A bit of fun, and a cool feature, but a bit too limited to be put behind a price tag. It doesn't nearly reach the limit Oblivion did with it's smaller DLC, but Hearthfire doesn't add much in terms of new content, and the main selling points, that being the ability to build your own house, and adopt children are very underdeveloped.
Kids basically serve no purpose, they stay static, never aging, never growing, they have no emotion towards having a parent who is barely around, and in a series that has basically set it's goal as making every character feel real, and have the player feel as real as those characters, it's distracting how little personality each kid has, and how indistinct they are from each other. Ironically, the new adoption shares a lot of the same flaws as the base games' marriage system. Throw some child beggar a coin, and they'll instantly ask "Can you be my mother" every time you pass them for the rest of the game, and if you accept, they do nothing but show robotic love towards the player, and on occasion give you a gift.
However, it's mainly built on it's house building mechanic, and while it is fun to have a bit more choice in how you decorate your home, it basically is just a standard home, except now you need iron ingots, and stone to build that alchemy lab instead of shilling out 3000 gold or whatever. In retrospect, something along the lines of the Fallout 4/76 building system would be a strong fit, but I do have to say, I am a bit happy it's this way because it's certainly saved us from a generation of videos where people go to their "home" that in reality is just a "perfect" base with no roof or or walls, or anything, just a floor with every workbench in the game on it. I am shit talking you. You know who you are, and just know when I see it I judge you. I hate you, and your ugly base. Build a roof. Stupid.
Kids basically serve no purpose, they stay static, never aging, never growing, they have no emotion towards having a parent who is barely around, and in a series that has basically set it's goal as making every character feel real, and have the player feel as real as those characters, it's distracting how little personality each kid has, and how indistinct they are from each other. Ironically, the new adoption shares a lot of the same flaws as the base games' marriage system. Throw some child beggar a coin, and they'll instantly ask "Can you be my mother" every time you pass them for the rest of the game, and if you accept, they do nothing but show robotic love towards the player, and on occasion give you a gift.
However, it's mainly built on it's house building mechanic, and while it is fun to have a bit more choice in how you decorate your home, it basically is just a standard home, except now you need iron ingots, and stone to build that alchemy lab instead of shilling out 3000 gold or whatever. In retrospect, something along the lines of the Fallout 4/76 building system would be a strong fit, but I do have to say, I am a bit happy it's this way because it's certainly saved us from a generation of videos where people go to their "home" that in reality is just a "perfect" base with no roof or or walls, or anything, just a floor with every workbench in the game on it. I am shit talking you. You know who you are, and just know when I see it I judge you. I hate you, and your ugly base. Build a roof. Stupid.