Completely agree about sounds in games staying with you, those elder scrolls soundtracks are some of the most beautiful there is, morrowind playing in the background what a stunning game 👍
Some of the library effects have a definite "Hermaeus Mora" vibe, including some of the greenly glowing script around the teleport locations. That recurrent green "kraken tentacle" image on the banners really recalls Apocrypha. The multiple stacks of "ruined books" lend credence to that.
A good start, I see potential for it getting better and built more into the mountainside so every room isn't just a tower shape, or confined to that shape.
I grabbed this one early, and the mod author has been steadily improving it. Location is idea for a powerful mage. Soil and children are planned apparently. Great review.
This one is a quiet champion. Weapon racks as footboards for follower beds. Dwemer vented column stack for the forge. Those are touches of immersion that sit quietly unobserved, but bespeak a lot of building intuitions. The price is a sin. Free? This is where a first-time player/character would beeline for. It's too much for free. Even a note from the former owner, like, "My fortunes in war have turned, and this estate goes to he who first pays the taxes owed upon it from three Holds." Something that doesn't scream 'player gimme'. That said, it would be hard to calculate a fair price, even on taxes. This is the Batcave, the Bruce Wayne of Winterhold. Secret tunnels to town....an overlook to quietly brood over the city from... I can't put a thumb on HOW, but this mod manages to make very vanilla materials into something more. French Vanilla, maybe. When the atmosphere of a room is reminiscent of a particular architecture, a bit of creativity and flair make it something more. Opening up to the library with floating books, I was much more expecting the Hogwarts theme. The use of space for each 'region' is ingenious. There are stories in that dining hall. Stories to be told, stories of banquets echoing. You can entertain without ever leaving earshot of guests. And by leaving the area, you can mute bards who get annoying and not hear them through the entire house. I have to interject and say this mod is Champion, because it picks the right battles, and coherently uses the results. Practicality vs. Luxury Game functionality vs. Practical living space. Grandeur of expansiveness vs. Ease of movement. Deadly cold vs. inviting warmth. This castle comes with a learning curve. Once you understand the floorplan, you can step easily into a new 'mood'. Harder to discern, you can easily avoid some areas until you need to develop them practically, depending on your playthrough. This looks DESIGNED by a committee of practical men, who each had their say in the domain's construction. Loads of practical experience went into the layout. The hidden vault is a nice immersive touch. I even understand why there are few soils to be had, although it's a heartless stab at Floral Feb. It's just too cold to farm. Too little sun, warmth, water. It fits. This is an estate which needs trade routes and supply lines for things hard to find in Winterhold. It is in THE position to create and defend such routes. And that above all, Master Architect, is why this is possibly in my top favorite mods, top three, of all time. Location, location, location. This place suits that bill perfectly for justifying building it at all. I don't even notice, for the first time. the crap vanilla ladders, which always mystified me. We can build Baroque and Roman arches, but can't manage to nail boards together at right angles, with shoddy materials. Your mod has good ones, and ones obviously made by the Joker. Dear modder: I've never restarted a mod video but I will, because there are things which drew my eye, and earned greater attention: These, in my opinion, are omissions: Tactical and strategic location is worth an entire thread alone, but in short, this place doesn't 'just happen' this close to the College. These are sister-forts, each protecting the other with their own ways and means, each able to supply assistance to each other at need. There's a quest here, friend, and some lore supplementation would dip this place in an immersive varnish irresistible to die-hards. A case could be made that this castle's towers once functioned as triple lighthouses, to give the castle a plausible history, for example. Maybe adding a quest book or two from the College library... 1. Practical shelters on tower tops. THANK YOU. Severe northern conditions, or high-altitude ones, never seem quite considered for practicality. Sentries need relief and shelter from screaming winds making stone and ice of everything outdoors. Your towers are very survivor-mode friendly. Artistically, Feb's opening screencap zoom of it shows not just a pragmatic hand, but also a refined eye for balance, composition, blend, and mood. If I suggested ONE tiny change, it would be to steepen the angle of the coned tower shelters, for better snow shedding. The place screams blizzard and avalanche, and those from snowy regions use sharper rooflines. 2. Lowest level entrances are high, and easily defended from a quadrangulation of crossfire. This one would be a royal bitch to siege, just for location, altitude and climate alone. Something might be done to more successfully camouflage the town entrance, a serious 300-ending fatal flaw. But I still like the town entrance. 3. Library with floating books is the first room if you enter mountainway. Excellent. Although later travel methods will dampen that initial wonderment over time, this is how you want a castle to present itself. Books are wealth, knowledge, power, and legacy. You hit the wow factor. Omission: No big entrance banners or wall-hangings? Hmmm. The entrance is on a freezing mountain, with a door facing north. You might want wind baffles and wall coverings for practicality/immersion. Otherwise, every new guest would get the Hateful Eight Door Greeting... People need a moment to warm up. Those stairs... 4. Winterhold entrance. Brilliant way to have combined a house to feel like it IS a townhouse, while still being prohibitively remote. To me, this gets around a few 'shortcomings'. What you lack at the castle proper is easily acquired from shops. I wish I could remember which shop the entrance abuts, but Feb's lament of a lack of soils could be somewhat mitigated with such access to the town Herbalist and College soils. There is also a case to reinforce that this Castle should be quest-acquired, or perhaps quest-enhanced. This only feels like a secret entrance, but the youngest child in town would know where it leads. Just a thought--- the way to 'earn' the castle is by clearing/solving the missing space between this entrance and the library exit. Your mod-designing time is valuable, so understandable if this never happens--- but this mod imparts enormous value to player enjoyment--- and I assert that I'd be happy to work for it. Without too much change, you could still allow access to the library from the mountain-stair, but bar the teleport room, until whatever is in the town tunnel is cleared--- because no matter what, anyone who sleeps or spends more than 24 hours in the library--- or anyone who tries to remove a book--- wakes up dead at X location. So much quest potential... Solving the quest removes the 'tunnel' forever, and grants the access it currently employs. 5. Quarters for soldiery with adjacent dining hall, right above main entrance. Yes. These guys are defending their home, and the library is a critical chokepoint easily defended by a spiral stair. Future note: like in Skyrim, most medieval staircases had to reckon with overwhelming right-handedness of assailants. Your spiral stairs wind the wrong direction. Defenders need their sword-side free to repel attackers, while the stair also makes right-handed attackers far less effective. I wouldn't change a thing here, because castle invasions don't happen in vanilla, but if they did in a mod... you want, I believe, function over form. I love the mod. Double-oven that cannot be ever used practically two at a time, but adds everything to immersion. That's how it's done, you're feeding a small army, or staff. Dining hall balcony/storage--- big fan. I may come back to edit in more, but I'm still re-watching. Gob-stopper, friend. This is a keeper. I still want to EARN it...
Not just you, even the archmage would be overwhelmed in there. I'd have to just summon my followers in there because I'm not about to go looking for them. No wonder Inigo stayed put.
I have JK’s Winterhold and it works very well with Tel Aschan ☺️…being on the PS4 , my mod choices are rather limited. But I am happy that I can get some nice mods…this mod is very cool 🥰
You certainly do have a hand for pretty homes. I find most player homes to big... but that one with its (mostly) small rooms is going on my list for the next playtrough. In the current one I have too much mods... my Skrim is looking like London already. BTW let me know if Inigo ever quits and I follow you around; probably not as quite though.
this place is awesome i sooo got lost in the secret apocra-whatever place i live it...theres like 4 or five of thise pocet realms in that place i kean i really got lost for like an hour n a half couldnt find the portal back to the actial house..i love it alot
Completely agree about sounds in games staying with you, those elder scrolls soundtracks are some of the most beautiful there is, morrowind playing in the background what a stunning game 👍
Absolutely:)
Some of the library effects have a definite "Hermaeus Mora" vibe, including some of the greenly glowing script around the teleport locations. That recurrent green "kraken tentacle" image on the banners really recalls Apocrypha. The multiple stacks of "ruined books" lend credence to that.
I like houses that make the cold barren areas more appealing.
Definitely does that:)
A good start, I see potential for it getting better and built more into the mountainside so every room isn't just a tower shape, or confined to that shape.
Gorgeous, a little big for my taste but beautiful nonetheless. I love the Morrowind music it gave me chills of nostalgia!
I agree with you! WOW says it all!! 😲 This looks amazing!!
Right?!
I grabbed this one early, and the mod author has been steadily improving it. Location is idea for a powerful mage. Soil and children are planned apparently. Great review.
Good to know! And thank you:)
Beautiful, you just have to love these great modders.👍 Thanks for your videos Lady Darkstar. 😘
My pleasure Jack:)
This one is a quiet champion. Weapon racks as footboards for follower beds. Dwemer vented column stack for the forge.
Those are touches of immersion that sit quietly unobserved, but bespeak a lot of building intuitions.
The price is a sin. Free? This is where a first-time player/character would beeline for. It's too much for free. Even a note from the former owner, like, "My fortunes in war have turned, and this estate goes to he who first pays the taxes owed upon it from three Holds." Something that doesn't scream 'player gimme'.
That said, it would be hard to calculate a fair price, even on taxes.
This is the Batcave, the Bruce Wayne of Winterhold. Secret tunnels to town....an overlook to quietly brood over the city from...
I can't put a thumb on HOW, but this mod manages to make very vanilla materials into something more. French Vanilla, maybe. When the atmosphere of a room is reminiscent of a particular architecture, a bit of creativity and flair make it something more.
Opening up to the library with floating books, I was much more expecting the Hogwarts theme.
The use of space for each 'region' is ingenious. There are stories in that dining hall. Stories to be told, stories of banquets echoing. You can entertain without ever leaving earshot of guests. And by leaving the area, you can mute bards who get annoying and not hear them through the entire house.
I have to interject and say this mod is Champion, because it picks the right battles, and coherently uses the results.
Practicality vs. Luxury
Game functionality vs. Practical living space.
Grandeur of expansiveness vs. Ease of movement.
Deadly cold vs. inviting warmth.
This castle comes with a learning curve. Once you understand the floorplan, you can step easily into a new 'mood'.
Harder to discern, you can easily avoid some areas until you need to develop them practically, depending on your playthrough.
This looks DESIGNED by a committee of practical men, who each had their say in the domain's construction. Loads of practical experience went into the layout.
The hidden vault is a nice immersive touch.
I even understand why there are few soils to be had, although it's a heartless stab at Floral Feb.
It's just too cold to farm. Too little sun, warmth, water. It fits. This is an estate which needs trade routes and supply lines for things hard to find in Winterhold. It is in THE position to create and defend such routes.
And that above all, Master Architect, is why this is possibly in my top favorite mods, top three, of all time.
Location, location, location. This place suits that bill perfectly for justifying building it at all.
I don't even notice, for the first time. the crap vanilla ladders, which always mystified me. We can build Baroque and Roman arches, but can't manage to nail boards together at right angles, with shoddy materials. Your mod has good ones, and ones obviously made by the Joker.
Dear modder: I've never restarted a mod video but I will, because there are things which drew my eye, and earned greater attention:
These, in my opinion, are omissions:
Tactical and strategic location is worth an entire thread alone, but in short, this place doesn't 'just happen' this close to the College. These are sister-forts, each protecting the other with their own ways and means, each able to supply assistance to each other at need. There's a quest here, friend, and some lore supplementation would dip this place in an immersive varnish irresistible to die-hards. A case could be made that this castle's towers once functioned as triple lighthouses, to give the castle a plausible history, for example. Maybe adding a quest book or two from the College library...
1. Practical shelters on tower tops. THANK YOU. Severe northern conditions, or high-altitude ones, never seem quite considered for practicality. Sentries need relief and shelter from screaming winds making stone and ice of everything outdoors. Your towers are very survivor-mode friendly.
Artistically, Feb's opening screencap zoom of it shows not just a pragmatic hand, but also a refined eye for balance, composition, blend, and mood. If I suggested ONE tiny change, it would be to steepen the angle of the coned tower shelters, for better snow shedding. The place screams blizzard and avalanche, and those from snowy regions use sharper rooflines.
2. Lowest level entrances are high, and easily defended from a quadrangulation of crossfire. This one would be a royal bitch to siege, just for location, altitude and climate alone. Something might be done to more successfully camouflage the town entrance, a serious 300-ending fatal flaw. But I still like the town entrance.
3. Library with floating books is the first room if you enter mountainway. Excellent. Although later travel methods will dampen that initial wonderment over time, this is how you want a castle to present itself. Books are wealth, knowledge, power, and legacy. You hit the wow factor.
Omission: No big entrance banners or wall-hangings? Hmmm. The entrance is on a freezing mountain, with a door facing north. You might want wind baffles and wall coverings for practicality/immersion. Otherwise, every new guest would get the Hateful Eight Door Greeting...
People need a moment to warm up. Those stairs...
4. Winterhold entrance.
Brilliant way to have combined a house to feel like it IS a townhouse, while still being prohibitively remote. To me, this gets around a few 'shortcomings'. What you lack at the castle proper is easily acquired from shops. I wish I could remember which shop the entrance abuts, but Feb's lament of a lack of soils could be somewhat mitigated with such access to the town Herbalist and College soils. There is also a case to reinforce that this Castle should be quest-acquired, or perhaps quest-enhanced.
This only feels like a secret entrance, but the youngest child in town would know where it leads.
Just a thought--- the way to 'earn' the castle is by clearing/solving the missing space between this entrance and the library exit.
Your mod-designing time is valuable, so understandable if this never happens--- but this mod imparts enormous value to player enjoyment--- and I assert that I'd be happy to work for it.
Without too much change, you could still allow access to the library from the mountain-stair, but bar the teleport room, until whatever is in the town tunnel is cleared--- because no matter what, anyone who sleeps or spends more than 24 hours in the library--- or anyone who tries to remove a book--- wakes up dead at X location. So much quest potential...
Solving the quest removes the 'tunnel' forever, and grants the access it currently employs.
5. Quarters for soldiery with adjacent dining hall, right above main entrance. Yes. These guys are defending their home, and the library is a critical chokepoint easily defended by a spiral stair. Future note: like in Skyrim, most medieval staircases had to reckon with overwhelming right-handedness of assailants. Your spiral stairs wind the wrong direction. Defenders need their sword-side free to repel attackers, while the stair also makes right-handed attackers far less effective. I wouldn't change a thing here, because castle invasions don't happen in vanilla, but if they did in a mod... you want, I believe, function over form.
I love the mod.
Double-oven that cannot be ever used practically two at a time, but adds everything to immersion. That's how it's done, you're feeding a small army, or staff. Dining hall balcony/storage--- big fan.
I may come back to edit in more, but I'm still re-watching. Gob-stopper, friend. This is a keeper.
I still want to EARN it...
Not just you, even the archmage would be overwhelmed in there. I'd have to just summon my followers in there because I'm not about to go looking for them. No wonder Inigo stayed put.
Lol yeah it could take a while to track 'em down:)
I have JK’s Winterhold and it works very well with Tel Aschan ☺️…being on the PS4 , my mod choices are rather limited. But I am happy that I can get some nice mods…this mod is very cool 🥰
Really nice ❤
So glad you enjoyed:)
You certainly do have a hand for pretty homes. I find most player homes to big... but that one with its (mostly) small rooms is going on my list for the next playtrough. In the current one I have too much mods... my Skrim is looking like London already.
BTW let me know if Inigo ever quits and I follow you around; probably not as quite though.
LMAO - cute :))
@@FebrithDarkstar Exactly. Not creepy, as they usually tell about me in court... it's cute!
@@TakaD20 Hehe zomg!
this place is awesome i sooo got lost in the secret apocra-whatever place i live it...theres like 4 or five of thise pocet realms in that place i kean i really got lost for like an hour n a half couldnt find the portal back to the actial house..i love it alot
Omg lmao!
😃🤗🤗👍
I sent you a PM on Nexus:)
That should keep you fr om getting too lost lol😊! I love this one alot considering the side. Totally awesome thanks hun 😸👍❣️
😊 thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!:)