Game update: 18/12/13

This could be the last update before Christmas!

Notification for latest Christmas update

There's another selection of new Christmas content now live. And in a holiday twist, some of the festive stuff from previous years has been re-released! Here's a full list of everything added:

Tables:

• Cinnamon Spice - 40,000 coins
• Ornament Table* - 6 gems
• Frosty Table* - 15,000 coins

Chairs:

• Cinnamon Stick - 2 gems
• Ornament Chair* - 4,000 coins
• Frosty Chair* - 1 gem

Wall decorations:

• Christmas Cupboard - 28,000 coins
• Holiday Lights* - 10,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Grandma's Kitchen - 40 gems (LTO)
• Holiday Fireplace* - 10 gems
• Pink Tree* - 10 gems
• Snowman Waiter* - 24 gems
• Snowy Holiday Tree* - 21,000 coins
• Holiday Cake Display* - 18 gems

Wallpapers:

• Holiday Spices - 1 gem
• Candy Cane* - 10,000 coins

Floor tiles:

•  Snowflake* - 1 gem

Counters:

• Cinnamon Stick - 2 gems
• Gift - 6 gems

(*) Re-released item from previous years.

Please be aware that the re-released content is not at the start of the respective tabs in Design Mode along with the brand new stuff. Instead these items are placed randomly, so you'll have to search through to find everything.

It's a shame that there's not a great deal of truly new content. Furthermore, there are only two of those items for coins, which is sad. On the plus side, there are two new recipes on the Basic Oven. I'll give details of those shortly.

Cinnamon is obviously the subtheme for the brand new items. Cinnamon doesn't strike me as the kind of thing suitable for a theme during the Christmas season. It is a flavour often used for festive treats, but I'm not sure it's the best choice.

 Christmas 2013

 16/11/13 Goal recipe report
 11/12/13 Goals
 11/12/13 Goals update
 04/12/13 First update

So it's hardly surprising that I'm a little unsure of the cinnamon pieces. The Cinnamon Spice table doesn't scream Christmas to me, while the Cinnamon Stick chair although clever in its use of a real life ingredient, does look very uncomfortable to sit on! The Cinnamon Stick counter is at least quite sophisticated looking and has a red bow which does serve as some sort of link to the Christmas period.

The Holiday Spices wallpaper is actually rather pretty, with a cozy feel which is suitable for this time of year. But again it doesn't really go with any of the existing Christmas content. However some may be tempted to slot it into their Autumn and Thanksgiving themes.

In my opinion the top item among the fresh content price wise is the Christmas Cupboard. It's no coincidence that this isn't a cinnamon-related item! For a reasonable sum you're getting a realistic piece which will fit well in a kitchen section with dark walls. I personally have white walls in my kitchen so it sticks out like a sore thumb, but I've bought one anyway - it may be handy in the future.

There's also a limited time offer which is around for five days (from Wednesday). 

Grandma's Kitchen limited time offer

Grandma's Kitchen costs 40 gems but is a very detailed floor decoration. Here's a preview I managed to obtain of the kitchen:

Grandma's Kitchen limited time offer

It is 3x3 in size and includes some really nice bits and bobs. This one's a real tempter, even at a steep price, but there is something holding me back. I'll elaborate in a minute...

Meanwhile eight items from Christmases past are back. Not all of these are from last year - the Christmas Lights were originally released in 2011, and were one of the most craved festive returns last year (and I don't think they did make a reappearance). I've bought up a few of them although will continue to use the equally pretty Carnival Lights as Christmas decor.

Among the other 2011 re-releases are the Ornament Table and Ornament Chair. These both look extra Christmassy, but the 6 gem price tag for the table is off-putting. The Pink Tree is another item from two years ago, and interestingly made a brief return for Black Friday at a cheaper 7 gems.

The Snowman Waiter is cute, but a bit small for 24 gems. The Frosty Table and Frosty Chair are appealing, but the Winter Table and Winter Chair are similar in look with neither costing gems, so are probably a better bet.

One re-released item which is worth picking up is the Snowy Holiday Tree. I reckon it's a steal at 21,000 coins. I bought it last year, but it is a great 2x2 piece complete with presents underneath. That's the one thing missing from this year's White Christmas Tree. Those of you who weren't around to buy one last year may wish to invest in one this year.

Even though it's nice of TeamLava to re-release some old content, I can't help but feel a sense of deflation that not more was given a second airing. Especially coin items as there aren't that many among those that have been brought back.

Now let's study the two new recipes aboard the Basic Oven:

New recipes on Basic Oven

I'd love to stuff one of those Peppermint Cake Rolls into my mouth in one go. They look delicious! But your bank balance won't agree. They have nearly identical stats to the Brown Butter Carrots (Christmas Feast Oven) which got a damning report earlier this week.

The other new dish is the Honeyed Ham. It is only the 14th active 5 hour recipe in the game, and ties for the lowest number of portions for a dish of this duration. It's also the worst profit-making recipe in its bracket (excluding the Eyeball Stew which is no longer available). But it does have one thing going for it - its XP gain ties for third best of all 5 hour recipes. Only the Minestrone Soup (Basic Stove) and Frontier Breakfast (Cowboy Stove) can better it, although they do so by a large margin.

Now earlier I alluded to apprehension regarding the purchase of the LTO. This is because there is a chance that the game's developers will hold a Christmas sale in the same vein as Black Friday shortly. This happened last year with the first and second prizes from four of the boxes made available out of the box for a short time.

That update occurred on December 19th, which was not the regular update day (which used to be a Thursday). So if we're going to get a similar sale this time around, then I suspect it will be between now and Monday (the 23rd). Therefore I'm stashing my gems until then and only after that may splurge on some Christmas specials including the LTO which expires on Monday.

Finally (yes, I'm almost done!) there was an app update for iOS which completely passed me by last week:

Restaurant Story app update

This update brings us up to version 1.7 on iOS. I believe the performance improvements stated above are with regards to the relatively new login feature which was disabled on all platforms a couple of weeks ago. So this feature is now back live for iOS players, but as far as I know it remains disabled for Android users. Hopefully it is activated again for Androiders soon.

Update: Alex the Androider has informed me that the Android version got an app update yesterday. The Google Play page for it states that the new version has the following:

• Cookbook now remembers the previous recipe page!
• Arrow in market points to correct item while buying items for completing goals.
• Multi-device login
• Other bug fixes

Right, I'm done. I think I'll go and have a lie down!