This is a GOOD GAME that can easily be a GREAT GAME if it fixes some problematic mechanics

[Taxman]

I've possibly spent around 50 hours on the game now (I played offline for quite a while and it didn't count my hours) and here are my thoughts. The GOOD far outweigh the bad in this game; but the bad things are definitely significant.

The GOOD:

- This game has the best cooking mechanics since Cook, Serve, Delicious. This alone makes the game worth its price.

- Cooking is very fun and engaging. It also rewards the player's knowledge since if you know the recipe by heart, you get to prepare it faster.

- If you are knowledgeable enough, you can even plan your menu and strategize to spread out usage of Refrigerators and Heaters so that when service time comes, you will be preparing and plating dishes like a well-oiled machine. Again, knowledge of the game is rewarded.

The BAD:

- Animation locks on some actions; for example why is seasoning on the stove instantaneous while seasoning on the mixing board so slow? This is a very infuriating limitation which doesn't really serve that much purpose other than to slow the player down. But the worst culprit of all is the basting animation. Any recipe that requires me to baste, I immediately just ignore completely.

- Heaters can only carry Pots and Sauce Pans. It would be great if oven-roasted recipes can also be placed on heaters for future serving. For example, the Welsh Rarebit recipe is near impossible to produce for perfect serving time because it just takes far too long to prepare (unless you rely on your other chefs, of which I will get into later) beforehand. Since the dish cannot be placed on the heater (nor even the refrigerator prior to oven-cooking, possibly a bug?), it means that the dish must be prepared on the time of service.

- LVL20 chefs are far too strong. When chefs reach level 20, there is absolutely no reason to not have them make the the final recipes on their own. They do not generate dirty dishes this way and they make it far faster than you can as well. LVL20 chefs give you less reason to be as involved in the cooking process as you would have been in the early start of the game which makes the game significantly less fun.

- Staff happiness is a baffling addition. Why is this even a thing? It doesn't pose any significant gameplay strategies and simply acts as a nuisance to the player. It is even more infuriating that the game doesn't tell you what makes your Staff happy. I have full responsibility and cleanliness but Kassim refuses to wash the dishes and skulks when I ask him to prepare food in the afternoon.

- The game penalizes the player for upgrading dishes or for buying new recipes by forcing the player to make the dish during valuable time. Players should be able to practice making dishes without having time-constraints. A very simple solution to this would be to permit the player to make dishes after dinner service is done.

- As it stands, there is currently no incentive for the player to have more than 3 recipes on the menu. The number of customers coming in doesn't change so you basically get the same sales revenue for the night, so there is no advantage. But furthermore, you get disadvantaged because you pay more for ingredients and serving 4-5 dishes is significantly challenging as well.

I am sure there are other issues that I failed to mention here that many others have already discussed (like recipes pricing and etc). These are just my personal gripes currently.

[Great Sage Equal of Heaven]

I agree with all the above.. ! Particularly the comments around not having time to upgrade dishes &tc

[martin]

I would like to control the staff i hire as i found it a lot better when at lower levels now 3 chefs 3 bar staff and me and 20 sittings is just daft and one of the chefs has to do the dishes as there are only 2 prep stations think it would be better to have 1 chef 1 bar person and a cleaner also i wist i could set my opening times and work off a clock on the wall have starters and deserts all this said i love the cooking side of the game but not the story line

[Bloodworm]

Great post. I agree with pretty much all the points you made. I'd say my biggest issues are the menu size (no incentive for more than 3 dishes) and the over-powered sous chefs that can make an entire plated dish faster than I can prepare a single side-dish. I like being rewarded for leveling them up, but I also kinda miss the early days of having to try to keep track of two steaks and a fish while also having potatoes in the fryer!

[Rubicon7]

Great post, agreed. As far as the staff, they should have a mechanic where you can hire and fire staff, perhaps an employment tab where they show applicants with their attributes and you can choose them by their strengths to fill needed skills. And certainly be able to fire them, as Kassim would be history. This would be a welcome addition, and add the associated costs of paying staff, so you can balance staff levels with your revenue/expenses.
And as stated, let us work into the evening on mastering our dishes and creating new ones.
Some aspects of the game are well balanced, some are too simplistic and limited, give us options, price dishes, staff decisions. A great start, hopefully the game has the ability to grow and add these options.

[Alaska Outlaw]

Well Said Taxman