Tree Roots

Post by **pisces9397** » 14 Sep 2009

I checked the Quicklinks and couldn't find this topic yet, so here it goes....

I'm playing Homecoming right now, and have noticed that the tree roots throughout the game seem to have grown crazy throughout the town. Not only that, but in the basement of Town Hall there is a giant mass of roots coming through the ceiling. I'm just trying to figure out if they might mean something, or if it's just a quirk they designed. Discuss if you will.

Post by **Klimat** » 14 Sep 2009

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

Joey Bartlett was buried alive by his father Mayor Sam Bartlett who was also well know as a man growing "grapes for a little winery that his family has owned for ages". I guess all Bartletts of Shepherd's Glenn were farmers, even Joey himself was connected to the green nature before his death. Do you remember his only photo? He was posing on the tree house. Also all burial stuff is symbolic: burial = returning someone to the soil from which all farmer's plants growing usually. So Sam thought after the murder his son was reborn as some king of a soil/tree angel or demon or whatever you want. That faith did affect the communal parallel world in Homecoming, bringing all roots stuff, strange message Wheeler was talking about in his diary and finally Sepulcher boss himself. Did you notice that Sepulcher was a combination of a tree, fertilizing sack and buried corpses getting out of the soil? We also fight him in a greenhouse and after Sepulcher's death he's going down deep under the ground.
I also believe three Church paintings of a mysterious woman, a tree and a man "being restrained by roots from the tree" represents Carrol, Joey and Sam. Sam kills Joey and his love affair with Carrol ends because of this deed. For the mysterious woman painting we first can see not in the Church, but in the hotel. There we should cut it and go through the door behind the painting which can be only opened with the right key that Carol herself holds.

Post by **Returbuliz** » 14 Sep 2009

Yeah, I've noticed them too.
They're among the coolest features of Homecoming's otherworld imo.
Those 'pinky' roots seems to be constantly growing or coming out of the ground somehow.
I think they symbolize rotten roots of Alex's 'Family tree', & the the original 4 leading families of Shepherd's glen.
The family theme appears frequently in SHH plot.

Post by **LanceS133** » 14 Sep 2009

I vote to add this to the Quicklinks.

Post by **kideatsu** » 14 Sep 2009

It may just be a style the designers were going for, a detail you might say, so make the game unique.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 14 Sep 2009

LanceS133 wrote:I vote to add this to the Quicklinks.

Seconded.

Post by **Returbuliz** » 14 Sep 2009

^ Vote too

Post by **pisces9397** » 15 Sep 2009

Excellent Klimat. I also, say quicklinks it.

Post by **The Wanderer** » 18 Sep 2009

I think there are some tree roots growing in the streets of Shepherd's Glen. They seem to extend to far into the street to be natural.

Post by **Weyoun** » 18 Sep 2009

One of the more interesting aspects about this game. It's like all of the deep, dark secrets the Shepherd's Glen families were hiding are coming to the surface. Hence exposed roots everywhere.
I never made that connection before with Bartletts' family-owned winery/the greenhouse and their method of sacrifice.
I want to replay this game again.

Post by **pisces9397** » 20 Sep 2009

Yeah, this was my second play-through. I didn't really like the game the first time, but it has definitely grown on me.