Round #2 - Poll #1 [REMADE]

Vote for up to nine videos!

Five of these will be eliminated, the rest will move on to round 3!

Entries:

1. Type R
   
2. Valence 3: The Outer Shell
   
3. Dark Matter
   
4. Mount Olxympus
   
5. Lilac Wine
   
6. Incito Scaena
   
7. Integration
   
8. Rek
   
9. Handlebars
   
10. Quirkers Laboratory
    
11. The Remix Session 2 Scened
    
12. EVOL
    
13. Inhibitions
    

Rules:
- Watch all tracks before voting (if you've seen them before, a re-watch is recommended but not required)
- Please don't vote for yourself
Exception: You can vote for 'yourself' for large collabs (e.g. community scenery projects, clan projects, or LCC projects)
- No begging/bribing/duping or otherwise cheating
- We will not change your vote after you cast it - make sure it's accurate

Embedded videos:

Spoiler:

I think people are crazy for not appreciating Rek more. It just makes me smile every time I watch it. I'd say it still ranks among the top for my personal all time favorite tracks.

integration is a major

I decided to do things in this order: 1) watch 2) choose votes 3) look at what I said last round 4) post thoughts

What I wrote about these tracks in Round #1:

Spoiler:

Thoughts after watching them this time:
Type R - I still dig the flow in this one but it's not enough for me to vote for it this round. X
Valence 3 - Really solid execution and coherence and I dig the music sync. √
Dark Matter - love the squid but the beginning and ending are both quite weak, not enough to get a vote from me in round 2. X
Mount Olxympus - It's just so blatantly unfinished. X
Lilac Wine - I noticed a couple music syncs this time around but I still don't see this track as anything I can appreciate. X
Incito Scaena - Unwatchable chaos. X
Integration - Surprisingly fresh. √
Rek - Cool concept, could have gone further but enough for my vote this round. √
Handlebars - EASILY my favorite track in this poll. What a track. √
Quirker's Laboratory - Nice physical style, fun watch. √
TRS2S - Can't get past the million vines in the latter half. X
EVOL - Enjoyed this more the second time around, some fun music syncs (post production I'm sure). But still no. X
Inhibitons - Didn't write anything about this last time. I really enjoy the use of kramual cannons for syncs and they work beautifully, and I really like the vertical-oriented sections... but there are so many goddamn pinches and that gets old real quick. And a lot of the quirk feels excessively violent in comparison. X

Feedback, just my opinion: IMO there are too many tracks for me in the polls each time. I like to watch 2, maybe 3, 4 max per poll. And I don't really like to vote without watching everything in a row.
Still, I very much like the ToL, it's fun to read people's comments and opinions on tracks and from time to time I do take the effort to watch everything and vote

Anyhow, noticed this FYI:
"Five of these will be eliminated, the rest will move on to round 2!"

REVIEW TIME, MY LITTLE POOTIS

TYPE R
I get this big, stupid grin on my face every time I watch this track. It does such a good job of maintaining a good balance between the feeling of control and the feeling of freedom. I really, really like how the flow works in the context of the song as well. You could say it syncs to the flow.

VALENCE 3
Holy shit, this track. It's so great at giving off that "holy shit wheeeeeeeee" vibe that early "Line Rider Guy Goes Off A Ramp At Ludicrous Speeds" videos had while still being super, super technically proficient. What a masterwork in flingquirk, and what an honor to edit this.

DARK MATTER
This track has good moments! I love the squid, and I love the texturing in certain parts. That said, it's clear that the first part wasn't planned for scenery, and that Snooze struggled with that. Great track in context, still all right out of it, but not good enough for my vote this round.

MOUNT OLXYMPUS
Painfully incomplete. I wish I could have seen it in its full state. Saddest edit I've ever made. The track, like a lot of higher-speed XYs, is pretty reliant on pinches. Lots of neat moments. .boo had a visceral understanding of "milking the moment," honestly. In its current state, though, I can't say yes to this track. Sorry.

LILAC WINE
Beyond my personal opinion that Hedge's editing is perfect for this track, Lilac Wine has the rare distinction of being a quirk that knows how to chill. Moments are extended. Airtimes are relaxed, but advance the track well. This track feels free, and it's powerful.

INCITO SCAENA
Parts of this track are really beautiful. You can tell that GhostY spent a lot of time on some parts and not a lot of time on other parts. It's very inconsistent, and while a lot of the art is great, it doesn't do a super good job of interacting with the track, which for me feels like the whole point of scenery to begin with.

INTEGRATION
Can anyone make a track like this? I don't mean using integration as we know it now. I dare you to find a track that comes even close to matching this perfect storm of rotation, flow, and power. This is a brilliant and unique gem in Line Rider history, and we would be wise to treasure it.

REK
WTB, I'm not even mad. This is such a brilliant subversion of my usual expectations, and while the quirk is generic, it doesn't even matter, since the misdirection turns a genre that's normally rather predictable (ZNF manuquirk) into a massive guessing game. Genius.

HANDLEBARS
This is the perfect omni. There is nothing I can say about this track that hasn't already been said. rofl, THANK YOU for this track. It's a delight to watch, every single goddamn time.

QUIRKER'S LABORATORY
I get the same chills I get when I watch this as I do when I watch Integration. You can TRY to make something like this but unless you treat the flatsled with the same care that you treat manuals and quirk, it just won't look so freakin' powerful and chaotic. A beautiful mess.

THE REMIX SESSION 2 SCENED
I like the scenery, really, I do. But that's all it is: some drawings that are pretty cool. There's no attempt to tell a story like Happily Ever After, there's no cohesive world like Mysteria, and the monument feels out of place. Fun watch, but not a track that'll get my vote this round.

EVOL
Watching EVOL is like watching archived footage of people playing tennis with wooden rackets: it's rad as hell, and you're totally diggin' the way they're playing, but ultimately, they just don't have the toolbox to play like they do now. The song absolutely kills here, too. No vote, but a thumbs up and a nostalgic gleam in my eye.

INHIBITIONS
Dap deserves a more serious summary. This has some fantastic "fuck yeah bb" moments-- the reversal, the drop, the kramual sync-- but it was super pinch-reliant, as XYs of this nature usually are, and I often found myself losing interest right after he'd hooked me. No vote here, but I'm excited to see more and hope that dap figures out the magic of milking the moment.

Valence, Dark Matter, Incito Scaena, Integration, Rek, The Remix Session 2 Scened. I know Quirker's Laboratory was very special in its time but I don't see what's so special about it now. Looks like an average track with half-decent flatsled.

I'll add myself to the review-group next round.

@ Zeno: Next round the polls will be smaller. I'll plan a 'rest-day' after poll #4 for people to catch up with polls they missed.

Z_N-Freak wrote:IMO there are too many tracks for me in the polls each time. I like to watch 2, maybe 3, 4 max per poll. And I don't really like to vote without watching everything in a row.

I hear you, it's a lot of tracks. But if we have polls of 4 each, we would have had 25 polls in this round which would take a month just for the one round if they were one per day. Next round they will be polls of 8 and then after that they will be polls of 4.

This is a really huge tournament, and we know not everyone will have time to watch all the videos and vote in the early rounds. But if you're pressed for time, that is okay, we just ask that you stick around and start voting when the polls become a more manageable size.

rabid squirrel wrote:

Z_N-Freak wrote:IMO there are too many tracks for me in the polls each time. I like to watch 2, maybe 3, 4 max per poll. And I don't really like to vote without watching everything in a row.

I hear you, it's a lot of tracks. But if we have polls of 4 each, we would have had 25 polls in this round which would take a month just for the one round if they were one per day. Next round they will be polls of 8 and then after that they will be polls of 4.

This is a really huge tournament, and we know not everyone will have time to watch all the videos and vote in the early rounds. But if you're pressed for time, that is okay, we just ask that you stick around and start voting when the polls become a more manageable size.

I'll definitely stick around. Love reading about how people view/rate tracks, very interesting

EVOL, Dark Matter, Rek, and Remix Session 2 are eliminated. Type R, Integration, and Inhibitions enter into a tiebreaker poll in which only one will continue on

God damn it, I got this wrong. TWO of the three moving on to the tiebreaker poll will advance, ONE will be eliminated.