Wednesday 30 April 2014

Game update: 30/04/14

We're rounding off April with a short break in France!

Notification for French update

It's not a big update by any means, but here's the usual list of new content anyhow:

Tables:
  • Rustic French Table - 85,000 coins
Chairs:
  • Rustic French Chair - 2 gems
Wall decorations:
  • French Masterpiece - 35,000 coins
Floor decorations:
  • Art Gallery - 40 gems (LTO)
  • French Lantern - 45,000 coins
Floor tiles:
  • French Floor - 1 gem
Counters:
  • French Counter - 55,000 coins

As well as these seven items, there's a very special addition to the Basic Stove. Details on that in a bit.

My first point is about the lack of goals. I'm not too fussed since life's busy right now (sorry neighbours for not tipping every day at the moment!) but it is now four weeks since the last goal set, so we were due another. I assume that TeamLava want the goals to start on the first Wednesday of each month, which meant an extra week of waiting this time round.

This is the second occasion that we've had a French themed update, following on from a cafe orientated update in July last year. That one was pretty good, whereas in general this one doesn't capture my interest. Plus it's only available from level 70 (apart from the LTO which is available to all) so many players won't get anything out of this update.

Let's start with the limited time offer:

Art Gallery limited time offer

At 40 gems the Art Gallery is one the most expensive LTOs out there, and won't be added to my collection this week. Here's a preview of it via the weekly teaser:

Art Gallery teaser

As well as the steep price, I'm put off by the fact that this item is made up of a number of recycled pieces. The Mona Lisa portrait on the wall is obviously a copy of the portrait available as a wall decoration in this very update, while the statues of the unicorn and knight are based on objects from Bakery Story (the third statue may well be too). Even the picture next to the Mona Lisa is a rehash of the Twisted Cutlery wall decoration!

I can confirm that the Art Gallery is a 4x4 item, but its walled sides do constrict how you can place it. I really am not keen on such pieces since the only place they can really go without looking awkward is in the corner which already has two walls, and in my restaurant the Swedish Kitchen has already booked that slot!

On the other hand the second floor decoration is glorious. The French Lantern has a classiness about it which has me excited. So much so that I've bought one for my garden area. At 45,000 coins it's not cheap, but such items are typically for gems so I'm not complaining.

I will complain about the new table and chair though. The Rustic French Table costs 85,000 coins each, which is only topped by last week's Lily Pad Table. That's a massive investment for quite a dull table, but I do like the way the cloth is draped over the side. Then the Rustic French Chair doesn't match the table remotely. And with a gem price tag on the chair, I'm unimpressed.

Let's be positive again! The French Counter does look nice in my view. It's a simple design, but could work very well in my diner. My Mahogany counters are loaded for now, but when they're next cleared, I might just pay up to install some of these to change things up.

We've already seen the Mona Lisa in the Art Gallery, but you can have her eyes follow you around without the need for a unicorn of stone too, because there's a French Masterpiece wall decoration. I find it a tad ironic that the most famous painting in the world can be purchased for 35,000 coins - less than the cost of the new table or counter! It does look good and isn't too small like some of the other paintings are.

The last new addition is the French Floor. Only last week I was lamenting the lack of new floor tiles, and here we are with the first new flooring outside of goal updates since before Christmas! It's a good looking tile too, but for 1 gem each you're going to need to be gem-rich to be buying this one.

With the new items analysed, our attention now turns to the Basic Stove's new recipe:

New recipe on Basic Stove

We've had some good recipes from a statistical perspective recently, but the Cheese Spread tops the lot in some style! Let me allow the recipe ratings to paint the picture:

Cheese Spread
Profit XP gain Portions Profit per plate Availability Rating
10 10 10 10 3 9.7

Four tens! Unbelievable stuff! The Cheese Spread easily offers the most profit, XP gain and portions across all 3 hour recipes, while the profit per plate is close enough to the duration leaders to still merit a ten. The only factor preventing the Cheese Spread from earning straight purples is the availability - as this dish only unlocks at level 70 its not the most accessible. But it is something for lower level players to aim for.

There are still plenty of recipes which outdo the Cheese Spread across the board (cheese board?!) on a per hour basis, but a lot of these are shorter dishes which you might not be able to attend to all day long. A 3 hour recipe gives you a further 3 hour window for serving which means it's much less likely to be spoilt due to negligence. It's undoubtedly the best 3 hour food in the game, and one of the standouts across all the lengths, with the highest overall rating of any recipe.

In my opinion an average update has been lifted to a very notable one by a sensational recipe. So go and spread some cheese!

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