RS2 News (Oct 2016)

Now that we're into October, another Restaurant Story 2 round-up is due. Since my last update, there's not been the variety of events we'd all like, but with a cruise and some stamp collecting opportunities, it hasn't been all quiet in the sequel game.

It's with the wedding cruise event we begin.

Main page of wedding cruise event

This isn't the first wedding themed cruise the game has seen - back in July 2015 the fourth ever cruise event also had a wedding theme. This inevitably gets this edition off to a bad start. In the original title we've continued to get brand new themes throughout the last half decade (even if not all of them are universally liked!) so there's really no excuse for Storm8 when it comes to repeating the wedding stuff after just over a year, especially within the same type of event.

Nevertheless, there was still incentive to complete the cruise with another gem producing recipe up for grabs. The Floral Cupcakes can be found on the Jubilee Oven, with one of the ingredients required to make them a Bouquet. And you can only get this from Kate the Bride when she visits. And you can only feel her presence by completing the cruise!

We're now up to six gem makers recipes on the Jubilee Oven, which is two less than the number on the Celebration Stove. Could we be approaching the time for a new prize dish appliance? I certainly hope so because I've reached a point where I can't keep up with the incoming special ingredients for recipes on the Jubilee Oven, let alone worry about cooking any of the other non gem producing foods located on there.

 RS2 News

 03/09/16 September 2016
 06/08/16 August 2016
 09/07/16 July 2016
 11/06/16 June 2016
 07/05/16 May 2016

As far as this cruise is concerned, it's still a work in progress for me. Having been preparing to go on holiday when it was released, I decided to hold back in hope I'd be able to start it after returning home. I may well have been able to achieve that, but opted to start it while still away last Friday. This was to ensure a weekend finish rather than slyly checking in at work during the week!

Of course this strategy did mean 'cruising' while I was supposed to be sunbathing, and that meant falling quite far behind. But once home on Sunday I set about catching up, and by day six on Wednesday I was back on track, with plenty of help from a healthy volume of three and four cruise coin orders. At the time of writing I'm approaching the end of day nine with the climax to come tomorrow.

As has become the case on cruise events, there are gold and silver stamps to be won on certain days, and they are particularly important to gather at the moment given the number of stamp quests we've been getting. Following on from Lani's arrival at our diners, the third helping of her devilish one-goal challenges cropped up.

'A Special Menu for Lani!' goal released 22nd September

The formula for Lani's goals is consistent each time - one seven day quest worth three silver stamps, another seven day quest worth two stamps, and an 'express order' which can be started at the player's time of choice with a gold stamp prize. At first I was quite pleased to see these goals since they are reasonably easy to complete given the window of opportunity, but now I'm beginning to have a change of heart.

For a start, the third edition of Lani's goals was soon followed up by the fourth and fifth in the following weeks, meaning we've now had these goals in five of the past six weeks. It appears they have replaced the traditional goal events! As much as those challenges can be hard work, at least they varied in style. These goals are dull, especially considering the number of batches required for some recipes (25 French Dips among the tasks in the current batch!)

'Lani's Tasting Menu' goal released 6th October

My other main concern is that I'm now feeling the need to horde my ingredients gained from the use of stamps on the Farm Fresh Stand. Initially I'd go ahead and use them up straight away to work on learning and mastering some of those outstanding statistical stamp dishes. But since each of Lani's goals requires the use of these ingredients I've found myself in positions where I can't complete the challenges because I don't have the necessary ingredients.

That's so frustrating. It's like I'm being shackled! Of course I'm not under any obligation to complete Lani's tasks, but with her being rather stingy in dropping stamps on her visits, and there being no regular quests beyond the cruises to earn stamps from, I feel that these goals are the main source of getting more stamps. It's a vicious circle!

The last gripe I'll pick with Lani and her goals (for now!) is that there's no decor to unlock or win. That means that since the Wild West quest launched at the end of June, the cruises have been the only provider of fresh content for decorating. That's a grim fact, but it's the truth.

And this obviously leads to the question of where Storm8 are heading with Restaurant Story 2. Have they decided it's not making them enough money so are slowly winding it down? Have they been taking a break and are using Lani as a placeholder in the meantime? Whatever's going on I don't like it. I was really enjoying the sequel game, but it's beginning to become mundane and monotonous.

And this growing feeling wasn't exactly helped by the re-release of last year's Halloween goals.

Notification for re-released Magical Candy Cauldron goals

Of course for those who weren't around a year ago or didn't manage to complete the quest this is good news. There's nothing like getting a shot at something from long ago, and I've seen such a concept requested again and again for the original title. But it doesn't exactly appease those old timers like me who have already finished the goals and mastered the recipes. What am I going to do?

I sound like a really grumpy old man here, but at the crux of all this is my increasing concern that there will be no Halloween event (other than a cruise) over the next month. It's been so long since such an event that I've got no reason to believe otherwise, and this re-release only serves as further evidence - with no plans to produce a new quest the game's developers have happily thrown the edition from 12 months ago back into the fold.

It's fair to say that I have not enjoyed the past month in Restaurant Story 2. I've put enough effort into the game since first picking it up that there's no chance of me jumping overboard anytime soon, but I am worried that Storm8 are no longer as committed to it as they were even just a few months back. Here's hoping my concerns prove unfounded and the game gets back to the fast and furious format we used to endure. I never thought I'd miss that but compared to the shortage of reasons to get my cookers up and running now, I'll take it!