What you said is true Alaric. However, it doesn't mean we should srop criticizing Bethesda when we feel we've been wronged. Just because another company is worse doesn't mean we should excuse another. In fact, criticism may help keep bethesds from going down the wrong road.

It's not 400pts... it's just 5 bucks.

Yes, that is an equal price... but stop using "400 pts" to make your value sound larger than it really is.

I own TES III IV and V on Xbox and PC even tho I prefer to play my Xbox versions I still buy all the dlc on both. I personally really liked Hearthfire it added new rp elements to the game with the new house locations and family system and for only five bucks I don't see an issue yet every time you turn around people seem to be complaining about how it wasn't what they expected or they didn't like how the houses were built yet if they had spent five seconds looking online or watching the video on the Xbox marketplace they would have seen how it works and should have no reason to complain about it.

I had trouble reading all the way through this thread -- pulled the plug somewhere about midway on page 2. What I'm really confused about is why people are upset and surprised by a product *after* having purchased it when just a little effort toward research would have given them a clear picture of said product upfront. Where's the disconnect? Are people saying "ohhhh -my- god, DLC!!!" and frantically clicking the purchase button before asking questons they have about it? I mean, yeah, it's only 5 bucks, but.. it's called being a responsible consumer. If you don't think a product is worth buying, don't buy it. But those who buy a product and then complain about it despite the fact that the product functions precisely as advertised are either [censored] or stupid. Or both.

So do you think I should have watched the official hearthfire trailer and paused it at certain parts in the vid to get a better understanding of the dlc to see what you can build and furnish the house with. And then maybe watch another vid on youtube where a couple of guys do a hearthfire anolysis of the trailer and state that the dlc will probably be modular you can't just build walls and rooms where you want. So so far so good cause that's what I'm thinking as well. But they then say for only 400 ms points we don't think there will be any quests related to the dlc but you will probably be able to design the layout inside your house like furnishings. Yeah that's what I'm thinking as well for only 400 ms points. So I buy the dlc on the morning of its release knowing pretty much about all the crafting that I will need to do to construct my house. I then go to furnish the inside of my house and notice that there is no option to design your own furniture layout at all. now if I had an option of maybe the dinning table in the main hall to be of two different shapes and maybe standing horizontal or vertical to the fireplace I'd at least feel like I had design a little bit of skyrim all by myself. But no its a case of your bed goes here. Your table will go here and so on. They even add in extra things that you don't want like barrels and sacks when you didn't even select to build any of them. No they come free with ever cupboard or chest you build for some strange reason. Yeah how silly of me to think I could actually have some control over my own house where the dlc is only about a house or houses even though I already have similar furnished houses scattered around on the normal skyrim game.and all look like the hearthfire houses except for a plant pots and life statues of creatures and animals.

If 400 MS-Points are such a big deal for you, yes.

Yeah well that's exactly what I did seeing as you don't get sarcasm. And 400 points if not a big deal that's why I bought it. But some form of customisation would have been nice.

An custom buildable house as in sims3 is pretty imposible in Skyrim, Build anywhere is technical possible, had a tent who work this way in Oblivion, however placing an huge house anywhere would be problematic. Yes they could add more locations but wanted somewhere fitting with an fitting ground outside.
Selectable templates for rooms was as expected but would want more combinations, as both greenhouse and bedroom.

Moveable furniture as in the Imperial furniture mod in Oblivion had been an good idea, at least for smaller furniture. I have made mods like this myself and it works great.
Should not be much harder to make than the enable/ disable function they have now and kind of disappointing but not an shock.

Any customization higher than what was featured in this DLC would require the need for a virtual simulation game a.k.a. The Sims 3. If being a customization control freak is what you're crave, then I would highly recommend this gaming genre. Because it's the only successful existing virtual life simulator to date on the gaming market.

The Sims 3 allows you to buildand design entire worlds, buildings/homes, pets/wildlife fauna & flora which inhabit them. You can even create the people (Sims) which inhabit your custom designed world. From their physical looks, personality traits, and right down to the freckles on their nose.

And if your inner hardcoe, Giant toe eating Dovahkiin isn't opposed to letting you play a virtual doll's house in the closet, then you could even play the game in a dynastic sort of legacy game play.

Which ironically, is EXACTLY what the Hearthfire dlc attempts to imitate. In fact, the main virtual simulation feature Hearthfire lacks is a story progression. But your Dovahkiin family and other NPCs in Skyrim never age and die. So your children will never grow up to take your Dovahkiin's place in a legacy.

But design limitations in CK & the game's architectural design don't make this variety possible. So at best, the degree of customization which you desire is only possible at the most superficial and rudimentary level. This is what people just don't seem to understand--or appreciate.

Unfortunately, it appears you belong to a niche of TES gamers who--like me--crave more customization in the game. I would suspect an even smaller subset of TES gamers--again including myself--would desire to see more legacy (aka Sims based) game play. Features such as building a home and family from scratch. Being able to customize every single item in your household--down to the color/pattern/textures. The ability to place these items wherever you want within your home. And most importantly, the ability to have children be born to your spouse in game.

The whole point of these domestic bliss features, is that your children can take your place in the event you die in one of your many dungeon crawling and dragon fighting adventures. IMO, that would add a whole new dimension to the open sandbox aspect of the game. Or even as an alternative to the MQ for those who DON'T care to do the MQ.

But that's never going to happen, because TES isn't The Sims 3. More specifically, the devs have a clear strategy for how the events in TES VI will unfold and other sequels of TES until this franchise comes to an end.

And even more unfortunately, the virtual life simulation gaming niche is already owned by a toxic company called the EABorg....

I truly can't believe you don't like this addon. So what if your homes look alike? It's a place to store your stuff that's safe. That's coming from a Nord, and maybe if I were a different race I'd understand but for 5 bucks????
My only gripe is the location of the homes. Way up north near the water is not where I'd want to build. Next to a shipwreck full of bandits, and down the lane from another group of bandits.
I figured you couldn't design your own home because of the way the game swaps out the parts. If you want true design, then get the CK, and play on a PC. Even that doesn't give you true, true, design as all of the pieces fit together.
I eat more at McDonalds that it cost me to play Hearthfire, and it's around a lot longer.

I can't say I was expecting much diversity between Hearthfire houses interiors, except from what was already evident. Still, not a bad job. Lots of containers to fill there & cool places to build on.

Location is why I like Heljarchen Hall best. I do wish the locations could have been a bit different, but HH is close enough to Whiterun that I can run there whenever I need to, then off to Riverwood with a stop at the river to snag some salmon roe, then on to Lakeview if needed. I like the view from HH, and since I did a preemptive strike on the closest giant camp, it hasn't re-spawned and I've only had a giant at the homestead a couple of times. Got him before he got my chickens! lol I have cleaned out the other giant camp a couple of times, it does re-spawn.

I'll say it again, I am having great fun with Hearthfire, and for a 5 spot, I have no real complaints. What's next for Skyrim Bethesda?

There... fix'd that for ya.

Start a wooden-sword-only play-style. You won't regret it! In all seriousness though, it's not that expensive. I don't imagine it too them too long to make it, as it seems more like a little filler for the long wait.

HF has been advertised as a DLC that allows players to build their own house and adopt kids. Instead, we got a DLC that allows us to build our own house and adopt kids. Oh. Wait.

Now seriously, what else did you expect? Anyone with enough common sense knew since the beginning that hand-placing furniture wasn't an available feature.

Five dollars isn't a huge loss if you enjoy the game as it is without Hearthfire. At least we paid the value that its worth?

I think that most of the anti-HF backlash lies not in its limitations (pre-fab rooms, limited combinations, etc), but in what it never had: new quests, enemies, weapons... it wasn't a 2nd Dawnguard.

Yes, from observation and anecdotes, I know HF could have been better. No game is perfect. But I think it deepens the RP experience, and because of this, I hope to get it soon.

That reminds me: Did the mod author get credited or mentioned by Bethesda?
I never installed the mod, but from what I have seen HF's house building is an exact copy of that mod.

btw. I'm quite content with Hearthfire. Not much content but it was at least a nice change of pace.

For Elder Scrolls 6 I want them to be more like Minecraft.

It's not a copy. They had this house building feature (and the adoption feature) as part of their Game Jam video almost a year ago so it's something they've had sitting around for a while.

And remember several characters' vanilla game dialogue:
CONSTANCE: "The children aren't up for adoption right now..." (implies that they might have been at some point)
RUNA: "...Adopt me. Pleeease?" (implies that it was supposed to be possible)
I think that the adoption system was probably supposed to be in the Vanilla game, but didn't make it, possibly because of the 11-11-11 issue everyone keeps mentioning.