”Some day, Locke Lamora,” he said, “some day, you’re going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I’m still around to see it.” “Oh please,” said Locke. “It’ll never happen.”
I am a huge reader. I read at least 2-3 books every month, and I always finish them, even the ones I don’t particularly enjoy. Fantasy is my favourite go-to genre, and with so many people throwing praise at The Lies of Locke Lamora, I was really excited to lose myself in this unique, sprawling world.
The Lies of Locke Lamora follows the story of a small orphan boy who is being trained by Father Chains to be a gentleman thief, or Gentleman Bastard. The story switches frequently between past and present, and the book is currently the first of three in the Gentleman Bastard series.
I won’t say too much about the plot, not only because of spoilers, but because I don’t feel qualified to speak about the plot in too much detail as I sadly did not finish this book.
Before I begin, I realise that my opinions are highly unpopular. Many people love this book, so I would never say that I don’t recommend it, in fact a quick glance on goodreads will show you just how popular this book is. This post is just my own personal opinions and experience with The Lies of Locke Lamora, and by no means represents the opinions of the masses. The beauty of books is that they are so diverse because we are so diverse. Nobody can be right or wrong for what they enjoy reading, it’s all down to personal taste, and this is mine.
Struggling through this book began to feel like a chore for me, and so eventually I stopped and thought… Why am I torturing myself? Reading is supposed to be fun and relaxing, not stressful! So many people love this book, so why did I find it so difficult to get through?
Well…
I didn’t have a great first impression of the book, which was not the fault of the story itself or the author. I immediately dived straight into it when it arrived, because I had heard such great things and was excited to see what all of the fuss was about, and the pages started coming loose and falling out. It really ruined my initial experience, so I complained to Amazon and they sent me another copy. The binding was just as bad with the second copy, sadly. I’m trying to separate my ordeal of trying to hold pages in place from my thoughts about the book itself, but I’m sure it still had a negative impact on my enjoyment, to a degree.
I really enjoyed the parts of the book that were actually telling the story, and the writing was beautifully poetic, but there was too much of the latter for me. I am a huge lover of beautiful and descriptive language when it’s used sparingly, but when it’s filling up every other paragraph it detracts so much from what’s happening. It wasn’t making me feel more immersed, it had quite the opposite effect for me, in fact.
When I’m just getting to an interesting part in the story, I don’t need a lengthy paragraph explaining what the condensation looks like, it’s jarring and pulls me out of the story to the point where I had to occasionally backtrack to what was happening before the epic descriptions of seemingly random things. Don’t get me wrong, these descriptions were beautiful, but it became a bit much after a while, and because this gorgeous language was so frequent, the magic of it wore off quite fast and it became exhausting to traverse the minefield of pretty prose in order to get to the actual story. It took me so long to get through just half of the book, because I had to keep putting it down in frustration. I wanted to know what would happen next, but it was a chore to get to the parts I enjoyed, and when I felt myself groan internally at the thought of picking it up again, I decided to allow myself not to finish this one.
The leaning grey tenements of water-slick stone were spitting their inhabitants out into the sunlight and the rising summer warmth. The month was Parthis, meaning that the night-sweat of condensation already boiling off the buildings as a soupy mist would be greatly missed by the cloudless white heat of early afternoon.
So many people love this book, and although I don’t completely understand the hype around it, I do see why it would be to some peoples tastes. The story and the world are both intricate and unique. The world felt dark and fleshed out and the writing is almost poetic, but I suppose it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I never believed that I would put down a book for having too much detailed description (which I usually love!) but that was the reason I couldn’t finish this one. I was drowning in so much gorgeous prose to the point where it appeared to take precedence over the story and I quickly became bored. I may try to give this book another chance at some point, but for now it’s sadly a DNF for me.
So those were my thoughts after attempting to read The Lies of Locke Lamora! What did you think of this book? I would love to hear other peoples opinions on why they loved (or didn’t love) it!
I’m personally needing a short break from fantasy after my experience with it, so I picked up a random crime/thriller and am already further into it than I was with Locke Lamora after just one night… 😅👀
And why it’s one of my favourite series of all time!
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A few years ago I picked up A Darker Shade of Magic. I read it, and remember loving it, but somehow I forgot about it for quite some time. Then, one day I was browsing books on Amazon, when it was recommended to me, and the joy I felt whilst reading it came flooding back, so I purchased A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light that day, and sat down to re-read A Darker Shade of Magic.
“I am Delilah Bard, she thought. Pirate, thief, magician.” Her fingertips began to thrum. “I have crossed worlds and taken ships. Fought queens and saved cities.” Her bones shuddered and her blood raced. “I am one of a kind.“
Somehow, I fell in love with Victoria Schwab’s beautiful writing style, the unique and stunning world and characters that she has created even more the second time around. I lost sleep because I couldn’t put these books down. I would start to read in the evening and the next thing I knew, it would be morning! 😂
A Darker Shade of Magic is set in a world of alternate realities, and in all four worlds, London exists by the same name. There is Grey London, which is (from my interpretation) our own world. The people of Grey London have forgotten the existence of magic, and The River Thames is even called The River Thames. It’s exactly what you would expect of early 19th Century London. Delilah Bard (who might just be my favourite fictional character of all time!) lives as a thief in Grey London.
Next, we have Red London, which is a world where magic is a normal and everyday thing. The people of Red London actually worship magic like people might worship a god. Kell, our other protagonist, lives in Red London with the royal family, and is like an adopted son to the king and queen. He is a special kind of magician named an Antari, which means that he is able to travel between worlds. Antari are very rare with only two known to still exist.
Then there is White London, which is a colourless place in which the people are aware of magic but are starved of it, and go to extreme lengths just to hang on to a small piece of it. The political system in White London is fascinating, the idea that to be a ruler, you must take over the fortress and murder the previous monarch was such an interesting and dark one to read about. I felt genuinely uneasy during the White London scenes, because the place felt so dangerous. Holland, the other Antari besides Kell, lives in White London, and is kept as a slave by Athos and Astrid Dane, the current rulers who take great pleasure in torture and murder.
Finally, there is Black London, which was destroyed and sealed away after magic took over.
I could go on and on about the worlds in this book because I love it so much, but I don’t want to give away too much because I really think that everybody should discover these amazing books for themselves!
Delilah Bard steals a magic stone from Kell, and without giving too much away, she convinces him to take her to another world because she is desperate for an adventure.
“Death comes for everyone,” she said simply. “I’m not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of dying here.” She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city. “I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.”
The characters, the world, the writing… This book is so wonderful, I felt a little sad when I finished the series, because it left me wanting more! I enjoy so many books, devouring several each month, but it’s rare for one to stick with me like A Darker Shade of Magic has. These books swept me away on an adventure with characters I grew to love and care about, and I honestly cannot praise it enough.
What were your thoughts on this series? Let me know in the comments!
So, those of you who follow me will be aware that my PC literally died recently. I have been having problems with it for a while, and removed the case so that I could point an extra fan in there to keep it cool. Not having a case seemed to keep it cooler and stop it from switching itself off as frequently for a while, but it also meant that I got to witness the moment that my graphics card burst into flames!! 🔥😱
I have now gone over a week without my PC. I usually spend allot of my free time creating and editing videos, and of course playing games! So to fill this time, and stop me from going insane, I have been playing games on my PS4 (and watching allot of Netflix, which is best discussed in a separate post!) And so I just thought that I would share my experiences with these old games that I had lying around with all of you, just in case your graphics card ever catches on fire!! 😉
1. Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition
Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition Trailer, Larian Studios
Divinity Original Sin is an open world, turn-based RPG that was released in 2014, and is one that I have very fond memories of. For me, although it in no way compares to Divinity Original Sin 2, which is one of my all time most favourite games, it is still lots of fun. I think one of the best parts about the Divinity games is that you can play with friends and work together through the story whilst making decisions jointly (or having a game of rock, paper, scissors if you disagree!)
I really love the unique environmental mechanics in this game, and how different skills and elements work together, for example, somebody could make it rain which creates a puddle, and then somebody else could throw a lightning skill at the puddle to create electrified water to stun enemies, or freeze the puddle to cause people to slip on the ice, or even heat the water with a fire spell to create steam. The way elements work together, and the slow paced and tactical combat make this a really unique and fun experience, and the story is nice too. I also enjoy the freedom you are given in this game. If you want to be a bow wielding fire mage in heavy armor, then that is absolutely allowed! And there is also a great deal of humor to keep you smiling throughout the story. If you enjoyed Divinity Original Sin 2, then you should definitely check out the first one too!
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 Trailer, Rockstar Games
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a western themed, open world action-adventure game that was released in late 2018. I’m not really a huge fan of guns in video games, I prefer a bow or a sword personally, but even so, I adore this game and put hundreds of hours into it when it was first released (and you do, in fact, have a bow in this game, although it’s really just used for hunting) It was really nice to come back to it again this week and remember why I loved it so much. This game is absolutely beautiful, the graphics and the lighting… All of it! I found myself just sat on my horse in this huge open world watching the sun set, it was stunning.
I also find that you always have something to do in this game, whether that be a set quest, or your own personal mission! I spent an entire night stealing wagons and selling them to a shifty farmer to make money before chasing wild horses around in the wilderness. The story quests are also really fun and engaging, and the characters are well done, and really feel like they have a long history together. This game is also hilarious! The way that NPC’s react to each other and to you, and the unexpected song’s throughout are just amazing! It really will make you laugh, and keep you entertained indefinitely.
3. The Last of Us
The Last of Us Trailer, PlayStation
The Last of us is a 2013 action-adventure game set in a post apocalyptic world. After not seeing this game for so long, the first thing that I thought when I fired up my playstation and started the game was ‘this game COULD NOT have been made 7 years ago, surely?!’ I even had to go and ask Google because it is so stunning! The graphics are so beautiful that they rival many games released today, particularly when it comes to the characters. The story and game play are truly remarkable, and I found myself playing through the entire story because despite playing it before a few years ago, I was hooked and wanted to find out what happened next!
Like Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us primarily uses guns for weapons, but that did not put me off in the slightest. The game is fun, action packed, and at times tense. There were times throughout the game that I felt excited, scared and sad… To me, that proves that the story here is very strong, and the atmosphere and characters created are exceptional in helping to portray that story.
Those of you who follow me will also be aware of my slight addiction to building houses in ESO, and this was one of two games that gave me some huge inspiration for a project that I plan to start working on over the weekend. The city in The Last of Us might be destroyed and overgrown, but that adds a certain beauty to it that warranted about 50 screenshots overall whilst I was playing!
4. Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon Age: Inquisition Trailer, Official EA UK
I might be incredibly biased with this one, because Dragon Age is, and probably always will be, my favourite game series of all time. Inquisition is the third game in the Dragon Age series, and is an open world, fantasy RPG. I have the same reaction as I do with The Last of Us, when I see the beautiful graphics in this game and realise that it was created in 2014. It is stunningly beautiful, and there are many areas to explore, from the lush jungles of The Emerald Graves, to the barren deserts of The Western Approach. If you have played the first two dragon age games, you might notice something quite different about the whole mood and atmosphere of Inquisition. The first two games had very dark undertones, story wise, which were mirrored in the visual aspects of the game, but inquisition is much brighter graphically, and the stories told are actually far less gruesome too. This is not a bad thing at all, it is just a difference that I noticed rather quickly the first time I played this game.
I think that what makes Dragon Age so special is the lore and the characters. The lore in the Dragon Age games is so very deep and interesting. Each time I play I discover a missed codex or a new conversation that adds a little bit more to the entire background of this gorgeous world. The Characters are something so unique and deep that I can’t personally imagine any other game series ever replicating just how well they are done. Every single npc has such a profound and detailed background, their own beliefs and their own likes and dislikes. They all have opinions on what you do in the game and the way in which you interact with them will completely change your experience, and the experience of the subsequent games, because each Dragon Age game you play affects the world in the next one. No NPC is linear, they all have a story and a purpose and many of them can even develop and change depending on the choices you make. No quest is linear either. Everything you do in all dragon age games really does feel like it makes a difference and has consequences.
This is yet another game that gave me lot’s of inspiration for future ESO housing projects! I would recommend that everybody who enjoys story and lore rich RPGs with real decision making and real consequences give Dragon Age a try, because it really is one of a kind, and I can almost guarantee that you will be hooked! 😜
5. Don’t Starve: Reign of Giants
Don’t Starve: Reign of Giants Trailer, PlayStation
Don’t Starve is an open world survival game, which was released in 2013 and is available for both PC and console. I really enjoy this game! It’s one of those addictive ones, where you are chopping down trees and building yourself a camp and before you know it, it’s 2am! I have the Reign of Giants DLC which I could never play Don’t Starve without now. It really does change and improve the overall experience of the game, for me personally.
Despite really enjoying this game, I must stress that I am absolutely terrible at it. The last time I played it, I finally made it through winter for the first time. I was really proud of myself! I had built quite a nifty little base with all of the necessities, and I was doing really well! And then the last day of winter came… And a giant came to my camp and smashed it to pieces. This meant that I lost all of my things that I had worked so hard to build, which caused my little Wilson to go insane and eventually be killed by the shadows. I don’t think the game is too hard as such, I think perhaps I just need more practice, but even so, I really recommend this game. Its fun, it’s challenging and it is very cheap to buy!
So, those are 5 games that I have been playing on my PS4 whilst going stir crazy without my PC! None of them are exactly new games, but all are great and lots of fun, and I honestly would recommend each and every one of them. They all offer something very different, and have all helped me get through this past week or so, and taken my mind off of the fact that I really just want to be building houses and creating videos!! 😅 I hope that you have enjoyed reading about them, and perhaps even got a few ideas for new games to try yourself!
With the addition of so many new furnishings and structural items, as well as more homes with plentiful space, the possibilities to express your creativity in ESO housing have never been so endless. From transforming an existing home, to building your very own structure, there is so much that can be achieved with a great idea which can easily be bought to life. Although there are so many possibilities, it can sometimes be tricky to come up with a great and unique idea for your creations, so I am going to list my own personal top 8 ways to get inspired.
Elder Scrolls Online, Hews Bane Loading Screen Art
Playing the Game
It may sound counterproductive, because you want to build something truly unique, right?? But actually, I have found that just visiting the various towns and delves and dungeons in the game can be a huge inspiration when it comes to housing projects. Particularly if you are somebody who likes to always stick to the lore of the game, just looking at the little details and the building styles that already exist can really give you some great ideas that eventually grow into something completely your own.
A great example of this can be found on Purple Rosa’s YouTube channel, where she has created her very own Dragonguard Sanctuary, inspired by the one in Southern Elsweyr but made completely her own. She recorded it in four parts, the first of which can be found here.
Fallout 4 (2015) Diamond City
Playing Other Games
I always find that when I am playing other games I get inspired for things that I want to build in ESO. Not all fit the lore of Tamriel, and that’s fine! Housing is about being creative and trying new things, and there is no wrong or right way to approach it. Some other games have such beautiful, atmospheric buildings or environments that you may just see something and be inspired to recreate it!
I have seen so many builds in ESO that are based around other games and I have created some myself too. I became so inspired after playing Call of Cthulhu. The eerie green atmosphere and the feeling of insanity the whole time you were playing it, not knowing if anything was real or just in your head. That whole concept really captured my interest and so I created a house based upon that game as soon as I had finished it, which you can find here.
Another notable build I just have to include in this section is a Fallout 4 home created by Futerko. Not only is her house jaw dropping in itself, but the video and her editing are excellent too! you can join me in being amazed by her absolutely incredible Fallout home here.
The BFG (2016)
Movies and TV
Just like playing games, TV and movies can also inspire ideas for creative builds in ESO! You might watch a horror movie with great lighting and atmospherics that you wish to try and replicate, or you might see a building, or even part of a town that you would like to recreate! You may even like to try and retell a story from your favourite movie in ESO. Whatever form your inspiration takes, watching the right movies or TV shows really can give you some great ideas!
When I think of homes that I have visited that were based upon movies, the first one that springs to my mind is a build by Hachiko Chan. She was inspired by an anime called ‘Violet Evergarden’ and created an absolutely stunning little village and a great video too, which you can find here.
The Name of the Wind (2008)
Books
Books are a great way of getting some truly unique inspiration for your ESO houses. Above is an image of my favourite book series, The Name of the Wind, which you can purchase from Amazon.com here or Amazon.co.uk here. I would love to create a build around the beautiful world in this book one day. Unlike with games and movies, inspiration from books is all about how you envision what you are reading, so it is on a much more unique and personal level, I think.
AefionBloodclaw is a writer himself and creates his wonderful ESO houses from the inspiration of his own books, which is such a unique way of doing things, and makes his homes truly his own work. You can check out his channel here.
Countryfile.com image
Go for a Walk!
Whether you go for a stroll through the countryside, a walk through your town or village, or even a shopping trip in the city, there is inspiration to be found in the most unexpected of places! You might see an old building that is interesting, a unique landscape or even an object that sparks your creativity in ways you never expected.
I once saw some really cute little garden ornaments which inspired an ESO house for me, which you can find here.
Tezzer also built a home which was inspired by a place that she went on holiday which is absolutely beautiful, and can be found here.
Google Image Search 11/08/2020
Google Images
Whether you already have a rough idea of what you wish to build or not, Google images can be a really useful tool when it comes to building or decorating in ESO.
If you already have a rough idea of what you want, then you can search the key words, but even if you are still unsure, you can find an endless amount of imagery on Google. You can search for modern homes, medieval homes, fantasy towns or scenery and caves… You will be sure to find something that inspires you with a quick Google search.
I personally tend to keep a folder on my desktop where I place inspirational images before I work on a project, so that I can easily refer back to them if I get stuck, and I find this to be very helpful.
An example of one of my own builds which was inspired by images found on Google was my Breton House, which you can find here.
Bouldertree Refuge by SylvanSweep
Housing Competitions
Contests in ESO are usually held by guilds or communities, although ZOS does occasionally hold their own from time to time too. Not only are they great fun and a really nice way to bring the community together, but they are incredibly inspiring. When you enter a contest, there is generally a theme, and this causes you to think up ideas and create things that you usually would not, and so I definitely recommend entering contests as a way to really be inspired and force yourself to create something new and out of your comfort zone.
I have held some of my own housing contests in the past and it has always been so much fun to see what creative ideas people come up with. Almost a year ago now, I held a ‘Holiday’ contest. There were so many fantastic entries, but D3AKUs ended up coming in first place with his incredible ‘Monster Hotel’ which you can find here.
Grand Psijiic Villa, Spellslinger
Other People’s Creations
One of the best ways to get inspiration is to visit other players homes. You won’t want to copy them, of course, it’s not about stealing ideas, it’s about being inspired by those ideas. Somebody might use a wall to create an archway, which you might love and incorporate into your own design, but with changes, truly making it your own! Somebody might create a boat, like SpellSlinger did in the image above, and you might love that concept, but choose to build a boat in a completely different style. There is just such an endless amount of inspiration that can be taken from visiting other peoples homes or watching videos of them on YouTube.
I find this sushi restaurant by Jaida Rayne truly inspirational. You can hardly even tell you are playing ESO anymore when visiting, it’s just phenomenal. I also watched a video just today by Homestead Legion, of an absolutely jaw dropping air ship, which you can watch for yourselves here. It is astonishing how creative people can be with what we have to work with in ESO housing.
I really hope that these inspiration tips will be helpful! Everybody is different, of course, so what may work for one person may not for another, so this is just my personal list! I would love to hear some of the things that you do to get inspired for your own ESO housing projects!
It’s been a while since I have written anything on here, because I have been busy, but as promised, here is my review of the new home coming out soon to the crown store, Wraithhome, in Rivenspire.
Wraithhome is an odd one. It’s ominous, Daedric style strongly resembles a dungeon setting. The Vaults of Madness springs to mind when looking at the huge, towering stained glass windows reminiscent of the setting where the final battle against the Mad Architect takes place. I both love this home, and loathe it at the same time! I am a huge fan of the darker, creepier homes, but at the same time, I am not a fan of enormous, open spaces which are difficult to decorate and can use up a huge amount of item slots to separate up. Due to the size of the home being so out of touch with the highest item limit currently in game, of 700, it is almost essential to either leave areas very bare or block areas off in this house.
It took me many frustrating days to even come up with an idea which would work in this home, due to such open spaces. Initially, I tried to decorate the entire thing, but I am a person who loves detail in a build, even if that detail is minimal, it still has to be there for me, and I couldn’t do that when attempting to fill this entire space, so I ended up leaving the first part of the home bare, blocking off the smaller room near the entrance, one of the small rooms and balconies to one side, half of the other side room, and the ‘water’ at the bottom of the home. It was a shame to have to leave these areas, but I didn’t have much choice, I was forced by Zenimax and the limits they impose upon us, whilst still selling us homes the size of small zones.
As you can see in the video below, I decided to stick with the creepy theme, using Elsweyr portals to create the effect of the world being sucked up through them, and an eerie garden at the very end by the gorgeous windows. I was reletively happy with the result, but was put off by having to block areas off.
As a home, I think Wraithhome is far too large. If our item limit were perhaps increased to 1000 or so, decorating this home would be possible, but for 700 items, it is not. As a building plot, however, this home could have potential. Those windows are beautiful, and the home has water! It may be weird, glowy, Daedric water, but it is still water. If you were buying this home with a view to change it completely and build something here, I think it could work wonderfully, and this is something I plan to test out for myself in the next week or so, so keep an eye out on my channel if that is something that you would like to see!
Depending on how my further testing goes in this home with regards to building, I may have an interest in it, if only for the windows, but if I were going to use this purely as a home, I would not purchase this, simply because it is too big. Zenimax are almost certainly going to be charging us through the roof for this enormous, undecoratable space in which only a few rooms can be decorated sufficiently, and sadly people are willing to pay their extortionate prices, meaning that this is not going to change any time soon, and probably meaning that chances of us getting smaller homes with future DLC’s is very much reduced. Paying £100 or more for a few rooms in a big empty house is not something that I am personally willing to do.
So, as stated previously, I am on the fence about this home. I love aspects of it, but I loathe other aspects of it, and so for me, this is likely another home which will sadly be thrown into the ‘too big to decorate with our current limitations and so will never even be considered as a potential purchase’ pile. Of course, some people love the big open spaces, and are happy to keep some areas bare, and for those people, this house may be a great choice! As always, this is my own personal interpretations of the home, after spending time experimenting with it, and everybody will always have differing opinions when it comes to the pros and cons of each individual home! 🙂
Since the release of ESO Homestead on 21st February 2017, we have seen the addition of many new, wonderful homes in the game, to compliment, and sometimes overshadow the original ones. With the addition of Moon Sugar Meadow and Wraithhome, the grand total of houses now available for players to purchase is staggering 67, and this number is likely to steadily increase, with at least two homes being added with every update!
So, with so much choice now available, where do you even begin when deciding on which home is best for you? As a person who has decorated every home in the game, many of them more than once, I am going to share with you my personal top 10 player houses in game, and the reasons why I love them. Everybody is different, of course, and no two people will ever agree fully on which homes are the best, so this list is 100% my own personal opinion.
10. Exorcised Coven Cottage
Located deep within the mysterious, misty marshlands of Hag Fen in Glenumbra, The Exorcised Coven Cottage costs 250,000 Gold, or can be purchased for 3,500 crowns, 4,400 furnished. This home is limited edition and is only available during the in-game Witches Festival, which falls around Halloween time.
There are a few reasons why this home made it to my top 10 list. I love the spooky location of the home, it adds allot of atmosphere in and around it and the views are interesting and beautiful in an eerie sort of way. Although the actual home is small, the outside area is abundant, making this not only a great and interesting home to decorate, but also a perfect plot to build a custom home. The size of the home is manageable for the item limit, as it is the size of a small home, but has an item limit of 400 (200 without eso+) making it fun to decorate, because you won’t be likely to run into restrictions when it comes to how many items you can place here.
I have seen some truly wonderful and inspirational builds and decorating jobs in this home. Below is a video I recorded back in January of 2018, of The Exorcised Coven Cottage by @Caelnir on PC/EU. He did an absolutely wonderful job here, and this still remains one of my favorite interpretations of this highly versatile and atmospheric home.
9. Black Vine Villa
Black Vine Villa is a small, Altmer style home located on the outskirts of the modest Khajiit town of Baandari Trading Post, within the wild, verdant jungles of Malabal Tor. This home is very reasonably priced, at 54,000 gold, and can also be purchased for 2,250 crowns, 2,800 furnished. This is one of the original player homes, and so is always available to purchase.
This small, humble home made it to number 9 on my list because despite it’s size, It has ample creative potential, and it is really good value for money! I really like the Altmer architecture, with the brick walls and decorative woodwork, and the ceilings are so high in this home, that a second level can be built inside, creating much more space and essentially doubling the size of the interior. The garden is small, but the invisible ceiling is very high, meaning that you could potentially build relatively high here. I would say, though, that if you plan to customize this home or build here, the item limit of 200 (100 without eso+) can become rather troublesome. It is easy to decorate with 200 items in it’s original state, but too much creativity here can really eat in to your item slots.
I have seen some really great things done in this home too, and whilst browsing YouTube, I stumbled across a video of Black Vine Villa, decorated by ‘Rainfeather Pearl’ which I shall link below. It is quite an old video, uploaded December of 2017, but I just love how she has used the lighting to make the place feel so warm and cozy, and all of the greenery inside works beautifully ❤️
8. Grymharth’s Woe
Grymharth’s Woe is a medium sized Nord home, located in the snow swept back alleys of the lively and bustling city of Windhelm. This home costs 280,000 gold to purchase, or 3,800 crowns, 4,800 furnished. This is also an original player home and so is available to buy all year around.
I debated for a while whether to place Mistveil Manor or Grymharth’s Woe here at number 8, but in the end I went for Grymharth’s, and the main reason for that was the size of the place in relation to the item limit. I really love both homes, they are very similar, the main difference being that Mistveil is much larger with a generously sized garden. I chose to put this home at number 8 on my list because the item limit just works so wonderfully here! It is a rarity to find a home where item limits won’t cause frustration, which is why that is such an important factor for me when choosing to purchase a home in game or not. Something I love about this home is the natural darkness of it. This, and the lovely stone walls mean that you are able to achieve a variety of different atmospheres here. Warm lighting can be added along with soft furnishings and plants for a cozy feel, or minimal lighting and harsh or creepy furnishings can be used to create a completely different, creepy vibe, and item limit frustrations are rarely encountered.
Below is one of my own videos, where I used Grymharth’s Woe to create a Witches Festival themed home. By using minimal lighting and creepy furnishings, and dividing the space into smaller rooms, the home took on a much more ominous, and Haloween-y quality.
7. Velothi Reverie
In the west of the lush and abundant valleys and forests of Deshaan, nestled inconspicuously within the small, lakeside town of Narsis, is Velothi Reverie. A medium sized Dunmer home, with three floors, and a small garden. This home comes at a price of 323,000, which may sound like allot, but in comparison to other medium homes, it has allot to offer in both size and space. This home can also be purchased for 4200 crowns, 5300 furnished.
One of the things I really love about this house, is that the space is divided up into separate rooms, which makes it really nice to decorate, and also saves item slots, because you aren’t having to divide the space up yourself. The home seems to carry an ominous air about it, which makes it really great for creepy or darker themed homes, but it can be made to look warm and inviting too, with the right furnishings and lighting. Another feature I really love about this house is the basement, which in keeping with the rest of the house, is naturally kind of eerie, but I have also seen beautiful things done in this basement, so the home is extremely versatile. It also has an open landing on the upper level where you are able to look down upon the ground level, and a small, split level, walled in garden. There isn’t much I can say to fault this home really, beautiful arched ceilings, the open stairways… It is so full of character. The item limit of 400 (200 without eso+) is workable, and you can create something wonderful with it, but it could do with being a little higher, as you can feel slightly limited at times decorating at Velothi Reverie with its current number of slots.
I have a couple of videos of this home on my channel, a very creepy version utilizing some of the Halloween furnishings from the crown store and cozier version by myself, and another visit of one of @Caelnir’s homes too, which was a really great interpretation of this wonderful home and what can be achieved here. Below is a link to a video on Cyberwolf’s channel, where he tours a really lovely version of Velothi Reverie.
6. The Erstwhile Sanctuary
Just south of the hustle and bustle of the Cyrodillic city of Kvatch, hidden away from the unknowing eye, lies the cavernous Dark Brotherhood lair, Erstwhile Sanctuary. This home was an exclusive, crown store only purchase, which tends to crop up again from time to time, so if you want this house, it can be a good idea to keep a look out for when it is next on sale so that you don’t miss it. It isn’t the cheapest or best value for money home there is, at 13,000 crowns, and a whopping 16,250 crowns for the furnished version, although you do get allot of unique and expensive furnishings with the furnished version, which makes the extra crowns worth it if you are planning on purchasing it and keeping the Dark Brotherhood theme.
I’m not sure I really need to explain why I love this house so much, you just have to look at it, it is absolutely stunning! I almost didn’t add this one to the list, because I was thinking too logically, but this is, after all, a list of my favorite homes, not which are the best value, or easiest to decorate! The home features areas of water, and beautiful, cascading waterfalls throughout. It is very large, and that can make the item limit of 700 rather annoying at times, because it is no way enough to do exactly what you want, but it is also not the worst, there are homes which suffer far more from the dreaded item limit than The Erstwhile Sanctuary. The sanctuary boasts a really wonderful atmosphere, it is both dark and beautifully natural at the same time, making it very unique, and full of creative potential which could easily take many different directions. The height of the cavernous main room and further rooms beyond make this an ideal place for building your own home too, if that is something which appeals to you. The possibilities here are endless, it has every feature that you could ask for from a home and a building plot.
There are just so many possibilities in this wonderful home, and I have seen some jaw-dropping takes on The Erstwhile Sanctuary since it came out! Below you can find a video I recorded of a tour of @Pelcarus’s home on PC/EU. I absolutely love what he did here, and the airship that he built here is so unique and clever!
5. Alinor Crest Townhouse
Wandering the elegant and yet gothicly grand, almost Oxfordian streets of Alinor, you may be lucky enough to stumble across this gorgeous and fine representation of Altmer architecture, the Alinor Crest Townhouse. This home could be yours for 1,025,000 gold, or if you don’t have that much gold to spare you could always purchase it for crowns. This home would cost you 6,000 crowns, or if you buy it furnished, which I would highly recommend, with the amount of high value furnishings you get for the price, it would cost you an extra 1,500 crowns, for a total of 7,500.
This home is not only beautiful, with it’s grandiose, floor to ceiling windows, sweeping stairways and polished mahogany woodwork against light marble walls, it is also in a particularly advantageous location, with the bank, merchants, writ and daily quest givers, crafting stations and guild traders all close at hand. The separate rooms, including an entrance hall and an attic room with views over the first floor split the home up, saving item slots and creating distinct, well defined areas throughout. The home also has a very attractive and decently sized courtyard garden on the first floor, with views over the city. Both attractive and convenient, this home is also one of the only newer homes available for gold, and has an item limit of 600 which is not impossible to work with, but is not easy, I know that people have had to cut areas off in order to add the detail that they want to. Custom builds are also possible here. I know somebody who ignored the house almost entirely and concentrated on a custom build in the courtyard, which was innovative, creative and beautiful.
I have decorated this home a few times myself, and visited some really wonderful versions of it. I decorated a very creepy version of this house for a contest, but below is my regular, very traditional Altmer representation of it.
4. Ravenhurst
Swaddled dotingly amongst the windmills of Fell’s Run, Ravenhurst is a fine representation of a traditional Breton home in Rivenspire. This home would cost you 260,000 gold to purchase with gold, or for crowns it is 3,500 or 4,400 furnished. There is nothing special about the furnishings you get in this home, but they are still worth more in crowns than the 900 extra you pay for the furnished version.
I absolutely adore this home, with it’s natural cozy feel and delightfully tudor-esque qualities. The built in fireplace is characterful and charming, and the garden is of a wonderful size for a medium home. There are no real rooms as such upstairs, but that can be remedied by simply placing a plank over the open areas, creating far more usable floor space, although even without using these areas, the ledges are a very nice feature all on their own. Although very open, even the ground floor can easily be separated up into smaller rooms if desired, or can be left open, I suppose that comes down more to personal preference than anything else! The garden also has space to be able to build in, but it does have a relatively low invisible ceiling, which is unfortunate, but does not make it impossible to do something out there. From the garden, there are wonderful views to be had of the quaint, sleepy village of Fell’s Run with the breathtaking windmills spinning lazily in the distance. The item limit of 400 here works well on the vanilla house, although problems can be encountered with it when you start to customize and build within the home and garden, which is to be expected in any traditional house, as they were not really built with this purpose in mind.
Below you can find a YouTube video of Ravenhurst, decorated by Jubi Made This. I love the warmth that she has bought into this home, and the traditional Breton feeling it emanates. You can see here that she has fully utilized the empty areas upstairs by placing planks to maximize the space, and has added a ledge in the garden in order to appreciate the wonderful views this home has to offer.
3. Strident Springs Demesne
In the far north of Reapers March, almost touching the borders of Cyrodiil, Strident Springs is an imposing and magnificent vision, breaking up the arid, desert landscapes with its Imperial grandiose. To purchase this large, imperial masterpiece, would you set you back 1,280,000 gold, or 6300 crowns, 7900 with furnishings.
I have always adored this home, from back when housing was first introduced on the test server, and it remains one of my favorites to this day. The Imperial architecture is beautiful and one of my favorites, the small rooms inside the home make it easy to decorate and really help with managing the 600 item limit and the upper hallways, which look down upon the ground floor are a really stunning feature! I also love the windows and window ledges in Imperial buildings, which create such cozy little nooks around the home. Strident Springs doesn’t just have a wonderful house though, the gardens here are also stunning, with ample space, a tower, and a beautiful pond complete with a magnificent waterfall. These features can really help in creating a beautiful garden here, and also make the area perfect for building a custom home or even a cave! The item limit, as with most larger homes, is not perfect here. You will likely reach the 600 cap quickly if you are a person who loves to add lots of detail, as I do, but it is not the worst home for the item limit, and with some tweaking, it can be done. For me, the less than perfect item limit is made up for here by Strident Springs being such a gorgeous player home with endless creative potential.
I have many videos of Strident Springs myself, and also know of many other brilliant eso designers who also have videos of this home, so choosing one was really difficult! But in the end, rather than showing something built here, such as my cave, or another custom build, I decided to show a video of the house, how it is meant to be, to really highlight the beauty of the place! So please find below a video by ‘Tamriel Adventurer’ and their wonderfully traditional, Strident Springs Demesne.
2. Cliffshade
Just on the Outskirts of Marbruk, close enough to the city for convenience, yet far enough away for a welcome piece of solitude, sits the small, lakeside abode, that is Cliffshade. This home costs 255,000 gold, or you can purchase it with crowns, 3,600 or 4,500 for the furnished version.
It may come as a surprise to some that Cliffshade made it to number 2 on my list, as it has no garden, and although you can customize the home, building an entire custom build here is out of the question, but there are several reasons why Cliffshade is my second favorite home in the game, and why it was the first home that I purchased when homestead hit the live servers back in 2017. I think the most significant and unique thing to point out about this home, is that it is listed as a medium home, and yet it is the size of a small home, in fact, some of the small homes are larger than Cliffshade, when you take their gardens into account. 400 items to use in this little home means that you will never have problems doing what you want or being creative here, even when creating extra floor space on the second level. I have always had items slots left over after fully decorating this home. I also personally love the style and layout of this place! Small and medium houses are my favorites when it comes to decorating, and I find it a great shame that Zenimax don’t offer us more homes of this size. If you like a cozy home with lots of fireplaces, you will be in your element in Cliffshade, as it has not one, not two, but three built in fireplaces, despite it’s small size. I love the brick and wood work in this home, and the windows. I do wish that the home had a small garden, and if it did, it may have even made it to number one on this list, but still, even without a garden the home is very attractive from the outside, and is set in a pretty and convenient location for the bank, mages and fighters guilds, crafting stations, merchants and guild traders. The lighting in this home also helps with creating a unique ambiance, depending on the lighting and furnishings you choose to use. You can step into one players Cliffshade, and it can feel entirely different to anothers, it is a highly versatile little home, with so much creative potential due to it’s limitless item slots for it’s size.
Below you can see one of my own takes on Cliffshade, where I decided to turn it into a tavern of sorts.
Honorable Mentions
Before I reveal my number one home, I would just like to give a few honorable mentions to homes that did not quite make the list, but are exceptional in their own right. I could easily list 3/4 of the homes in the game here right now, so I shall limit my honorable mentions to just three homes, or this article will never end!
Hundings Palatial Hall
This home is absolutely incredible. It is a remarkable Redguard palace, with an incredible atmospheric quality, and it even comes with it’s own beach with far reaching views over the Abecean Sea! As well as a private beach, it has stables and a tower in it’s sizable gardens, and the home itself isn’t much smaller. The reason this home did not make it on to my list, is because the item limit is so very painful to work with here for the size of the place. 600 items is not enough to decorate a home of this size. Look above at Cliffshade, it makes zero sense to have a home as big as Hunding’s, with just 200 items more than a tiny, garden-less home like Cliffshade, and so sadly Hunding’s Palatial Hall did not quite make the cut.
Humblemud
Quite possibly the best value for money home in this game, Humblemud, a small Argonian home costing just 40,000 gold, or 2,100 crowns, 2,600 furnished, is not just a tiny home, but it also comes with a very sizable garden for such a price. The garden is also perfect for building in, and has amazing potential creatively. I would recommend anybody who likes to build and customize their own homes to purchase this little gem, as it costs nothing and the possibilities of what you could create here are endless, even if you aren’t a fan of the Argonian style. This home didn’t quite make my top 10 list, as there are other homes which I prefer, but I would certainly give it a spot at number 11.
Colossal Aldmeri Grotto
I had waited for what felt like an eternity for Zenimax to give us a boat, and this home is beautiful and possibly has more creative potential than any other home I have listed thus far, but, and this is a big BUT, it is too big. When I wanted a boat, I wanted a boat, not en entire zone. For 700 items, you could never achieve exactly what you wanted to in this home, and for that reason, it doesn’t make the list. This is unfortunate, as it really is a beautiful and highly unique home, and if our item limit were double what it is, it would probably be in my top 3.
1. Hunter’s Glade
Secluded underground, just a 2 minute walk from the vibrant Nord city of Riften, there is a small, underground cave, with a mysterious secret. My number 1 most favourite player home in the game, Hunter’s Glade, is an exclusive, crown only home, so if you wish to purchase it for yourself, it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the crown store for when it returns. It costs just 8,000 crowns unfurnished, so a great deal less than many of the other exclusive notable homes released, and for 10,000 crowns you can purchase it furnished.
Upon entering this highly unique home through a small door hidden in the rocks of the verdant yet craggy terrain of The Rift, you are met with a dark, winding staircase which takes you deep underground. At first glace, this area is just a dark, underground room with little to excite anybody, but those who dare walk through the portal will find themselves teleported into the glade, an otherworldly realm belonging to the Daedric Prince, Hircine. As this is a realm of Hircine, you are also able to remain in werewolf form perpetually in Hunter’s Glade, if you so wish.
The Glade is, by far, the most beautiful and atmospheric home in the entire game, from my own perspective. It is an enormous building plot, with gorgeous, clear waters, cascading waterfalls, stunning views and unique lighting which gives this place a constant air of an autumnal sunrise. This eerily beautiful quality draws me back to this home time and time again, and it is the only home that I can proudly say that I own on both the EU and the NA server for PC. The 700 item limit could obviously do with being higher, but as this is a building plot, which already has very natural terrain, and with forests and mountains in the distance, you can get away with adding trees to fill spaces, or even blocking areas off with your build, if you prefer to obscure any areas that you feel are too empty.
I have built a total of 9 homes here at Hunter’s Glade thus far, and plan to build many more here in future! Perhaps one day a new home or building plot will come along and replace this one as my favorite home, but so far, all else pales in comparison to Hunter’s Glade for me, so it would have to be a very special home indeed! I have linked just one of my custom builds at Hunter’s Glade below, if you are interested in seeing the others, they are all on my YouTube channel.
So, those are my top 10 houses in The Elder Scrolls Online! I would love to hear what other people’s favorite homes are in the game! One of the things that makes us human and adds so much color to the world is our differing tastes and opinions, and so I am always very intrigued to hear what other people think!
Anybody who knows me, or watches my YouTube videos knows how obsessive I can be when it comes to building my own homes in The Elder Scrolls Online, with a total of 99 homes decorated and recorded on my channel, 25 of those are custom built, and with Elsweyr now available on PC, Xbox and PS4, it was only a matter of time before we were given our very own plot of land to build in this vast, rugged and yet beautiful little pocket of Tamriel.
At first glace, when I visited this home on the test server, I was excited, and brimming with ideas. I had just taken some time off due to moving home and getting a new puppy, and was keen to build myself a new home here. It wasn’t quite Hunter’s Glade, which remains my favorite building plot, it lacked enough atmosphere to ever be considered one of my favorite homes. It is beautiful, yes! Full of potential, most definitely! But for me personally, it also pales in comparison to Hunter’s Glade, and large rocks that you cannot move, and awkward shaped water put me off a little, but I was still excited to build here and realize whatever potential the spot held for avid builders, such as myself.
So, as soon as I had a free day, I took my dogs on a long walk to tire them out a bit, made myself a coffee, and settled down to build my own moon sugar plantation. Idea 1. (see images below)
Although I was quite happy with many of the aspects of this first design, it wasn’t good enough for me to want to record and share with the world, and so I demolished it, and moved on to a new idea! I think that the plantation was a great initial idea, and I hated to destroy so many hours of hard work, particularly my garden which I probably spent the most time on, but as I said earlier, this plot, although it certainly has its beauty, for me, lacks a certain something when it comes to atmosphere, and the design felt rather mundane and same-y. For me, it didn’t have the right ambiance for the sort of plantation I had in mind, and never would. Moon-Sugar Meadow is also enormous, and the plantation took up so many slots, it would have been difficult to block it off and/or fill the surrounding area with trees, and so I decided that it may be a good idea to embrace the current environment and use that as inspiration for a new design. The plot is an odd one in that it’s not jungle, not desert, not mountainous, but somewhere in between all three, so I opted to go all in with a jungle theme for my next design. Idea 2. Again, image gallery can be found below.
As you can see, I used mostly Murkmire building materials, as I started to build this little jungle getaway at Moon-Sugar Meadow, which began to resemble some kind of natural, eco, jungle retreat after a while, which is what I was going for, but again, I was unhappy with it. It hadn’t turned out as I had envisaged, and again, much of that was to do with the general environment not matching what I had in my mind, and those pesky rocks in the centre of the uneven ground created many challenges, the work arounds to which just made my build look less attractive, so it was time to start again! Idea 3!
This is probably my least favorite experimental build I undertook at Moon-Sugar Meadow. It is probably difficult to even tell what I was going for here with these images, so let me explain. I decided, a great way to cut off most of the land here (something that you pretty much have to do in Moon-Sugar Meadow, if you are building any kind of intricate and detailed structure) would be to build a hotel, right at the entrance of the meadow itself. As you can tell, I did not even finish building the walls, they would have been double this height, with a ceiling of course, and a walkway along the upper level, and rather than trying to hide or build over the central rocks, the idea here was to embrace them and turn them into a feature. I embedded fountains into them, surrounded them with foliage etc. I liked the initial idea for this, but I did not like how it was turning out, I think the spaces were too large and too open for my own personal tastes, so it was back to the drawing board!
I don’t have any good screenshots of ideas 4 or 5, but 4 was another plantation, similar to the first one, but with some changes. I should have learned the first time around that the idea for that, the one in my head, just wasn’t going to work, but I decided to try again anyway, and failed. Idea 5 was more of a small farming town, with some shops, houses, market square etc. Again, I loved some aspects of it, and will be using many of my own ideas I had for that build in others I do in future, but once again, due to the ambiance and general environmental lighting here, it just felt boring and lifeless to me.
By the time I got to idea 6, I was about ready to tear my hair out and throw my pc out of my bedroom window, but I persevered. Building a castle is something I have wanted to do in ESO for a long time now, and nothing else was working out for me so I just decided to go for it, and built Moon-Sugar Castle, images and video of the finished build below.
I could not do everything I wanted to, even in my castle, due to item limit restrictions and the sheer size of the build. I had to block off the majority of the meadow too, in order to concentrate solely on the small area where I had decided to build. I waited until it was dark in game before recording Moon-Sugar Castle, as well as adding the mist, in an attempt to try and create a bit of an interesting atmosphere there. As the castle was mostly very closed in, it also took on it’s own little ambiance, in a way, even if that ambiance was darkness, it was something. I am overall happy with my castle, although I would have loved to have added more artwork in the corridors, a tower, perhaps a castle dungeon! But 700 items only go so far, and when you are building your own structure as well as decorating it, those 700 items become even more precious. I know that Zenimax have told us that they will not be increasing the item limit, but I do hope that they still keep it in mind as a consideration, particularly for sites like this, designed to encourage people to build their own homes.
So, that is my own personal, rather love-hate experience with Moon-Sugar Meadow! I see it being a very popular home and I am sure Zenimax will make a pretty penny from it when it is released, however, I thought that I would share my own personal experiences with the home, for anybody who is on the fence about purchasing this enormous building plot in the beautiful zone of Elsweyr! So lets weigh up the pros and cons of this home, for those who are still unsure;
Pros
Large open area to build
Lots of water. There are rivers, waterfalls etc.
Attractive Views
Lots of greenery and a very natural feel
It is the first ‘normal’ building plot, in that it is not in another realm and requires no portal to enter
Despite lots of uneven ground, there are some flat, stone areas which are pleasant to build on
Cons
Large rocks in awkward places can make building annoying at times
Long grass around open areas mean that floors often have to be significantly raised
It lacks in terms of an atmospheric quality
The water, although nice, is brown in colour, awkwardly shaped and is also full of large intrusional rocks
Invisible walls prevent you from building in areas that are all too tempting, such as the banks on the other side of the water
The size could be either a pro or a con, depending on what your personal preference is
Weather you have fallen in love with this place or you dislike it, there is no denying that it is nice to have a building plot in the beautiful zone that is Elsweyr, and a building plot that is not in some other worldly realm, and without portals. For me, there is nothing about the area itself to draw me in, create any sort of ambiance or interest to the space, and I honestly find the area a little dull. I don’t dislike Moon-Sugar Meadow, despite my gripes, but I also do not love it. This is my own opinion, of course, I know lots of people do love this site, it all comes down to personal taste really. Perhaps if I think of an idea that would fit this place, I may purchase it one day, but I am in no hurry to own it when it makes it to the live servers.
I am sure that many people will come up with absolutely wonderful ideas and designs for this area, and I really look forward to seeing what people do here! The creative minds of some people never fail to astound me, and with such an open space like this, there are sure to be some truly epic builds.
I look forward to reviewing my experiences with the other new home with the Scalebreaker DLC, Wraithhome, in the very near future.
Elara Northwind 