Ahh, dammit, was hoping to see this one get a lil closer to the vote count of the previous.
I honestly have no clue why it didn't, especially with it collecting a lil bit more reblogs. I guess some ppl might just like SHOP so much that they'd specifically show up to support it, while basically just ignoring anything else (and no shame for that, really).
Anyways, this poll allows us to either vote for one of the 3 big Ancient Urban moments that made it to the semifinals, or that long walk through a grassy field, during the 'Outer Expanse sequence' within the final ending. Quite the tough choice, as one might expect.
Thankfully, these two rooms are actually somewhat linked - not just in both being story-oriented rooms, but also in the fact that they both put a lot of focus in the idea of reminiscing about the past.
With some pretty fascinating contrast being present there.
Since TOYS is a room that Spinning Top regards quite fondly, thinking back on it as a place that offered incredible comfort. Whereas TREE01 is a place of enormous trauma and loss for the Watcher, while also acting as the place that got them started in on this mad journey in the first place.
It really is no coincidence that TOYS gets followed up by Watcher relishing in their continued existence, while TREE01 leads up to them finally deciding to let go, in favor of something new. These act as very natural conclusions, for what the rooms have been telling us.
(Not to mention the game leaning back on its whole Cycle motif, with the characters visiting these locations, near the end of their journeys)
The main part where I feel like they differ, however, is their overall relevance to the narrative.
While I did talk a lot about the significance of the spear in the leftmost screen, and how it's very much meant to allude to the intro cutscene, it is also somewhat of an 'Easter Egg' moment, that you might not catch onto immediately. Especially with it being just a small part of a big giant sequence that throws an incredible amount of things at you.
TOYS, on the other hand, feels much more focused and clear, in the things it wants you to get.
Sure, there are city views, and void baths, and shops showing Ancients walking by, but things are paced pretty nicely, so that you get a lil break, before the campaign shows you this bombshell of a room reveal at you. And it does help a ton, how everything important is immediately apparent - and while the room does have its fair share of details and extra flair, they more so act as 'bonus additions', instead of being the main things that give the room its meaning.
Does that mean TREE01 failed in its design? No, not at all, it's just that by virtue of what it is, it cannot really do that much more, than:
showing off some neat plants you haven't really seen before (super tall background grass)
referencing the intro cutscene
possibly doing a subtle tie-in to Outer Rim, via the long walk that leads into a tall structure with vines you'll have to climb, and a big orb at the top (which may or may not be a big stretch, but I'd like to think it was intended)
There's obviously the fact that you can only do so much, with a grass field next to Watcher's old home. And to give credit where credit is absolutely due, this room basically pulled as much as it possibly could, from its concept.
Which is why it feels quite interesting to see this somewhat straightforward idea getting matched up against the bedroom of the Echo we've been following for most of the campaign, which is filled with absolutely endless potential that the devs thoroughly explored in interesting ways.
Even a small detail, such as the color of its background wall, already tells us so much about this place, and the old civilization.
And don't get me started on the use of lighting, both in the Spinning Top encounter, as well as the ending cutscene. Or the buildup climb. Or the things we see in the cutscene. Or even the designs of the toys themselves.
Truthfully, I'd feel incredibly cheap, if I were to vote for TOYS. With how the poll is basically nothing but Ancient Urban, at this point.
But also, I'm just not sure if that tree room could reasonably keep up. There's a few other rooms where I absolutely could've made a potential argument (the most significant one definitely being Outer Rim's AI), but if my previous 1v1 reblogs are anything to go by, TREE01 simply didn't catch me all that much.
Sure, I do have appreciation for some of the things it's going for. And it does have its interesting aspects, as well as a pretty awesome use of colors and composition, in a lot of its screens. But also, once you discover what that leftmost screen was, you've basically got everything the room has to offer.
And yeah, it is nice to have an explicit confirmation on what this place is - as well as to have it add more context to the Rot Quest dream, you also have to factor in that the game has already done the heavy lifting through other places/means, when it comes to this story thread. Compared to TOYS, essentially having to singlehandedly carry Spinning Top's story, with some mild assistance from a few other rooms.
In reality, I don't think you can really make an 'objective' choice on this one. Even the things I've said, are not really appropriate representations of the successes and failures of these designs - I was simply speaking about the concepts they're looking to execute. And whether or not we should factor a concept, or just the execution, is a whole another thing. (And very obviously, we do factor concepts, cus we didn't really have 'perfectly executed' miniscule filler rooms within the 1v1s now, did we? The question of "How much impact would it have, if the room were to be deleted?" is a highly valid one here, I feel. And it just so happens to be the main thing that gives TOYS its edge)
But honestly, I can't really think of many other metrics to go by, beyond just thinking on which idea spoke to you better, or stuck with you more (or the aforementioned 'delete question').
And for me, it was easily the toy room.
I guess you could also go for whatever you find more visually appealing… though that wouldn't really change anything for me. While I do like the Outer Expanse aesthetics, the grassy and jungle-y parts never hit that hard for me, personally. (I'm mostly in favor of the watery rooms, as well as the ones where you see remnants of the old structures. But neither of these two categories apply for TREE01, so yeah)
As a final sendoff, here are the cinematic appearances of these two:
Not gonna lie, it's pretty interesting to see how these places are interpreted, through two vastly different artstyles.
Especially with the subtle adjustments to the color schemes within the cutscenes, based on Watcher's emotional state. You can also see it in how much brighter TREE02 looks in the cutscenes, which I think I already addressed in its polls. It's neat stuff, for sure ^-^
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