» Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:57 pm But it could have been so much more!
For one, what if I didn't want to make my house out of stone? What if I wanted a log cabin? Or a house made of adobe?
Better yet, what if my character was homesick, and desired building his new home like his old one?
I'd have like to be able to create a Cheydinal-style house, or grow a Telvanni Tower (the tower is a bit of a stretch given Skyrim's climate, but the point remains the same, there should have been more choices of architecture).
And then, when it came to furnishing my new abode, I found that my choices consisted largely of whether or not I wanted to include a certain item. Maybe, just maybe, a player wants to place mannequins in every room, instead of wardrobes. Maybe he wants to choose between several models of dining tables.
And there weren't enough of the little things. When I'm forging new fittings for a chest, why couldn't I, a wealthy adventurer, make them out of ebony instead? Surely, it wouldn't be so hard for an experienced development team to switch out the grey metallic bits of a chest with black. And when making a chandelier or placing sconces, horker tusks could probably also be hallowed out to hold candles, so it's disappointing that I can't use those.
And then there are the things which are so obviously missing. There are no purchasable statues (apart from Dibella statues, but more on that later), no paintings, no options to get your character's portrait done, and little art beyond some shockingly well stuffed beasts that you might place in your trophy room.
Hearthfire is also missing character specific options. In my basemant, I can create a shrine to any of the Nine Divines. But not to any Daedra or Sithis. Mage characters get an enchanter's laboratory, but no power nodes like in the College of Winterhold. Crafty characters don't get a secret escape hatch. Warriors don't have a dedicated training room, or a space to spar and brawl.
Most disappointing, however, is the mechanics of it all. You would think that Hearthfire would introduce a new system of storing and displaying equipment, immune to the engine's limitations. But none of the display cases can be used to fix items in place. The weapon racks are all the same. Bookshelves still leave small books to flop around, and there is no other version of them for alchemical ingredients, curios, and trophies. Item placement is the same pain as it always was. I am sometimes afraid to enter my Falkreath abode, because there is always a chance that the physics engine has moved everything six inches to the left, or flung it about the room, leaving me to search for the pieces. Trying to place a statue of Dibella on a table is a fool's game, an exercise in futility, as it keeps flopping around in the air, insisting on going bottoms up. Once you do place it flat on a surface, good luck orienting it the right way!
And, if you're lucky and you succeed at what you've set out to do, and the physics don't bite you in the butt, you'll still have to be careful not to run in your player's home, because then you'll be left to pick up the pieces, starting the process all over again.
When DLC comes out, it can be in sync with the original game. Not so with Hearthfire. Sure, I can get a coffin to sleep in thanks to Dawnguard, but I can't get a steward for Severin Manor, I can't plant scathecraw in my garden, nor any of the DLC plants (and don't say they won't grow in whatever particular climate; plants from all over Skyrim can be grown in any garden, going from snow and mountain to soft earth without any trouble).
Yes, Hearthfire lacks vision. Hearthfire is the DLC for vanity and for roleplaying. Players who just want a place to dump the junk they aren't currently using don't purchase Hearthfire. But if it's for those of us who like immersion and roleplaying, then where is the immersion and roleplaying?
