The way the first sketch was drawn, I had assumed the tentacle was coming from underneath, but if you have it coming from above, then yeah I can see how it would block a lot of the view.
Also, I fully agree that as you are the one putting the all the time and effort into this, your desires clearly come first. I was providing my opinion to give you some feedback, but in no way really expected you to change things around to accommodate me. I remain very interested in where this goes, and continue to wish you luck in your work.