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| Introduction of pirate themed goals |
The goal structure was given a much needed facelift, with the sidesteps which usually aid progress in the main strand of the goals being a completely independent entity. Once you reached halfway in the quest a mini goal set entitled 'The Jolliest Roger' opened up, and consisted of three steps. Each called for the cooking of basic appliance dishes which meant a real nostalgic experience for long time players such as myself. It's been a long time since I mastered everything on the basic cookers, and consequently I don't tend to spend much time looking at them. Never did I think the likes of Macaroni Cheese and BBQ Wings would be on the menu at The Garlic Tree again, but there you have it!
Upon completing the trio of sidesteps, you were rewarded with the Pirate Fountain, which is a colossal 4x4 sized decoration originally released as a limited time offer just over four years ago. It has made a couple of appearances since on Black Friday in 2014 and as an LTO again in 2015, but nevertheless the opportunity to get hold of it for free was not one to be passed up. The quantities of recipes needed throughout this series of tasks was challenging, but I made it with time to spare.
Overall this revamp to the goals format is a roaring success, at least in my opinion. It's refreshing to see a change after a long while with the same old structure, especially since goals are now so frequent. We've reached a saturation point where some players (particularly those still with lots of appliances to master) may opt to skip some goal sets, and so little extra opportunities like this are a great way to keep everyone hooked.
And it really was an extra opportunity as those new look sidesteps did not replace anything in the main strand. Instead the main strand lasted for nine steps, incorporating all of the usual challenges which are characteristic of quests.
Among those were the construction of two new appliances, which made use of a pair of new parts.
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| Crossbones and Shiny Bubbles |
And so the part requirements have returned to the levels which had me making a Suggestions Box entry in June. They did dip slightly for the winter in July themed goals, but it appears that was not the start of a downward trend. Calling for 30 parts to construct an appliance is pretty unacceptable in my view, and makes the goals significantly more difficult to complete within the time constraints. For veteran players it's the difference between having 10 of a machine and four which isn't all that game-changing, but for those at the lower levels it could make all the difference when trying to complete the goals, especially if you are yet to put together a reliable collection of neighbours.
Anyway, let's take a look at the recipes which each appliance holds, starting with the Jolly Roger Oven:
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| Jolly Roger Oven recipes |
The Treasure Pheasant is a somewhat odd dish - to my knowledge there's no such delicacy, so is it supposed to be some sort of clever pun that's going straight over my head?! Maybe it's just the partial rhyming that Storm8 are playing off, but for me it just comes across as a poor attempt to link a pheasant recipe to pirates. The Cajun Frog Legs go the other way as they don't sound very 'piratey' at all. At least the Scurvy Turkey Leg has a rough and ready name which could be believed in the real world.
All three recipes look okay, with the choice of different coloured plates doing an effective job of making them distinctive.
Now for some recipe ratings:
| Scurvy Turkey Leg | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Treasure Pheasant | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3.7 |
| Cajun Frog Legs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3.6 |
It's not a pretty picture, with low profit and portion scores and very average XP numbers. The lowlight is the profit and portions for the frog legs which tie for 13th and 12th worst respectively in the 2 hour duration. The frog legs do also nab the highlight though, with that being its 56 XP which scores six. That allows it to chart 15th from 98 candidates of 2 hour length .
At least there is another shake-up of sorts here with the recipes becoming progressively shorter in length as they are unlocked - normally it is the other way round.
Maybe the Shell Oven's foods will bail us out?
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| Shell Oven recipes |
Initially I thought we had another Treasure Pheasant situation on our hands with the Golden Lobster, but it turns out that you really can find a golden lobster, albeit the odds of doing so are estimated to be one in five million! I've not been able to verify the existence of Ocean Blue Crab (blue crabs are certainly a real thing!) but there's no doubt that the Oysters Rockefeller is a genuine dish.
I like that the Golden Lobster is served on a elongated plate, while the wedges of lemon included with each recipe are a nice way to link them all together.
Here's the statistical breakdown:
| Golden Lobster | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4.8 |
| Ocean Blue Crab | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3.3 |
| Oysters Rockefeller | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 3.7 |
It's a fairly poor show again, although at least the profit per plate scores are more favourable than they were on the Jolly Roger Oven. That's despite 4 coins per plate (which is the case for all six new recipes) - sadly it does look like our run of recipes yielding 5 or 6 coins per plate is over.
We do again have a slightly unusual arrangement when it comes to the durations. This time they do go in ascending order as unlocked, but there is a large gap in length between them. It reaches a high with the Oysters Rockefeller which is only the 12th dish of 9 hour length in the game. You have to go back to the Honey Ribs (Honey Oven) for the last 9 hour addition, that coming in the bee themed goals of March 2016.
What a shame that despite the lack of competition in this duration the numbers are underwhelming. For a snapshot demonstration consider the Peruvian Loin Sautee (Basic Stove) which with 5,290 coins profit is the leader in the 9 hour bracket for this category. The oysters manage just 1,900 coins profit which is pitiful in comparison to the sautee.
Away from the appliances and recipes, there were two further floor decorations awaiting unearthing in the goals on top of the Pirate Fountain. The Mermaids Ahoy! is 2x2 and features two mermaids chilling out on a rock outcrop. There's nothing too flashy about this piece, but it could make a decent addition to a seaside theme. The headband being modelled by one of the mermaids is well designed with its combination of shells and pearls, whilst the sparkles on those tails can be excused for once!
The final goal prize is the 3x3 Mermaid Reef, which is essentially an upgrade on the Mermaids Ahoy! thanks to the array of coral and other wildlife surrounding the mermaid. If this item seems familiar to you then you were probably around in August 2013 when this was actually the final prize in the under the sea themed goals. This is the first occasion that I'm aware of where a prize from a previous quest has been recycled, and although it's a nice repeat for newer players who weren't around to get it the first time, it's also a kick in the teeth to long timers. For me the final goal prize should always be something new - re-releases such as this should be left to sales and side goals such as those which rewarded the Pirate Fountain.
Pirate theme
The same goes for the Coral Chair which was seemingly unlocked by completing the first step but again was actually an unlockable in August 2013. A later step would require players to have four - very straightforward if you already have four having purchased them for the same goal four years ago!
Indeed recycling was quite prevalent throughout this update, with a number of bits and bobs originating from Bakery Story making the journey across to Restaurant Story, including both appliance designs. So long as we don't have complete updates migrating over from the sister game I won't fret about this, but it doesn't bode well for the long term health of Restaurant Story.
In conclusion, we have something of a mixed bag. The refresh to the goal structure was much appreciated, especially given that it provided an opportunity to obtain a much sought-after and long lost item. The slight alteration to the recipe lengths was also nice (9 hour dishes suit my schedule!) but the stats for the recipes were a big disappointment. It's also worth noting that the pirate theme wasn't actually that strong - maybe I should blame myself for giving it that title, but I do feel that the themes in the game are become more and more blurred as time goes on. The Bakery Story crossover is probably a big contributor to this as the gamemakers merge content into the same updates which doesn't truly go together.
We now await the next goal set, which going by recent history is likely to arrive sometime next week...
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