Sushi splurged on the new Garden Tea Terrace (3000 coins), but was a bit disappointed that it was just for show. You can place stuff on the tables and the stone steps, but you can’t actually sit there and enjoy a cup of chai. Oh well. At least he got the money from last week’s game update, so he didn’t feel like it was too much of a waste. And it does look nice.

How did you spend your free 3000 coins?

First stop was Deedo’s café by Modo. Modo says that she loves the idea of being surrounded by the aroma of cookies and coffee, freshly baked muffins and pies. Yummy! If she ever opened a cafe in real life, she’d furnish it with comfy chairs and books, and keep it pet-friendly!

Next stop was Joca Londonier’s bakery by Fábio. Joca is Sushi’s newest friend, and he wowed us with his enormous display of sweets. It looks like Joca has everything there is to eat in Pet Society!

Then we checked out Holly Golightly’s underwater hangout. We like the combination of the fish scenery and the luscious chocolate fountain.

Finally, we chilled out at the beachside cafe by Woofeni. Woofeni was highlighted previously as part of the Pet Society Traveler series, and it’s always good to visit him. This cafe is so inviting and peaceful, it’s like taking a breath of fresh air. Ahh…

Don’t you just love it when you buy something and there are NO INSTRUCTIONS? That’s the case with the Magic Cooking Powder which was released last week on March 1. This goes for 1 (PC) at the Cash Shop and promises to unburn your food.

The powder works, but only if you use it correctly. Thanks to Tessa who posted these images on the Pet Society Anonymous Fan page. She says that you need to use the powder BEFORE you open the oven. When you see the burning item, place the powder above the oven. You’ll then get a sign saying that you saved your food.

How Many Times Can You Use the Magic Cooking Powder?
This is like Kleenex; use it once, then throw it out. Don’t waste the cooking powder on something cheap like the vegetable soup. Because of this one-time limit and the lack of instructions, we’re giving the powder only three paws.

Typical Complaints about the New Pet Society

I used to have a million paw points. Now I only have 4,000. What happened?

The official Pet Society blog explains it like this: “It may be a little confusing at first, but each level the paw points number goes back to zero and counts up to the amount needed to reach the next level. For example, if you were a Level 43 pet with 337,300 paw points previously, your pet will now show as a Level 43 pet with 5,300 paw points towards the next level (as 332,000 paw points were those required to reach Level 43).”

Um, yeah, that is confusing, especially since nobody knows how many points it takes to get to each level. We also can’t see the paw points of other pets. Some players say that this was a source of fun competition, to try to top friends’ points.

There are more flies now. I saw one pet with eight flies.
I’m not sure if eight is an exaggeration. My pet Sushi visited someone with five flies today. He got 80 coins for soaping him up, and 4 paw points. So cleaning is still a good source of income.

The brush is useless now. And there’s no happiness bar.
Here’s the official Pet Society comment: “Well, happiness no longer affects your game in any way, so feel free to brush your pet, but don’t be surprised when nothing much happens!”

I’m surprised that Playfish removed the happiness bar, especially when the company claims their games are about friendship, love, self-expression, blah, blah, blah. Isn’t happiness key to this feel-good social games experience?

You can’t see who’s active and inactive any more.
No, you can’t. But now, you get more coins for each visit, whether or not you were active. You get 35 coins for your first 50 visits each day, 20 coins for the next 25, and 15 coins thereafter.

My Secret Garden has gone all horrible!
Players have reported that their Secret Gardens and the Magic Room in their Tree Houses are now bigger, but the trees in their Secret Gardens are out of place. Hopefully, this is an easy thing for the company to fix.

As I said in my previous post, I personally like most of the new changes. But the game has never been about paw points for me. The thing I most appreciate about Pet Society is the visuals, and the tools the game gives us to create cute, comic scenes. So the cleaner layout, along with the improved camera make this aspect of the game even richer.

I still would like one more change: the ability for two pets to sit or lie down together on a chair or bed. That used to be possible, and it was incredibly cute. It was one of the reasons I started blogging about this game in the first place! Sadly, the pets can’t do this any more. Let us be together for crying out loud! What good is a 3000-coin Stella Bed if your only companion is a reindeer plushie?!

Chest Organization
Playfish calls this “better chest management.” Aside from the funny wording of this, we love the tabs on top of our storage chest that neatly separate the contents.

 
Improved Camera
Yay! Playfish listened to our request for a camera that takes pictures of our pets in the house! This would have been really nice to have for the Movie Award competition. Before, it was impossible for our pets to be included in their own scenes, but better late than never.

 
New Look for Village

 
Full Screen Mode has Bug
We did notice a little bug. When you choose Toggle Full Screen, you get the game in a larger format. However, when you try to go back to the normal mode, a section on the right-hand side gets squished out of the picture.

 
Verdict
Overall, we really like the new changes in Pet Society. We know it must be a challenge to make a visually rich game in a small format, and we’re consistently amazed by the level of details shown in the artwork of this game. Finally, thanks for the 3000 coins!

We ran into this angry little guy at the Pet Society Cafe. His name is “Fire.” We noticed his food is burning, but he probably likes everything scorched.

The Best Thriller award went to Julianne Ting for her chilling video that takes its cues from The Shining.

Ivett Ariana Ponce Guevara got 50 Playfish Cash and a Golden Mayor Award for Best Drama. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she referenced American Beauty, a movie which won the Academy Award for Best Picture back in 2000. A lot of Pet Societyholics were around four years old when this movie was released. Just goes to show you that this game isn’t just for kids!

The Wild West Fashion Poll that’s been going on this week has been too close to call. Only 1 percentage point has separated the top 3 contestants. What to do? Hold another showdown, of course! Thankfully, since this is Pet Society, no guns will be fired and no blood will be shed. But, I did have to kick out the other 3 contestants. Oh, cruel world.

My pet Sushi speaks Italian! Well, almost. Thanks to blogger Daniele Scalabrino, our recent review of the Tree House has been translated to Italian. We think that’s fantastico!

We love meeting pets from different parts of the globe! If English isn’t your first language, or if you just want to practice another language, here’s a sampling of Pet Society blogs, Facebook pages, and discussion groups from around the world.

Pet Society Fan blog in Italiano

Sobre Pet Society en Español

Pet Society Facebook group in Danish

Pet Society Israel Facebook group in Hebrew

Pet Society Facebook group in Indonesian

Playfish Pet Society Sub-Forums in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Chinese, German, Skandinavian, and more