i feel like there should be more of a tutorial for cooking.. the quest is nice but maybe there could be a quest where you go buy the tools and get shown how to use them.
I think the cooking could be simplified by some work in the encyclopedia. I ran into issues trying to figure out how to make flour (like every other newb in Glitch). It would have been much simpler if the encyclopedia said something to the effect of, "Flour can be made from wheat using the knife and board".
I assumed you would need something to grind the wheat, but in the game you chop it.
I think a lot of the basic questions could be answered with some elaboration in the encyclopedia, such as where to buy the basic tools (what comes from a hardware vendor, versus a kitchen vendor, etc.) and the source of the basic ingredients.
The other thing that got me was the fact that it seems like you need a large number of tools to make basic recipes (a spice mill for salt, a frying pan for a bun and a grill to make the grilled cheese). Based off previous experience in other games I had assumed I would be able to get by for a while with a small number of items (especially based on the small number of slots in my inventory).
I didn't even read the quest information or any other help information and it was all fairly simple. Everything is pretty straightforward. The only thing I didn't realize was how to season beans because I thought I had bought every tool but I had missed that one somehow. I saw the seasoner in the store and I had no issues from then on.
You open a tool's window and you see everything it does. It's not that complex. The issue here is that everyone with these problems is too lazy to look at anything or read what it says on the screen.
This was frustrating me because I was trying to do a basic cooking quest requiring a Lazy Salad, Sammich and Tomato. Everything else could be bought from a Groceries Vendor (except meat, but the previous quests showed me how to get that). The Cheese is nowhere to be found, although Fancy Cheese is available from the vendor--BUT Fancy Cheese doesn't work for the things you need to cook. VERY confusing.
How about a "Milk a Butterfly" quest that tells you to milk butterflies? At the end it could say "Now that you have milk, you can make it into cheese!".
Being able to click on an item in the quest and have an origin: field might be helpful. Especially when skills aren't tied inherently to your character but possibly to objects you don't have at the moment.
Your character should have memory of things seen or learned. While the player may not have had a chance to see all the objects the character can create. Some way of accessing this information either in game or attached to the account/skills page would be useful.
Indeed, some of the fun is experimenting and discovering things on your own … but, we agree there are better ways to share information on some items, and their connection to skills, other items, and the things you can do with them. Watch for new "info" windows with more information that should help you out with the basics.
Also, I just started to try making a simple BBQ and when I finally bought a saucepan, the recipe is a few things "and some more" or something similar, but I can't click on it to get the full list.
And as a simple sauce it seems like a lot of ingredients, esp. since now I am filling my bags with items to make all the various bits I need.
Normally when the recipes say, "and some more" it means everything else is a spice of some sort (I think). I agree though, it would be nice to get able to get a full recipe listing even if you didn't have the ingredients.
The fancy cheese threw me off, I would have kept searching if the fancy cheese was not there or you made it obvious there was other cheese when purchasing it.
What I like about this game is that it doesn't try to hold your hand too much, if you are curious you tend to find out about various aspects of the game.
Press, squeeze, shake etc. everything and something new often happens.
I personally don't want my hand held I want to discover things myself.
Please don't dumb the game down it will loose the fun discover element to the game.
And +10 to Johnny. It would have been more if he'd been nicer. :)
I DID read all my quest info. And I clicked, nibbled, sniffed, poked, shook, compressed, squeezed and messed with everything and read all the menu info on every new item I found.
I also clicked on every tool in each vendor and read the info about it.
Sadly, I see even fairly intelligent adult players who can't seem to pay attention to the stuff around them, or read things and who are afraid to try stuff.
Maybe the problem is how badly some other games (and life) screw you up if you don't do everything right. Or maybe I'm just fearless and creative due to being an artist in real life.
This means that we may need the opening tutorial to tell you that you really CAN'T screw yourself up that badly, so EXPLORE!
What we do not need is the game to be dumbed down.
They did that at FS, and it was really annoying.
Plus, If you don't know stuff and can't figure it out, you can break down and ask other players. There are lots of nice glitches out there who will share their knowledge. We're not playing by ourselves.
Oh, yes. I have nothing against fancy cheese, real or virtual. Very pro-cheese. It was that "Hey, make a grilled cheese! What? You found fancy cheese at a vedor? No, that isn't used for ANYTHING. You need need just 'cheese.'"
There's something you need to do in game, which is kinda fun. I always click new things to see the options. Munch? Shuck? Taste? Shake? All in the menus.
Fancy cheese wasn't around by the time I joined in the game.
Stinky Cheese was, though. Also Very Stinky Cheese. I trust someday I will understand why. Perhaps the "why" is merely "because it's funny." I'm OK with that.
(My first instinct upon getting any new item was to try every menu option. I have lost my share of Mood to poking, sniffing, and licking Very Stinky Cheese. It's all part of life.)