AO’s cooking mechanic is heavily inspired by BOTW, yet it feels nowhere near as rewarding.
There are a few main differences that contribute to this. One is that we have a lot of restrictions as most items we collect usually lose the amount of hunger they give when cooked, which promotes stocking up on raw fruits and eating them alone instead of cooking them. Another factor is that the variety of foods that we can make is much more limited. It’s either pies, stews, seafood, bread, pasta, or generic food plates. There are only 6 main types options, compared to the 200+ recipes in BOTW and TOTK.
I think that a solution to this problem would be to give every ingredient a unique role in cooking. What if we could use the sweetness of sky fruits as a base for dessert items? Maybe have coconuts be a substitute for milk, which we could use to make cakes and risottos. Seasonings could be made a more pivotal part of recipes instead of only boosting status effects, which could be added in order to create curry dishes, steamed food, etc.
There is so much potential to make the cooking system all the more enjoyable as well as incentivizing more people to take advantage of it and recognize it as a crucial element of the game.
yeah we got spices are so on that feel like its just a 1 time update we’re getting chefs for deckhands what’s next we want soy milk and soy beans too for players lactose intolerant cows don’t exist in arcane universe, from what i can tell milk doesn’t exist so we’re gonna have to deal with coconut water and juices from fruits also we should be able to throw fruits!
I’ve always disliked the idea of food items that become worse when cooked.
Genuinely what is the point in them even being in the game if they’re only useful uncooked.
If they’re gonna offer less hunger, they should give greater status effects and duration, plain and simple.
i honestly really want a cooking rework too, maybe some items can be cooked into “prep items”, which could be cooked along other prep items to form more advanced recipes?
edit: why doesnt this suggestion have more votes man
Add a new type of cooking pot spawns next to regular ones, which instead of boiling your food, it is a cutting board and a bowl, allowing you to cook with food which would get worse when cooked normally without any penalties. It cannot cook fish (it’s meat)
