I never played The Elders Scrolls III: Morrowind (at least not beyond the introduction), so the latest add-on to Skyrim, Dragonborn, didn't really strike the nostalgic chord in me that Bethesda was shooting for by sending players back to the realm of the dark elves. Sure, I recognize things in the abstract -- silt-striders and mushrooms as houses -- but for the most part, Solstheim may as well be a piece of Skyrim with weird crystalline rock formations.

I also don't care about riding dragons, which is Dragonborn's other big claim to fame. Throughout the new quest, you learn a Shout that allows you subdue and ride dragons. I guess that would be cool if the actual act of mounting and flying a dragon weren't so underwhelming. Your first dragon ride serves as the climax of the main quest of this expansion, and it sets the tone for the entire concept: A decisive, "Meh."

So no, Dragonborn didn't appeal to me on the levels Bethesda was aiming for. They were trying to make my "nostalgic" and "heavy metal" synapses fire, but it didn't quite work out. But that's fine. This latest DLC worked for me anyway, despite further increasing the game's notorious instability for me. Dragonborn succeeds, at least for me, because it's mercifully self-contained.

Skyrim's freedom is basically the most dangerous thing in the world to me. With more than 160 hours on my clock at this point, I still haven't finished a single one of the main questlines beyond the civil war. The Thieves Guild is still waiting patiently for me to restore its glory. The Assassins Guild is wondering when those marks they gave me are going to die. And the Greybeards have probably forgotten about me altogether, since I last talked to them around hour 50.

No matter! Dragonborn doesn't help me with my larger problem -- namely, that the mainland of Skyrim currently has about 50 quest markers begging for my attention -- but at least it doesn't exacerbate it. The entire add-on -- or at least all but a couple of quests -- take place entirely on the island of Solstheim, a delightfully self-contained chunk of Morrowind. You'll need to return to Skyrim for a few odds and ends, and maybe to dump all the stuff you accumulate in your house prior to expanding your personal real estate empire to the town of Raven Rock, but otherwise Dragonborn gives you a relatively small, finite space to explore and conquer. It's kind of a relief to know that, after 16 hours or so, I've completed just about everything that can be done in this portion of the game. Elder Scrolls games don't really specialize in a sense of closure, so Dragonborn offers a nice change of pace.

Of course, I wouldn't suggest that the only reason to buy Dragonborn is because it's self-contained; if playing more Skyrim seems like a burden, the best approach would simply be not to buy the expansion at all. But within the island of Solstheim, you'll encounter some interesting new mission types, some strange spaces, acquire new gear and skills, and fight some creatures that can actually cause grief for a Level 50 dovahkiin like yourself. Dragonborn definitely feels like post-game content in a lot of ways: The main quest line allows you acquire not only fantastic new shouts (including the one that lets you tame not only dragons but also turn practically any foe into an ally), but also a great many special skills that greatly enhance your power.

By the end of Dragonborn, you'll have taken your protagonist from "amazing" to "godlike." Each of the half-dozen "Black Book" dungeons-within-a-dungeon you conquer grants you a new skill, some ludicrously powerful, others merely awesomely practical. My personal favorite is the ability to summon a dremora merchant with a healthy amount of cash -- somewhere to drop off all that enchanted jewelry and armor I keep making. My 80,000 gold cash stockpile doubled in the course of completing Dragonborn (with this one weird trick!). Now maybe I can finally get to work building a house with the Hearthfire expansion add-ons.

The Black Books represent the heart of Dragonborn for another reason as well: They're easily the most interesting dungeons in the game. Although they all look the same (piles of books spanning a chthonic lake of poison, loose pages swirling about in eddies of wind) and features a very limited set of enemies, each one has its own distinct gimmick. The Black Books represent the domain of the Elder's Scrolls' Chtulhu equivalent (and you know how much I love that guy), so they're bathed in a sickly light (possibly octarine) and patrolled by Lurkers (giant fish-men) and Seekers (the Elder Scrolls equivalent of Mind Flayers -- seriously, every game owes a hell of a debt to D&D). These guys are the toughest non-Dragon foes in the entire Skyrim sandbox, giving even the dragon priests a run for their money. Meanwhile, the dungeons themselves shift and distort as you traverse them, requiring you to solve puzzles or simply run like mad to make your way through life-sapping pools of darkness. They are tense, interesting, and challenging.

Alas, the rest of Dragonborn revolves around killing Druagrs, which is pretty boring when your protagonist can take down even a Druagr Deathlord in two hits. But you can't win them all.

The expansion's additions to the equipment tool set don't quite push Daedric and Dragon gear out of the top slot, but they do occupy a happy second tier. And there are a few new armor sets and weapons that even a veteran explorer with Epic, enchanted gear may consider using. Much as I love my Dragonscale mail and archery-enhancing Hooded Cowl, the Deathbrand light armor is too good for me not to use. And while I prefer bows and stealth to melee and magic, the staff that causes poisonous tentacles to spout from enemies when I strike them is good for laughs against weaker mobs.

Do all of these things add up to an expansion that's worth 20 bucks? That's your call. I don't pretend to know your gaming budget. But I know I got my money's worth -- not only is my dovahkiin even more ridiculously overpowered than she was 20 hours of play time ago, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've seen all there is to see in at least one portion of Skyrim's world.

Of course, as soon I returned to the mainland I had 50 points of interest demanding my attention. Maybe I'll finish them, someday. But in the meantime, there are all these dark compass icons on the western side of the map north of Markarth that I've never bothered to explore....