A bit late out of the starting gate but finally got a chance to review the latest sourcebook for Star Trek Adventures: the Allies and Adversaries sourcebook!
As is usual for STA 2e releases, this book has value going way beyond what you expect to find based on the title alone.
I’d love to hear what everyone here thinks about this addition to the game.
I just returned from a little Final Fantasy pilgrimage to take a break this summer. So I made my 10th and 11th visits to Eorzea Cafes.
My original plan was to do the cafes in Osaka and Kyoto because the food in Osaka has always been better than Tokyo. And I wanted another stay at the Kugane themed capsule hotel with the Kyoto cafe. Sadly, I learned the location of the Kyoto Eorzea cafe closed down two years ago! I was devastated.
Since Yokohama is the only summer cafe open this year, I changed my plan to go there and Tokyo. I had never visited the Yokohama location but Limsa Lominsa is my home city so I was excited for the chance.
First of all, Tokyo’s location is still lackluster as always. It’s at the same quality as every themed cafe in Akihabara. Plus it’s so much smaller than every other location, save for Kyoto’s. The food isn’t bad, but it’s nothing special.
My main drive for going, though, was to get there before the FFXI collaboration ended in August. I wanted to try the FF11 themed dishes and get the placemat to add to my collection. I hoped they would have some FF11 goods but they did not.
But there were two little surprises for this visit: First, I finally paid attention to the drink vending machine outside the cafe and realized the drinks had FFXIV character labels! I had never paid any attention to the machines out there so I was really surprised. I tried to get a Thancred can but got Alisaie. I guess the displayed cans don’t represent what’s loaded at those spots.
The second little surprise was seeing that the Square Enix themed bar in the small walkway outside Akihabara station had changed into a full fledged FFXIV goods shop since my last trip to Tokyo. So I got to browse through all the recently released merchandise. It was a really cool store.
The next day I took a train down to Yokohama to find the Limsa Lominsa cafe. It had a lighter, more casual atmosphere than the main cafes. A similar vibe to the Kyoto one. I absolutely loved the decorations and even the natural design of the dining hall seemed to echo that Limsa feeling.
But the best part? The food was OUTSTANDING! So darn good. There was an older man working there. I’m not sure if he was just a server or the cook as well but he seemed proud of every dish. And he should be! The flavors were excellent. And that man kept bringing out extra dishes and setting up photoshoots with them and other props. They even brought out some plush dolls for diners to take photos together with the related dishes. You can see the Loporrit doll they let me use for a photo when I ordered the Puddingway Parfait.
Yokohama alone made the entire trip worth it and I might have to go back next summer to try it again. One thing to note is they have three menus for the duration of the cafe. I arrived on the first day of the middle section menu. But they will rotate it out and have a final menu for the last few weeks of the cafe this year. So depending on when you go you’ll have access to different dishes.
Now the only truly bad thing for me…
As you may know, you receive a random art coaster with every dis you order. Between the two visits, I ordered 9 dishes (food and drinks). All 9 coasters were doubles in my collection already.
And even worse? Yokohama also gives out a job magnet just like Osaka. I’ve only ever visited Osaka’s location twice so I only have two magnets… but I STILL got a double magnet too!
So the only new thing I got from the visits were the two job coasters I selected for my two reservations.
I also bought a couple of new job pins, but that’s not really part of the experience. Oh, but I did win a Godbert Manderville badge in the Gold Saucer drawing in Tokyo. It’s my third time winning a badge in the drawings during my visits and at least they have been new each time.
All in all, even with my complaints about Tokyo, the Eorzea Cafes are always so much fun. And the Yokohama cafe is now top tier in my eyes. I highly recommend catching it before it ends for the year.