Bethesda Softworks

The house design, despite lacking customization options for decor, is great--massive, lots of room, choice of room additions. I just couldn't break the role-playing barrier or having to construct everything through a the game's clumsy interface--no friend to the house design scenario--and the wild requirements for building the houses.

This may be a worthwhile and good expansion for players who can take the role-playing of house construction--every little detail and requirement--seriously. I show more just couldn't.

I was done by the end of my first house, and made headway into my second before seeing a series of bugs leftover from the vanilla game (played 2011) would eventually prevent me from acquiring the third plot of land. Boo.

After a few hours, I hit that wall and realized I had my fill of Hearthfire. The point of it is only there for a small niche of devoted players who are still enraptured with the world--not players like me revisiting the expansions years later. show less

This review and others posted over at my blog.

This is a little collection of stories, poems, and histories about the races, creatures, factions, and wars of Skyrim. I think (though I could be wrong) that these are the actual books which can be found throughout the game. If that’s the case, it’s much easier to read them in printed format than in-game.

Like any collection of shorts/lore, some stories were more interesting than others. Some of my favorites were:

Palla – a horror-esque tale show more about being careful what you wish for

Confessions of a Khajiit Fur Trader – much darker than I expected, very cool

The Wraith’s Wedding Dowry – this was a fun dungeon-run type story

I also enjoyed the shorts about the Nightingales and the terrible origins of the Night Mother.

My favorite art was of the wispmothers (so pretty!) and the hagravens (so badass and creepy!)

If you’re a fan of books that add to the lore and world building of video games, and you love Skryim, then I think you’ll enjoy this book. I do want to get the whole set, not only to satisfy my inner completionist, but because they’re nicely put together. show less

I've been a bit nostalgic lately about the Elder Scrolls games. I meant to replay Skyrim again but after logging onto Steam to download some of my old mods, I ended up buying Borderlands 2 in their summer sale and playing that instead (damn you, Steam!). Nevertheless, it meant I had been thinking about how great those games were – not just Skyrim but also Oblivion and Morrowind (especially Morrowind). I loved the richness of the worlds (exceptionally rendered both graphically and show more sonically), the freedom to explore all their nooks and crannies, and the ability to build a character within them.

In reading Tales of Tamriel, Book I: The Land, a lorebook comprising a number of in-game books from The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG (which I found a middling experience when I actually played it last year, but one which I now look back on fondly), I am reminded of how little these lorebooks chime with what I enjoy about the games. I've read previous TES lorebooks, like The Improved Emperor's Guide to Tamriel (included with the Imperial edition of the Online game) and the Pocket Guide to the Empire (included with the special edition of Oblivion), and none have really interested me. This is my rather long-winded way of saying that, absent the freedom to roam Tamriel, shout at dragons and steal sweetrolls, the Elder Scrolls universe is not all that compelling. Its expanded lore and world-building lacks a lot of the originality, meticulousness and flair found in the great fantasy worlds created by the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien or George R. R. Martin.

As a game – an interactive experience – the Elder Scrolls series is peerless, and Greg Keyes' two novels set in the universe are really great for fans. But then, they are adventures, stories in which stuff happens, not fantasy almanacs. But reading Tamriel's half-hearted attempt at The Silmarillion? I'm not convinced. I'll read the rest in this series, but moreso out of a compulsive, geeky sense of completion than out of joyful anticipation. This Tales of Tamriel book is agreeable enough for what it is, and well-presented if all you're looking for is a coffee-table book, but Tamriel is only really fun to explore when you're a Level 41 Dunmer nightblade cutting down n'wahs, not when you're in the real world. show less

One of the least compelling of the official Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim lorebooks, this third volume of 'The Skyrim Library' deals with magic and mythology. That sounds promising, but the mechanics of magicka in the Elder Scrolls universe has always been rather sketchy, and the religious/mythic stuff is either too broad to be interesting or too detailed that it seems silly (like a lot of lesser worldbuilding, some of the names seem like they were made up on the spot). The Daedra are cool, and show more they are one of the jewels of Tamriel worldbuilding, but in this volume there are few of the stories that made other Elder Scrolls lorebooks passably entertaining. show less