Fresh produce goals content report

It's now nine days since our last standard update, but it did bring with it a new set of goals which offered the opportunity to unlock a selection of content not available by any other means. Now that most players have likely completed the quest, it seems a good time for us to sit down and dissect it.

So allow me to kick things off with a dollop of befuddlement with regards to the theme of this update. After much deliberation I opted to label the goals as 'fresh produce goals' but that was really a stretch when we look at some of the items added. Between the fruity stuff, stone themed additions and driftwood decor, we were not being led down any clear path.

Could this be an impact of the recent upheaval at Storm8? Just to remind anyone who has been out of the loop of late (Jantiene Witzen I'm speaking to you!) a little while back it was revealed that Storm8 had laid off around half of its workforce due to the tough business climate. For a period this left us deeply concerned for the future of our beloved game, but in the long-term we can surely expect some changes.

The lack of regularity for updates is certainly one such change, but I do wonder if mish-mash updates are going to become commonplace as the game's developers struggle to cobble together enough decorations to do complete justice to a theme.

 Fresh produce themed goals

 05/04/17 Goals
 05/04/17 Update

Getting into the goals, the most eye-catching feature came in the final step, with the possession of two Lemon Trees required. This is a floor decoration which has been in the market for many years, and quite possibly since Restaurant Story's equivalent of the Big Bang. So why did it pop up as a requirement now? I've got no explanation for this odd inclusion, just the thought that I wouldn't be adverse to seeing existing items incorporated into goals, if only to spice things up.

As for the two floor decorations accessed exclusively through the quest, there is at least some 'fresh produce' links. The Berry Barrel is 3x3 in size and contains a high level of detail (and raspberries). We have raspberries within a large barrel, a woven basket, and on a wooden cart. I think the quality of the design is excellent, with the only drawback being some of those sparkly glints which Storm8 seem to have an unhealthy obsession with.

The Hipster Friends continues the fresh trend with its outdoor setting. A number of bots considered as hipsters (yes, because in Storm8's universe curly hair, earrings, and flowers in your hair are considered edgy) are enjoying something of a feast around a large bench, with vine entwined fencing around the outside. Sadly this lot are not keen to go for organic produce - instead they're tucking into pizza, chicken legs and fizzy soda! The jump from fresh fruit to fast food is bizarre, and leaves me scratching my head.

Let's move swiftly on to the appliances introduced with the goals, both of which required construction. That is a throwback, with this being the first time we haven't enjoyed one of the cookers coming ready-built since the camping themed goals in July 2016. I could get worked up about this as it gives us more work and waiting for parts to come in can be infuriating for those short of patience or time. However it does ultimately just prolong the goals and provide an additional challenge, so the truth of it is that I'm quite happy to have both appliances calling for construction.

Now for a closer look at the new parts which came with this update:

Juice Grinder, Melon Seeds and Mossy Rock

The Juice Grinder and Mossy Rock are totally new parts with one required for building each of the new cookers. But the Melon Seeds is a different story altogether - this part has appeared before with the Water Fountain from the spring goals in 2014. On that occasion the seeds were controversial as they were not giftable. It's taken three years but the Melon Seeds is finally on the gift list!

It's also worth noting that the Harvest Scythe returns for its second appearance after debuting with the Harvest Stove in November. By normal standards that's quite a quick turnaround for a part going from its first to second showing.

From parts to recipes, let's get to the nitty-gritty. The Vintage Juicer is a smart looking and original appliance which, as you'd expect, houses three dishes.

Vintage Juicer recipes

It must be said that the gamemakers do tend to do a good job with garnishing drinks. All three of these efforts come with wedges of fruit on the lip of the glass, while the Mint Lemonade and Watermelon Limeade also offer other little touches.

On to the recipe ratings and it's not good reading:

Mint Lemonade
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
5	2	3	8	5	4.0

Watermelon Limeade
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	3	2	8	5	3.1

Kiwi Mango Juice
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	4	2	10	5	3.9

It's a fairly uninspiring picture with orange and yellow dominating and resulting in low overall scores.

And to rub salt in the wounds, the Mint Lemonade becomes the tenth recipe in the 1 hour duration to offer 540 coins profit, 200 portions and 22 XP. The other nine are all goal dishes too, and it leaves me rather put out.

The Watermelon Limeade and Kiwi Mango Juice only compound my downbeat demeanour with these each being the fifth instance of identical numbers in the 3 and 4 hour brackets respectively.

Maybe we'll go better with the candidates on the Stone Oven?

Stone Oven recipes

I do like my cheeses, so the Farmhouse Cheese appeals, especially since it comes with a knife ready to slice it up. The Farm Sausage and Farm Breakfast are less successful aesthetically, with the sausage in particular looking worryingly dark. I have a funny feeling that what we're looking at here is black pudding, a traditional type of blood sausage consumed here in the UK. I suppose the game's developers didn't want to make this dish sound even more disgusting than it looks!

And the scores are in:

Farmhouse Cheese
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	3	3	7	5	3.5

Farm Sausage
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	7	1	10	5	3.9

Farm Breakfast
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	4	1	10	5	3.0

Now this is more interesting! Let's get the cheese out of the way first - it joins six other recipes with the same statistics, carrying on the pattern of the Vintage Juicer's drinks.

The Farm Sausage doesn't have unique numbers either, but it's still worth further inspection due to those reds. The sausage tanks as the fourth worst profit maker in the 4 hour duration and third worst on the portions front. However it does fight back with a healthy XP gain which places it 15th out of 103 in the duration.

Then there's the Farm Breakfast. No other recipe of 6 hour length yields the same numbers (hurrah!) but it does mirror the fortunes of the sausage by landing third bottom for both profit and portions. Yet the XP is massive. The breakfast is the seventh dish of 6 hour length to break the 100 XP marker, charting at number three. But given the Technicolor Cake's phenomenal figure (258 XP), the 122 XP for the breakfast is still only good enough for a yellow score.

For both the sausage and breakfast their dreadful profit and portions drags the overall rating down despite the impressive XP gains. That's a shame, but it is at least refreshing to have recipes which are worthy of a statistical breakdown in the first place.

Well, that just about does it. Hopefully the next goal set will be a little more streamlined and coherent when it comes to the theme, but ultimately when we look at the unlockables that came with this update I can't really complain. Plus as interest in the game threatens to wain the quests are vital and so we'll take them however they come. Now we wait with baited breath for the next injection of new content into the game, whenever that may be!