Many of you probably don’t care about what I think of Hearthfire, but I thought I’d still put in my two cents anyway.

After playing it, as many have said, the added kitchen is a plus, but still having a cooking fire in the main hall seems redundant. In addition, for the home being presented as a Tudor Manor, of sorts, the library is totally unimpressive. The other oddity is having a smelter, a tanning rack, an anvil, and a smithing furnace in the cellar—along with an altar for worshiping the nine divines--something that is totally out of place. If one was going to have a blacksmith fire pit in the cellar of their home they would certainly have a chimney in place over the fire pit. As for the altar, seemingly it would be in a separate den or in a sanctuary. A quiet place to meditate.

As for the children, what parent gives their child a 1,000 in gold for an allowance?

All in all I like the concept.

Thanks for letting me share.

There was something else Bethesda forgot to add, Jallard. There is no outhouse. Unless they are assuming that people in Skyrim use Chamber pots. And, even then I did not see one listed in any of the rooms when I built them. It may be too that in this fantasy world of Tamriel people don't have to got to the bathroom; because, as in a dream they are just a figment of our imaginations?!?

I almost forgot! As I was waking back from Starbucks on this cool October morning, getting my first cup of coffee of the day, it dawned on me that Bethesda didn't include a maid/butler quarters of sorts. In the game you are afforded the option to hire a Bard and a Steward. Plus you already have a Housecarl living there too. Depending upon how many children you have adopted you would have to have numerous beds. In the case of having one child, a Bard, a Steward and a Housecarl you would need five beds. Just saying!

They can sleep in the stable or outside standing up on guard after all they dont get paid either do they? Small price to pay for the perk of being with the Dovakhim

Still, that's not how I roll as an Amazon-Nord Dovakiin, married to a beautiful redheaded, blue eyed Amazon Goddess --of my own creation. But, that's just me! (In case you are wondering, there is a book in Elder Scrolls that speaks of an all women race. I just can't remember the name of the book.)

If you want kids and a steward + housecarl you will need 5 beds. To even have children you need the bedroom wing which adds three beds. plus there are three extra ones to build upstairs

QUOTE: After playing it, as many have said, the added kitchen is a plus, but still having a cooking fire in the main hall seems redundant.
Some people may not get the kitchen, so they will need the cooking fire.

QUOTE: In addition, for the home being presented as a Tudor Manor, of sorts, the library is totally unimpressive.
That's kind of a bummer.

QUOTE: If one was going to have a blacksmith fire pit in the cellar of their home they would certainly have a chimney in place over the fire pit.
We get a lot of that. Look at that firepit in Breezehome. Clearly, carbon monoxide doiesn't exist in Skyrim.

QUOTE: As for the altar, seemingly it would be in a separate den or in a sanctuary. A quiet place to meditate.
Agreed.

QUOTE: As for the children, what parent gives their child a 1,000 in gold for an allowance?
A really bad one. Mine will get 100, and not a septim more. And if they whine, no sweetrolls for a week.

That is what I have currently but I have only adopted one child.

Buckets, dude. Skyrim is full of buckets.

only started getting back into skyrim after a little time away,and am checking out this addon.
so tell me if im wrong,this thing means you can build your own house and populate it with a nagging wife and little drains on resources (or 'kids' as they are also known)?

why on earth would i want more wives and kids in my fantasy relaxing time as well as the ones i have now?
if thats all it gives you i think i'll stick to mods! cheers

Nope, you just need the two beds and dresser built in the upper level of the main hall.

The developers who worked on the houses seem to have just slapped them down in the middle of nowhere without any thought as to access (roads leading to them). The houses also seem too small for your status. It would have been nice to have the ability to hire guards, propper stables (ones where you can actually dismount inside) and more servants. In short, as with everything else in Skyrim, it's a nice idea that's been poorly implemented and (at least for us PC owners) an expectance that the modding community will pick up the peices. Also, does Bethesda actually have a QA department?

That's about right. Just two more potential levels to the RP experience. If you prefer a city house, and bachelorhood or childless wedded bliss, then HF is Not For You.

Skyrim looks like barely out of the viking era, maybe late 900s, there was no 'Tudor Manor' back them. they barely started to build anything better than a longhouse, carolingians franks had barely started the concept of castles

the one tthing slightly out of place is perhaps the architectural styles of windhelm and solitude, but they're both center of power, and solitude, which is the most lavish, got imperial backing - so that's sort of acceptable, italy was after all still ahead of the rest of europe at the time.

***There is no outhouse. Unless they are assuming that people in Skyrim use Chamber pots***
what do you think those wooden buckets are for ? yes they thought of it.
by the way there is a 'room' in embershard mine that show clearly it's meant as a toilet

***The other oddity is having a smelter, a tanning rack, an anvil, and a smithing furnace in the cellar—along with an altar for worshiping the nine divines--something that is totally out of place***

they should have made additions to the basemant that relate to what wing you built.
perhaps put the smithy under the armory, with a special chimney

I find odd that only the main hall got a cellar

***Still, that's not how I roll as an Amazon-Nord Dovakiin, married to a beautiful redheaded, blue eyed Amazon Goddess***
I see, you're turning Skyrim into a lisbian fantasy movie, and expected the silk and satin decor,
full of roses, with caviar and champagne

is alduin invited to your wedding ?

anyway, doubt bethesda can plan ahead for everyone's private fantasy


***numerous beds. In the case of having one child, a Bard, a Steward and a Housecarl you would need five beds.***

build the bedroom in your main house, you can have up to ??? 5-7 beds, I don't remember if upstair got 2 or 3 bed

upstairs : 2 or 3 beds
entrance: 1 bed (optional if you keep small house design)
downstair: 1 coffin (vampire only)
bedrooms: 3 beds

One can say a lot about you and your above quote. But, I will let it go right there. Still, thanks for participating on the thread. Much appreciated.

Incidentally, when I mentioned the house resembling a Tudor Home I meant just that. After doing a small amount of research the Tudor Home stated with the Tudor Dynasty:

"…..Tudor revival was a time when architects "revived" the style of architecture that was popular during the Tudor period in England, hence the name Tudor revival. The period in England lasted from roughly the 16th to 17th century; however, it wasn't until the 1920s that the Tudor style became extremely popular in America……. 'In England you saw a revival of the Tudor that started in the 1830s,'"

Did you quote your initial post and then reply to it as if you were talking to someone else? Strange.

Leave the guy alone, he's just trying to make a point.

My bard never sleeps. Doesn't matter that I have beds to spare, she just refuses to sleep in any bed.

I wish we could replace stuff we didn't need. I'm not a vampire, but that prime piece of space between two corner shelves, facing the divines altar (What a strange place for a coffin) is empty, and it just looks like there's something horribly missing in there. Adding Alchemy and Enchanting and Kitchen wings should also let you replace the tables and fireplace with something more useful like a bookshelf or something.

The library is extremely underwhelming - there's no reason why it has to be a silly tower design. Those small shelves can't even fit one whole set of 2920 on a single shelf. Thankfully there's a nicer bookshelf in the old original bedroom, but I expected a library to be more spacious, and less claustrophobic. Nevertheless, as a book fanatic, and one who has already exhausted all shelf space in Vlindrel Hall, Breezehome and Honeyside (I don't like the other two houses at all), the library is a must. I only wish I could build it on the North Wing so I could have an Armoury or Kitchen as well. There's nothing on the North Wing options which appeal to me at all.

Well many avoided getting married before this, and despite the enticements for starting a family, why would building your own home and staying single and childless be any less fun than living in one you brought. Hearthfire is not just about starting a family.

It got your attention didn't it?

As long as you all are talking about the player homes I found something strange too. The one tower gives you the ability to add in a table with a candle and a chair. One that you trip over EVERY time, so I removed it with a prev. save. Now that said, the north tower gives you a trunk and a small table set way back and it's perfect for candle light.

The Trophy room I wouldn't have in my home on a bet. It would scare the daylights out of my wife and give my kids nightmares so bad I'd have to take them to a shrink. That is if Skyrim had doctors. Hadn't thought of that. What if I get cut? I'm looking into how to add a path to my home too, or at least a marker near the nearest road.

Having erected all three homes, married and adopted two children, I had to keep asking myself what is the point of Hearthfire. In my case, any one of these homes answers my character's need for adequate storage that no vanilla house provides. I didn't need to build a second and third mansion. One is enough.

My new home is good enough that I can dedicate a container for almost every genre of thing I need to keep (as I'm a major hoarder of stuff) and I never have to toss a load of mixed items into one container like for instance I did at Breezehome and less so at Hjerim. My current home is Hjerim because that's where all my stuff is but it will all be moved to Heljarchen.

But that's all I can say that is good about Hearthfire. It finally provides a liveable home and base of operations with all the smithing and crafting aids in one location. Still, Hearthfire fills a niche. I see it as something of a time filler while we wait, and while the devs work on "the big Skyrim expansion".

In my opinion, Hearthfire does absolutely nothing relevant to add to the Elder Scrolls concept of RP. Hearthfire was created for those of us, especially on consoles who can't mod, who want a better home than the vanilla villas. Indeed, Hearthfire for me is welcome in Skyrim but only as a rather good house mod and nothing more.

QUOTE: Hearthfire is not just about starting a family.

No, it's really about building a house. The adoption system, I think, was supposed to go in the vanilla game, based on some of the dialogue. But it didn't make it in, so they put it in with DLC.

I agree on the cooking spit in the main dining hall. A life sized statute and shrine to Talos or the divines would've been more fitting than where they were placed in the basemant.

As for the kids, I believe in sparing the rod and spoiling the child 1,000 septim allowance is nothing given the tens of thousands of septims my Nord has managed to hoard in his adventures and status as TG & DB master

which reminds me: wonder if it's possible to gift them specially crafted armor clothing for better protection? Like with the playable child clothing mods? Hmmm.