Harvest time and school time

After a couple of weeks of silence, I've returned! While I was away sunning myself there were two weekly updates, with the first bringing a goal set and the second a box. It may be a little late in the day, but I have put together a goals post for the quest, with that providing a step-by-step guide to completing the challenge. Meanwhile this post provides a summary of both updates, including recipe analysis and a box distribution list. Strap in!

So on Wednesday 21st September we received those goals, with Autumn getting it's first coverage in the game in 2016.

Introduction to Autumn 2016 goals

Here's the snapshot on the Storm8 Blog which teased the update:

Items from Autumn update as shown on Storm8 Blog

We had a fall harvest themed update last year, with that one being consigned to a box. It's definitely a popular theme, and comes within a very popular season, which is always a good start. The style of the goals was the same as with the laboratory set in August, with the first appliance being available to purchase from the off.

And as with that last quest, there was some back and forth with the recipes. In all 165 dishes needed to be cooked, which is much higher than what we were previously accustomed to. For me this isn't a problem - the goals had become increasingly stale so any kind of alteration is welcomed. Of course, having been on holiday I was taking it easy and not worrying about getting them done quick anyway!

As for the content, vines seemed to be the order of the day. The Off the Vine Table, Off the Vine Chair, Vine Divider and Grape Pergola all have an elegance about them, and really help convey the sense that this market is organic. The last of these items - the Grape Pergola - is a 3x3 sized floor decoration and beautifully depicts a set of wooden tables and chairs surrounded by a wild display of grapevines. It's really pretty and benefits from not having any bots (which are often cartoonish in appearance) intruding upon it.

As with the pergola, the Fresh Berry Basket is a goal prize, and although only 1x1 it is a nice piece for filling out a market scene. Meanwhile the Organic Stand (which is the final prize) is the kind of decoration which headlines a layout. With a number of other market stall type items already available you can really go to town with a market now. And this one, vitally, is given free for completing the goals so is much appreciated.

Closing out the decorative side of this update are the Wheat Grass Counter which may work well as part of some kind of gardening scene, the Garden Grove wallpaper which has some really appealing colours despite not being very vivid, and the Strawberry Field flooring which is a cool alternative to some of the other green tiles. That flooring makes me hungry for strawberries!

Also with this update was a sale on the Apple Slicer.

Notification for sale on Apple Slicer

Available for 36 gems for a few days rather than the usual 44 gems, that's a discount of around 20%. Although this is a quality floor decoration, I'm still not convinced that it's worth the gem spend at the sale price, but you're certainly getting a really sweet piece if you do take the plunge.

All that remains are the appliances and the recipes on board. The Berry Seeds and Strawberry Seeds are the two new parts, with both used for the second cooker, the Planter's Fruit Box. The Planter's Veggie Box in contrast doesn't require any construction. Both appliances have a 25 gem sonic version which cuts down cooking time by 20%, much like we saw for the lab goals.

Turning to the recipes, we'll start with those aboard the Planter's Veggie Box.

Planter's Veggie Box recipes

Now what's all this about? This is a cooking game, and yet to me this looks like a spot of gardening! The name of the appliance indicates that we are planting rather than preparing and the end results seem to be the raw ingredients that you'd have expected to be going in. I could raise all kinds of objections if I wanted to but I won't. The process is the same and we're getting some nice looking foods in tightly woven baskets out, so all's good.

What about in ratings land?

Fresh Carrots
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
5	2	3	8	5	4.0

Fresh Turnips
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	3	3	7	5	3.2

Fresh Broccoli
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	2	2	10	5	3.3

Hmm. Things are rocky in ratings land. Not good numbers anywhere on the card really, and to make things worse each dish has at least one identical twin on another appliance from a previous goal set. A shame.

Next are the foods on the Planter's Fruit Box.

Planter's Fruit Box recipes

Getting a little nit-picky here, but is the Fresh Watermelon just the basket with some kind of berries filling it up? It's a nice concept, but does leave me wondering if calling this a watermelon recipe was really suitable.

Enough of that though - here's the recipe ratings:

Fresh Berries
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	3	3	7	5	3.5

Fresh Strawberries
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	4	2	10	5	3.6

Fresh Watermelon
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
4	3	3	10	5	4.2

Orange and yellow dominates again and each of these dishes has a perfect match on the lab appliances from last month's goals. Pure laziness from the game's developers, but it's nothing short of what we've come to expect.

Overall though I liked this update. A proven winner when it comes to the theme, and consequently the content can fit snugly with a lot of existing decor. The only slight concern (other than the recipe stats!) would be with regards to the timing of this - releasing Autumn goals in late September won't please a lot of players who are planning to deck out for Halloween in October. But then again there's always a chance to go crazy with Autumn stuff in November.

Let's now shift focus to the Wednesday 28th September update, which brought a box.

Notification for School Crate

Once again there was a preview published on the Storm8 Blog, with all of the prizes from the School Crate on display:

Items from School Crate as shown on Storm8 Blog

I've got mixed feelings here. Only a few weeks back we had a kids themed update which I was pretty satisfied with. But that was more of the playground and arcade variety, while this is clearly focused on school. It's a bit late to implement a back to school style update although that is something we've seen a couple of times before.

The content certainly goes well with the previous stuff, especially those items from last year which were available through a goal set. Problem is, how does it all relate to a restaurant? In truth it doesn't, with the lurid colours not at all conducive to those who prefer a sophisticated diner.

Nevertheless, here's a distribution list for the School Crate:

First Prize

• Classroom Train Table

Second Prize

• 'Classroom Playhouse'
• 'Classroom Swing'

Third Prize

• 'Classroom Slide'
• 'Classroom Goldfish'

Fourth Prize

• Classroom Bookshelf
• Classroom Easel
• Classroom Cubbies

There's plenty of uncertainty here, not just when it comes to the ranks of the prizes but also some of the names. If you can offer any information do feel free to leave a comment!

The 'Classroom Swing' and 'Classroom Slide' are the two standouts for me, mostly because they can be used in an outdoor setting such as a park. The others are less enthralling and don't justify a 24 gem payout in my opinion. And this is coming from someone who has done a classroom themed section from time to time - I'll be happy to stick with those items openly available on the market.

So it's been an up and down fortnight. The harvest theme was one of the best goal themes of recent times for me, but the School Crate is a stinker. That's Restaurant Story though, and let's face it - the uncertainty over what's coming next and how good it's going to be is part of what makes it so addictive!

We're now into October, and that of course means Halloween. I intend to pack up my beach and redecorate this weekend, so would certainly appreciate a sensational Halloween update this week. Given that we got a sale for Autumn as well as the goal set, I'm certainly optimistic, although going by the standard of the content over the last couple of years my expectations for the quality of any additions is rather low. Not long to wait!