Also, Unrelenting Force works on butterflies, I haven't tried it on bees but I bet it would too.

No, but Hearthfire is, in my opinion.

I was very impressed the game even allows for adopted kids to reside in the houses already in the cities.

At least this adds more RPG elements into Skyrim. Not everything has to be combat oriented. You wouldn't believe how many kiddies are complaining that this dlc is not about killing more dragons or monsters... It seems they can't get their head around the fact that Skyrim was intended to be an RPG, not a free-roaming FPS...

I often play Skyrim with my four and a half year old son on my lap (judge me, if you will).
He likes to take the controls while I'm walking from place to place, always relinquishing them when an enemy shows up. He likes pressing the "z" button to activate shouts, which he knows by name (the dragon tongue words as well as the in game names). He knows the different types of draugr as well as which weapons his daddy prefers.

When I told him that my character was going to build a house, he got very excited.
With each piece we added, he had me turn around so he could see the progress, We had to walk around the house several times so he could see the whole thing. Once the door was on, we had to go inside and he asked where the furniture was.
I explained that I hadn't built any yet and he said, "Well start building some!"
The first thing I built inside was a shelf on which to put all the troll skulls that he insists I pick up. Then I built a fire pit, so we could cook the "tasty, crunchy mudcrab legs."

I ran out of iron, so I couldn't make anymore nails and went back outside after explaining to him that I couldn't build anything else.
Looking out over the beautiful vista, I asked him what we should do next.
"Why don't you swim in the lake?" he asked.
So we did.

I've already got my money's worth.

3 1/2 hours of entertainment for $5 is cheap. Very cheap, nowadays. I'd say the value is more than the price.

That's super cute and very heartwarming

Be careful that your son doesn't see any of the more intense scenes in the game. He might have bad dreams.

Oh - the most important thing about raising kids is spending time with them. The fact that you spend your 'downtime'/free time with him is AWESOME.

When Hearthfire was announced I was really disappointed because it wasn't what I was looking for. I was thinking "I don't want to play house. I want more adventures". I decided to give it a try and I started a new character. I'm glad I gave it a try because I'm really enjoying this DLC. I haven't experienced any bugs either, I might just be lucky or the unofficial Hearthfire patch is really good. This has been worth every penny for me.

As it cost me Lydia, Breezehome, and all my gear...I uninstalled it.

Does it make your overall character feel more satisfied.
The answer is yes for me.

Aww

This is awesome, thanks for sharing. One day your kid will play TES XII with his own son and have so many good memories

I hope that one day I can do this with my kid.

I would have paid 15.00 USD easy.
I feel it enhances the whole game.

I've had one bad turn so far - the Mrs (Aela) is chewing me out for putting her and the kids in Lakeview. Think I may need to remodel Breezehome and move them all there. Jeez what a shrew.......

OK, I moved Aela and the kids to Breezehome. Now she's complaining it's too small.............. *facepalm*

Just moved them to Solitude, and had to fork out another $3k to get the place fixed up for the kids............

I shoulda stayed single.



OH - and I just passed 20 hours. I continue to be amazed. Thanks, Bethesda

From the pvssyr I've seen, many players seem to have married Aela because "she's hot", like a trophy wife. So they got... a trophy wife?

(I sure hope the line dub wasn't intentional though, if they had been thinking they would have given that VA a strong "wilderness, bring it on" type line.)

Luvin' this DLC, but it made me go crazy and kill goats, just because all the vendors were out and I needed one damn goat horn for a sconce!

QUOTE: I often play Skyrim with my four and a half year old son on my lap (judge me, if you will).
He likes to take the controls while I'm walking from place to place, always relinquishing them when an enemy shows up. He likes pressing the "z" button to activate shouts, which he knows by name (the dragon tongue words as well as the in game names). He knows the different types of draugr as well as which weapons his daddy prefers.

When I told him that my character was going to build a house, he got very excited.
With each piece we added, he had me turn around so he could see the progress, We had to walk around the house several times so he could see the whole thing. Once the door was on, we had to go inside and he asked where the furniture was.
I explained that I hadn't built any yet and he said, "Well start building some!"
The first thing I built inside was a shelf on which to put all the troll skulls that he insists I pick up. Then I built a fire pit, so we could cook the "tasty, crunchy mudcrab legs."

I ran out of iron, so I couldn't make anymore nails and went back outside after explaining to him that I couldn't build anything else.
Looking out over the beautiful vista, I asked him what we should do next.
"Why don't you swim in the lake?" he asked.
So we did.

I've already got my money's worth.


Awesome story. I'm single and childless, which is probably a good thing since they now think autism runs in the family. I play games like this because they allow me to experience things I otherwise won't get to. So yes, I happily marry off my characters, and when I get HF, they'll build houses and have families. So yes, HF will be worth the fin for me, in spades.

***Also - does anyone know if one can build houses in the other locations as well, or is the character stuck with having only one homestead?***

you can build all 3 houses, but you got only one wife, so try what you want to do with the 3 houses, keeping that in mind

for me

1st house = lakeview = core house (armory/bedrooms/storage)
(this create a large connected patio arround the hose, and familly is scripted to go play there and interact with those objects)
(and kitchen is best reserved for heljarchen, because it got a mill)

2nd house = heljarchen = giant alchemist lab and bakery empire = alchemist tower + greenhouse + kitchen

3rd house = winstad = giant enchenting lav for small things that fit into pockets = enchanting tower + library + trophy room

vyndrell hall will be turned into a dwemer museum, I'll put calcemo out f business


I was thinking of passing it up as well, at least until they release a major expansion
But the recent sale last week brought dawnguard and hearth fires down to 20$

With Skyrim being underpriced at 60$, this brought the total to 80$, same price I paid for Diablo II 10 years ago

I did some serious 'research' on youtube videos comparing hearthfires and a mod
After seing videos showcasing the interiors, I decided to give it a try

I knew already the enchinter/alchemist towers were going to be disapointing in size
(but well organized to sort ingredients, especialy the alchemy tower)
but the armory seemed well done, and it seemed larger than previous houses

as for dawnguard, it was on sale, but lets not get off topic

there was a few issue, like figuring out you should always disable all workbenches
and only enable one at a time when needing to build more stuff
(otherwise ... crash !!!)

My first house was aimed to be multipurpose, family friendly, and confortable
I went for bedrooms + storage + armory
since there are already an alchemy zone downstair,
and an enchanting zone upstairs

this little gem beat the hell out of Vyndrel Manor, except for bookcases
I do wish bethesda had added a few manikins and bookcases
everywhere arround the house as extras (and for decorative value)
I mean a suit of elven armor looks great anywhere

after a over 2 days of playtime, with a new character,
I found it changed my playstyle a lot
I tend to stay in the area during the building process
and have only visited falkreath, whiterun, riften, irvastead and shor stone so far

I think this single fact adds a lot to immersion
I'm no longer a questionable dungeon raiders killing defenseless falmers,
I'm a thane defending falkreath !!!

I plan to setup my 2 other houses as specialized laboratory
alchemy lab in hlerjarchen (alchemist tower/greenhouse/kitchen)
enchanter lab in windstad (library, enchanter tower, trophy room)
I'll be keeping the small house layout in both cases
so my stewart and housecarl get their own bed
but also because I hate the default upstair bedroom

so, this added functionality, a hugue house +armory, with separates specialized labs in the other house,
improves the gameplay a lot.

I do wish that the original houses had been better done
but I guess they spent some time doing it right for hearthfires

not perfect for sure, but they are close to what peoples want

***For DG, I spent 40 hours, again with lots of fast travel. That was $20, which equates to $0.50/hour. Not as good as vanilla Skyrim, but it seems to me it's still a fantastic deal. Also, DG blew my socks off with its fantastic landscapes and awesome quests.
***

I don't evaluate entertainment with hourly costs
in my youth, entertainment was free, no reason to change that
I do expect to pay when going to a theatre or a show,
because building a physical stage is expensive

but a video game should be like a boardgame, you should be able to play it endlessly

as I said, for me the cost is ''fair'' because skyrim was underpriced
(compared to similar titles) not because it was fair in itself
I would have prefered for it to be already in the game right away

I noticed there seem to be more or better random events, not sure if the two dlcs played a role in that. could be.

Also physics seemed improved, I can place all sorts of stuff on shelves now

Well since Hearthfire breaks alot of mods and bugs out the game alot because of sloppy dirty edits I dont think Im going to be overestimating hearthfire until I get a patch for it.

OK, I'm officially insane.
I haven't finished equipping all three of my new McMantion's yet - currently trying to build out all the altar shrines. Having trouble finding the necessary amulets, both in quantity and just finding them.
That means I have spent TWENTY SEVEN HOURS on HF and am not yet done.

:-)
I lurv you, Bethesda. I want to have your luv child.
;-)

(Seriously - this is a really cool DLC, guys, thank you)

I didn't even find out about it until it'd been out for almost a month I think, and had the same reservations as you. what totally sold me was reading that I could build a house (I actually thought the little blurb said that you could add on wings to Breezehome etc just like the homesteads too, which made me very sad to find out was bad reading comprehension on my part) with a Blacksmith's forge etc...hallelujah! I can't tell you how angry I've been every time I've had to schlepp x amount of ____ ingots and whatever else down the street. Aarrghghghghgh!


I feel like it adds new add on like content by making those quests for Dawnstar etc actually matter, and I personally get a kick out of the evil, unintentionally funny things in the game...though some of the bugs drive me slightly insane, too.