off my chest!) is with regards to the cruise coin yields. As far as I'm aware all of its recipes provide three cruise coins, which is just not acceptable. When you think of the work that goes into putting together the Breading and Batter, the fact that we only have one Deep Fryer, and the significant durations of the dishes, these foods definitely merit a four cruise coin rating. It may not seem like that important a change to make, but a few four cruise coiners here and there can make all the difference in the final reckoning.

The Deep Fryer has also had an effect on my Pantry during cruise events. With a Pantry capacity of 130, I was well positioned to stock up on valuable ingredients towards the latter stages of these events. But because the Deep Fryer dishes require Mixer ingredients which themselves need to be prepared and stored, I've been finding that my Pantry is bursting at the seams. I'm back to the issues of the past when my Pantry was much smaller - excess Garlic and Basil is having to be deleted regularly along with any other ingredients I can bring myself to spare.

Pantry

As a result the Pantry has again become my priority when it comes to upgrades. I've just notched it up to 140, and plan to continue throwing my parts at it for a while yet. I've mentioned before that I don't think there's any more important single feature to keep on top of in the game than the Pantry, and I stick by that statement. It may mean my diner won't be getting any bigger any time soon, and that upping the Veggie Market refill to the magic sixth level has to wait, but if I'm going to continue to negotiate cruise events safely I think the Pantry has to take precedence.

So, did I make it to the end of the cruise? The answer is yes, but not without some help from those very handy quick serves. The way things turned out I was unable to finish day nine on time, and so completed it on the final morning. That meant no prep for the climactic day, and that hung over me like a massive shadow!

It was clear by mid afternoon on the final day that I wasn't going to make it without providing a boost of some description. I waited until much later on to do so, but 26 quick serves were parted with to fast-track orders of Coq An Vin, Prime Rib and French Dip. All being four cruise coin foods, this really made a huge difference, and allowed me to unlock the Ghostly Stove.

I reckon this is only the second time I've had to eat into my supply of quick serves. When I reveal that I have 500 quick serves in the bank, I'm sure many of you will be shaking your head at my penny-pinching! But much like with the accumulation of gems, having lots of quick serves makes me feel much more in control, so I try not to use them! Plus I'm sure there will one day be a cruise event at a time when I can't access the game much, and that may require that mound to be parted with!

With the cruise complete, I've started the process of learning the recipes on the Ghostly Stove. I'm a tad disappointed at the statistical quality of the dishes - at a glance they seem to be pretty mediocre, which is not really that fair considering how much work many have put into unlocking them. But I won't get too down about that since it's the mastery stars I'm really after.

Spider Bread Bowl facts

I've got 286 mastery stars at the time of writing and am slowly working my way towards mastery across the appliances. This is one of the real long term targets in the game, and it's going to be fun over the coming months and years to try and beat the game in that sense. First though I'll have to catch up with Fat Bear and Creme who are streets ahead of me at around the 350 stars marker! Ridiculous!

With the cruise event complete, the focus now turns to the new goal set released on Thursday evening.

Notification for The Tummy Rumble goals

The Tummy Rumble goals are a 14 day event which is based around the major book and film series The Hunger Games, with the final movie in the franchise out in cinemas this month. I really like Storm8's willingness to make use of popular franchises. You'll remember that we had a quest relating to Game of Thrones earlier in the year, and this goal set is pretty similar in style. We could really do with themes like this in the original game!

As for the content of the goals, I'm still in the early stages, but it does look like being a very tricky challenge. Having said that, I tend to have that outlook at the start of every quest and things usually turn out quite comfortably! But there's so much going on in this batch of goals that I have concerns. Katryn Evergreen delivers a special ingredient but not very often, there are two new ingredients in the Veggie Market, five new recipes across six appliances including two feeder dishes, and two goal recipes aboard the Celebration Stove.

At a glance, it appears the odds are most certainly not in my favour! Much attention is going to be needed over the next fortnight, but I look forward to the tough task ahead and hope to join the Victors' Village!