Thoughts on Jode’s Embrace?

Araneae6537

I did a search, but the only topics I found were some problems during PTS, questions regarding its release, and a somewhat Freudian discussion regarding architecture!

I would be interested in hearing the opinions of those who’ve looked at it more closely in PTS or preview or have bought it. I LOVE the waterfall and rock garden areas outside! I would be interested in knowing whether there are any windows in Jode’s Embrace that create patches of light like in Sugar Bowl Suite and the Alinor homes — it’s an effect I really love. My brief preview was at night so I haven’t seen yet. Are there any architectural anomalies or invisible walls where you wouldn’t expect them?

I shouldn’t consider buying it at all at that price but I DO like it and it feels more grand and palatial than some of the other mansions I’ve looked at, or at least I do like the style of this one.

Thoughts? Please share them, and thank you!

dcam86b14_ESO

I was excited for it when it was first shown but as time went by I started to see all the problems with it.

Few rooms
Entire back area closed off and replaced with a gimmick
inconciestnt windows and roofing
odd angles on some floors and walls
textures not matching on rocks and water
too much sand in the entrance

The pictures show what the home looks like in the main quest, the area behind the locked doors in the throne room.

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Nebthet78

I played with it and decorated it on the PTS and was able to get it pretty good looking. Jode's Embrace is a shortened version of the Palace in Rimmen, with all the back doors taken away.

I don't know what the other person's pictures are of, but it isn't the Rimmen Palace I remember.

While there are only 700 slots with this home, you are able to decorate it so it's not too cluttered and that it looks filled. This includes adding some more trees or flowers outside.

The windows do let some light through when the sun is in the right position but that doesn't happen very often. The windows in the two rooms that face the back actually confuse me as to why they are even there, considering the inconsistent design of the back of the building, which indicates there is no backyard.

I liked having it so that I had a home I could actually tinker with and friends had an area they could go to and duel if they wanted to as well. One day they may give us more furniture space. When they do, there is so much more that could be done with this house.

bluebird

Yeah agreed! The layout is a bit of a waste since the actual Rimmen Palace that Jode's Embrace is based on has several smaller rooms, not just the large halls that we get from it.

A problem with the large halls though is always the difficulty of lighting it properly. The roofs are very tall and none of the chandeliers ingame have sufficient lighting. I even tried using Culanda stones, but I still needed 5 to light up the roof alone in the main hall, and the light was still nowhere near the actual room so I just gave up. Maybe I'll add some shoddy cross-beams and hang lamps from those or put in some pillars, because the rooms are un-lightably huge by default.

And there are several crimes against symmetry in the house. I'm personally really bothered by off-center things, misaligned things, etc., so I always wonder why on Earth the designer put the windows or whatever that way. It makes no sense to me how someone can look at a clearly symmetrical frame and then not put the window in the center. Lucky Cat Landing was far worse because it has a huge number of displaced windows, but the ones we get in Jode's Embrace are also 'drunk'.

And as for the light... some windows do sort of cast light (though I didn't check all the windows during all times of day to compare) but I screencapped this one. To me it looks a bit silly that the windows remain a dirty pale yellow while they allegedly let the sunshine through (other windows brighten up properly when they cast light), but maybe you don't mind it. Hope that helps

Araneae6537

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and observations! There are several aspects I love about the place, especially the waterfalls and stone gardens outside! The plane of Jode is also really cool and has interesting building potential in my opinion.

However, there are aspects of the main building itself that bother me the more I looked at it, and to even entertain the thought of spending so much, at the least I am going to look closely, think hard and look again. The interior just does not feel right with how the palace appears from the outside, both because of windows present on the interior but not exterior (around both side doors) and it seems like there is more too the building that has been closed/boarded off. I get this impression from the general space and size, the door frames that lack doors (although I’m sure the frames could be put to other purpose), and from the outside, it looks like there should be a second story with lots of large gorgeous windows, but these upper windows aren’t even visible from inside. Now I do want to say that I was glad the palace wasn’t absolutely huge like Psijic Villa where I think most (all?) would agree it impossible to fully decorate with only 700 items. I do like smaller homes with relatively high item limits (houses like Kragenhome and Snugpod seem pretty perfect to me in ratio of size to item limit), it is that the layout doesn’t seem to make sense — maybe if the building didn’t appear from the outside to have an additional story or it had more upstairs rooms (with beautiful windows!) but only one wing instead of two. In other words, I think the amount of space is good but how it is arranged does not feel entirely natural or congruous with the exterior. Finally, there are symmetry issues as has been pointed out, and a framed window not aligning with said frame seems particularly egregious.

I want to make clear that I did not create this thread to criticize, but because I loved aspects of it enough to look more closely and consider... And that’s a point too, the price. Alinor Crest Townhouse has it’s inconsistencies that I wish were not there but I love it enough in spite of these that it was worth the price to me (first home I bought with Crowns because I was a poor newb with no gold — no regrets!). But when a home is going to cost that much... It is a lot to consider spending at all on purely cosmetic aspect for a game, so I would need it to be perfect. That may also lead to what people consider perfect differing, and thankfully there are very different homes for different tastes. I do think that a nice perk to make such expensive homes more worth the price is if you had some choice in layouts, even window placement. Would that be prohibitively difficult/expensive to implement? I think it would add a lot of appeal to have not only a limited offer but customized home, both making it more unique and fit your ideal vision. For instance I loved the sand and rock gardens but another person did not.

I hope my feedback may be of some use. I only started ESO this past July but I really love it and love the community. So many great aspects of the game and housing is absolutely one I enjoy creating in and I hope very much to see it improved and added to.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

I like the Plane of Jode area but not he rest of the house. Make the Plane about four times larger and it would make a nice freeform area on its own.

chuck-18_ESO

I'm glad you're taking the time to really think hard before buying! A notable home is a major investment, and one should never be bought lightly.

Personally, I never buy a home unless I have a solid vision for what I want to do with it, and try as I might, I got no vision from Jode's Embrace.

The home is, technically, an adeptorium, and the cut-in-half palace doesn't really give me the vibe of an adeptorium (while also not being big enough to really feel like a proper palace). I don't mind that it's small, but the floor plan is both far too open and far too bland for my tastes. It's basically one massive gallery.

I love the yard, but it's so tiny! The waterfall and the sand are gorgeous, but when you actually consider what you might do with the yard in terms of decorating, the size is a real hindrance.

The plane of Jode is, of course, the pièce de résistance of the home. It's an interesting gimmick, but ultimately that's what it feels like - a gimmick. I like that it's essentially a sandbox for you to do whatever you want with, and there are many options indeed. The observation towers are a really nice touch. That being said, the obvious khajiiti temple designs in the plane almost force you into a certain theme, which I don't like.

Ultimately (and this is of course just my opinion) the house is bland and uninspiring, the yard is too small, and the plane of Jode isn't impressive enough to make up for the lackluster feel of the rest of the home, and certainly not enough to justify the price tag. If I want an open sandbox plane with a static skybox to work with, I'd prefer the Hunter's Glade. After careful consideration, I'll be skipping over Jode's Embrace.

TheImperfect

I love it and plan some extra building work but on its own as it is, it is deceptively small apart from the side rooms. I really love it though. I did put some really large things in the lobby and main hall though so with normal furniture it might feel quite large.

Sporvan

Pros:
- Gorgeous cleancut Rimmen style building
- Not actually that big so one might be able to furnish it nicely within the 700 item limit
- Jode's Core is unique and it has wonderful lighting with rotating shadows
- The only Elsweyr desert geography home so finally have a use for all them succulents

Cons:
- Bad alignment on windows in boxes
- The back half of the building is inaccessible. You have windows facing an inner courtyard which you can't access.
- The garden areas are a bit small to achieve some proper desert landscaping

Lovely home all in all and worthwhile if you're Elsweyrtized

Sporvan

Well I just finished my Jode's Embrace and had a fairly easy time with the 700 item limit. Very happy with how it turned out and it might inspire some others to get this wonderful house as well.

Folks are welcome to go and visit it, it's my primary @sporvan on PC EU.

Pink_E_808

I love it so much and really wanted to buy it...until I walked in the door of the wings on each side of the house. The difference between what the inside and the outside look like is just too off for me. I would have thought after the other houses that have similar issues that they would be more careful with the layouts, but I guess not. I was expecting to walk into a narrowish room with tall ceilings and was greeted with something almost twice the size and half the height. Think I shall pass on that one.

Tigerseye

It's not for me.

It's, basically, 2 square rooms off a hallway, downstairs and an illogical corridor to nowhere, upstairs.

They didn't even leave chained off doors, to explain what had happened to the back (downstairs) and the sides (upstairs) of the house and just stuck windows onto nothing, in the back walls of the downstairs, instead.

Even though those rooms are only about half the depth of the house, so would be facing onto an empty and inaccessible (interior) space.

I will accept a certain degree of illogicality and simplification, in housing, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

But, I said all this before, repeatedly, in my "Disappointed with Elsweyr Housing" thread, so I will leave it there.

Gnatrak

When I first saw Jode's Embrace, I fell in love - more so with Jode's Plane and I immediately wanted to buy it. As I looked around though, my CDO (it's like OCD but in alphabetical order - as it should be) was triggered.

It's the lack of symmetry that gets me.

I finally decided to buy this home because I do like - it's just unfortunate that I have to fix some the errors myself.

Minor problems.
Perhaps this is asinine of me to even bring up, but the garden wall on the left sticks out noticeably more than the one on right side.



So, they got the floor fairly even here.


But what happened here?


Sure, I was able to fix it by placing another floor masonry over the old one, but come on - that's one less item I could have used 'elsweyr' in my home.


I was excited to see clear water in the pools, but what is with the weeds?


I tried shoveling...


I tried raking...
But no, they are still there - and did I mention that pool is off-centered too?



Moderate problems.
The windows, ALL of them - I almost don't know what to say other than ask: is the designer cross eyed?



My major problem with the home.
Jode's Plane is my favorite and the symmetry is all wrong, if the teleporter can be moved to the right some and the railing to the left then I can forgive the rest.

Sporvan

@zurica yup those bother me as well! Also the floor tiles of the main inside hall are off-centre too (like on Jode's Core). Wonder if they'll ever address it.

It's still such a gorgeous house though and just oozes kitten elegance.

TheImperfect

Tigerseye wrote: »

It's not for me.

It's, basically, 2 square rooms off a hallway, downstairs and an illogical corridor to nowhere, upstairs.

They didn't even leave chained off doors, to explain what had happened to the back (downstairs) and the sides (upstairs) of the house and just stuck windows onto nothing, in the back walls of the downstairs, instead.

Even though those rooms are only about half the depth of the house, so would be facing onto an empty and inaccessible (interior) space.

I will accept a certain degree of illogicality and simplification, in housing, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

But, I said all this before, repeatedly, in my "Disappointed with Elsweyr Housing" thread, so I will leave it there.

I kind of like it, I like to think maybe eventually we will be able to put in portals to other homes or areas in the same house. It also gives the option to put in fake doors but I do prefer to put in proper doors. Those doorway alcoves to nowhere can also be used to put decorations in.

Gnatrak

Sporvan wrote: »

@zurica yup those bother me as well! Also the floor tiles of the main inside hall are off-centre too (like on Jode's Core). Wonder if they'll ever address it.

It's still such a gorgeous house though and just oozes kitten elegance.

Yeah, the floors annoy me too - there is so much wrong in there that I figured if I posted all my complaints ZOS would just delete my post.

InaMoonlight

No, back area is too weird, if i want superweird I'll do it myself tyvm!

bluebird

Zurica wrote: »

When I first saw Jode's Embrace, I fell in love - more so with Jode's Plane and I immediately wanted to buy it. As I looked around though, my CDO (it's like OCD but in alphabetical order - as it should be) was triggered.

It's the lack of symmetry that gets me.

Lol, I feel you on the CDO . And yes, great points, thanks for sharing so many of the problems in image form! Let's hope some of the housing devs see exactly what we're talking about when we complain about the issues.

They don't usually change items after they are released (unless it's a glaring bug or something), so it's probably too late for Jode's Embrace. But I really hope that ZOS are listening to the feedback, because some of these are recurring issues (i.e. the windows in Lucky Cat Landing as well), and some of the placements and anomalies just seem to have no purpose other than annoying players so it would be nice to avoid them in future houses.

Araneae6537

I look forward to touring those of your open houses! Some thing it makes sense that some players will see as selling points and others as detriments — the Plane of Jode and the outside area for instance. But aspects like misalignments, windows being off-center in a frame, and the interior so clearly not matching the exterior, I cannot imagine please anyone.

Jaimeh

Zurica wrote: »

When I first saw Jode's Embrace, I fell in love - more so with Jode's Plane and I immediately wanted to buy it. As I looked around though, my CDO (it's like OCD but in alphabetical order - as it should be) was triggered.

It's the lack of symmetry that gets me.

I finally decided to buy this home because I do like - it's just unfortunate that I have to fix some the errors myself.

Minor problems.
Perhaps this is asinine of me to even bring up, but the garden wall on the left sticks out noticeably more than the one on right side.



So, they got the floor fairly even here.


But what happened here?


Sure, I was able to fix it by placing another floor masonry over the old one, but come on - that's one less item I could have used 'elsweyr' in my home.


I was excited to see clear water in the pools, but what is with the weeds?


I tried shoveling...


I tried raking...
But no, they are still there - and did I mention that pool is off-centered too?



Moderate problems.
The windows, ALL of them - I almost don't know what to say other than ask: is the designer cross eyed?



My major problem with the home.
Jode's Plane is my favorite and the symmetry is all wrong, if the teleporter can be moved to the right some and the railing to the left then I can forgive the rest.

The quality on a house of that price though

Gnatrak

bluebird wrote: »

Lol, I feel you on the CDO . And yes, great points, thanks for sharing so many of the problems in image form! Let's hope some of the housing devs see exactly what we're talking about when we complain about the issues.

They don't usually change items after they are released (unless it's a glaring bug or something), so it's probably too late for Jode's Embrace. But I really hope that ZOS are listening to the feedback, because some of these are recurring issues (i.e. the windows in Lucky Cat Landing as well), and some of the placements and anomalies just seem to have no purpose other than annoying players so it would be nice to avoid them in future houses.

If they do take notice, lets just hope it's not the graphic designer / developer who did the windows because you know they're not going to see what's wrong with them.

Joking aside, I've had my account since beta, but I didn't buy the game until Morrowind game out. I quit after a couple of months and just came back when they released Northern Elsweyr. In the short amount of time that I've legitimately played I've come to notice they neglect a mass amount of feedback that's left in the PTS well before things go live, so unfortunately I don't have much hope with this home or any of the other ones to be honest.

You are right about these design errors being recurring though, there are flaws in all the homes, but the newer ones are consistent with having the same problems - something is definitely wrong. After going through the history on the forums I feel like ZOS has gotten sloppy because they are too busy trying to rush out new content and perhaps some of their teams are underqualified as well (and in no way am I'm actually trying to bash them), I've just noticed similarities with their overall game coding with repetitive bugs thus my conclusion.

I really hope they start focusing on quality control though because overall I do enjoy the game.

Gnatrak

Jaimeh wrote: »

The quality on a house of that price though

I know - I know, but I was going to use that to my advantage to get a refund -and- a free home!
But to be fair, regardless of quality - the prices on all the homes is a crime and some of us, well - we volunteer to be robbed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯