The Fall of Campaign 3 

Critical Role is as popular as ever...but some fans seem to have had enough of Critical Role Campaign 3.

I'm a fan of Campaign 3, its different from campaign 2 which was different from campaign 1. I like them changing things up and not letting things become stagnated and stale, having said that Campaign 1 will also have a soft spot in my heart as an OG year 1 fan of CR and Campaign 2 is probably the best in overall quality but i enjoy Campaign 3 to and can't wait for Ep51

This campaign is really feeling like a group of misfits really caught up in an event well above their weight class and just trying to do what they can. I feel like the next few episodes are going to make or break this campaign and I think a lot of fans are going to have huge opinions about what happens next.

C1 was a story about a group of adventurers and their relation to the world. C2 was a story about 7 individuals and their relations to each other. C3 is a story about a world and it’s relation to 7 individuals

100% dorian should had stayed, i personally didnt watch the original exu, but i grew to love dorian over the early section of campaign 3

Not gonna lie and I know I might be in the minority but I feel like not having TalksMachina hurt the brand in a total it for sure helped anchor the brand with the fans it gave us small tidbits to hold on to and feel like part of it Example with a prerecorded actual play is D20 adventuring party helps you feel like you're part of the table and choices

My biggest gripe is the apparent fear of confrontation and the over analysis of every issue the party faces. It’s bogging down the story and really hurting the pacing imo

I’ll be honest, as a new fan of Critical Role, this is my first campaign and I am loving it. Didn’t know people were getting disappointed with it but I really love most everything about it.

I think the biggest reason why C3 hasn't stuck is actually because CR is a campaign first, show second, as the cast and crew have stated numerous times. If you're running different campaigns with the same tables across many years, its impossible to know how good each one will be stacked next to the other ones. Thus Is the nature of DnD

Early CR was a group of friends playing D&D at a table, who just so happen to be actors and bring those skills to the game because it’s fun for them. Campaign 2 felt like actors playing roles on-screen, while secretly vying to be the “fan favorite”…who just so happen to be friends behind the scenes. Campaign 3 feels the same way Campaign 2 does, but they’re all sort of actively fighting a burnout (that nobody wants to mention because they’ve made it clear that like any other actor, their slot can be filled by another person) by playing the most creative characters they could think of, pulling from UA and fringe sources that aren’t exactly in your typical PBH.

I think the frustrating thing about C3 is that we as an audience can see all the pieces from other campaigns and from EXU …. BUT NONE OF THE C3 CHARACTERS ARE SMART ENOUGH like we don’t have beau and Caleb to figure everything out so they really feel more at the mercy of the world and are unable to take cohesive steps as they bumble trying to figure it out they’re really is no planner in the group

I have been enjoying C3 so far and have been excited every Thursday since it began. While I miss the live part of the streams, they don't take away from my enjoyment.

I got to admit I do miss chat interactions. The time that Chat said told Travis where Laura's stuff was in her book. The time when Chat figured out that they were talking to Keyleth's mom...

As the first campaign I watched, I found it difficult to keep watching after Dorian left. Robbie added an air of lightness and joy and positive vibes that I lowkey feel are missing now.

This campaign feels more plot driven then character driven. I'm struggling to understand what motivates these characters have from doing or saying anything. Sometimes I feel like they don't know. But I'm struggling to stay engaged this campaign.

It surprised me that the fans treat this show like a tv series, which is perfectly understandable and I can see. For me though, I only ever treated it like watching a Let's Play. I personally couldn't really criticize this product like a TV Show since its so freeform for me. Them not focusing on making a story for funs but going with whatever flow seriously works for me more.

I think we should be patient and see what becomes of things. I think the fact that the cast wants to take more breaks and are working on the animated show means the campaign will be more drawn out and I think Matt is aware of this. I think things are going to be just as good but just stretched out more.

Honestly, the story just feels too big for their level, especially since they didn't really have time to do personal side quests early on. Having a patron meant that they were doing what the patron wanted and not roaming around dealing with their past like the Mighty Nein did, which I think is why these characters haven't felt that interesting. There are so many cool hints at their backstories throughout the campaign, but we never get into it because we need to do this mission for Eshteross or we need to deal with Ruidus. Also, as cool as the cameos from past campaigns are, it left me wanting to see what they were up to rather than follow Bell's Hells. Part of the charm of C2 was that it was its own story separate from the events of C1. Bell's Hells just kinda feel like NPCs in their own story.

3 things killed my interest in Campaign 3. Dorian was my favourite character of the cast and I was devastated to see him go, by the end of Calamity I realized that I had developed a deeper connection with Cerrit, Patia and Loquatious in four episodes that I had with Chetney, Laudna and FCG in over 20, and the Otohan fight's aftermath, when Imogen simply wished the problem away

Should probably do more of a breakdown of Campaign 3 and what are some of the issues, you gloss over them and focus on a lot of business stuff.

I feel like the biggest problem for c3 is the character's. In c2 I feel like you had more a serious party with serious backstory implications that affected the game. But in c3 the story is basically about Imogen. Not to mention the character's in c3 weren't designed to be as deep as old campaigns. A lot of this is by design for instance Liam made orym to be a tag along character. He's said this in interviews. Because of this I feel like c3 will be shorter than the other compaigns.

Imo it's hella impressive that despite growing into this multi-million moloch they retained the soul of the show which really just is bunch of loving friends having fun at the table. And I find it completely understandable that they wish foe some more time with their families, and time to organise themselves every once a month. Just because you love your job doesn't mean it can't be tiring, last thing I want is for them to feel burned out by something they're so passionate about. Like look at Travis Willingham, that's the goofiest, most down to earth, approachable CEO I ever heard about

My only issue with campaign 3 is really the main character syndrome that Imogen is getting. It really feels to me that she is the main driver from the beginning and that every event have to relate to her and that bug me. Even the whole laudna arc felt more like let's save Imogen best friend. Laudna death was about her and her resurrection was mainly her doing. I enjoy Imogen but we spent a year and a half having her in the front seat. Everyone's back story that we observed were also linked to her To Be Clear, I don't think that Laura wanted or even pushed for this. And I don't fault her or Matt for this. They play the game they want to play and that's it. I am just explaining what I feel made C3 less enjoyable for me. I think Matt expected the other people's link to the red moon to be stronger and more relevant but it didn't happen. Even orym for who it was supposed to be a revenge Mission had to have that go at the background.

I often see the complaint about the production quality and the justification that it's people comparing it to their favorite characters/moments, but that misses the complaint. The complaint is that it feels commercialized. Each campaign has differing levels of production quality and considerations, but what fans enjoyed about the live show is that it felt like they were a party to something. Even if the group didn't interact with chat, those struggles of real life (making it on time, technical difficulties) made the show feel like our own personal sessions when someone is late or the internet drops and we can't google an answer or a player is dropped from the VTT. As the show has evolved into a more professional series, it has become more of a show, and less of a game we're watching happen live. This sentiment mirrors the other major conspiracy theory of "the show is scripted". It's not that the show feels more scripted, it's that it feels more professional and less approachable. There is an element of "we can't do or say this because we now have corporate concerns with regards to advertisers, etc." that's always hovering over the show now. When it first began, that elephant wasn't in the room beyond Geek & Sundry.

I don't want to say scripted... but the campaigns seem to have gotten less organic.. Everyone is hyper focused on telling a narrative.. I fell in love with C1 because it genuinely felt like a bunch of friends playing DND.. I get the reasons why its more structured now.. but that doesn't change that it's lost something..

Personally, I believe a lot of the jarring feeling that campaign 3 suffers from could have been solved with talks machina. It didn't have to stay as Brian, but having a weekly check-in to get the player's take helped a lot in campaign 2 (I know 4sided dive is there but it's not the same), but it also helped if I missed something or didn't catch the gravity of something it would get talked about the following Tuesday. Also by the time the pandemic hit and we didn't have it every week I was very invested in the player's and didn't need it as badly. Anyways that's my take on campaign 3, I was watching weekly up until EXU Calamity series then I've been struggling (only making it to episode 29).

I think it has to do with the characters. Like you said, Robbie was the heart of the party at the start, after he left, no one else was really positioned to take that role. Bertram was actually a loss, too. I like Chetny, but Bertram seemed more relatable and connected. Orin is a fine character, but pales compared to Vax or Caleb, and not having Liam’s gravitas in the story is felt. Additionally, Liam and Laura’s chemistry is great, usually, but not so much in C3. FCG is also good, but his story doesn’t catch my interest in the way that Scanlan or Nott did, perhaps he will in time, but I don’t see it. I think, also, this campaign feels a bit more on rails than the others did, even though both others did follow the breadcrumbs pretty closely, too.

It's hard to appreciate the full cast of characters when the story is mostly Imogen centered and a lot of star time goes to Marisha's old characters

I hate that everything is Imogen centered. I hate when one player is more in spotlight than other. No backstories about Ashton or his trip to kitchen, Laudna's origin, where she became a shadow sorcerer etc.. It's just Imogen, Imogen, Imogen.

I’m a fan of C3 but I feel like this is a last hurrah of sorts. I will not be surprised if the main cast does not go back to Exandria. We may see a whole new world where CR can build new lore and probably a new gaming system of their own or the main cast will be taking up other roles and we will see multiple splinter campaigns set in Exandria.

I feel like a lot of people tend to forget that while yes, its enjoyable to watch them play this game because they're good storytellers and have backgrounds in acting, this is ultimately THEIR game. We just get to be along for the ride. Watching it like explicitly like a show is a disservice to the game they're playing. I am personally having a blast watching C3. It feels very different from the other two campaigns and that's ok.

I started watching at he beginning of C3 and loved it, but I'm halfway through C2 now and completely empathise with why that campaign has everyone's hearts. C2's NPCs are memorable and unique and by Ep. 50, there were already a dozen stakes resting on each character's backstory. I knew each character intimately and also the information withheld from me I knew was going to be important. I mean, the Avantika arc was probably the best of all of CR, it's gotta be so hard to top that. And Calamity was batshit incredible. C3 is fun as a catch-up watcher because I'm seeing the threads of the world come together in real time. (Nothing cooler than hearing Ruidus being casually mentioned in Uthodurn right now!) But I'm really struggling to connect with Ashton, Chetney and Orym. There's so much there in background but we're either really taking our time to get with it. I don't hate the greater prioritization of world

imo, it isnt the breaks that cause this campaign to suffer. it seems to me that what the real problem is, is that they're spread too thin. you see it in the exhausted, beleaguered affect they have on the show. connections between story elements, lore, roleplay oportunities that they would have noticed in the first two campaigns they miss these days. the sense of wonder is often missing because its more like a chore than before. I hate to say it, but the stream is kind of ancillary to their real business now. merch, the amazon deal (which i do think is a great show btw), etc. I think C3 isnt as good as the others because it feels less these days like the cast of crit role playing ttrpgs cause they would anyway, and we get to watch, and more like a stage play on its 5th night with exhausted actors - or worse, business people generating tie-in oportunities for later. I know it always was some combination of these things in earnest - that they're actors, that crit role is a business and ttrpgs are probably better of for that anyway. but it does suck that their decrease in enthusiasm (maybe for want of a better word) is more visible, to me. Feels less cozy. feels like the immersion and verisimilitude is suspended by and because of the meta-text when everything is a self referential tie-in. i dont feel like im immersed in exandra, i feel like i'm watching the cast in their workday trying to get that bread, or fulfil contracts, or whatever. I don't want to sound like im saying they sold out. I think its cool that they make the money they do considering the inventiveness of the product and their talent, and how our hobby benefits from it. but if anything I think they should take more breaks. I'll say this though. the alternative would have been them doing more of the same. and you can't blame them for swinging, wanting to actually do something different and bigger in scale. maybe they'll pare it back next time, assuming there is a next time. even still, I keep watching C3 even if it does disapoint me a little. thats my 2 coppers anyway

I just cannot seem to find any emotional arcs and heartfelt character moments in C3, hence my rapidly declining interest. All of the characters sound like cool ideas, unexplored: e.g. the old underdog who finally receives unexpected power, the reluctant warrior who eventually faces his husband's killers, the cleric without a god, the guy living in constant pain, the parentless child who gets to meet them (and basically do f all). It doesn't help that the story seems to be developing way faster than the characters. We have a level 8 party facing a threat of a god-swallowing eldritch plot point, so old characters have to come in, in an attempt to even the odds. I have a conspiracy theory that CR is pushing this campaign way faster than intended in order to have it finish well before 1DnD releases so that they can properly gauge and decide the system for a potential C4 (whether that will be 1DnD, a homebrew system, PF2 or whatever)

I really enjoyed the first twenty or so episodes, it felt like they were having fun getting into their new characters and getting back some of the chaotic energy that characterised the best of campaign 1 - seating Laura and Liam beside each other again being a good start! I have doubts, however, about the way the Ruidis arc is going. It feels like we're being rushed towards a BBEG climax that the party are nowhere near ready for. The last time they faced Otohan Thule - on her own- it was nearly a TPK, now they're going to be facing her in her own lair, surrounded by allies, and possibly with Ludinus at her side - probably the most powerful wizard on Exandria right now. If they win, with the aid of high-level allies, it's not going to feel like any sort of earned victory. I've heard some people compare this to Avengers Endgame; but we've already kinda had that in campaign 1 - Vox Machina had a selection of allies old and new come to their aid in the fight against Vecna; but they were all seriously high level, had some actual investment with the main characters, and even then they barely scraped a victory. Bell's Hell's are, with all the love in the worlds, a bunch of borderline mid-tier adventurers who're only really just starting to face serious enemies. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised by how things turn out, but I'm also not setting my hopes to high.

People forget how disjointed early C2 felt as well. While the characters were a lot more integrated into the setting and that did work in its favor, we really don’t get anything resembling plot until the war breaks out and even then, TM9 sort of… ran away from it to go crime-ing with The Gentleman. Molly dying actually did wonders for character progression and viewer investment at a time where we were kinda going nowhere fast. And I say this as someone who’s favorite Campaign so far is C2! Lower lvl stories just kinda have that aimlessness to them in longer form Campaigns, even outside of Critical Role. The characters need time to meet up, get to know each other and find their place in the world so that they’re a cohesive unit by the time Big Plot rolls around. It may not always be the most exciting thing to watch but it seems like it was always fun to play which is what really matters. I never had any doubts that C3 was gonna pick up in a major way around Episode 30, which is when both previous campaigns did.

As a relatively new fan, I started watching C2 a couple months after C2 finished, this is what stands out to me. C3 feels very slow on the pacing, hell it took me many months to get past the first 20-25 episodes. Not for a lack of trying but I just couldn't get into it. Whereas for comparison after I finished C2 I went back to C1 and watched it through completely in just about 3 months. I thoroughly enjoyed both C1 and C2, but with C3 it felt very strange, very different. I felt as though I couldn't really connect with the characters, and I still somewhat feel like that. Although now I'm up to date and starting to enjoy it a little bit more but the one thing I don't like is the single-handed focus on Imogen's story, I get that it's a "world-ending" scenario but I would like to see the other characters shine more as well.

It's become just another Hollywood production in many ways. When it's friends playing a game together they can be who they are, and there is a certain charm that comes from low production value. The show and the story are pretty good, but the prerecorded nature breeds sterility. That sterility creates a disconnect from the audience.

My main problem was for me that I couldn't connect to the characters. It seemed to me that they just tried to make stranger and stranger characters. And I am a bit old-fashioned when it comes to characters. But robots, monsters etc are just not my cup of tea. But if they enjoy it, more power to them, but I dropped out after a dozen or so episodes.

Campaign 1 - The Epic One Campaign 2 - The Deep One Campaign 3 - The Weird One

I think the average CR fan follows a similar cycle. 1. The binge watch 2. Watching live weekly 3. The trickle off 4. The fall off. For many Campaign 2 fans (especially those who found it during the pandemic), they are only now hitting their first tickle off and fall off. We all get there eventually. Where something about the current arch or campaign no longer makes us excited to watch so we stop. For most of us this is a temporary stop because CR as a whole is so good we miss it and have to come back. Plus I find it is a lot easier to watch episodes your not 100% into when you know the next episode that might be better is already available. Edit: Even I fell off of C3 at about episode 15 but decided I missed the show and binged it again a few weeks ago. Now for the last 2 weeks I have been telling all my friends who had also fallen off the show that they have to get caught back up again because this is what everything has been building toward.

Honestly, this might sound strange, but this entire Ludinus storyline feels much more suited for the Mighty Nein than Bell's Hells. I think they ended c2 because they were kind of emotionally exhausted, which I understand, and I still kind of get that feeling from how much more the players are personally interested in catching up with c1 characters than c2 ones. But as much as the M9 were unsung heroes, and as much as they started out as a statedly morally grey group of de facto mercenaries, they grew to be quite effective problem solvers and heroes. Plus, as their final fight showed, they were kind of especially geared towards dealing with magical threats. A few hints in c2 lead me to believe that this entire storyline was at least partially set up by the time they were hunting the Angel of Irons cult and Matt basically expanded it to be the central plotline of c3.

On one hand, I have not been able to get back into CR since the end of C1. I watched about 30-40 episodes of C2 and 10-15 episodes of C3, and while I appreciate a fair bit about both, they just aren't things I am interested in investing my time in. As you said, Critical Role has changed because of course it has! It has been 8 years of streaming the game, and they've done a lot to craft the experience that they are most proud of and excited by. With that said, I do think that there was kind of an energy with C1 that no other campaign has had (obviously I have not watched every episode of C2 or 3, so I could just be wrong). It felt very much like the home game everyone wishes they could play in where 2 and 3 have felt a bit closer to performances. They've embraced more and more the theatrics of it (which makes sense given their backgrounds), and it has felt more like a show than a game. That isn't inherently bad; in fact, I think a lot of people prefer the more modern approach, but I do definitely miss when things felt a little more real game like (even though their table has always been a high level of play that very few tables will hit in terms of rp).

Dorian really needs to come back … he felt like the heart of the story from EXU 1, and C3. Even for episodes here and there. We know it’s quite a commitment for Daymond to be a regular as he’s voicing in many shows and video games and producing music. Goes to show what a phenomenal actor and writer Robbie is for delivering perhaps the most memorable guest character

I haven't gotten around to watching the newest episodes yet but recently I've been thinking about why C3 doesn't capture me as much as it did as long as a few other thoughts that have been on my mind about CR: To preface, I got into CR rather late. The first EXU was the first thing I consumed and from there on I explored more of CR. I haven't watched C1 except for clips, I watched C2 until briefly after Evantika and then C3 rolled around and I was hyped to start watching as it went. And I actually enjoyed myself for most of the time and kept up with the weekly story up until after they saved Laudna, I think. The entire journey of getting her back with VM and everything, it was heartfelt and BH fought for it. But ever since they returned from Whitestone, it just lost me a little bit. The first 30 episodes or so, it really felt like the players were enjoying themselves, making shenanigans here and there, solving tasks with a little odd methods just like they would do in C2 but I feel recently, that has been lost a little bit. In general, I feel like nothing much is happening in the episodes and the overall main story is restricting the creativity of the players because of the constant need to act fast because time is ticking. I think that the whole Ruidus plot is so big that it takes away from the characters actually interacting with each other or even just behaving like themselves. I haven't even watched C2 to the middle and I still remember a lot more heartwarming eye-to-eyes than I can in C3. Every character has some great indicated plotlines but they're just not getting any following and yes, of course that could happen later on but it's a bit of a strange pacing to build up to something that could be the finale fo the whole campaing only to later explore some rather "small" points like what the f is up with Ashton's chronic pain and his past in general, right? Since I also started watching D20, I have come to the conclusion that CR episodes are too long, at least for me. I actually cannot sit through a whole episode at once because I just lose focus at some point. The entire pacing of CR is rather slow but in C3 recently it feels like most of the time is not spent with doing something but rather thinking about doing something or theorizing, and not even in amusing way, at least to me. In general, I have to say that while CR deserves every inch of success they have and LOVM is an amazing show and the new studio is absolutely stunning, I do miss a little bit of the "randomness" about it. What made Sam's adds in C2 so amazing was how unhinged they were and how only he knew what he would do while the others learned as they went (maybe that wasnt the case back then either but it definitely felt like it). Now, it seems that even some of the reactions of the others that are supposed to feel natural are scripted sometimes. I know, that's a very specific complaint but maybe someone feels the same about this. C2 adds were great because of Sam doing unhinged and crazy stuff, sometimes without preparation and everyone losing their mind because they were seeing it for the first time too. And last but not least: CR misses a format like Talks Machina. 4-sided dive might be fun but nothing ever gets really deep because so many different segments need to be cramped in. I absolutely adored the cast even more once I started to watch the corresponding episode of Talks Machina after an episode of C2. It had such a comfortable setting and it was so interesting to hear everyone talking about their characters at length without someone eventually interrupting and saying "we have to keep going, quick".

The first part of the campaign was pretty slow and hard to get into, but it felt like they had really hit a nice stride a few episodes before Robbie left, and then it was tough again because I adored what he added to the group-I agree with all you said about pacing, but I was obsessed with Calamity and have to stop myself frequently from rewatching it, and when it tied into the campaign, it was SO satisfying

I am surprised that they havent gotten burnt out yet and appreciate their dedication to fans honestly you can feel the joy in campaign one. I dont want them to continue if its not all fun and just another job either

It's far less player-driven in campaign 3 then what was seen in campaign 2. I miss that dearly.

Although the Ruidus plot is very significant, it feels like that's been the entire story arc since the beginning, it's just taken 50 episodes to get to the climax because they needed to be around this level to face this threat-- and technically they're still not even close to done with it. By episode 50 of C2, that was when they were entering Xhorhas, and granted C1 was already starting them at a higher level, but they had faced so many boss level fights by that time and done so much. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that this group is not really an "adventuring party" in the sense of taking jobs and exploring and interacting with the wider world. Their group makes decisions on what to do based on a few very specific character driven mysteries they wanted to solve, and so it feels like they've been on this same plot thread for so long because they latched onto it too early because their motivations are woven into that underlaying plot but their level was not high enough to face that threat until now.

I think another issue why the C3 feels a little slower is the villians in C3 are more of the "hide in the shadows types" so we've mainly dealing with a indirect/unknown threat rather then a big scary monster the party just encounters randomly, without a direct threat its hard to keep everyone focused. The Briarwoods Arc is the perfect example of a direct threat to the party. The party knew where they were so they just needed to go their to stop them. Compare that to Dugger the party had to investigate because Dugger was hiding & wasn't going to reveal himself. In any Crime drama the investigation is the low point with a big pay-off in the end & that's what we've seen in C3, slow build-up all leading up to the big pay-off. FYI hidden enemies in the shadows isn't a bad thing & Matt is playing it well, but sometimes it leads to being players lost on what to do next. Another point is the players are smarter after 8 yrs of playing. The party in C3 (and towards the end of C2) have found more ways to resolve problems instead of fighting (take the Bull from ep53 and how they got around that encounter), this has lead to less need for combat, less combat means less direct threat to the party. Without that direct threat to the party its harder for viewers to be invested in a faceless foe then a giant monster about to eat you. Also most of the party have unique abilities that help them evade danger e.g. 3 sending users, 2 healers, Chetney's nose, Orym's Observant feat, Aston's Pass without a Trace etc... Point is they have a lot of ways to avoid danger at such a low level & they known how to use them well. I've enjoyed C3 so far its a slower burn then the other 2 campaigns, but thats not always a bad thing.

I really really miss Robbie. He was the standout to me in EXU in how deeply he dove in and committed, as a first time player no less. I try to be patient with CR. I remember the beginning of C2 seemed slow to me as well. Heck, slogging thru the first part of the streamed C1 was slow and clunky. They were finding their footing, the audio was rough, and then there's that one...presence... that had to get scooted away from the table before all cylinders fired. I had great hopes for what C3 would bring but of course the cast and the game choices and the lore are so varied, there was no telling what was really going to be presented. I still don't know if I'm pleased or disappointed... which is an odd headspace to still hold after 50 episodes/200ish hours. I agree that the interruptions and the pacing have made things kind of... frustrating as a viewer. But yes, things change and I try to take that in stride. As far as C3 now, if the current plot is such a culmination of years and years of buildup... what will they have to take on after this 'chapter' is resolved? That question is in my head (as in a lot of other people's) and I could see the campaign just ending after this arc. There's no rule that says you have to play a character team until they get super high level... I'm okay either way if it ends or continues. I'm interested to see what team/story comes in Campaign 4 because beginnings are always full of new hope. (if there is another campaign... All things end; Lives, stories, ages, even Actual Play streams.) Thanks for your insights, buddy!

I feel like the party not having fleshed out backstories and not truly feeling cohesive could be because they are essentially all NPCs like Taliesin said on 4-Sided Dive. Imogen has been at the forefront of the story at the moment but that’s mainly because it ties directly to her character. I feel like if we spent more time in the FeyWild we could’ve gotten more of Fearne’s story but they have a time crunch to worry about so the story has been moving quite fast and brushing over character stories. Once the solstice is over (and if the party survives) we’ll probably get time to slow down and look to other characters. There are mysteries involving Ashton and their past, possibly meeting new aeormatons, who the heck Oltgar is and why so many craftsmen hate him, and if Delilah is truly gone from Laudna’s head. Imogen’s story will definitely take a big break after this arc, and although I feel like this campaign may be shorter, the story isn’t over just yet.

I took more issue of CR becoming extremely Woke towards the ending of campaign 2. Like Matt yelling at Sam for his annoyance with a character with pronouns since everyone had been calling them different things. Most conservative tabletop weekend warriors don’t really wanna deal with woke bs, they are the same original group of guys and gals who were playing dnd since before CR and rn most of them feel extremely betrayed by Wizard of the coast and Critical role.

I think at the end of the day it comes down with what you as a viewer connect with. I know plenty of people who are enjoying c3 way more than c2 or C1. That's the magic of storytelling, we enjoy things differently. While me personally I'm not enjoying c3 as much as the other two I'm not going out of my way to make people feel bad about enjoying a different kind of story. I'm just happy to enjoy another tale in this world.

The pre recorded broadcast also allows the production team to add subtitles which helps anyone with hearing issues or trying to learn english! They also add subtitles in different languages on RU-vid so it's a great change in my opinion

1: The intro: An exercise in pure vanity of the actors and ignores all pretense of being about any characters, screaming "Look at me!". 2: The falsity: Everything is faked, from the introductions "omglols" faces to the hammy acting of some as they focus on playing to the camera rather than portraying whilst playing. 3: The pretension: The constant, shallow wokery and injection of "look at my gayness/token friend/virtuewanking" instead of any subtlety, depth or meaning. 4: Memberberries: "Remember this character? Or this one?" In the absence of complexity, breadth of personality or depth in the current ones, just shoehorn in a load of callbacks to get the audience to cream their jeans with nostalgia. Remember, it's all about keeping an audience, not any storytelling or D&D. In short, CR is curently a vain, vapid and virtueless business wearing a "geek-chic" mask, banking on relying on and pandering to narcissistic nostalgia, virtue-signalling vices and exactly the kind of mindless mass-marketed mess that D&D was meant to be an escape from.

Personally I just don't want to wait for 30 episodes of 3 hour length just so it "might" get good, I don't want to have to learn all this prequel trivia to understand the story. That is my problem with campaign 3 that and the characters

The thing with campaign 3 is that it feels almost like everyone picked a joke character. A werewolf gnome? a robot called Fresh Cut Grass? a halfling fighter? This feels like they are just trying something for kicks and giggles. They picked some random ass races that I personally think should exist or be playable like genasi or fauns. Campaign 1 felt true to the player. Like they picked something that they could be in a fantasy world. The group felt more cohesive. The characters were a bit more complex.

When Robbie left is kind of when I started losing a bit of interest. Just wasn't as pressing to watch the episode that week, and when I eventually got several weeks behind I was like "well, dang" watch it when I can.

Asking me to watch 120 hours of something before it gets good is insane.

I continue to enjoy the critical role experience. The only thing I miss now, is how I felt included in the celebrations of the cast members achievements, like the various voice overs they were doing or who had a convention coming up.

C1 blended the overarching campaign story with the personal backstory arch's perfectly, C2 focused too much on the personal back story's for me and the larger story kind of seamed to appear and it was over. I have just gotten to around episode 30 for C3 and have largely felt like there is too much focus on the larger world and NPC tasks. . .

Campaign 3 to me feels less like it’s own story that happens to be in Exandria and more of a masturbatory tribute to the other two campaigns. I want a campaign that’s set far enough that Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein are myths and legends, but not actively able to come bail the heroes out. I want to see characters overcome adversity instead of the training wheels like what it looks like they’ve got right now.

Me personally, love this campaign. I heard of Critical Role when Campaign 2 was still around but I didn't really have enough time to sit down and watch all of their sessions so I waited for the new campaign. It had a slow start, sure, but I feel the story has picked up quite a lot these past few episodes and I can't wait to see where they go from here. I understand some of the criticism for the campaign but again, I'm enjoying myself and others are too! Edit: Yeah the new session was PEAK!!! Happy Eight Years!

When it was announced they were ore recording, I remember telling my brother "that's gonna kill it. Won't be the same energy".... Well.... Yeah. For the first time after 5 years we just stopped watching. Haven't watched in 3 months. Liam himself said at one time.jokingly "yes they come here for that, not the drama". It made me realize that's the issue. It's no longer a fun game of friends. They are trying to make a dramatic story. That's why it's story driven, not character driven. It's just...... Boring.

Personally, I kinda feel like C1 is like a reality TV show that you get thrown into in the first third of a season. C2 felt like watching a live-action version of a standalone book, like reading the first trilogy of R.A. Salvatore. C3 feels like a combination of serial radio play meets cooking show -- but instead of showing you the results, you literally have to wait for the noodles to get done cooking, for the sauce to get done simmering. You know the food is gonna be good, but good food takes patience and time. That being said, we haven't yet gotten to the point where the meal gets put together, so we can eat it. And so it goes for Campaign 3.

It's actually so interesting because all the points you mentioned are so valid and true and definitely helps me (a new CR fan, who joined at the end of C2) understand the complaints from og fans but also helps me understand why the changes HAVE worked for me. I haven't watched C1 and probably never will, because of the lack of quality, both in terms of tech and professionalism. The incredible development of camera, sound and staging equipment implemented by Critical Role is what I LOVE, and why I decided to start watching. I started getting exposed to it after seeing clips and gifs from the tail-end of the campaign when they're all distancing, and then starting to watch from the beginning of C2 was jarring to me because the difference in camera quality was drastic. I love that they became more professional and changed, because if it all stayed like how it was in C1 I'm not sure if I would even have watched. And I actually DO love and connect with the characters of C3, I find them really intriguing, and you really helped me realize that I liked and understood the group dynamic of the M9 but maybe not the characters individually, while I feel the opposite about BH (i like the characters individually but no not understand the dynamic of the group (.,... because i dont think there IS one). Your videos and the points you make really let me reflect and better understand my own relationship with C2 and C3 and why I'm not bothered by any changes, which is super cool for me! All that being said, I don't get the anger or frustration at all with the pre-recorded change, I think it's better for everyone, and I can't wait to see how they keep changing (and hopefully improving) in the future!

This campaign gas all the issues of campaign 2 but magnified. Making it prerecorded/scripted didn't help at all with the pacing nor the quality of writing has gotten any better. It seems like they are just on autopilot while pushing their merch before it kicks the bucket.

Personally, you hit on a lot of what I'm feeling towards the campaign. I dont watch live anymore, I have no drive to watch it. It feels like, so far, the story is just this group of characters getting dragged from one place to the next because the plot wants to keep moving but the characters want to stay still. We still haven't gotten any good moments where the characters really get to know each other, or create a dynamic that works for combat. (Plus, as I've seen others mention, there really hasn't been much combat other than rolling a dice to see if you have to fight monsters today.) It would have been really nice if we could have gotten some sort of gradual build-up into the plot, instead of jumping from plot point to plot point and then OOPS suddenly everything is connected and the world is about to end and we have to deal with it right now. There hasn't been room for the characters to grow and learn how to work with each other. I'm trying to get into the campaign, *really* trying, but it's just not something that I want to set aside my time for anymore.

I LOVE Critical Role S1 & S2 but i stopped watching Campaign 3 in Autumn of 2022... why? The guys at Corridor Crew said it really well... The Guys: Looking at a film explosion going BOOM! - Did you like that explosion? - Nah - No?! Why?! - Because the main characters (Bond movie) just stood there, tried to be cool and not react to the explosion and so their state of unexcitement rubbed off on me. So i didn't care for it either. - Oh... ~paraphrased It's not cool for characters to not be affected by large events in film anymore like Over Powered Anime Charecters who don't care that a NUKE just went off behind them. THEY need to feel and react to the situation they are in. Our mirror-neurons don't fire up and get us, the viewers, excited unless the people we are watching are excited and alive in the world they portray... ...and to me the CR cast certainly doesn't seem excited. I'm not saying they aren't reacting to Matthews descriptions, on the contrary. But they sure don't seem to be having an Epic Fun adventure in general. And their unexcitement bleeds off onto us, the audience. I recently began watching CR S3 again and watched to E44 (which is probably why YT recommended this video). That was a few weeks ago and i still haven't finished that episode. But what i observed was troubling... As a 5e DM of several years i get really sensitive about mismatching driving forces behind DMs and Players. In my view, CR is running two different games at the same time. And it really doesn't gel imo. It's obvious that Matthew really wants to drive an Epic Season 1-like Campaign with: WORLD ENDING EVENTS and stuff like THE MOST ANCIENT TEXT EVER WRITTEN etc, it's an even worse situation now than what both Vox Machina and Mighty Nein had to face. It's a setting for LVL 20+ Epic Level Hero Fantasy characters with the help from God Avatars to deal with. While the actual characters of S3 feels more like they just wanna explore the world and old ruins on their own. It's like they didn't have a session 0 and talked through what they really wanted out of S3. As a DM i would have course corrected quickly if me and any of my groups had this large of a dissonance at the table. I would start out with a private talk with them, one on one, and ask in detail what they like the most and in which direction they want to go in and then focus the game in that direction and on what drives them. No matter if it's a Grand Epic or a small & cute Adventure.

After watching Brandon Lee Mulligan DM, Mercer looks like a rookie. At least half of the characters are non-binary/LGBT, the story is slow and boring, the group isn't on the same page, Talieson is hard to watch, Mercer lost a step, Liam's character is a huge bore. But Marisha and Ashely have stepped up big time. Sam and Travis are still solid. I'm just bored. I'd rather watch Campaign 1 again. Edit: Forgot to mention I thought the Amazon cartoon was dull which took a hit on my love for CR. Also Imogen is a huge step down for Laura's talents. Also, 2 people can read minds. 2 people! Unveils a lot of the mystery. Bells Hells? Come on, they could have come up with a better name than that.

The thing I hate most is the absolute lack of risk during combat. If a player goes down that’s ok they’ll be up next round. Oh no a character died, that’s ok they’ll be back next session. Actions don’t feel like that have any consequences. Couple that with the flawless studio production and it makes the whole campaign feel like a stage production. Fun listen to kill time but not D&D.

Do they seem to really drag out their "planning" stages of the game? Especially when they don't know what their characters want to do. They had "a week" to think about it.

The live broadcast made you feel like the adventure not you were watching someone playing DND. You no longer feel in the middle of the adventure - you might as well wait and watch the TV show.

Here's another: Many fans will have watched campaigns 1 and 2 after they were recorded. They might have been consuming a session per day, or several per week. Compared to that rate, waiting for your 3 episodes per month will naturally seem disjointed.

I wasn't there when they first started streaming. I devoured C2 incredibly quickly after seeing a few select scenes on youtube, it was tough to get into but I stuck with it and then I became attached to the characters. I ate and dreamt Critical Role. I watched the last episode when it aired at 11pm my time. I then started listening to C1, and it was difficult at the start. But then I devoured that too, I finished listening to it in 3-4 months after C3 started. C3 was difficult to get into (see the pattern here?), but I stuck it out and now I can't get enough. Consuming the whole series in a short amount of time is... an experience. At one point I was listening to C1, watching C3, and watching LoVM. Sometimes all in a single day. I occasionally get bits mixed up, but I also occasionally make connections that my friends didn't think of. They've been watching much longer than I have and it's still really fun to discuss things that happened in previous campaigns. I think every campaign, whether professionally produced or a home game, has a few growing pains at the start. You're still finding your character's "voice" as it were.

My personal issue with c3 is that it''s just plain fucking boring. I watched C1 and C2 twice fully and sometimes am returning back to specific episodes, but with C3 I just can't keep my attention long enough. Started it three times and every time my interest fizzled out in like 20-25 episodes.

Became a criter during campaign 2, yet i love campaign 3 and as I am currently watching the first one, I can appreciate how far they all came both in terms of building characters, RPing and storytelling. Looking forward to discovering Chetney's and Aston's archs

Sam's and M. Rays characters were the only characters I was drawn to which wasn't enough for me to keep tuning in episode after episode. I only made it through 20 or 22 episodes.

I don't have any input, really. I watched episode 1 of S3 and had 0 interest. I loved S1 and S2. S3 seemed so zaney and high fantasy. I know S1 and 2 weren't grounded, but I felt like I could connect with them more. Now there's a undead puppet, a actual fay, multi colored whatever he was. And a robot.

As someone who has followed weekly from mid CR1 i do find myself not keeping up or feeling the chore of catching up. My issue with Campaign 3 is where is the fun? The characters seem barely fleshed out and fairly stale, we aren't getting the humour of C1 while missing out on the fantastic character development of C2. We had nearly a 5hr episode on planning recently. Once Dorian left the humour and fun factor seemed to go as well, Travis's characters are always fun but he's lost his buddy to bounce off of. I've not watched all the EXU mini series as i am already finding i have to slog through the main campaign

I feel off with C3 because they were soooo many political players and i couldnt keep them all straight. Also, the party took forever to make decisions. Taking four hours to pass one hour of in-game time and not moving forward was starting to get annoying

I think the reason I'm not feeling Campaign 3 as much is 2 reasons. First it doesn't seem like the players themselves are having as much fun. It feels like they're acting. Look at the excitement on Laura's face playing Jester vs how detached she seems in the new campaign. The other thing I'm not crazy about is the reason I feel like we can't grow attached to campaign 3 characters is because there's too much involvement from prior campaign characters. As a player, I completely understand the nostalgia and loving having those characters there, but as a viewer. If you want me to be involved with your new characters, then play them. I don't mind cameos... and I realize what they're trying to do. It's just really slow in C3.

Sadly, this particular campaign just can't get me invested anymore. I feel like when three of characters got killed off that was the moment where things could have REEEEEALLY shifted up another notch...but alas those three came back to life, and it kind of went back to same hemming and hawing and scattered brain party antics that this campaign is infamous for. I'm honestly hoping it isn't over 140 episodes again.

I don't think this is the end of C3, this is their Chroma Conclave moment. What happens after tonight or the next few episodes will change the direction of the campaign. I don't believe the Ruidus story ends here, but I do think this is where we will see a pause in C3. Matt is taking on a Dimension 20 campaign, which he likely has been recording for some time now, I think after the Apogee Solstice arc, there will be a break in C3 and we will get another EXU campaign. I'm basing this on the pattern we've seen with the previous 3 EXU campaigns. It makes narrative sense to take a party into an epic event and bringing it to a culmination and then transition to what is happening elsewhere in Exandria. Two major plot threads are active in Exandria besides the one Bell's Hells is facing. The Apogee Solstice provides a unique opportunity for a Forgotten Death God who was "destroyed" and usurped by a mortal to be reborn. A group called "The Nameless Ones" are gathering followers for what? To me it feels like the kind of event that would come to a head on an occasion like this. We also have a naive character (Opal) with a powerful artifact of an evil God who wants to be free. Also this Artifact is actively being hunted by The Caedogeist. The Spider Queen may be making a play to escape during the solstice which would affect C3 heavily.

I honestly love Campaign 3 so far, even if the beginning didn’t really pick up for a bit I really loved getting to know the characters as they themselves got to know each other. I’m sort of getting mixed feelings for now in terms of episode 50 but my love for the characters is still strong. I will forever hold Campaign 1 close to my heart as the beginning of something amazing, and as the well sung heroes we all know. Meanwhile campaign 2 is my all time favourite with the world and everything inside it. But I really enjoy Campaign 3 as a group of unlikely misfits meeting together, like Taliesin said in a video, they’re a group of NPC like characters you wouldn’t expect to be together. I’m so excited for their story to continue and can’t wait to see what level they reach by the end of the Campaign.

I think my main issue is that i really hate that they all didn't make new characters for c3. I love Aabria, and I love her other stuff, but i absolutely loathed exu, so to see the same characters again was an extreme disappointment. This is gonna sound dumb, but I almost feel "tricked", and like i have to watch exu now, because it's not really optional. This also made it very weird to watch the start of c3, like, "okay I know this group of characters, so why should I care about the rest?". I've seen some comment talking about whether c3 is more plot-driven or character-driven, and I honestly feel neither. C3 feels like a bunch of people who doesn't wanna make any real decisions, and instead forcing their DM to force them to do shit. It feels like there's been so many times thta Matt has pushed and pushed for them all to just take a baby step. Idk, I like the characters by themselves, and I love the story, but it just doesn't work together imo.

Im about 10 episodes behind but still enjoy the game. My biggest gripes were with the reusing of characters, instead of starting new, the fact that one of "new" characters can just call upon OP characters from past seasons, and the Marisha-less times. She could've just played a temp character or a new one completely. If a player refuses to play with the group once their pc has died, then that sounds like a problem player to me. Definitely seems like a horror story on reddit. "Dm's Wife refused to play after her pc died" That being said I still love watching the campaign and all of the players do their thing, even with my problems

Crazy that CR have to keep saying they play for themselves and this isn't a story being manufactured for fans. Being more out of their element at the threshold of potentially plane altering events sounds fun as a player, but is kind of unfair to judge based on how well that translates for us fans getting to watch level 14 characters butcher dragons and save the world every session.

With me, most of my gripes with C3 come from just general burnout with CR. I binged most of C2 in a few months, so going into C3 I was still on the high of the emotional highnotes of C2's ending and the slower, more mysterious start to C3 kinda lost me. I'm still only on episode 17 or so and I'm sure I'll eventually come back to it and love it to pieces, skipping slower swathes of episodes and reading through summaries to keep up with the story like I did with C2. I feel like, as with a lot of things, there's a sense of fatigue that comes with binging too much of any one thing and giving it time to breathe and getting devoured by something else for a while is very good and diversifies your fiction experience. I will say I rewatch my favorite bits of EXU calamity to this day because It was such a condensed, fast paced bullet of a story it ropes me in everytime. Genuinely some of my favorite CR content of all time, rivaled by the final arc of C1 and the Aeor/Lucien Arc of C2. C3 has yet to have a "this is the shit" arc for me but I'm sure it'll get there, and if one Campaign is a miss after two bangers, I won't be super surprised. Everyone can have missteps and they're trying something new which I can respect even if I don't resonate with it.

I think the biggest challenge is that Matt has, somewhat inadvertently, wrapped up a lot of the characters arcs far too quickly. Fearne seems to have reconciled herself to her parents being stolen from her by Ira. Laudna confronted her past and has seemingly replaced Delilah with a tree. Even Orym rejected the chance to stay dead with Will. Now we're wrapping up Imogen's story. Sam has had to add this "how does a robot have faith" arc because Matt has shut down his attempts to explore FCG's pre-calamity past. If Imogen is going to find closure from the solstice , we're left with Chet and Ashton who really need to grow and find closure. At this point in campaign 2, none of the characters had resolved their personal arcs. The world is on fire, but this group is weirdly at peace.

Campaign 3 is like the Kingdom Hearts 3 of Critical Role. There’s so many name drops and background information that you need to know to TRULEY understand the bigger picture. On another point. I have honestly have no desire watch CR live or campaign 3 if they keep making animated series that just compile the best parts of a 200+ hour campaigns into 10 concise episodes.

C3 is ok, just good, however C2 was just too epic. An impossible act to follow. The soudtrack, the characters, the relationship between them, everything was just so much more interesting and captivating, it was CR at it's best! Despite all the improvements and upgrades of the show overall, the spirit was at it's strongest in C2, we are just still waiting to reach the same level it once had.

Sounds about right, I was still going through season 2 when season 3 started so I would watch a couple episodes once a week. The thing is season 2 had a slow start as well it took me awhile to like characters like Caleb, not, Molly was criminally overlooked for a Long time. After the characters found themselves and the actors found their characters the story really started coming. Every DND campaigns that way trying to find that fit.

My Big Complaint (TM) isn't that it seems slow or that it's pre-recorded or whatnot. My Big Complaint (TM) is that campaign 3 feels like it's being made with the intention of becoming an animated series down the road. Like, campaign one was played before a company or even money was on anyone's mind. It was just a thing they were doing as friends. Campaign two was after moderate success, but before anything big was really on the table. And both of those campaigns were super hectic at times. The players would just DO things, they'd go off Matt's intended trail, they'd seek things out. Campaign three happens at the height of things. Campaign one's animated show has started and Mighty Nein is probably being spoken about, if not already somewhat planned. And now in campaign three, even with the slow start and lack of strong motivations, it feels like they're very "Okay, we need to make a show out of this, so let's try to stay on track." And some scenes just feel incredibly forced for the sake of drama. IE, 'a cool scene that could be animated'. The BIGGEST one that frustrated me to hell and back was (SPOILER WARNING) When Laudna tried holding that stone Imogen got and Delilah crushed it and absorbed its powers, and Imogen cried out that Laudna lied to her about not wanting to harm the stone. (SPOILER END) Like... what?? They've known each other for YEARS now, Imogen KNOWS Laudna better than any other player character knows one another at this point, including FCG and Ashton, or Fearne and Liam's little jumping bean whose name I'm brainfarting on right now. That was such forced drama and tension between the characters that didn't make ANY sense. ...Unless it's in a TV show as an emotional "Oh shit" moment. And now, I'm not saying anything is scripted. I'm not one of those guys. But it does feel a lot like some moments get forced by the players to be more than they should because they now have an expectation of where the game could potentially end up and they want 'strong' moments to end up as scenes and so they aren't happening as naturally. They see the opportunity for something cool and they jump at it because a future project could benefit from it, rather than doing it because it makes sense or would be fun in the moment and letting things happen as they come. Although. The natural 20's. Man those natties. I don't think the game is scripted, but at least early game I was almost convinced Matt told them 'Hey, if you just really want to succeed on something just say you got a nat 20, it's cool', but then everyone went overboard on it and Matt had to reel them back in a bit. They happened so damn often. And sometimes back to back to back to BACK. And I get it's totally possible. You can roll a 1 on a d100 five times in a row. It's just improbable, not impossible. But boy howdy that was a lot of nat 20's in the early episodes. And it kind of fed into my idea of "We want to make a show, so if you see a moment you think could benefit the show, grab it", and succeeding on tasks by rolling a nat 20 lands squarely into that.

This is a well put together video, glad to see a smaller channel get this much attention! If I could offer some advice, investing in a pop filter might help the audio quality as I can hear the mic peak at certain syllables

I just miss M9 :') It's their game and not every episode needs to hold up to that, but those sure were some golden times

I’m happy to hear that campaign 3’s first 20-30 episodes are slow or have strange pacing because I stopped at 22 and just haven’t been able to justify starting again. Something felt off and tedious for me and it was easy to drop. But I’m such a fan of this team that I want to give it a chance and catch up soon. Hopefully, I can just get through these slow bits and get to a hearty story in the later episodes.

My take is these first 50 episodes feel like the Imogene Mary Sue show.

I’ve only kept up with C3 since starting Critical Role when right after it aired, so I don’t know if this applies to C1 and C2. While watching, I’ve really enjoyed some of the guest characters and that they provide a sort of spark to the main PCs that they don’t often get with each other. Dorian, Frida, Deanna, and Prism are my favorites since they bring out something exciting and interesting with Bells Hells, and felt something was lost once they departed, especially the first couple of episodes after their final appearance. Not to say that Bells Hells isn’t exciting to watch, but there are moments where I feel like they need to add something or fast forward an event because it’s not keeping my attention. They’re just touching on Ashton’s past and what he actually is after delaying it for a bit, and while Orym’s grief over Will is sad, I can’t say there’s anything else on his own that captures my attention. They might be taking their time to build up to the big ending, but dragging in a sense where I would rather read a weekly recap before deciding if I should invest in watching a full episode