Hello, just wanted to know what you guys thought of Hearthfire. I've been wanting to get it for a while but i've wanted the opinion of people who have played it. I only have one friend who has actually bothered to get it and he bluntly said "it's alright".
Id really appreciate it if you could give me your opinion on the add-on and why you think its good, main features etc. This would be a great help. I have seen the trailer and in my opinion it looks pretty cool but as i say i do want the opinion of someone who has already played Hearthfire.
Thank you very much, Jeazz (:

your friend is right "it's alright" but for the price it's worth it, but its still a bugger to place things(and keep them there) it will keep u occupied for awhile its abit repetitive tho

couldn't agree more

I also noticed the price is very low. It also reminded me of a Sims type thing but thanks for the help!

I've seen other people play it, and it looks seriously cool! I intend to get it as soon as it's offered!

i agree, i would say cool is what i'm thinking at the moment having only seen gameplay and the trailer. It seems cool to be able to make your own house and also adopt children and gain a wife.

Depends what you're looking for in an add-on.

It basically unlocks the option for you to build three large houses using a combination of 3 presets. The customization is not particularly deep or complicated, so I didn't feel any personal connection to anything I had built. To me, the gathering of materials and furnishings for the house was more of a chore than anything else, it was just mind-numbingly repetitive. Adopting children didn't really do anything for me; it's nothing more than having a couple more generic NPC's in your house. You could "gain a wife" prior to this DLC, this DLC simply allows you to move him/her into the new house. After installing the DLC my game also freezes and crashes significantly more than it did before, especially going into and out of one of these new houses in particular (The Lakeview house).

Not worth it in my opinion, 5 bucks isn't a lot but there are better thing to spend 5 bucks on. If you have 5 bucks to burn and are looking for everything and anything "Skyrim" and have already exhausted the main game, then you might find it worthwhile... just don't expect anything of substance. If you haven't maxed out the main game then don't bother with it - it is not as substantial or satisfying as any number of full-fledged side quests in the game itself. There isn't really any quest to speak of in this DLC, it's just a house generator.

Hearthfire feels like it should have been a part of another, more substantial expansion.

5 bucks isn't a lot though, given Microsofts horrible pricing structure with MSpoints, it's entirely possible you have 5 floating bucks in points that Microsoft is praying that you use the point overflow for something irredeemably stupid, like a new avatar hat. So there's worse things out there than Hearthfire for sure.

I feel like Hearthfire can only be justified if another substantial add-on (Or hopefully more) is in the works. So my recommendation is to actually hold off on it until then. It's cool, but if you're practically done with Skyrim content, it's really a waste.

It's probably worth pointing out, that Alchemists gain the biggest advantage with Hearthfire. The outdoor Garden and the Indoor greenhouse can produce INSANE quantities of any plant ingredient in the game.

There is. GStaff told us a while ago that while one small team was working on Hearthfire, another was working on something much bigger(in addition to the team trying to debug whatever is screwing up the PS3 Dawnguard)

"Working on" doesn't necessarily mean it'll be released though. I'm positive they're "Working on" the next Fallout, and even the next Elder Scrolls game, it doesn't actually mean those projects would see the light of day.

They're working on DLC content. Of course they'll release it
Bit of a skeptic, you are -__-

I'm naturally a skeptic, but actually not about future DLC for Skyrim. Still, there's always a chance some unforseen problem would prevent additional content from appearing. Just look what's happening to the PS3 right now, and also, an Asteroid could wipe out all land-based life forms on the planet tomorrow. It'd be hard to release a DLC then, too.

I'm not sure what Bethesda projects the "Life" of Dishonored will be, but I wouldn't expect to hear anymore non-patch related Skyrim news for at least three months after Dishonored ships. Perhaps longer to take advantage of the holiday release window as well.

That depends on whatever Skyrim releases. After all, Bethesda softworks and Bethesda game studios are two different groups

Is hearthfire worth getting? Well ask yourself this, if you have already bought and furnished other houses in skyrim that are included in the original game. do you then want to pay 400 ms points for another 3 houses that will be furnished not by you but by the game just like the houses that you got and paid for using skyrim cash not real money. Its up to you. do you want 3 non customisable houses and have to actually pay real money for them even though you already get fully furnished houses in the original game. I know I repeated that twice but its amazing to think that I fell for this hook, line and sinker.

I enjoyed it while I was building my house but I ended up more or less abandoning it and moving back to Breezehome in Whiterun because the location was so remote. That's the one near Falkreath, the other two are even more remote. Adopting the kids was fun at first but the novelty soon wore off. Having an armory with the mannaquins is the only thing I really like about it because Breezehome doesn't have any.

I don't regret purchasing it, I mean I don't feel ripped off or anything, but I won't be using it for another character. The next time I start Skyrim with a new character I'll remove Hearthfire. There's just not enough to keep me interested after I finished building, and loading times are quite a bit longer with it installed.

its extremely glitchy for Xbox, if you were going to get it for that system... I wouldn't recomend it

I wont have to buy it. I told my XBOX friends I wouldn't, and now they are going to buy it for me just so I can keep editing their save files. LOL, FREE DLC FOR ME!!

$5 for 3 new houses, great ways to use up some extra cash, make your "home sweet home", deck it out with all of your loot and look like a boss, and adopt kids and give them weapons to defend themselves with? Yeah, it was worth it.

Yes. Very yes. So much yes. All of the yes. I couldn't have described it better myself. It's a shame that pc modders can and have created far more expansive housing, children and customization mods than this, and yet the first-party seems unwilling or unable to comd close to the same calibre.

QUOTE: It's probably worth pointing out, that Alchemists gain the biggest advantage with Hearthfire. The outdoor Garden and the Indoor greenhouse can produce INSANE quantities of any plant ingredient in the game.

Another reason why I want this DLC so badly.

QUOTE: "Working on" doesn't necessarily mean it'll be released though. I'm positive they're "Working on" the next Fallout, and even the next Elder Scrolls game, it doesn't actually mean those projects would see the light of day.


Given the huge success of Fallout 3, F:NV, and Skyrim, it's a safe bet that sequels will come.

QUOTE: . Its up to you. do you want 3 non customisable houses and have to actually pay real money for them even though you already get fully furnished houses in the original game.

Do I want the ability to build and furnish houses, create an estate, adopt kids, and defend my homestead? Four words: you bet your assets!

Uh oh. Someone asked me for my opinion! Such a dangerous thing to do.

I don't really like ratings, but some people seem to identify with them, so I'm going to grade the add-on as a B-. However, let's hope you continue reading to see why this grade was given.

Right off the bat, I loved Hearthfire because it allowed me a house near Riverwood, a location I've loved in the game since playing it. However, as time marched on, it soon became apparent the "be careful what you wish for..." curse set in, because the location started to become more of a problem than a benefit.

For playability, there's only one useful house in the entire game, and that's Heljarchen Hall, which sits right behind Whiterun. When it comes to the necessity of storing items to sell later, there simply is no better location. Lakeview Manor does get better once the investment perk is opened and the Riverwood Trader gets the 10k gold, but until this, HH should be the first house most people build if they're still playing the game and want something useful. It's not unusual most players will eventually build all three, so there's no rush for the other two.

The other surprise the DLC threw at us was the sheer number of iron ingots the house demanded in exchange for the nails, fittings, and hinges required for construction. My goodness, my paws are barren of fur with all the mining I've been doing in order to shave costs. People who want an immediate house will be paying top dollar to get it. Paying for sawn logs, rather than doing it themselves, runs 200g for 20 logs. Iron ingot and ore, as well as corundum, a few others for the tables, glass, straw, and goat horns gets expensive quickly. 5000g? LOL. That'll be the least expense paid once it's all said and done.

The layout of the house is canned, meaning we only get 1 of 3 options per 3 sides of the house, which was extremely disappointing, especially when it's discovered those options are not interchangeable. For example, you can't have a kitchen in your house if you've chosen the trophy room, because the kitchen can only be added to the east side of the house. Not sure why this was done this way, but it was disappointing.

The cellar addition was a surprise, but quickly turned into a chore as it's a zone. Anytime one enters or leaves the cellar, it's a load screen. And speaking of load screens, HF increases them any time one enters the "Skyrim" zone, regardless where you are in the game. My exits out of the cities take a few more seconds than they used to, and exiting the house makes it really noticeable as well.

Hearthfire is a nice DLC, and for the price, it's also reasonable. It offers a small "defend your house" game mechanic, though I've not seen this much (2 bandit attacks and a giant attack, and that's with all 3 houses built). I'm guessing the completion of the Horn's return in the MQ is required if one wants dragon attacks.

You're friend is correct when he said it was "alright". If you really want to enjoy HF, I would recommend you really take the time to build your house, rather than do what I did and rush to build it just to see it. Once I did this, the luster quickly dulled. It didn't take long for me to buy Breezehome anyway and store my gear there because the locations of the houses weren't making playability worthwhile.

Windstad Manor is, in my opinion, the worse house in the game. I mean, it really shows why there's an abandoned shack next door.

if you are really big skyrim fan, or really into house building then yes but otherwise hf in nothing special

If you like smithing, you can have your own smithing operation in the cellar, with plenty of space to display ore, and even ingots if you want to do without some barrels and a chest. You collect armour, clothes, or weapons an armoury has plenty of space to display your favourites, for cooks there is the oven and a lot of new recipes, and some new ingredients. For alchemists you can hatch your own fish, and grow most alchemy supplies in the garden, in the greenhouse you can not only grow them but get a few bugs and the occasional egg, and you can collect roe from certain salmon in the wilds. Those who want to RPG more can adopt children and have a family to look after and protect. Compulsive house decorators get three new houses, although the items in the houses respawning make a built home less appealing than a brought one, but there is still plenty of potential, just decorate around the junk. Compulsive horders have more than enough space to spread their collections out how ever they want to.

Building a house is nice, but unless you are actually going to use it for something, the novelty will wear off pretty quick. My two main characters have large collections and I like house decorating.

Be the Donald Trump of Skyrim. More property to buy.

It's ok, glad it was $5. Anything more, I think I would have been ripped off. $5 really can't go wrong, so I don't feel disapointed for it. You get what you pay for. If it was more, then I woiuld have been disapointed. You may love it, you may hate it.

For the $5 bucks, you really can't go wrong. Well, some people had big freezes and slow downs with it added, so there is the buyer be ware part.

If you want my true honest opinion... I would say No, wait to see IF they patch the DLC, giving it some item removers or remodeling option. I think if they don't fix the DLC, or give it some new features for item placement or something - that they shouldn't have put much effort into making it..

HINT 1: NEVER EVER tell the steward to furnish a room, because if you EVER do that and you try to add onto the room manually, it'll take afew ingame days for everything to pop up but once it does you're room will be forever cluttered with furniture and items all over the room making it hard to navigate and if you only want certain things in your rooms.. Just NEVER auto furnish them. You will literally [nail] yourself.