[promethius9594]

"- There are no party members in this game right? It's all solo? Because so far there isn't much of a roleplaying aspect. Not that I'm complaining, I do like the game a lot."

No, no party members. if youre just starting the game, you might have a hard time limiting yourself as JUST a healer, especially if your strength and combat ability is so low. I would restart and make either a true mage(breton), an assasin (my favorite)(khajiit), or a warrior mage (dark elf). Its all well and good to be a healer, but i have no magicka ability so to speak of and manage to heal myself quite nicely, while quests which require healing others are few and far between. Trust me, start over a few times until you get a character you'll enjoy which you can win with. If you need any pointers on which skills are useful (light armor) and which arent (hand to hand, unarmoured, etc), let me know.

"- Does anyone know what all the alembics, mortar & pestle and so on are for? They come in Master's, Journeyman's, Apprentice's etc. so I take it they are used for a certain skill and come in different qualities, just like the Lockpicks and probes. Are they used for Alchemy? That's one of my skills so how can I make use of them?"

yes, they are used for alchemy. despite the fact that its one of my skills, i havent ever used it (assasins dont have time to mix drinks between killing daedra).

"- What's with the soul gems? I recall finding someone (perhaps Galbedir in the Mages Guild) who could do something with them..."

heh, you get to enchant items. see my article "a beginners guide to enchanting items for more information on enchantments, then if you have any questions about it post them there and i'll be glad to answer them for you. some basics: having empty soul gems lets you trap a creatures soul when it dies. the easiest way to get soul gems filled is to make a weapon which has soul trap on it. how do you enchant a weapon with soul trap, when you cant trap a soul in the first place? well, one of the mages guild quests in balmora... SPOILER

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*Will have you place something or take something from the enchanter in the mages guild desk. at this time she will leave her desk for a few minutes. take ALL of the soul gems from her desk and use them to make some cool items (swords with soul trap, for instance). HOWEVER, dont ever go to the same woman again for enchanting, she'll try to kill you. i recommend bribing the guy in the balmora temple up to 100 disposition and then using him to do all your enchantments.

"- Is it worth it creating your own spells? It seems so cool a feature to play around with! "

yes, when you are small and weak, with little experience, creating your own spells isnt really worth it. as you get stronger and develope magicka abilities the spells you can create and use will be much more powerful than any you can buy.