Did Critical Role Campaign 3 REALLY Lose Its Spark?

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Critical Roles campaign 3 feels.... Different. I want to talk about that.
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22 июн 2023

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Комментарии : 481

@PlayYourRole Год назад

People are unsubbing left and right on this one without watching the video lmfao Watch to the end guys. There's more to this than you think.

@reddboone122989 Год назад

Some of us did. Stop using clickbait titles and captions just for drama or to hype up interest. Respect your viewers. Feels like this was extended and drawn out more than it's worth and then some. Sorry. It's probably just me but I've watched your videos almost always as soon as they came out and this was just... Different..

@Drewstein69 Год назад

Coming from someone who doesn't watch Critical Role (Dungeons & Daddies forever!), one way to view those that are unsubbing is they aren't willing to listen to criticism about something that they love/impacts their life and will probably continue to listen/watch CR. With them leaving, it says more about them than it does about you Jay. I know that's simple and possibly reductive to say, however, if they watched your previous videos and bounced before finishing/watching this one, they may have just been fair weather subs. I'm still going to give this video a watch, even if I don't know what's going on in the campaign :P

@ahealthkit2745 Год назад

Honestly, you said what me and my roommate have been feeling for the last two years. It really does feel like the third season is the black sheep of the series. My roommate believes that the reason the third season is lacklustre is because all the players are too familiar with the rhythm. It was almost... overconfidence? Like, each player was so familiar with how things go that everything sorta felt a little obvious, nothing felt 'special', there didn't feel like there was even remotely enough depth to each of them. I dunno. I watched it quite far and found it enjoyable to casually listen to it, but I definitely feel like something is missing.

@leekestner1554 Год назад

Silly people. I never unsub over just one difference of opinion. Well if it is very vile like slavery, racist shit or something like that yeah but not just a simple different take on something. I did watch it all the way through. You have found some wisdom. Yes it did lose some edge when they had to quit going live. But for their improved mental and physical health I can live with that. The story told is different. My life is different. Our world is different. I am 61 and looking at climate change. My grandson will know a very different world than I did growing up. Everything feels precarious just like it does in Campaign 3 at the moment. I never stopped watching but my interest has picked up again since the clash with Ludinus. I see it mirror our own world. Our planet is on the verge of a great change just like Exandria. It is time for us to stand up and be the heroes we need. And even in these unprecedented days we must find those joys that we will look back on and cherish. And the courage to leave this world better than we found it.

@markapgar7437 Год назад

This was hard to get through, but totally worth it.

@briannenurse4640 Год назад

I fully understand people who prefer one season to another, but people also thought the Mighty Nein were "losing the magic" of Vox Machina. People are resistant to change. Personally, I think the 3rd campaign is my favourite so far. I really enjoy the depth of it, and I feel like the characters are even more nuanced and interesting after the cast have been able to get some of the major archetypes out of the way. They're starting to really play with the complexities of the characters in ways they haven't before, and I'm all for it.

@PlayYourRole Год назад

This sums up my final thoughts at the end of the video pretty well!

@ben5676755 Год назад

This is me too. Don't get me wrong, I think campaign 2 was more consistent, but there's been moments in this new one that have left me gasping. I actually went back to watch the start of campaign 2 again, and it wasn't quite as good as I remembered. Characters needed to learn each other, and it's easy to forget sometimes that arcs are arcs for a reason. They have to build.

@kelciebasham236 Год назад

I have a hard time watching 1 and 2 now that I've seen 3. I like the characters a lot more as a whole. I enjoy all 3 but the third is my favorite. Although grog, nott, and jester have my heart.

@sbyamibakura Год назад

While it's not my favorite (Campaign 1 is) I am LOVING this season. There feels like so much more, as you said, complexities of the characters. A lot of layers and less cut and dry black and white. And I feel like some people are shining more than before. Like as much as I love Ashley, I think Fearne is a much better character than Yasha was. I feel like there was more stated about Yasha than we SAW of Yasha, if that makes sense. But Fearne feels much more realized, even just from the first mini series before Campaign 3 started.

@VundalI Год назад

I agree about c1 to c2, and those expectations leading to c3. However, I think game decisions (more guests, pretaping) as well as a really weak opening 30 episodes tanked any hope I had for c3.

@AMoniqueOcampo Год назад

I get the sentiment of this video. I feel nostalgic for the Mighty Nein and look forward to whenever the animated series comes out. I'm not the biggest Campaign 3 fan. HOWEVER, this current campaign is exploring some really interesting ethical stuff. Besides that, Critical Role is creating new games such as Candela Obscura. I think this era in Critical Role is gonna be a lot more experimental. And I'm gonna stick along and see where the ride takes me.

@PlayYourRole Год назад

The nostalgia is a big part of it. Kind of where my last thoughts came from in the past section of the video

@ahealthkit2745 Год назад

@@PlayYourRole I don't think it's just that, it's literally the excitement and vigor for exploring their characters from season 2 that made it so uniquely special to alot of fans. The new season just... doesn't have the same sparkle, understandably.

@dualwieldroxas358 9 месяцев назад

Campaign 3 just feels so much more flash-over-substance. All the characters are so wacky and quirky while depth is only reserved for a few.

@dieyng 5 месяцев назад

I don't think it's interesting at all ethical-wise. This whole anti-god thing feels completely forced and ridiculously out of place in a fantasy setting where these beings actually exist. It also goes directly against the canon of the previous two campaigns, where there was a clear benevolence from most gods, and it was their worshippers who erred. Not to mention that the primordial titans were always shown as a purely destructive force, which again is now turned upside down. It seems more like a modern day statement against religion and less like actual ethical quandaries. That being said, the characters have slowly grown on me, even those I found really boring at the start.

@dieyng 5 месяцев назад

@@dualwieldroxas358 I mean, yes and no. For one, some characters have zero flash and are all substance, like Imogen and Orym. Who seemed really boring and only had serious issues for a long time. Laudna, FCG, even Ashton they all have way more substance than it initially seemed. Even Faun has shown that by now, but I like that her and Chetney are mostly light-hearted and quirky, they play it straight, including all consequences, and it's still a lot of fun.< And a lot of the depths that the C2 characters showed came later in, Jester and Nott were basically quirky for a long time. Fjord was boring, Beau was annoying and often stupid, Caleb was so emo it would have been cringe if not for Liam's ability to play him really well, and Yasha was barely there as a character and more like a trope of the stoic, brooding warrior. BTW, I write this while C2 is my absolute favorite campaign with my most beloved characters and the pinnacle of Critical Role in many ways, but you got to stay objective.

@lisaf5303 Год назад

I had a hard time getting into campaign three because I thought campaign two was left unfinished. After watching these last episodes when the party has been split up, I am really enjoying campaign three. I also started watching during campaign one, and I loved that campaign. I think campaign wise, it is the best one, but the character development in campaign two was even better. I have learned to appreciate each campaign by themselves. It doesn't help to compare each one. They are different for a reason.

@merindab Год назад

Apologies for this long comment: I’m one of those new viewers. I only got into CR via the TLOVM animation. But that was enough to make me fall in love. I caught up on 3, then binged 2 and 1 over last year while keeping that up. I do think 2 is my favorite, but I’m enjoying the twists and turns of 3. I’m enjoying having different perspectives at the table with these guests. I enjoy the community of Thursday nights. CR also came into my life in a time of change and transitions. But I understand these feelings. Im at that point with Doctor Who, another show I dearly loved, but one where the shine has worn off. All things grow and change, including ourselves. And it’s okay if a show you loved is no longer serving you as it was. To quote Fjord: “if you were to ask my wise friend, Caduceus, I'm sure he would tell you that life continues on. It changes, it evolves, and it grows. I don't think there's an end. You just might not be able to see the next trip.”

@Melina_Evarblume_Seelie Год назад

I'm just struggling with it because I can see Matt currently trying to propose an intresting ethical question but the cast just don't seem to be picking it up. Every single character, even the religious ones like Deanna don't like the Gods. It seems strange because there should be atleast a few since the gods are a big part of the world and are easily proven to be there, therefore disconnecting it from our own world and the whole atheism "crisis" that's happening. This latest episode was a slight reality check for me. It was amazing, but it made me realise that C3's characters are also *far* from heroes. They're just the lesser of two evils at this point. I don't think I have a reason to actually root for these characters, everyone is keeping their cards way too close to their chests and feel extremely disconnected from eachother, bar the people they came in with. I don't hate it at all, but it just seems like small issues have built up into a disconnected party. Like who is Chetney to Laudna? I can't answer that, but I can answer what every character from C1 are and how they link to eachother, same with C2. This isn't hate, it's just something I've realised myself that I think might be true. They need their Mollymauk moment, and it just hasn't happened yet...

@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll Год назад

These are good points. I enjoy and am intrigued by the philosophical, political and ethical themes of this campaign, but the execution has so far been.... uneven, at best. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it is very noticeable.

@UncleverCarapace 7 месяцев назад

Hello from episode 78! I think you articulated the "problem" really well here, and I think they just had the moment we needed to get to the emotional connection we've been craving.

@Melina_Evarblume_Seelie 7 месяцев назад

@@UncleverCarapace 100%. That moment will go down as C3's Mollymauk moment. It's going to affect the party's relationships in a big way (hopefully bringing them closer together like C2, but maybe even pushing them apart would make a good story), which hadn't quite happened during the campaign up until that. It's intriguing, which is perfect.

@SeanHollandTV 7 месяцев назад

Hello friends, we had our moment. And it's right before the carnival starts

@UncleverCarapace 7 месяцев назад

@@Melina_Evarblume_Seelie Absolutely. I'm going to disagree slightly on the "not picking up the ethical question" point. They're mostly taking very pragmatic approaches to the question and have a lot of mixed feelings. But again, this is speaking from 4 months ahead of your original comment. Also I don't remember who said this or when, but as for them not at all being traditionally heroic, this whole group really is like NPCs from someone else's story. Orym for Keyleth, Imogen for Liliana, Laudna for Delilah/VM, FCG for Dancer, Fearne for her parents, Ashton for the Nobodies, and Chetney... Well, Chet was a joke character who's just taken on a whole life.

@kibert135 Год назад

To be honest, I prepared myself for Campaign 3 to be completely different after their announcement video. But in the end, watching the show week to week, it doesn’t feel so different. Critical Role feels less constricted in a lot of ways. Travis could create a character that would enter the campaign later and play a one-off character that Matt would make sure would disappear from the narrative at the appropriate time. Was there some sort of communication between Matt and Travis? Of course. But Travis didn’t know what exactly would happen. And his reaction showed that. Matt had the chance to create a campaign that had one big main plot that is still not resolved and it feels right. The stakes are high partly because what is happening right now in campaign 3 was slowely build up since the beginning. The guests have the chance to shine much more. One of my biggest pet peeves with campaign 2 is that mostly the guest characters felt underdeveloped because they had so little time to develop. On top of that it was always weird to me that the thumbnails never featured any of the guests. Campaign 3 always has guests on for multiple episodes and their arcs always feel much more involved than ever before. Thethumbnail you showed is from the current arc which includes a split party intermixed with new guest characters. Episode 63 of campaign 3 is one of the best episodes on Critical Role because of all these points. The big arc and how the guest characters interact with main characters created moments that were emotionally devastating. But beyond those differences, Critical Role is mostly the same. But the differences never really bothered me to begin with and mostly fixed little quibbles I had with the show.

@weebjeez Год назад

i think about the different parties in a similar vein thst Whovians see "their" Doctor as "the best one" and the rest "dont quite have the same magic!" because of COURSE they don't! Thats the POINT!! A new experience for a new era!

@BiggerinRealLife Год назад

I only got into the show on a regular basis during campaign three, so I'm sorry to see how disappointed everyone is in it. I'm really enjoying it and learning a ton.

@ahealthkit2745 Год назад

I feel like, if you weren't exposed to Campaign 2 start-to-finish, its a complete non-issue. But if you've followed that campaign closely, it feels like the new campaign lacks the same energy and hype.

@HenriqueErzinger Год назад

Don't let the video misguide you. The dude is disappointed somehow, but that's not "everyone". C3 is really hype and ambitious right now, Calamity was the very best piece of actual play ever made, candela obscura is just starting and seems super cool... CR is better than it has ever been.

@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll Год назад

People's first campaign is quite often their favorite. It's kind of like your first Doctor (Doctor Who) that way. I've been a Critter since 2020 and I love C3, and am on board for CR's current creative directions in general. Critical voices are often the loudest, but that doesn't mean they're in the majority.

@majorzipf8947 Год назад

Viewer here who started with c1. Tbh, c2 wasn’t my favorite…. And I’m loving c3. It’s such a bummer to me how much people are complaining about it. The characters are so unique and nuanced. Their chemistry is funny and touching and complex. The story is dealing with some seriously big issues.

@BiggerinRealLife Год назад

@@HenriqueErzinger Calamity was insane.

@logophilelyss4390 Год назад

You're correct. I'm enjoying CR campaign 3 in the same way that I enjoy a random TV show. It feels scripted, it feels more about Matt's world and plan than it does about what the player's want to poke at and what they want to explore. Events that they can't control splitting the party and introducing guests to fill the gaps for MANY episodes. I'm okay with this, but other campaigns and entertainment have taken priority, because it's just not the same anymore. I had mixed feelings about how CR campaign 2 ended, but I still enjoyed it much more than campaign 3, because campaign 2 is DND. Campaign 3 is a TV show. It is different, which isn't objectively bad. It's just not what we fell in love with.

@darkmail1094 Год назад

I think the first parts of Campaign 3 were slow & hard to get into. But I felt the exact same way when I first started watching campaign 2. I think it’s greatest weakness was being linked to Exandria Unlimited(I didn’t watch) but now I think I genuinely like campaign 3 better now. I think a good reason for that is growth. their chemistry & characters only keep improving which is cool.

@jayceladkins7721 Год назад

Always comes down to the characters for me. Only character this season that is interesting is Laudna, but think what made her interesting has already been revealed and her relationship with Imogen isn't as compelling as I thought it would be. The main plot seems to run through Imogen, but Imogen isn't an interesting character...so...kinda don't care.

@kailowrez5126 Год назад

True, all the characters from campaign 2 were interesting. I just don't like any of the characters from campaign 3, I don't find them all that interesting and they don't have entertaining connections between each other either

@nickoftime5501 Год назад

Totally agree. Fearne Chet and Laudna are great and I love them but they are memes. The others I find to be so boring but they’re where the story is, so I don’t care about the story. And what’s a TTRPG without a story?

@symphonixblades 6 месяцев назад

I like Orym as well and i liked Dorian Storm (Robbie should be main cast some day for a campaign). I think most of the new characters are just funny characters doing funny or troublesome things and it feels like Orym is the only character that is serious. Feels like Liam is the only person taking this campaign seriously and wanting to continue the main story

@Enallorai Год назад

On the change from livestream to pre-recorded: i think this is a nuance i actually completely missed. I started listening to CR, starting with campaign 1, while working during the pandemic, starting around June 2020. I was able to binge listen to C1 and C2, and caught up to it in time to catch the airing of the final episode of C2. I never had that connection of revelation that older fans had, and didn't realize how much the change had affected the community

@KKRDM Год назад

For what its worth. I'm an old viewer who watched the original campaign "live" as it aired. And now I watch the "pre-recorded" campaign(s) as it is aired. I feel absolutely zero difference. Fair to say, the whole community has not been effected the same way. Its just another thing folks can disagree about. Glad to hear it didnt harm your experience either! :)

@mac_sour Год назад

nah, this content creator is just using his platform to air out his personal gripes with the new campaign. pre-recorded is fine, there's literally no difference. if anything, it's better, because chances are the CR crew is watching the episode as it happens right alongside us. at least a few of them. don't take the opinion of one singular guy and associate it with the "community". this is his personal opinion.

@tstymctst Год назад

Regarding the switch from CR being a livestream to pre-recorded, I don't think things necessarily "went wrong" there because there are plenty of us for whom it wasn't that big of a shift. Every second of CR I've ever watched has been on youtube, and almost entirely after the original streams. Due to time zones and my early morning job, I am almost never able to stay up for the show, so "pre-recorded" was never that different to me than "I can't watch live and my lousy internet service can't handle twitch, so I have to wait for the yt vod on Monday." Some of my friends are only able to watch if they chunk up the episodes through their week, because they can't regularly dedicate 4 or 5 hours to it on a single day, even as background noise. So for us, the "live" stream aspect wasn't ever really live anyway. Regarding c3, my personal "where it went wrong" was Dorian leaving. I found Robbie a refreshing addition to the table with a character I already liked, and he added something to the dynamic that I keenly felt the loss of. A lot of the story has also felt poorly paced, and even 60+ episodes in, I don't feel like the main party is actually a unit with shared goals. By this point in c2, I was deeply invested in almost every character in the Nein (and some NPCs), but I just haven't managed to connect with Bell's Hells at anywhere near the same level.

@Kasino80 6 месяцев назад

Watching it live was never an issue for me, because of the time difference. But, I have to say that the week to week play, where the cast would be buzzing about what to do next Thursday, has changed. To my knowledge they haven't told how they schedule their tspings, but it's safe to assume they tape several a week, leaving very little downtime for them to actually grasp what happened last week. That I feel is the biggest change from campaign 2,and the energy feels off because of it.

@iamcage187 5 месяцев назад

I never got the people in chat bitching about it not being live. Like what has actually changed? I could understand if they were like the majority of twitch where they interact with chat during the brodcast, had tts or alerts playing but theyve never done that. Also i might be wrong but i thought they were still filming it one session at at time but a week or two ahead

@Kasino80 5 месяцев назад

@@iamcage187 no one really knows. The rumors are, take them as you will, that they tape several episodes a week.

@sinisterplank3113 Год назад

I think the biggest thing for me is that I simply did not expect to get more of the same. I expected something different, something new, so when thats what i got, I felt satisfied, and i was ready to get to know these new characters. If you control your expectations, you can control your reactions.

@serpentsembrace782 Год назад

I actually thought I was kind of in the minority on this. I too am disappointed in campaign 3, but for slightly different reasons. As far as I've watched at least, which is like ep. 25 or so I think, the characters have been kind of underwhelming to me. There aren't any really interesting conflicts or bonds between most of them, and some don't even have a good reason to be traveling together in the first place. Maybe it gets better later, but idk if I can keep watching. It's just kinda boring.

@theFunkyThumb Год назад

I think a lot of this comes down to nostalgia and the effects it has. Things are almost always looked at in a more favorable light after its over. I remember seeing a lot of these kinds of criticisms during campaign 2, and now its a crowd favorite. Im enjoying c3 for what it is and have no doubts when its finished itll have the same effect.

@NOSTahlgia 6 месяцев назад

Well I began with C2, then went to C3-- hated it, went to C1. Loved it. I don't think it has anything to do with nostalgia.

@Sunsetsshadow Год назад

I really needed to hear this right now. This didn't go where I thought it was going to go, and you had me in tears at the end because I've been feeling the same way, and you are absolutely right. Thank you for sharing this!

@TheWanderersWit Год назад

With campaign 2 I always felt that, while there were things happening in the world, that the players decisions had sway over what was happening and could dramatically change how the story played out. Things that were later confirmed. I didn't know how important that was to me until a handful of things happened in C3 that felt scripted. Bertrand's death and the big recent event that set off all of the guest appearances chief among them. It felt like the players were more viewers of the story than active participants in those moments and that no amount of good rolls or clever ideas would change the outcome, and I think that feeling has bled over into other areas for me making me wonder what is player driven and what is going to happen no matter what. It feels like the veil being lifted in those moments has cast a shadow on the rest of the campaign, making it feel more scripted whether or not that's accurate. I'll add in that a lot of folks didn't care for the first EXU, so it made for a rough beginning when those characters migrated into C3. Between the shenanigans with Travis' characters and not being there and ~half of the cast being from a series I really didn't vibe with it made it hard to fall in love with the new characters. Then bouncing around a city for episode after episode has never really been my thing and it felt like the early episodes really dragged on. One last negative thing I'd add is that some of the cast intentionally shifted from their strong suits. Liam is one of my favorite players, and him taking a back seat here has kind of sucked. Laura is a clever chaos gremlin and her playing a more serious character just hasn't been as fun. Taliesin was amazing with the bits of Wisdom and play as Cadeusus, but his new character has just felt really one note. There's story there, but I just haven't been able to care much as the character feels like an NPC. There have absolutely been highs this campaign. Some big laughs, some inspirational role play, some fun characters, and while the aesthetic isn't my thing I can't fault them for trying something new. It's just not something I find it as easy to sit through for hours at a shot as I used to. But I'm older now, and have become more of a veteran D&D player myself, so I can't help but agree that some of it may just be on me as well.

@ahealthkit2745 Год назад

I personally agree completely with the first paragraph. I really disliked Bertrand's death and some other events that happened in C3. It left me second-guessing every event, wonderinf it it was 'disccused oocly' at some point between cast members. That, coupled with a greater understanding of mechanics and rules by (most of) the cast, made c3 feel far less exciting/different/unique. It felt a lot more 'by the books'.

@Hey-Its-Dingo Год назад

A little thing you should know: The cast are all playing the types of characters they have said they always wanted to play. Travis is playing Chetney because he loved playing Chutney in the Christmas one-shot so much, Taliesin is playing a character who has a vague backstory that is mostly being improved by Matt, because he wasn't able to actually do that with Molly, Laura is playing a serious character because she had never really done it before and wanted to try, Sam is literally doing the same thing he has always done, a character who starts as a joke, but has a dark past and hidden depths, Liam has said a billion times that his favorite characters to play in his home games are all Halfling Fighters, Marisha said that working on Legend of Vox Machina and the nightmare she had, inspired her to make Laudna, and Ashley finally got to express herself and play a character for the entire campaign without needing someone to sub in for her because she was too busy. Whether or not you like these characters or not, these are the characters that the CR cast always wanted to be able to play, and they are doing that.

@MrRJPE Год назад

I'm pretty much done with Critical Role. The longer it goes the less interesting their characters and story is. The more I watch Matt the less I like his world building. Why does every other NPC have to be LBGTQ or nonbinary or gender fluid or whatever. It's too over the top. I also can't take any tension in the story seriously because he's such a pushover. I swear he is more feminine than Marisha.

@korialogo 10 месяцев назад

(Not directed at OP) If y’all are going to be queerphobic and misogynistic, consider your exit mutual. The fandom doesn’t want or need you, and I can only imagine that the cast doesn’t care for your nonsense either. Criticize Matt’s world all you like, but “social contagion” is the least of the issues in a fantasy world where everything is a little unusual.

@greendemon905 Месяц назад

@@MrRJPE I agree. Representation is fine, but NPC's don't just exist to relate to. As a DM, I sometimes add gay characters into my stories, but I never let their sexuality define them. "Gay" isn't a personality, and I make sure my NPC's have more to them than that. I also don't dabble in trans or non-binary characters, since I don't understand that fully, though I did have a non-binary player for a while. They were free to play what they wanted.

@DanGronlund Год назад

I came into CR with campaign 3 and is loving it. The arc with the guest players have been fun to watch but its not like they are replacing the main cast in any way.

@bweber1226 Год назад

I started with EXU and C3 so take this with a giant grain of salt but I have always thought of Bertrand Bell's time with the group as like the prologue of C3.

@benjaminalexander5778 Год назад

Honestly you're right that era was like the prologue and exu was the actual prequel

@BiggerinRealLife Год назад

Wow, this video was a journey. Honestly I felt like therapy. And beyond the application to Critical Role, something I really needed to hear today. Especially today. Thanks man, you made a difference.

@OneWingedAngelsBand Год назад

Another thing I felt with Campaign 3 which makes it feel pre-planned is I feel like Matt is trying to wrap the whole expanded Critical Role story up. They want it to end a certain way so they can let Exandria go and start new with Daggerheart. 🤔

@dualwieldroxas358 9 месяцев назад

Issue for me is it is no longer a bunch of voice actors enjoying a game together, it is a corporate group reciting a story that feels almost prewritten. Idk if it is or not, but a lot of C3 feels entirely scripted, or at least played in a way that the players already had an idea what was going on in the background. It is all about the story, now, at any cost. Including the severe lack of development of the actual characters. There is no fear, no suspense, no genuine attatchment to characters anymore. I mean, those who know what i am referring to know about that copout moment, which is when i dropped C3. I prefer real stakes and real characters. Glass Cannon is probably the gold standard these days for real stakes in campaigns. Character death is completely believable, and heartwrenching in thier campaigns. And has actual consequence in the story. Troy is such a masterful storyteller, and can adapt on the fly when his players do something crazy or very very stupid xD I have legitimately felt depressed after the loss of a certain character in the 1st campaign, and once again during Androids and Aliens. I HIGHLY recommend them

@joshuashaw5524 Год назад

Something that came to mind for me after finishing. Campaign 3 is my first campaign from Critical Role that I've watched. I knew the characters from before and knew that many people started playing because of the show, but campaign 3 was my first true experience. I didn't notice that there was a difference in production mostly because I didn't see it before it changed, but for me at least the feeling of excitement you described is still there. On Bertrand's story line, I didn't personally have a problem with how it went. I remember seeing Matt Colville's videos on the Chain of Acheron a couple years before Champion 3 started, and something very similar happened in the intro fight. It was a scripted scene with one of the players to raise the stakes of expectations for who they were up against. I've enjoyed it thus far. Sure, there's some rough patches here and there, but that's just part of it being a game.

@kyokonightstorm5844 8 месяцев назад

I remember being excited at the beginning of C3, especially when I saw our 3 EXU characters and with all the fan speculation that Robbie would join the cast full time. But after a while, something was.... off. I still cannot put my finger on exactly what it was. I would stop watching every week, and even turned off my "It's Thursday Night" reminder alarm. I kept up with the major story beats by watching episode recaps here on RU-vid, and while I don't remember the exact trigger, something had me going back just a little before the Solstice. I went into the backlog of VoDs, skimmed some of the episodes, watched some others, until I was caught up. Something had me coming back, and I was excited to watch again. I have watched every episode since the Solstice, usually "live". I'm excited for it again. Confession though, I have been a little frustrated with the pacing lately as it feels like Bells Hells has been off doing F- All when they should have been dealing with the Ruidus nonsense, or that story beats that would have been over much more quickly in previous campaigns were drawn out WAY too far. But I am understanding why. We are getting the Live Show in London literally this coming week, and it is a reunion of the Mighty Nein as they deal with some of the fallout from the Solstice. I mean, Beau and Caleb were THERE, at the Malleus Key. Whatever happens during that live show is almost guaranteed to influence Campaign 3's experience at the Key, and the Nein could (likely will) show up as combatants during the big brawl with Ludinus and the Rilora. Just imagine, we could have all of Vox Machina (minus one black orb), all of the Mighty Nein, and all of Bells Hells taking part in a massive, sprawling battlefield across the surface of Ruidus, taking on different parts of the enemy forces. It would be insanely cool. Small Side Note: If the rest of the Nein do meet Bells Hells, I *REALLY* want to see Essek's take on Ashton. We have gotten the nature-based titan side explained by Keyleth, so it makes sense that the second campaign would provide the Dunamancy info. And who better than Essek?

@zephronscythe Год назад

It took a little while to get into campaign 3 for me, but I think that’s because I didn’t know what the story was going to be. You’ve mentioned that you fell off around episode 20 or so, which (for me) was still everyone figuring out their characters. I feel like the actual story of campaign 3 started around episode 30-33, when you final get to see what is happening in the world. The most recent episodes have been experimental with the party split and joined by guest players, so the thumbnail you showed was just the guests who came in for a few episodes. Similar in execution (but different narratively) to when Vox Machina had to do the trials for the Slayer’s Take. Laura Bailey has recently shared that she is the one who makes the thumbnails for each episode, photoshopping different photos together, trying to find something she feels represents the events of the episode or to highlight guests or a player who’s character might hold the focus of the episode. I think if you decided to get back into it, you’d come to find the new story to be epic, asking some interesting philosophical questions, carrying some truly world changing stakes, and featuring some interesting cameos and reunions. It’s hard to judge a story that hasn’t been finished yet, but I think this campaign is on its way to being just as epic as the second.

@cryofpaine 9 месяцев назад

One of the things I love about campaign 3 is that while the story does take time to build, it's been there since episode 1. The furniture leads to Ira. The shades lead to Treshi. Ira leads to the Callaways. Treshi leads to Paragon's Call and Otahan. And they both converge on Ludinus and the solstice. Everything they've done has been a step in the larger plot (other than the heist at the museum, but even that helped get some information from Ashton's contact (her name escapes me atm)). No ultimately pointless meandering for 100 episodes like campaign 2. It's already far more epic than 2 ever was.

@VoiceofGeekdom 8 месяцев назад

I prefer C2 to C3 as well, and miss both the old parties, though mostly for completely different reasons than are given in this video... However I will say at 24:43 - the woman on the left of that thumbnail is Emily Axford from Dimension20, she's an extremely experienced D&D player and most definitely one of the best guests in the history of Critical Role. I think you should give that arc a chance before you judge it. 😉

@r34p3r1992 Год назад

My issue with CR campaign 3 vs both campaign 1 and 2 is how some of the players just do random things in middle of a fight or during a fun scene; Remember when Liam (As Vax'ildan) says to Keyleth "You know I am in love with you, right?" and its just a moment for Marisha being like "Wait ... what the fu". Or when Vax and Percy and chitchatting in the bath and when Vax leaves, Laura comes from beneath and says "I thought he would never leave" In Campaign 3 we have had few cool moments but most of them are just ... ehhhh. Such as the Nightmare king and Chetney's werewolf reveal, the Heist moment, there are, however, more bad moments than good moments. I, for an example, really do not like the other players in the CR universe and I do not mean it in a bad way, I mean like this - Critical role members are always number 1 for me but sometimes their guests just make for interesting story beats inside - Think about the "Scale Tyrant" player from C2 To cut a long story short; Critical Role have gone from fun improvisation to "We need to do this to make people laugh and have fun" and they didn't help it by constatly adding more and more and more and more characters and splitting the party and such. I couldn't get behind episode 23 because the only character I liked was Ashton and Fresh Cut Grass and they feel like hollow represenations of Percy and Scanlan

@SmokingGlueGuns Год назад

I was SO worried the deeper into this video, because I LOVE seeing your takes. So I was utterly shocked that we disagreed so much. I love how much you brought this together in the end, and realizing the pressure you had placed on it is a lot. The message of not clinging to the past is SO important. You have to learn from it to grow and see the brightness in the present.

@AlexRenee91 7 месяцев назад

I absolutely loved Bertrand Bell. Was so sad to see him leave. BUT Chet is amazing too. Sad that you feel they changed sooooo much. I think they have evolved. I have used planned deaths in my games many times. I think some people just want instant gratification and dont want to justt sit back and watch things play out. Role Play is amazing because it immitates life. I think Critical Role is doing amazing still and has not hit there peak at all. Yes M9 was for me the best one, im excited for critical roles future.

@TomozAlpha Год назад

It’s still so great seeing this channel grow I can’t wait to see what will the future holds

@thatguyonyoutube2063 Год назад

Videos like this really highlight how vent art or just allowing negative emotions into the art you create in general can make for something beautiful and meaningful. You said it yourself your brand is super positive all the time and while I think that's a good thing if you want to be that light in the world. You also need to give yourself a chance to explore dark and through work like this turn that dark into light like you have with this video. By analysing why the lighting is out of the bottle for you you've been able to see that you've changed as a person. You've been able to come to a better understanding of the self and I think you're better of for it.

@katz86 Год назад

I like your videos and your viewpoints. I'm not in the same place as you when it comes to critical role, but ive been there with other things in my life so i think i get it, at least a little. And its good that you have good enough introspection to identify what has gotten you to this point rather than just feeling the emotion and blaming something be it the cast, the guests, or somthing else. Good luck on your journy and may you feel as warm as you once did with the CR story, even if its in a new way.

@OneWingedAngelsBand Год назад

For me, what feels "off" is that multiple members of the cast tried doing something different from the norm. Allow me to illustrate: ▪︎ Laura's portrayal of Jester was so iconic and beloved that when she played Imogen, people felt like it doesn't suit her. ▪︎ Liam always played edgy characters. So him playing Orym felt different to some people, and maybe even bland. ▪︎ Ashton felt like Taliesin's attempt to merge the edginess of Percy with the weirdness of Molly or Cad. So the result was a strange mix. ▪︎ Travis playing Bertrand only to die early felt like the cast was trying too hard to replicate the Molly magic.

@armorclasshero2103 Год назад

This isn't just a little parasocial, it's a **lot** parasocial.

@vampirelogan Год назад

I watched the whole video and yes, you feel this way because you were so emotionally invested and, sorry, younger. This happens more with younger people when first realizing their age means changes and cling to the things that gave them comfort in earlier more idilic times. I came to CR after that point in my life and have accepted these changes (although i am exactly like that regarding original trilogy Star Wars because of the childhood experience). With CR, i got in fairly early C1, watching ep 26 or so and going in, i was like "why would anyone watch someone else play D&D instead of just playing themselves?" But after just one ep, i was hooked because it was so similar to how i remember my highschool d&d games without all the hassles of scheduling your friends and various personal drama. I was also a new father and didnt really have time to run or play on my own. I went back and watched all the previous episodes to get caught up and it just clicked with me deeply. When it ended, i cried and thought well that's it. They'll never top that. I tried to get my wife to start watching C2 but I found it to be a very rocky start and kept apologizing to her that it was usually better than this but we dropped off after 2-3 episodes. I eventually picked it up again and it got better and then really good but my wife never got in. So campaign 2 was not for everyone especially at the start. I started C3 with low expectations but i loved some of the characters immediately and there was a lot more humor right off the bat. It has grown on me more and more and i think certain players have really grown to show new and interesting sides of themselves both with humor and empathy. I like all 3 campaigns for different reasons and objectively all are good in that it is really about the characters and what you like. I like Ashley's, Travis's, and Marisa's characters way more than their previous ones but Laura's best will always be Jester. Sam's will always be Scanlan (I miss the impromptu songs so much). Liam's current is a little boring but the previous 2 were amazing. I love the guest characters and the variety that C3 brings. Talisen is the only one that i cannot decide which one i love the most, all 4 (or 5 if you count Kingsley separately) are so good and so different! Best backstory arcs and reveals for each. All in all many may not jive with the latest campaign due to the many changes but I am still very entertained and will stick with them until they shut it down. The magic is in what you make of it. There are many other Actual Plays to chose from so i am sure you can find something that suits you if CR isnt it anymore (like mine for example :)) Keep looking and give the others a chance to shine!

@HenriqueErzinger Год назад

Perfect. I agree with basically everything.

@muttshouse Год назад

I feel the same way about C3. But I think it has to do with reusing too many characters that people didn't necessarily know. I didn't watch EXU c1 so Orym and Fearne were new to me, but they were treated like characters everyone knew. I had to go back and fill in EXU and was really disappointed in those characters. I loved that Bertrand Bell came back and really upset he died especially alone. But I don't think it was scripted. I agree everything feels "off". I can't really get a hook emotionally into any character. But I feel like the recent episodes with Aabriya has brought the magic of M9 back. I LOVE the interplay and chemistry between FCG and Frida and how everyone worked together and explored the most interesting backstories.

@charlesgarber5911 9 месяцев назад

Dude, well done on the video. I totally concur, as it was hard getting invested in the later episodes of C3, especially as I'm such a fan of Laudna & Imogen's relationship and the ways in which it develops, but it's amazing to see the characters grow and become more than what they were in the first few episodes. I hope they keep it up & look forward to seeing how things progress... :)

@agnawkneemoose6373 11 месяцев назад

I understand how people could be trapped by their own nostalgia, but that hasn't been my issue. I actually really liked the fresh energy that the guest players added over this last stretch. More often than not, I've watched on RU-vid after the episode was aired, so pre-recording hasn't affected me either. Overall, I still enjoy Critical Role, but there are a couple areas I think Campaign 3 could be better. The first is the characters. I need to start by saying that Marisha hit a home run with Laudna and I really do like Orym as well. I also like Fearne, but... we've been introduced and I want some kind of evolution or conflict to push her story forward. We've run across her parents and been to the Fey Realm, but it didn't feel like those events really affected or changed her. Beyond that, I just haven't bonded with the other Campaign 3 main characters. I actually miss Laura Bailey more when Imogen is around. Second, I'm not feeling the player investment in the story. Ludinus wants to kill the gods... and not a single character we've met seems to genuinely be concerned with preventing that. Maybe FCG is evolving in that direction, but the others seem to range from apathetic to being outright against the gods. I also don't feel like Matt has presented any kind of compelling argument for why they *should* care. To the contrary, the Dawnfather missionaries almost seemed like a warning not to trust the gods, when in fact, nobody in the party was invested to begin with. It just undermines the stakes.

@josefbaumert270 2 месяца назад

Im not the engaged pizza delivery guy anymore. I have 3 kids. It's just not going to hit the same

@kaipex2884 Год назад

As a person who starts their journey with critical role. And as a person who fights with depression. Hearing that last bit was something that broke me. Thanks I really needed to hear that

@pockyboxes5902 Год назад

As someone who didn't get into CR until the second campaign was almost over, from my perspective, CR has always been a company, not exclusively a D&D group. So all the experimentation with new players and new systems hasn't been all that unexpected from my experience. That said, removing the fanart reel during the break in favor of relegating those pieces to an online gallery still really bums me out.

@jasonhull8075 Год назад

Your videos have inspired me in so many ways. I'm putting more thought into backstory and personality, which has led to a better experience at the table. Thank you and keep up the great content!

@sitnamkrad Год назад

I was skeptical about how much the popularity dropped. But taking a look at the youtube numbers was somewhat shocking. Starting at nearly 10 million views and 175K likes in episode 1, to 2.5 million views and 45K likes in episode 10. While this was the number that campaign 2 seemed to be hanging around on average, it continued to drop to less than a million views and less than 15K likes for episode 60. Now of course these are not the only numbers that count, and there's plenty of valid reasons for the numbers to be the way they are, I do think there's something to this video. Something is different, and I think I can sum it up in a single sentence : Critical Role became more obviously, a product. I'm not saying this is good or bad per-se, but given the negative reaction a good amount of people had to the leaked Twitch numbers, I think it's safe to say it has fostered an audience that for the most part didn't (want to) see it as such. Personally speaking though, I do like the characters from campaign 3 more than the ones from 2. Specifically because all of the characters in campaign 2 started feeling the same. Bunch of secrets and depressing past. Although I've also started seeing a trend with campaign 3 where almost every character is like a ticking timebomb and ready to blow up on the rest of the party, either willingly or forced. And I've also felt like there was a lot less combat, and even when there is combat, it often feels like it's designed to obviously go a certain way. And then the big event in episode 51 happened and everything after that started feeling like filler.

@Micaerys Год назад

This is genuinely one of your best videos, and the bar was really high! To speak about something that causes such intense feelings and reactions and that you yourself have some implication with, and not only being able to criticize it but also praise it and give such a good lesson at the end of it... Not everyone is able to do that, so congratulations! And don't let anybody make you believe otherwise

@cheezeofages Год назад

Honestly I think the problem was the offshoot side campaigns and guest appearances. People are burnt out on "cinematic universes" and multiple overlapping campaigns and cameos from past seasons hits some of those elements. It's kinda hard to onboard people in that kinda structure. There's a lot of baggage and the scope is kinda large. Previous seasons were just a party involved in a sweeping, mostly self-contained adventure.

@arcturus4853 Год назад

I feel like I have to pipe in that while critical role is a show, it is also dnd. There is nothing wrong with a Player and Dm planning out a characters death in advance if the Player thinks that will add more to the story, to the characters legacy. Which is exactly what happened with the campaign 3 party naming themselves AFTER Burtrum Bell. That's very cool, and benefits the tables enjoyment of their story.

@cyrokx Год назад

You should definitely continue campaign 3. Travis’s death was by request of Travis (said later in one of their talk shows), to bring his his next character and surprise the cast and fans, and even though that character isn’t as serious as Fjord, he’s having SO MUCH FUN! You have Ashley who isn’t always leaving, and getting to show her true personality with Fearne. Laura getting to explore a lot with her new character that makes me love her more than Jester. Marisha and Liam character’s have connections to the past that are REALLY cool if you know more about Exandria. Taliesan made another great character with a different archetype than he’s used to playing, that he role plays so well it feels as natural as his previous character. And Sam is having as much fun as he always does. The guest make much more sense in C3, and get actual plot points and development. Without spoilers when there are a lot of new faces on the table it’s done in a great way that makes sense, and make you want to keep watching. In my opinion the height of C3 outdoes C2. It feels more cinematic, I think they went into it knowing it would eventually have an animated adaption, and it’s all the better for it. Where C2 slows down due to the sandbox of the game, I don’t feel that way with C3, and not in the sense that it isn’t improv, but everything is just more focused. On your closing statement, I remember hearing in a podcast that you rarely look at where you currently are and appreciate what’s happening, but look back and miss that happiness. It’s always great to appreciate where you are now, where you came from, and where you’re going. Think of all the ways that your channel has grown, and think of the future of where you will go! One day you’ll look back to this time and miss it.

@JJV7243 Год назад

For me, I do NEED character death to be on the table with any encounter and for this to be unscrippted. If the DM decides to NOT kill players when they mess up (maybe not a whole TPK, but 1 here and there) it becomes a story without consequence and I lose interest.

@user-vk6ic1fc4l 5 месяцев назад

You have put the finger on it. Critical Role with campaign 3 become a show, not just a filmed D&D game. There is so many staged events, ( Bertrand's death, the cameo during the soltice, the split party with so many guest players) the cameo. It is just fan service and entertainement now

@KellyHauenstein Год назад

Campaign 3 is my first Critical Role campaign. I'm loving it. The characters. The story. The stupid jokes. It's all amazing. And I'm so glad I'm getting to watch it as it happens. Thanks for this video. I often feel like I'm a bit in the minority for liking campaign 3. I get that people love their favorite characters from the past and want that same experience. But without something new to move on to, we'll always be stuck in the past. I don't want that to happen to me with future campaigns. Thanks again for a great video!

@majorzipf8947 Год назад

I think there’s a ton of people who are loving c3. Unfortunately there is a loud minority online who just loves to hate on them while the rest of us quietly enjoy this new story.

@cryofpaine 9 месяцев назад

I've been watching live since campaign 1 episode 18. As much as I've enjoyed them all, campaign 3 has quickly become my favorite.

@genginger4033 9 месяцев назад

This was not what I expected. I appreciated the introspection. Good for you, man. It's never the same river; we change, life changes, and moment to moment stuff won't be the same. But we can still enjoy it.

@jamiereid7428 9 месяцев назад

That was bold lol. I think part of the problem is ending a campaign with ten years of momentum and buildup, and expecting the first 10-20 episodes of the next season to have the same impact.

@SanJacintoArtGuild Месяц назад

Excellent video, as always. In spite of the way it looked and sounded in the beginning

@krounos1 Год назад

Overall I think this is a really well made video, and enjoyable. I noticed you adjusted the title/thumbnail by the time I got around to listen to it so I think that definitely was an improvement. Always enjoy the content.

@benmalatin5237 5 месяцев назад

I feel like the only thing CR lost when they switched to pre-recorded shows was the fan art in the art crawls before and after the stream as well as during the break. That was one huge thing that made the show feel like there was a community of people watching it. Otherwise I would often complain to myself that the show being livestreamed on twitch was pointless since there was absolutely zero audience interaction. I really felt like the magic was gone when I saw Bertrand was 2 levels higher than the rest of the party. To me that was a dead giveaway that Bertrand was destined for death, and from there on the campaign seemed to have a lot more visible rails on it and the hand of the author felt really visible. Clearly the players are still involved in where this story goes, but a lot more of it feels predetermined. In more recent episodes something huge and impactful happens that greatly affects the group dynamic. If something like this happened to the Mighty Nein the social effects of such an event would be dealt with as the rest of the story is also playing out. But for Belle’s Hells, they run away to the feywild and pause time for two episodes to cry about it, killing all the urgency the story was building up. It felt like a filler episode in an anime where they decide to stop everything & go to the beach.

@ofanichan 5 месяцев назад

I agree, also one of the few moments where the live streams really affected the gameplay was mostly spoiler-y moments. (Minor campain 2 spoiler warning) Like when Sam read a chat message that a woman they were talking to might be Keyleth's mother and he spent the next 5 minutes trying to nudge Marisha. He wouldnt have known that otherwise and I think that would have been way better if he didnt know.

@EilonwyG Год назад

As always, you put such depth and heart into these video essays. I appreciate the complexity you weave into your topics and the ways you find to see your topics from different angles, even if it leads to a different view from where you started. I personally have found Campaign 3 engaging. I came to Critical Role just as Campaign 1 was ending. I'd heard about is maybe a year or two before, shortly after I just started, but thought it was some kind of low-budget fantasy show, either about the fantasy characters or something a la The Gamers where we saw the story from both the characters' perspectives and the players' perspectives. By the time I finally picked up the first episode after understanding what Live Play was, they were concluding their final episode and going on to several months of one-shots before starting Campaign 2. While I spent those first few months consuming nothing but C1, once C2 rolled around, I was trying to keep up with the new campaign while continuing to binge the old. I was getting to know the old characters along with the new, so I think to some extent I never had that feeling of believing one set of characters were better. C3 I came in fully caught up, and while things may have been different, even C2 had been different than C1, but different didn't mean worse. Sometime, I wonder at this point if I'm less there forthesecrets and story development and more for how this group interacts with each other. I love watching the players play as much as hearing the story unfold. THAT has never changed, and in fact has only gotten more amazingto see. And as far as your peak metaphor - remember that while you can only experience that height the once, what makes it beautiful is all that it helps you see - the hard road up, but also the beautiful journey ahead. It may not lift to such levels again, but you know it's beautiful. You've seen it. Now, you must go to meet it.

@jknixter Год назад

I felt like you did during that timeframe and critical roll came to me in a similar way. Nostalgia can be dangerous and I feel like that is what you saying, so staying present minded and enjoying the present, that is a valuable lesson. Loved this video, love your channel, keep making great stuff.

@arcturus4853 Год назад

So, two things: the message at the end of this video is truly beautiful, and in my opinion, profound. Its a lesson we can all learn from and a torch we can all carry. I really appreciate your perspective there. However, I will say, you do take a lot of time with preamble and build up that I think could be trimmed down on. I feel like part of the reason why people did not enjoy this video is because when it comes to a topic so many people hold so close to their hearts, its important to be thorough, yes, but equally as important to be succinct. I dont think it was your intention to drag anyone along, but it definitely could have come across that way. Overall, I appreciate the video and your message, just think it could benefit from a formatting tweak.

@kelly4187 5 месяцев назад

This. I'm at 15 minutes into the video and I'm thinking "he could have gotten to the point by now" and am reading the comments instead. I might have to just skip to the last 5 minutes.

@FablesD20 8 месяцев назад

Solid and interesting deep dive, great video.

@arkham7033 Год назад

Unfortunately, campaign three has left me unhappy to no end. I understand the story between campaigns is different, it would not be fair to compare completed stories to another. However, it’s the characters and issues in game that weigh on me. After the most recent episode, all the characters feel more and more like a Chaos Crew revamped. None of them are necessarily good, but more neutral and self interested. Following that, they are either neutral or full on chaotic. It’s a majority of “do what I want and because I want to do it” with “I’ll figure out reason for how this benefits later” mindsets for these characters. Another issue most recently is that previously thought good aligned characters straight up raided a church of a good deity and killed a majority of their followers all on the words of a few individuals without investigating if something else was going on. Furthermore, it feels that Matt is making the party always in the right to fit the story with no repercussions and the fear of killing off characters has taken him to make it easy on his players. Do not get me wrong, I LOVE these players. They are truly good and kind people who really create a fun energy, but the story and characters I feel have just ruined this campaign for me. I understand that the Critical Role franchise has done a lot for DND, but being a person who loved DND and THEN discovered Critical Role, I’m not behind these individuals all the time these are the issues I feel from the most recent campaign.

@cryptoness5567 7 месяцев назад

As a person who started watching critical role with exu calamity, because it was less of a commitment and then caught up to campaign 3 - I don't know how people that have watched them from the start feel, but to me Campaign 3 is special, not only because it is my first, but because of the characters. They are messy, they are unstable and they are neither 'good' nor 'bad'. They feel human, they don't feel like characters made for a game.

@detofox Год назад

The first arc, at least in my games, are normaly a lot more "scriped" and railroaded than the rest so the clear scripting of Burtrens death dident bother me. I kinda just saw the dm giveing a place that would normaly go to an npc to a player

@cardinal8200 11 месяцев назад

I agree on some points but disagree on others. I’m currently completely caught up and I do think I am less attached to the current c3 characters, but not because they are new and different but because they are a bit more put together. Laudna, Orym, Chetney, Imogen, and Fearne to me have felt pretty static, they are cool characters but for the most part but are characters playing along to a story rather than creating the story to help themselves grow which is what both C1 and C2 did. While thordak, the Briarwoods, and Lucian stirred conflict they were never the clinch pin. If those villains did not exist the characters would still find something to do together and the hell’s don’t seem to have that interesting struggle and bond in their dynamic. They’re still amazing moments like the fight over the broken stone and the amazing accumulation of everything at the start of the solstice but there has been no time to bond and explore the characters like in the first campaigns. I did notably leave out Ashton and FCG because I do think they are exceptions. Ashton recently has been increasingly very interesting and FCG was designed for growth making them both dynamic people who want things outside of saving the world which I don’t know the other characters have But onto something I hard disagree with, the guests have all been amazing, each add their own flare especially recently with all the bad things in exandria they brought things back to a personal level exploring romance, desire to learn, need to deceive, just things outside of “stop bad thing” I do agree with you though they have lost part of the charm improv brings to the table. I don’t think it’s the live shows going missing that hurt it so more more than there being little downtime to explore what each character would do. I need more moments like the date with Pretty to balance out all the intense story forwarding plot. This has just been a massive ramble but like you say I just think it’s a bit hard to take a hard position on why people lose interest when interest can be so subjective. Thanks for they great video tho jay really got me to think about why c3 has felt different

@s1mp_licity38 Год назад

As somebody who never ever watched an episode live because my schedule didn't ever align with the live streaming, there is something more at play than the move to pre-recorded. It was at that change that it happened, but something changed on their end, rather than ours as much. Because i felt the change despite watching on Mondays the same way i always had. Post-pre-recorded sections of the campaign are my least memorable

@RedPatrick95 Год назад

As someone whose first experience with CR was C3 after enjoying LoVM and only later went back and binged the previous campaigns, I've never had the "true" live experience. Before that, I'd only seen other prerecorded APs like D20 and TAZ. Your perspective on the emotional impact of that shift really helps clarify why I disagree with a lot of the takes I've seen from older fans. Always appreciate your thoughtful reflections!

@MajorHickE Год назад

I completely get where you're coming from. Started Critical Role in about the same way you did, though I was instead coming to grips with my job being meaningless in the face of the plague. Campign 2 remains my favorite, and for me it hits the sweet spot in a lot of ways that you mentioned. I want to add that C2 was when they started working with good equipment and production quality, and player experience had reaches a level where everyone felt like they knew how to play the game. The pre-recorded episodes still felt spontaneous, even so late into the story where the plot was starting to reach its end point. C3, for me, is missing a lot of that spontaneity. I can totally respect Matt & Co. wanting to establish Exandria as a setting and decide what stories they want to tell instead of meandoring along the Menagerie Coast for a dozen episodes, but i didn't pick up D&D as a hobby to be railroaded from plot point to plot point. For me, that's the weakness of C3 compared to the other campaigns, especially after that big fight where the party lost and Keyleth died(?) with everyone unable to stop it. From a narrative standpoint, i totally understand why that fight played out the way it did. As a player (who has had the railroading discussion with a DM before), watching so much of the party's planning mean nothing, only for two previous characters to die(?) with the entire party helpless to intervene, felt like the antithesis of what TTRPGs are meant to be. I will admit, as you said, that I'm not in the place i was when I started watching CR. I can't spend 4+ hrs each week paying complete attention to each episode, nor do i have the time or inclination to look up and track every character and event across all 3 campaigns that were clearly supposed to be major revelations for both players and audience.

@KoozyL 8 месяцев назад

I'm one of those you mentioned in the video who just started discovering Critical Role during Campaign 3 and I've fallen in love with the story, characters, and cast. I watched your video all the way through and totally see where you're coming from. I'm glad you were able to come up with your own resolution in the end. The show is evolving like everything does, you just have to adapt and enjoy it for what it is at its core - a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors playing dungeons & dragons.

@CPTcast Год назад

Once things got rolling I enjoyed C3 despite it feeling "produced", but the core separated in two tables for 11 weekly episodes has felt off. As with the majority of stream/recorded ttrpgs, it's the player dynamic that does it for me. I love guests and offshoots, but each combination has a specific feel that it's possible to lose. But...that's how games go. Sometimes you split up, by choice or otherwise. Not every session or arc has to be amazing, sometimes it can just be a fun game.

@t.h.mcelroy6597 11 месяцев назад

Great video. I share a lot of your views on the show, and s3 has yet to grab my attention. But i appreciate your ending perspective on how its us who have changed as well as the show. Context is key.

@fabiolosoproducoes1707 Год назад

Very good video, man, you translated perfectly what i feel about the 3rd campaign, and in a respectful way, very good

@cherryquill Год назад

I am extremely nostalgic for campaign 2, it's the one I started on as a way to have a thing I could do every Thursday night with my crush at the time, and we would do watch parties in whatever common room we could snag during college. It made me bawl my eyes out more than once. The ending was a bit abrupt and disappointing, but I didn't hold it against them or let it ruin anything for me, and I'm glad for that. Even if I'm not watching EVERYTHING cr is putting out, I'm having fun with what I am watching. I definitely felt a change in how I was viewing Crit Role, but I'm also out of college and living a much different life than I was, and so many of my friends don't have the time to watch CR live anymore so I can't share it with them like I used to. I'm glad you talked about your subjective thoughts about all this, but acknowledge that these changes aren't bad or wrong, they're just changes, both to the show itself, and your own life. What I mean is, Good Video. I wish people would watch the whole thing before passing judgement.

@ProfessorTogglebutton Год назад

Beautifully said. I really appreciate hearing someone else who feels the same way. It just doesn't feel right or for me anymore. And that's OK. We are allowed to move on. Thanks for this one, Jay.

@1narutogirl6 7 месяцев назад

Idk about anyone else but the decision to go pre recorded changed nothing for me. Maybe cause I'm exclusively a vod viewer but even being months behind there is still magic when I do decide to pick the series back up.

@voidmystic00 Год назад

I'm glad you came to the realization that new and different aren't necessarily bad things and I'd say go back to campaign 3 and see how it stacks up to the previous 2 campaigns at this point. I understand that a bit of the "magic" might be lost but there are still some amazing things they do in this story. Have faith, have fun watching, and have more wonderful experiences with this amazing show. 😁

@jaseofspades72 Год назад

Your video's timing is interesting, Jay, because I've watched Campaign 3 up to episode 30-ish and I've been having this inexplicable feeling I couldn't shake about why I'm not as invested as I could be compared to Campaign 2. Some say the Campaign you started with is the one that is your favorite, others say it gets better past a certain episode/plot point. I started in Campaign 1 but 2 is still my favorite, and I think it's because between campaigns they were separate adventures, wholly unrelated to each other: new characters, new plot, new locations, a new start. Now, I am on board with the stories and casts interconnecting and expanding; it has to naturally go there and new things need to be tried, otherwise there would be videos criticizing Crit Role for doing the same thing yet again. Change was going to happen, so all we can do as either fans or dnd players ourselves is to just see where things go and analyze it in hindsight. We could get to see more interesting characters and moments from the vast guests/actors, but one thing's for sure it won't be the same CR anymore. Maybe that's not the worst thing!

@Tavviferret Год назад

I did watch few episodes of campaign1 when it came out but though I loved them I wasn't hooked (I have since watched it all and love it). I am a Mighty Nein fanatic loved it. thought the climax worked and the ending worked. But I do remember a few let down moments during campaign 2, I had a lot of expectations about Traveler Con that didn't live up. But I really LOVE campaign 3 since the beginning. I am older so I don't have that 5 year growth you are talking about. I like that it's smoother and I like the production of it. Now it did slow down a huge amount during the Vox Machina animated push... They were burned out and it was obvious. But the climatic battle and reintroduction of old friends was awesome. And the addition of other players is equally as awesome. I think giving people a break from playing is important. I worry the most about Matt burning out, heck he ran Dimension 20 and Candela and the weird oneshot plus what ever else he's doing. He needs a break or I think the show will begin to bog down again once they all get reunited-- hope I'm wrong... But overall Campaign 3 is still great.

@RJeremyHoward Год назад

There are retrospectives within the third campaign that are showing how Exandria is growing, how old things are getting old, and how there's more things to come. They're really hitting some unexpected places. There are points where Matt does the exact opposite of the Bertrand-ing, having players roll relevant dice for things they don't know about that shapes results of __redacted__. Hard agree on the feelings that the "Great Panini that pressed us all" really took an unceremonious crowbar to things. That's what happens with trauma; we get locked into longing - wishing for the time before. We all lost enthusiasm for things we loved. It also coined my favorite phrase: "Thanks; it's the trauma!"™

@Hey-Its-Dingo Год назад

Since you didn't actually go back and watch C3, all they did was split the party and have a set of guests with each group, and they are reuniting next episode. Thinking that the thumbnail of C3E62 meant it had nothing to do with the old is a claim that is eaily disproven by just watching the show. They split the party and had guests for each half in C1, they actually aren't doing anything that different in that regard.

@unknown_was_taken3410 Год назад

I first came to the community when season three was already underway, about the 14th episode and this campaign has been something that seems almost exactly the same of how you felt for campaign two. This community may be different now but it’s given so many people like myself amazing experiences based on what the show is now

@renaissancenerd3801 5 месяцев назад

Campaign 3 was the campaign I joined for, I don't know if I'll ever say it's my favorite but it will always hold a special place in my heart. so I will readily admit that I came into this video expecting this to be a hatewatch (because I still do that for some reason). now, after several months of being an on-and-off watcher of this channel, this was the one that finally made me a subscriber. I feel like that speaks in many ways to the points you were making about Campaign 3 in a way I don't quite know how to put into words

@thedogmaticdirector 9 месяцев назад

This current campaign has some really interesting elements, though. The whole Apogee Solstice cracks open Exandria in ways it hasn't been able to before.

@eltiket 11 месяцев назад

I'm with you on this one. Campaign 3 feels different. And not in a good way.

@jameswhitehead9697 7 месяцев назад

I found CR late into Campaign 2 and while I had finished C1 & C2, C3 had started. I am enjoying this Campaign, I have to say. It is different than the previous two and I like that. I have also liked the guest players that have been part of it. And I find the main players to still be the wonderfully maddening role-players that they are. That has always made these shows so much fun. I simply try enjoy what they present, understand what themes they wish to explore, and am thankful that they still want to take so much time out of their lives to entertain me/us.

@GregMcNeish 11 месяцев назад

I had a MUCH harder time getting into Campaign 2, specifically BECAUSE of all the secrets. Something I love about Campaign 3 is that the primary PCs opened up to each other - and crucially to the audience - early, trusting that they could deliver amazing and shocking moments just through regular D&D play. They let us in from the start, so that we ALL could experience the surprises together. That was an important element of C1 that I missed terribly when C2 started. Where I agree with your analysis is with the planned death of Bertrand. It was telegraphed in a way that made the "shock" not so shocking, and was perhaps the first time in Critical Role's history that it felt like they had made a decision strictly in service of the SHOW, instead of being a D&D game with cameras. I like the use of guests not for one-offs but for chapters with genuine arcs, even though that too is a "show" decision, not a D&D one, so it's hit & miss (as most things are). I appreciate that they're continuing to try to refine their art, as they're one of the innovators of the genre. There's a necessary maturity of fandom needed in order to accept the good with the bad, in that regard. Perhaps that's easier for me simply because I'm older, and have been down a lot of fandom roads in my life. For me, what truly draws me in and keeps me coming back is seeing how much THEY love what they do. It's not always going to be my cup of tea, but as long as they're creating with joy in their hearts - instead of it being just a job - I'll keep tuning in. I mean, that's the same reason I subscribe to this channel....

@sgtNACHO 5 месяцев назад

I left C3 after the Vax Ball Incident. Not because of that, but because the show continued. That arc felt huge, it felt epic, end of the world shit. I thought the world was going to end and be altered forever. I thought that was it, a short campaign where a bunch of nobodies tried to save the world and failed. Then the split happened and we watched a robot fall in love with a guest robot. Chetney met an old flame. Where were the rest of the gang? I watched the next episode expecting the other half. To have the two stories going on simultaneously sounded really cool... but that didnt happen either. Went from epic stakes that seemed to change everything to tiny little stories with half of the cast gone. It felt so anti-climactic, so lacking in storytelling. It felt forced. It was Critical Role, they HAD to keep going, they HAD to add new people, they HAD to fill the slots. They were the biggest stream on Twitch, they were a massive company now. They couldnt just end the story there and start a new campaign in a month dealing with the fallout. They had to have guests and cameos and diversity and new shows. So I ended it for myself. The campaign ended there, and so did my devotion for the brand. I still love the people, the old campaigns, the animated shows. If they start a C4 I will watch it, give it that chance. But C3 feels forced and like it overstayed its welcome

@YaBoiBIG03 Год назад

Came over here from your Twitter post. Damn good video man damn good.

@hibiscusflowers4436 Год назад

i was so viscerally disappointed when watching the first episode live that i just turned over and went to sleep. that feeling never went away for me, and i don’t think it ever will. campaign 2 was a masterpiece and this one is just…. ugh. so flat. so boring. i keep up with story spoilers in case any callbacks i care about show up but other than that? i literally can’t force myself to get through an episode of c3.

@katemoon1594 8 месяцев назад

I am a new viewer that has started with Campaign 3. I can't speak to how different the campaigns are but I do relate to the feeling of finding something special that brings me a sense of hope & comfort in this chaotic, sometimes cruel world.

@niliberl7560 Год назад

And now that i'v finished seeing All the video i am smilling you are talking about growing up ,not holding the past but excepting the futer We make -taking our paths on that monten ,looking down at placess we still love that makes us happy but knowing that we are moving , alwis moving , we dont know were , we can hope and do our best for a happy place .And taking CR as an exsapel of LIFE is perfect , some one very close to me ones side " we love our past so much becuse we know it ...to the point we dont give a chance to what might be an amasing futer " good bleas and may all our futers be sprikeld 😊

@wootydoo8088 5 месяцев назад

I binge watched Vox Machina and Mighty Nine. Bells Hells is the first one that I'm watching episode by episode. I think my issue comes from not being able to binge it all at once. I forget story and characters pretty easily unless I'm able to keep the thought train going. I think once it comes to a close I'll have to go back and binge it all to have a real appreciation. There are some incredible moments in campaign 3 and I would really encourage you to watch it despite your trepidation! :)

@Kangstor 10 месяцев назад

I live in GMT+3 timezone. When they were live I would wake up around 4 AM friday just to catch the show live. When they moved to prerecorded I didn't have that same enthusiasm and nowadays I just wait until monday around 7 PM for the youtube version to drop because honestly there is no difference in experience.

@dylanblack3635 Год назад

I have to say you almost had me through the first three quarters of that video. THe Jay Martin that I have come to appeciate even when we have a difference of opinion seemed to be going down a rabbit hole that wasn't like hime. Who was this man that was wearing his face but telling people after a fashion that their favorite community wasn't what it once was. I waited through the entire video with things that would be needed to pick apart your arguments and show how you were just putting your own emotions and investment in as "facts" only for you to respond that you knew that was what you had done and turn the entire narrative on its ear. You have done a great service with this video in doing something that the critical role cast can not do, show us, the fans, that we have to check ourselves and quit placing our expectations and desires upon a bunch of made up characters played by a group of friends that really owe us nothing. I will add that you are a great narrator and have a talent for guiding a viewer along your train of thought. If ever our paths should cross in the non-digital world, I would feel honored to share a table with you and will have a seat set aside for you at mine.

@martyperdue2872 7 месяцев назад

Cr3 characters were way to put together and unproblematic with one another. Its only untill the past like 20eps that i feel they are actually building interesting characters with thier choices and interactions. The original character backgrounds never built characters imo, it has been the later story and decisions that has made them worth watching. Cr 3 had been a tough watch for me. But im an og livestream watcher since ep 30, something of cr 1. Here is hoping for more secrets to come out from the cast. :)

@blaster702 5 месяцев назад

Critical Role went from a show where nerdy ass voice actors play DnD to a brand where voice actors and their less compelling friends pretend to play DnD so they can sell spinoff media.

@stevenalexander6033 Год назад

I'm a little curious how you reconcile Brennan's railroading with this complaint about Travis and Bell... Seems a little contradictory honestly.

@PlayYourRole Год назад

Honestly a great question! I've made several videos on Brennan, and how I think his story telling is great... for short form content. Condensed, syndicated seasons. BUT I loved Critical Role for its longer more sprawling narrative, which allows for less necessary railroading to keep things on track, and so it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

@stevenalexander6033 Год назад

@@PlayYourRole This campaign is still very much very broad and still very much up to the characters.. The death of Bell was planned with Mercer and Travis doing some talking. It's how Travis wanted to start the game. It's not just DM and Player playing with each other in the meta. But is also play between each other as well. There is still a lot of freedom with these characters and players. As per what happened this past Thursday.

@l.p.antaree8216 Год назад

I have kept current on C3 since it started airing. I got into CR through Mighty Nein. Caleb is my favorite character in CR. I love C2, my main complaint with C3 is primarily that the party is incredibly passive and reactive. This is the fault of partially the players, and the characters they wrote up. And partially the story Matt has set up that gives the players seemingly little power over what is happening. The primary thing i can break it down to, is the line "We don't know" They say is all the damn time, and it's ridiculous, it's such a passive unmoving line that sticks them in place. At some point you need to start making assumptions and theories and ACTING ON THEM, rather than waiting to be told what to do. It's like they're in a race and saying "i don't know why everyones passing me, it doesn't make sense, how do i make the car go fast. But you're still in 2nd gear. The M9s motivations had them Actively pursuing the next step, and taking real decisive action. The closest we've gotten to that in Campaign 3 has been after Laudna died, and everyone knew. "We are getting her back!" Other than that they've just been shrugging "idk" in the general direction of progress.

@l.p.antaree8216 Год назад

Usually when this would happen in M9, Travis would kick everyone else into gear, because Travis is a fantastic player when it comes to instigating things into motion. But Chetney does not have the same level of voice and command in BH that Fjord did, so what pushing Travis does doesn't have nearly the same effect.

@tiril6681 Год назад

yesss thank you for this. i've been thinking for a while now that they don't take risks anymore. they don't dare or care to affect the story like VM and M9 did. the characters having to remind themselves why they're invested in the plot (besides orym) is also really unfortunate, especially because it's then harder for the audience to be invested, too.

@l.p.antaree8216 Год назад

@@tiril6681 I'm sure it also doesn't help that the party's luck this campaign has been garbage. Up until these last guest episodes the average rolls have been below a 10. somehow Sam especially has had so many nat 1s it's ridiculous. And I think the consistency of the bad rolls have made the party more careful, and nervous. That on top of the main threat being, to put it simply, Over Bell's hells Paygrade. By this point in M9, the party had been finishing up dealling with Pirates, not fucking Ludinous daleth

@jeffreese7623 Год назад

My personal take on C3: I watched every week up until 2 weeks ago. I stopped because I'm completely lost, I've lost the intricacies of the characters and the npcs. I feel like I'm in a class where I'm being taught a thing in steps and I'm still trying to figure out step 2 and the "story" has quickly moved on to step 3/4/5 in rapid succession to a point where references to npcs or events have little meaning. I've tried to read Dani's recaps but those are just a cryptic. Sure I get the main 10k foot view of the story, but go any closer to the ground and it's just a web of npcs/events/references to stuff to which I have no idea. Not sure if anyone has this "feeling" or is in my situation. Regardless, it's my issue and I don't expect anyone to change based on my lack of understanding. Just wanted to vent

@MajorHickE Год назад

I'm completely with you. There are all these references to things that I know are from the previous games, but I can't keep all of it in my head well enough for the plot to make sense. It also feels like this campaign is being railroaded in a way that the last two weren't. From a production standpoint, I get it, and it's clear that there's a story the group wants to tell. As a D&D player, a lot of things (esp. the fight where the group for split up and Keyleth... Died?) felt like there was no way for the players to respond, which, for me, takes away from the spirit of the game. For all the thought that went into setting up that moment, watching it wasn't fun because of how much happened that the players couldn't even try to stop.

@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll Год назад

It's definitely a lore-heavy and lore-dense campaign, with a LOT of threads and characters and place names that refer back to the entire Exandrian Cinematic Universe, so to speak. I've gotten a lot of utility out of fan recaps, summaries and podcasts (such as The Pixelists, Luboffin, marisharaygun), and also discussing arcs with other fans - meaning, a small curated selection of people who either like the same things about C3 that I do, or who completely disagree in interesting ways. That kind of thing is not for everybody!! It's not quite Brandon Sanderson Cosmere-levels up in here (yet), but I've bounced off some of Sanderson's books at times in my life when I just didn't have the mental energy to work that hard (even though there was a LOT about them I loved!) and I completely understand that C3 might not be for some people for similar reasons.

@mattbriddell9246 Год назад

Another thing that's making this season feel different than campaign 1 or 2 is the fact that Critical Role is in a weird place right now thanks to the OGL debacle with WOTC. It's become evident at this point that they want to shift away from D&D to a different system, either because they don't like D&D anymore and want to play something else or else because they want to have full control over the material and content of their game world (which they can't do 100% while playing D&D)- hence why they're developing Illuminated Worlds and Daggerheart (and also based on some of their public comments during those events). Those systems have clearly been in the works for a while and would have come out regardless of the OGL events, but those events seem to have either forced their hand with other publishers like Paizo and Kobold Press announcing new systems of their own or encouraged them to go public with their plans at this time. The problem, though, is that they're still under contract with WOTC, presumably for at least the rest of campaign 3, so they're in this weird place of having to play one system while wanting to change to another. So that's creating some additional tension in this situation as well and leading to a campaign plot that seems somewhat contrived and meta as they're literally trying to expunge out all of the D&D-based lore from their game by killing off the gods of their world, which are derived from D&D deities- not for the sake of plot or worldbuilding but because they want to have more creative and economic control over the world they play in.