Anyone else love these isolated places? I personally do cause it is kinda like Blackreach all over again.

I love them. And the forgotten vale is honestly so big and mountainous, that I find something new every time I go. Plus, as a necromancer, the soul cairn is a haven for me. I get free soul gems, and I can harvest soul fissures to get free souls. Then I can summon undead from the place with the new conjuration spells. I love them both!

Yes. I remember the 3 new summon undead spells... I actually been wanting some sort of "Summon Skeleton Archer" since Oblivion.

I know! I am not the only one! Skyrim really dumbed down the mages... Oblivion had hundreds of spells! And you could MAKE YOUR OWN!!!! Skyrim has, what? 100 playable spells? That's it. As a necromancer/conjurer, I like oblivion more in terms of spells, but I am very happy to finally be able to summon undead, not just revive them. Don't get me wrong, reviving them is great, but not when you run out of bodies....

Thanks for the new spells, Bethesda!

I realllly didn't like the Soul Cairn (although I did everything there), but I'm loving The Forgotten Vale (just got there and explored a lot).

I dont like the soul cairn in a good way though, the place is unpleaseant but in the way that its supposed to be so to speak if you guys know what I mean.

Yes, I know what you mean. You can tell they made it "dull" on purpose, due to it's not supose to be an amazing place for trapped souls to have a vacation in lol. So, I guess the devs got what they went for

I still think the Soul Cairn came out great and is a very interesting place to explore... Only thing I hate is when lightning strikes right in your face... Scares the living crap outta me first time that happened..

Oh.. Quick question, anyone else found Soul Cairn's Undead Enemies trying to kill one of those soul-thingy-ma-bobs that is flying around and unkillable?

Not a fan of Soul Cairn - it's just not as dynamic as Blackreach or Forgotten Vale. Plus, you'd expect more souls to be there.

Forgotten Vale, on the other hand, is pretty darn cool.

Yeah, I found it rather amusing, though also a bit morbid. Tormenting those poor souls even in death.

I found it amusing cause they will never succeed in killing it.. It like when the Companions were trying to kill this little girl while I was messing around as a werewolf in Whiterun...

I personally found the soul cairn to be a a very disturbing and scary place.

And is it possible to reenter? And will i be weak if i do so? Because i chose to soul trap me instead of turning into a vampire. And can Black Soul gems be found in the cairn?

You can reenter and you can also get your soul back.

You can turn the larger soul gems (e.g., greater) into black soul gems with the lightning rods. You can also get black soul gems from defeating the reaper.

Ok, because i don't think i picked up my soul after returning from the cairn, will my character be a weakling when reentering the area?

Ohh, good thing about those Black Soul gems, i need some badly.

Nope!

Good, Now i'll explore the are thoroughly i think, and there's a few weeks ingame time since i was there, will the keepers respawn?

I liked both areas but felt they were too empty...especially forgotten vale. There was just nothing much to do in either. I was pissed that I couldn't even summon my horse in the Vale. Sadly, I won't be going back to either.

I liked both, although the dreary sameness of the Soul Cairn made it a challenge to explore everything, I kept getting lost. At least there is a fair bit of variation in the Forgotten Vale, although still I have a lousy sense of direction.

At the moment some devious game designer has me chasing bird nests in the Forgotten Vale section after Glacial Crevice, not that I need eggs, but it is the principle, I want to know how many there are and raid them all. My character just died by falling when I used the wrong shout, and I had not saved for a while, so back to the vale we go.

There are plenty to do in both, just gotta look for them since these stuff are more 'hidden' than right-in-your-face.

If anyone wants to do the egg hunt, it does sort of lead to a rich reward, for at least 10 eggs, starting with a double nest I scored -

A gold ore vein (which gave an extra gem)
Skeleton with a claimable skull
Pickaxe in case you forgot yours
2 extra gold ore nuggets
Honed Falmer Sword
1 Powdered Mammoth Tusk
Gold Ruby Necklace
2 Flawless Diamonds
1 Diamond

You pick up the tenth egg on the way down, it is a bit tricky. Pretty sure it was a 10 egg hunt, I had to run home part way through and drop all my stuff off.
The nests are in the Forgotten Vale section after you exit Glacial Crevice at the top part, all seem to be between the hut and the fancy bridge. You will have to do some climbing, and I used Whirlwind Sprint. There is actually a cross marked on the map in about the middle, possibly signifying an Easter egg hunt.

Here are some pics, sorry for the quality I can only take them with a digital camera.
The reward on the ninth
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/aussie500/Skyrim/EasterEgghuntreward.jpg

The map for those that are having trouble finding it.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/aussie500/Skyrim/EasterEgghuntmap.jpg

Edit
But wait, that devious person with the eggs did not stop at 10 after all, as you go over the bridge up high, look to the left and die. Anyone works out an easy way to get that one let me know. I am giving up on eggs for the night. If these silly Vampire Lord wings really worked it would not be such a problem. Obviously I make a lousy vampire.