Suggestions Box (Jun 2017)

Every month I list five things I'd like to see added, altered or abolished from the game. Because even though my long time of playing Restaurant Story clearly shows I love it, that doesn't mean it's perfect. Some of the ideas I'll air will be significant game changers while others will be low-key and irrelevant in the eyes of many of you readers.

You can share your own suggestions too via the comments. If I like them, I may even include them in the next instalment!

In no particular order, here are this month's entries...

 #226: Require fewer appliance parts

This is the first of three goal themed suggestions, and has been a very popular one over on the Storm8 Forum of late. Recently the number of parts needed to build a goal appliance has been creeping up and up, reaching a crescendo in the last two quests, where both cookers called for 27 parts.

This is just too much. Given that we can only accept 20 gifts and 20 part requests per day, from scratch this means we can only construct one 27-part appliance each day. Fortunately one of the parts in each of the last four goal ovens has been one of the old 'basic' parts, so most players will have accumulated a stash of some description.

 Recent Suggestions Box posts

 27/05/17 May 2017
 22/04/17 April 2017
 25/03/17 March 2017
 25/02/17 February 2017
 28/01/17 January 2017

But throw in the fact that goal sets are now much shorter than they used to be, and this is just not a realistic test. The solution is surely to either lower the number of parts needed or simply extend the duration of the goals. Personally I'd actually prefer the latter - at least then you'd still have the challenge of attaining all those parts but without the pressure of doing so within such a narrow window of opportunity.

 #227: Include cheaper goal content

Next on the agenda is the cost of goal content. This has spiralled before, and we are currently in the midst of a particularly painful goal set with respect to the expenditure needed to complete all the steps. According to my calculations if we assume that you pay up for the new wallpaper and floor tiles and two of each appliance, then the water park themed goals will cost 634,000 coins, and that's before considering the spend on recipes. Plus many players will invest in more than two appliances.

Selected content required in water park themed goals

This needs to change, especially since non-goal updates seem to have become consigned to history. Goal sets are the only chance we now have to purchase new content for our restaurants, and yet it is consistently expensive. This is particularly unfair on lower level players who are still working their way up and expanding more regularly. Even as a veteran, I find myself being frugal when it comes to the goals these days - I rarely stretch myself beyond three of each appliance as I try and save for the costly high level expansions.

 #228: Restrict visit tasks to sidestep goals

This entry is inspired by a post from eeveldoll on the Storm8 Forum. I am able to quickly check into the game occasionally when at work, but am not in a position to spend long periods of time tapping away. So it's disheartening when, while a work, you open up a new goal such as the one below:

Community visit step from New York Broadway goals

This was one of the latter steps from the New York Broadway themed quest. The reason it is frustrating is that without spending a good few minutes on it, your progress grinds to a halt. Until you do your duty in the community by making visits and delivering tips, you can't get any further. Depending on the circumstances, this could cost you many hours of progress.

So let's at the very least ensure that the community visit goals are part of a step that also requires some element of cooking. Then we can occupy ourselves with the food preparation until a time when community visits are doable. But preferably I'd like to see the community trips restricted to the sidestep goals, thus allowing us to continue churning along in the main strand.

 #229: Add better graphics for cooking food

There's plenty that I dislike about Restaurant Story 2 (new content, please!) but something you have to doff your cap to is the quality of graphics for cooking food. In the original game we are treated to little more than a couple of different graphics during the preparation steps and then a decent image if we're lucky while its cooking.

Over in Restaurant Story 2 each food has its own unique graphic during the cooking phase. This helps enrich the game by giving it more depth. In addition food can be seen steaming and smoking in the sequel title - this is dynamism which is completely absent in the original.

In fact, while food is cooking in Restaurant Story I'd go as far as to say that it is boring. I touched upon how monotonous the graphics are in a similar entry in the last Suggestions Box, and would definitely recommend that the gamemakers address this area of the game.

 #230: Provide breakdown of food sold

When launching the app it's nice to get the 'welcome back' pop-up letting you know how many coins you've accrued since your last login, but I think more could be done with this particular feature. How about a breakdown of what exactly has been sold, in ascending order from the most plates or income to the least?

'Welcome back' pop-up window

This would allow you to gauge without having to scan around your diner which dishes have been depleted the most. This is of particular use for players who have a lot of food or counters scattered all over the place. I imagine that keeping on top of what you have in such a scenario is difficult!

This feature could also incorporate the daily bonus. So instead of having a separate window appearing for it, it could appear in the breakdown list along with all your other incoming coins. This would be a neat and organised way to give players some more information than a basic total of what they've earned since their last visit.