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| Notification for high end dining update |
Get in you beauty! I'm always crowing about sophisticated décor and bemoaning the lack of it. So this update is right up my street. There are only eight additions, but that doesn't stop me from making an ever so traditional list, with all the stuff up for grabs at level 32 (thanks Fat Bear!):
Chairs:
- Silver Chiavari Chair - 6,000 coins
- Vacant Frames - 12,000 coins
- Fancy Waitress - 15 gems
- Sleek Silver Couch - 10 gems
- Luxurious Lounge - 50 gems
- Fancy Waiter - 80,000 coins
- Damask Wallpaper - 600 coins
- Damask Tile - 1 gem
It's kind of remarkable that we've had to wait this long to get an update dedicated to posh dining. It's obviously a significant branch of the culinary world, and yet the gamemakers have never seen fit to cover it previously. I don't know if this is because they feel it wouldn't appeal to younger players, but in my experience there are enough older users to merit some attention for high end dining.
Before we get into it here's a snap from the Storm8 Blog which shows all the new content in action:
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| Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog |
After seeing the teaser last night I couldn't wait for update time to roll around. But the 50/50 price split between coins and gems has really curtailed my excitement. With only one of the floor decorations available for coins, this update immediately loses some of its panache. But there's still time for it to be rescued...
Let's kick off the analysis with the biggest buy of the lot. The Luxurious Lounge was always likely to be expensive, but at 50 gems it really is one for the high rollers. Yet beyond the cost this is a sensational item. Contained within a 4x4 space we have four glammed up bots enjoying drinks and nibbles in a classy setting. The sofas they are perched on look swanky with their wooden finish and the sideboard topped with square lamps and pottery is swish.
I think this is a brilliant decoration. My desire for sophisticated content may be clouding my judgement somewhat, but it is wonderful. There's even a black guy in there - it's sadly very rare to see ethnic diversity in this game, so that's a bonus. Plus we've got red and purple hair in there so we've got hair diversity too!
I can even look past the sparkles which Storm8 have thrown in. The only thing I can't overlook is the attached floor. There's nothing particularly wrong with the chequered black and white style that's been chosen, but as usual I'd have preferred no flooring at all. Let us pick our own floor! Instead you've got to try and ensure your surrounding area blends with the chequered pattern.
If the Luxurious Lounge is out of your gem reach (it's certainly out of mine right now!) then perhaps the Sleek Silver Couch is a viable option. It's reasonably priced at 10 gems and covers two spaces on your floor. I hate to say it but this couch could have been really special and yet has been compromised. Why? Because of the fuzziness. It's not quite in focus, which means you don't get the full effect of the plush cushions and curving silver frame. That's really unfortunate and I do hope Storm8 take another look at this piece. It's not often this distortion happens, but it definitely isn't the first time.
And my call for the game's developers to make alterations is continued with the Fancy Waitress and Fancy Waiter. Conceptually these are glorious decorations which fulfil one of the my longest standing wishes - for some professional staff who look the part. And yet they're not quite right. Both are oversized, with the scaling incorrect. If you place one next to any other bot figure you'll soon see what I mean.
I sincerely hope Storm8 shrink them down ever so slightly. From the white cloth each has draped over an arm to the fancy red tie and bow tie the waitress and waiter are adorning respectively, these are two lovely items. I can say with some certainty that they will feature in The Garlic Tree when the new-look is premiered in due course, but only if the scaling issue is fixed.
Beyond the floor decorations it's the wall where I'm most enthused. The Vacant Frames features a number of differently shaped and styled picture frames. They're all toned in silver and black which really gives an opulent feel. And you can put this piece on a fancy Damask Wallpaper. With black patterns on a white background, this is a chic wallpaper which is really eye-catching. At 600 coins each it's cheap as well - another committed thumbs up from me!
There's also the Damask Tile to go with the wallpaper, and unfortunately it is 1 gem a time. Spending gems on flooring is not completely alien to me but I certainly don't make a habit of it. This is a nice enough tile but I'm unconvinced when it comes to the effect of placing neighbouring copies together. The gamemakers are generally quite good at merging them these days, but I get the sense this one will look a little awkward. The way the flooring has been placed in the teaser doesn't exactly help me get cold hard evidence.
Lastly there's the Silver Chiavari Chair. Again you've got black and silver being brought together majestically, and the fabric material on the back really helps fill it out. Having said that the blue bow on the other side (rotate the chair round!) is unconvincing.
Normally I'd bemoan the lack of an accompanying table, but in this case I'm not too fussed. There are plenty of suitable tables to match the chair already in the market, including the Round Table utilised in the earlier image. If you've got the gems to spend the Bistro Table may be a particularly good partner for the chair.
From the sophistication of the main update we now shimmy along to the zaniness of the Spring Basket. This box, originally available in 2011, is back and available at 50% off.
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| Notification Spring Basket sale |
This is a first with these crate sales - never before has a removed box been returned for the big deal. I assume the Spring Basket will only be available for the duration of this sale, with it vanishing into nothingness when the 12 gem markdown passes.
It's also worth pointing out that this box is similar to one of the same name in Bakery Story. That one is permanent and was also on sale a few weeks back. I mention it because there are a few of the decorations are shared between the crates, including the Spring Cake Display and Spring Windmill (both depicted in the above image). The difference is that those two are second prizes here in Restaurant Story but only third prizes in the sister game! So we're getting a rough deal on this side!
And now for the iOS exclusive Value Pack that was first advertised last Friday.
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| Value Pack including Butterfly Garden |
The Butterfly Garden is the top prize in the Zoo Crate and was bundled with 25 gems in this special offer. This is a beautiful decoration which I'd love to have, although I continue to refuse to part with real money. Storm8 are certainly doing their damnedest to pull me in!
That's it for another week then. It's been a long time coming, but at last a high end dining update. It's not been executed to the high standards you'd expect for a theme like this, but I'm hopeful that with a little luck one or two little problems might be resolved. That would certainly elevate it to the next level, even with the high end prices.
On a completely unrelated note I'd like to tease this weekend's feature post. On Saturday I'll be proudly presenting another glimpse into the creative minds of my fine neighbours with a showcase. There's no specific theme everyone's following - the showcases have always been really well received so I'm looking to do them a bit more often, even if there's not a special occasion for it. So watch out for that in a few days time!
Oooh, another showcase!! Can't wait! :)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it looks like the waiter/waitress sizing issue isn't being resolved as one would hope :( Rather than resizing the decorations, S8 has apparently opted to resize the avatars to match /their/ size. Seems more of a non-solution to me :/
The issue was never about the avatar sizing, so I can't understand why they would choose to modify that, of all things. Plus, there are years' worth of floor decorations featuring people (including the booth in this update, which features proportionate customers!), who will naturally look smaller in comparison if the change is implemented. And what about the automated customers who eat at the restaurant?
I highly doubt S8 has plans to resize ALL of them, just to match the taller waiter and waitress in this update. I hope they revisit the issue and choose to simply make the waiter and waitress smaller (and return the avatars to their original, problem-free sizes). It seems like a scaling issue anyway, like you mentioned, and the difference shouldn't be so much to cause a noticeable lack in quality.