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| Notification for Sunflower Crate |
This is our box update for March, with a 24 gem investment getting you one of eight possible prizes from the new crate. Some are bigger and better than others - it's just your luck whether you bag one of the major items.
Incredibly there's not been a full blown non-box Easter themed update since 2012, and with this being the last opportunity for such an update this year it looks as if we're going to miss out again. Given the colourful nature of Easter and its links to Spring I'm surprised the gamemakers haven't explored it more thoroughly over the years, but I guess the religious aspect of it may have played a role. Not everyone around the world celebrates Easter, but the same can be said of many other recurring themes in the game such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that argument doesn't hold water with me.
At least the Easter Chest originally introduced in 2014 did get an airing at half price last week (I'm only mentioning this here for completeness as I accidentally overlooked it in last Wednesday's analysis!)
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| Notification for Easter Chest sale |
Luckily the absence of easily accessible Easter content hasn't meant a dreary update which fails to promote the rising temperatures and blossoming greenery. The Sunflower Crate is pretty much as vibrant as they come, with the focus on one of the most striking plants around.
I don't like to rain on the parade here, but where I live this is certainly not a time for sunflowers. In the UK it's typically late summer when sunflowers come into full bloom, with crocuses and daffodils being the centre of attention at present. So the timing of this update does baffle me somewhat. Maybe this is the time for sunflowers in the US where the majority of players are based?
Anyway, let's take in some of the prizes in the mix with this image from the Storm8 Blog:
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| Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog |
Such colour! I'm really impressed by the selection of stuff on offer in this crate. It's all so bright and cheery which is just what I'm looking for at this time of year. And this update continues a recent pattern of floral boxes - as well as this we've had poppies, roses and tulips featured in crates all within the last year. That's enough to confirm to me that it's more than a quirky coincidence.
There's something quite nice about having boxes which all tie into the same overall theme. It's neat and generally I think flowers are something the game's developers have always done a good job with. Of course it also plays into Storm8's hands as with every new floral crate there'll be a group of players out there who feel their collection is no longer complete and thus throw lots of real money
into getting those additional plants.
It's time to get deeper on the individual decorations, but before I can do that a distribution list for the prizes is needed! There's plenty of uncertainty with this one so please be wary!
First Prize
- Sunflower Garden
- Sunflower Patch
- 'Sunflower Stall'
- Sunflower Vendor
- 'Sunflower Pup'
- Sunflower Treats
- Sunflower Jars
- Sunflower Stand
I'm very unsure of the positions of those two third prizes, so please feel free to leave a comment below if you are able to clarify any of the information, including the official titles of items. Thanks to Creme for already clarifying a couple of the items in-game!
The top prize Sunflower Garden is a real beauty. Not only do you get some well kept plants (roses as well as sunflowers!) and a couple of fluttering butterflies but also a happy couple sitting on a park bench. In some ways it's a shame that Valentine's has passed as this would be a perfect inclusion for that most romantic of themes. Nevertheless it's one of the better first prizes of late.
When I first glimpsed the teaser it was the 'Sunflower Stall' I actually thought was the first prize. That's because it is large and packed with detail. In reality it's only 3x3 in size, but the richness of content easily deceives. There are sunflowers galore under a wide canopy, and a pleasant chap promoting a smart apron as he serves a young girl. It's a really cool piece and joins the ever-growing array of decorations which together would make for a brilliant market scene.
The two prizes shown at the bottom of the teaser are probably not capable of making your Spring layout on their own, but they'll certainly help the cause. I'm really impressed by the inclusion of sunflowers which are still growing and are yet to open up. It's a simple idea (probably easier to design than the opened ones!) yet adds extra credence.
The remaining items are difficult to justify for the 24 gem outlay. That said they're not a bunch of duffers - there's good qualities about them all (yes, even the dog!) which add up to make this a very desirable box in my view. The only minor drawback I'd like to bring up is with respect to the sparkle which is prevalent on most of the prizes. This is becoming a signature of Storm8's and I don't like it. Why would a sunflower glisten?! It's an unnecessary step that's been taken and I'd prefer if they dropped it.
Having had our fill of sunflowers let's move on to the next exhibit, which is the Confection Garden.
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| Confection Garden limited time offer |
Back for five days only, this is the first prize in the long lost Spring Basket crate originally released in 2011. This for me is one of the poorest top prizes there's ever been - it's only 2x2 and feeds into a fantasy style that doesn't attract me. I've never been one for all out fantasy décor (says the guy with the Ping Pong Table which features a tiger and panda playing table tennis) and the presence of lollipops and candy canes growing out of the ground indicates that this most certainly falls into that category. Throw in the 56 gem asking price and I'm backing off!
Another special offer which popped up exclusively for iOS players last Friday was a Value Pack containing the Blossom Grove.
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| Value Pack including Blossom Grove |
This floor decoration was originally a goal prize but was controversially dropped in a strange removal around this time last year before returning as an LTO and bundle. Now it's back again and still ranks among the best goal prizes there's been in my book. Not sure I'd ever want to spend real money to get it mind you.
Before I sign off for the evening I should discuss the latest app update on iOS (thanks to regular commenter DonY for the heads up!) which sees us move to 1.7.9.
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| App update on iTunes App Store |
The last update was calamitous to the say the least, with many players losing their cherished games and instead being presented with a level 1 starter account. It was a farce of the highest order and has never been properly addressed publicly by Storm8 which is in itself unacceptable.
But the pain may be over for many with this latest app update. I personally suffered the starter game glitch on my iPad and thus have been playing on my iPhone for the last few weeks, but after downloading the newest version yesterday found that my main restaurant was back in business on my iPad. Upon opening the game I was met with the following message:
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| Notification for successful syncing with Game Center |
This seems to confirm the connection between Restaurant Story and the Game Center which was mentioned in the description of the infamous 1.7.8 app update, and after tapping to accept everything seems to be running normally.
Although this update did solve my predicament the lack of euphoria around the community suggests I may be an isolated case. This is certainly a good sign though and hopefully more progress is upcoming. I'm thinking of writing a more thorough review of this whole mess in a separate post, so watch out for that in the future!
With my game now back up and running on the big screen I'm off to sniff some sunflowers. Enjoy the rest of your week!
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