We're closing in on Valentine's, and so the heat is being turned up with this nautical update. With 11 new items in all it looks pretty healthy at a glance. Here's the traditional list of fresh content, with everything unwrapped at level 26:
Tables:
- Heart Anchor - 5 gems
- Love Boat Chair - 12,000 coins
- Love Boat Cafe - 45 gems
- Love Boat Treats - 20 gems
- Love Boat Pup - 7 gems
- Love Boat Crew - 65,000 coins
- Little Love Boat - 40,000 coins
- Hearts and Anchors - 8,000 coins
- Heart Anchor - 5,000 coins
- Love Boat Stove - 30,000 coins
- Love Boat Counter - 5 gems
Overall I'm quite impressed. Recently there's been a lot of non-goal updates which have been missing a key ingredient, be it a table and chair or a wallpaper and floor tile. But this one has just about everything, with only a wall decoration missing. This is pleasing to see, especially since there are five pieces of floor décor included, meaning that there's certainly the scope for players to go all out with this theme if they so wish.
But what exactly are all the new additions? Well, the Storm8 Blog is now on a run having offered up a Tuesday teaser for the second week in a row.
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| Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog |
All of the items are displayed, including the Love Boat Cafe which is the premium buy for this week. The 45 gem asking price is hefty, but then so is the decoration. It shows two bots sitting down to a cup of coffee at some sort of nautical themed café. It's quite an unusual set-up, with a buffet of lovey-dovey drinks and delicacies on an elongated ship-shaped counter. In some ways this puts me off - if you're not wanting a sailing based backdrop then this item won't really work. I'd have preferred the option to buy just the couple at their sunflower-decked table (for fewer gems!)
The same applies to the Love Boat Treats, which presents a selection of goodies on a table. A wooden ship's wheel links to the nautical side of things at the front, while behind the table is a curved arch which may well be a 'tribute' to the lifebuoy. Without any intention of decorating your place as a ship at sea you'll struggle to justify the 20 gem spend, and I can't help but feel that the scaling is awry with this one - it could quite easily be 3x3 in size rather than 2x2, and indeed looks like it may have cheekily been knocked back.
The last of the gem buys among the floor decorations is the Love Boat Pup. I daresay I've mentioned this before, but I'm not a 'dog person'. Believe it or not that means I'm also not a 'dogs in clothes person'. So when I see a pooch dressed as the captain of the ship I immediately jump overboard. This is the third update in a row which has included a dog in an outfit after the Gladiator Pup and the Ring Barker. What's with this obsession?! Given the fantasy nature of many players' restaurants (mine included at times) a clothed dog isn't too much of a stretch, but I'm not keen on the number of them we're getting. Surely they're an acquired taste after all.
Moving on, and the two floor additions for coins seriously redeem this update. The Love Boat Crew shows three figures having a grand old time on the deck. The captain is clutching a pair of binoculars while another member of the crew is about to tuck into a cupcake offered by a smartly dressed girl. I can see myself utilising this if I ever reinvestigate a boating theme, and I'd say there's a fair chance of that happening sometime in the Summer. The only issue I have is with two of the bots having their eyes shut. It looks like they're midway through a violent sneeze and that's something I've unfortunately seen a few times recently.
Then there's the Little Love Boat. At 2x2 it's not that little, and features a charming looking couple rowing up the river. With their boat blossoming roses they have every right to look at ease with the world. The sailing theme isn't really written all over it, and so I considered placing one in my newly produced Valentine's layout. In the end I decided against it, preferring to let the existing couple on my river enjoy their paradise in peace. You'll get a look at my Valentine's set-up next weekend!
On the walls it's about Hearts and Anchors with the two mixed. The way the pattern has been put together makes it appear that the heart has been skewered on the anchor, which on the face of it seems rather disturbing, However I'm sure there's some heartfelt metaphors can be drawn, along with a hearty pun. Oh, there's another one! They come from the heart!
Then there's the Heart Anchor floor tile which takes the same image and places it on a lighter coloured heart. Along with the wallpaper these are pretty dedicated items, and I struggle to imagine how I'd use them effectively.
The skewered heart continues to make its mark across the Heart Anchor table, Love Boat Chair and Love Boat Counter. Not sure I like this - if you're not keen on this image then consequently you won't be keen on any of the content it appears on. Sadly that applies to me, with all three of these items not appealing. The costs don't exactly help, with the table and counter coming at high gem prices.
Time to turn to the last addition in this update, with the Love Boat Stove requiring 5 Iron Presses, 5 Mallets and 5 Anchor Knobs to construct.
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| Anchor Knob |
You get the drill - the last of these is a new part, so get busy gifting! Luckily the heart forms the shape of the knob here rather than being skewered on the anchor, although this is still yet another knob!
There are three recipes to occupy yourself with on this appliance:
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| Love Boat Stove recipes |
The Sail Away Eggs and Zucchini Boat are not exactly the gourmet foods you'd expect to eat at a high end restaurant, but the Lover's Lobster certainly is. When served to customers it looks really fancy with those lemons for seasoning. On the negative side, have you seen the appearance of the lobster on a counter? You can get a glimpse in the earlier teaser, and it's not a sight for sore eyes. It essentially shows the lobster steaming in the pan, with juices flowing over the sides. The lobster even looks like it's trying to escape! If you dare serve this dish just pray the health inspector isn't in town!
Let's have some ratings:
| Sail Away Eggs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5.1 |
| Zucchini Boat | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 4.9 |
| Lover's Lobster | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 6.1 |
I have to say I'm mildly impressed. The Sail Away Eggs and Zucchini Boat both garner decent scores, with the numbers of similar strength across the board. This results in them featuring towards the top end of the rankings in their respective durations, which is no mean feat when we're dealing with the competition of the 2 and 4 hour categories.
Then there's the Lover's Lobster which is a rare case of a new dish managing to get into the green with regards to the overall score. The 8 hour bracket does include a larger share of high rating efforts than most, which does mean the lobster is still only 17th out of 66 candidates. But it is still a notable addition, with the Artichoke Panini (Panini Oven) the only other new recipe in the recent past to achieve a comparable level of quality.
And on that happy note we reach the end. I actually think this is quite a good update, even if that isn't conveyed too well in this post. This stems from the disconnect from the Valentine's Day theme. Clearly that what the gamemakers they're pushing, but the nautical medium makes the romantic side of things seem a little distant. This was also the case to a slightly lesser extent with the Winter Wedding update a fortnight ago which I speculated at the time was designed to marry up (another well-placed pun!) Winter with Valentine's.
Ultimately this is probably a good way of going about things. We've had enough Valentine's Days in the game's lifetime now that there's a shedload of stuff you'd typically associate with the theme. Adding to this is a tough task, and so Storm8 have opted to be innovative and think outside the box. We're quick to pull up the game's developers when they fail to do this, but they deserve credit when they do produce something original. Plus having content applicable in multiple situations and seasons is beneficial to us players as it reduces the amount of coins and gems that need to be spent!
That does it then. I'm off to try and get my cap back from that fashion-conscious dog!
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