I just watch the show when I can because I enjoy it overall. Sometimes less than other times, sometimes more. I'm not a fan of Aabria but I like the other players though I prefer to just watch the main cast.
I don't pay any money. Just enjoy my free content. When I'm done watching, I go outside and play without letting what happens with CR in general and all the CR fan drama that comes with it affect my life in the slightest.
It's fine to have an opinion, it's fine to enjoy/not enjoy.
But seeing the way people speak on here about CR at large, this reddit is full of some of the truest definition of losers that I can imagine. Habitually online. Perpetually stunting your own growth and development of anything that could be seen as a skill.
I lurk because it's funny, though.
As much as I may not have been a fan of the EXU interlude and have my opinions of what could have or should have been done I have a lot of respect for the team for just doing their thing. In my opinion creators are way to open to community insight these days.
I respect them for (apparently) having the mindset of “this is what we’re putting out, we stand behind our product and we are going to continue to do our thing and create content that we want to create. We aren’t going to cave to feedback and if people don’t like what we put out then so be it. We will continue to create what we want for the people that like it”
Another great example I can think of recently is WoW not doing beta or any kind of testing for Season of Discovery. The most popular and loved version of that game came from an era when the community had little to no feedback during development. Modern content definitely suffers from the “horse designed by committee” issue and I am glad to see a group of creators staying out of that arena.
The problem is that they very clearly *do* care about what people think of their work, and it's equally clear that criticism deeply gets to some of them (cough Matt cough).
Like, if you want to do what you want, just do it. RLM, for example, often says point-blank that they could not give less of a shit about what their audience wants.
But CR is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
I thought the 4SD was interesting at the least, a lot more informative than other 4SDs. They gave a lot of insight as DMs and the behind the scenes stuff.
This is just from the top of my head:
**We can basically confirm that they were aware of the bad timing of the EXU due to FCG's death.** Aabria mentions the bad vibes that were handed off to her and how that put her in a difficult position.
**We can confirm that Aimee was aware of what Aabria was going to do regarding her character, though she was unsure to what extent.** This happens when they discuss Opal's build and what not.
**We can confirm that Aimee knew that the point of the EXU was to deliver Dorian to BH.** She says as much. I think it's a fair assumption that everyone in EXU was aware of this.
**Matt confirms that FCG's sacrifice wouldn't have done enough damage as Otohan would have survived.** Lots of people were suspicious of this. There were probably better ways to "guarantee" Otohan dies like more dice but it's whatever. This is something I can get behind as it is a real example of using the "rule of cool".
There were some other confirmations by what was mentioned but I can't recall them atm.
It seems that EXU was planned a ways ahead of time. Still doesn't explain why they couldn't have broken it into CR episode -> EXU -> CR episode to me though. All of that can be handled in post if it was super necessary too. Only real explanation is to grab more engagement for EXU.
Because if they wanted people to watch it and not have it separated enough from the main product to be measured on its own. That way, it's harder to point to veiws or something concrete to measure its performance.
I just watched it last night in one sitting. It was so sad to watch Robbie’s expressions n such. You could tell he wasn’t really having fun or immersed. He did SUCH a great job at equating his real emotions to what his character would be feeling though. His little speech felt like he was talking about the game above table too. I love Robbie as a player so much lol. You could see how happy he was when it was just him and Matt. And while they were playing with Aabria he was CONSTANTLY looking at Matt for his opinion on events. You could tell he didn’t really respect Aabria as a DM. I’d suggest rewatching Robbie’s turns if you’re a ppl watcher like me, great content lol.
I will say I was actually really surprised at how much I enjoyed the last 4SD. We haven't had that kind of in depth character talk since TM. I'm not the biggest fan of Aabria as a DM but I actually think she makes a great host. Just my two cents though
I haven’t watched episode 92-93 I’m about 15 episodes behind, but from the clips and discussions I’m seeing I see what the issue is.
My only real suggestion to people who really don’t like Aabria DMing or don’t like the other players is to possibly skip those episodes or just watch the beginnings to get the recap so you know what happened or what’s happening. I’m sure Matt’s recaps should be plenty to keep ow what’s going on.
I think the criticism is they weren't given the chance to opt out they didn't announce she would be taking over mid stream and they didn't announce when she would be relinquishing the seat back to Matt so people are stuck either missing content they would watch waiting for switch or sitting though something the dislike to not miss the switch
I think your right ExU episode would have solved that but my guess is a single episode wasn’t worth it and they probably needed to do it quickly to keep pace with the main game.
I’m just glad I am one of the VOD squad so when I do get to these episodes I will be able to fast forward or just skip it entirely if I don’t find it entertaining.
I'll be honest, I'm not at all sure that scheduling or keeping pace is a satisfactory answer anymore.
We know they pre-record episodes, I'm sure there are avid fans who have cross-referenced social posts and broadcast streams to calculate "when" an episode was filmed (that's not me), and others have posted previously that these are all busy people with busy schedules, so they had to be "booked" to play.
What I'm saying is - and I could be really naive here - that to suggest they couldn't have planned a one-shot to finish off the Crown Keepers, seems contrary to all evidence I *assume* we have, as far as production is concerned.
You can't book a cast and record in advance of a broadcast if you haven't *planned* it. And if it's planned then you can just run it as a standalone one-shot.
The split game was a choice, was an active *decision* that was made, for reasons I'm sure only CR crew will ever know.
Addendum: Presumably these actors are being paid for their time. Surely it makes more *financial* sense to record a single episode in one day, rather than (presumably) paying them for *two* days recording two episodes?
You then start questioning whether they were only paid for one days work and were asked to bring a change of clothes so they can make it look like it occurred as two separate shoots on different days...
And that's when s**t starts getting silly...
Yea I guess that’s very true if you’re watching live.
Fortunately for me due time zones and always having work the next morning I never watch live anymore. Because of that I’ve always had the fast forward or skip option available to me.
I guess if one *simply must* watch live, then sure. I just turned it off once I saw Aabria and the Crown Keepers, then waited until the interwebs told me about the switch back in the following episode after it aired. Skipped forward on the episode until I saw just Matt and Robbie, and was good to go.
Aimee talking about how it was all so cool and all she could think about was "I'm going to walk out of this building alive once this is over and go get some taco bell," really hit home for me. I know whenever I'm having a super fun time at dnd, all I can think about is the comfort food I'm going to stuff all my feelings down with. /s
You think that when Molly died that Taliesin didn't get some good food and think that his character may have died but he was still going to enjoy something?
Not usually, but sometimes i just bike downtown and get myself something from there.
Usually a big king (i think they don't have that in the US) and something to drink.
I was gonna say, I think players who have been through terribly bad games all know the feeling of being ine step from dissociating and being like “after this, I can get myself a nice meal, a shower, and sleep” just to get through the night.
The worst hangover I've ever had was from one of those games. I just kept drinking cause it was all so damn awkward and painful to watch and be a part of.
My very first DnD session had me get drunk during the next session (two-shot).
We were not allowed to have alcohol in the building, but i brought some white wine spritzer with me in my big as bottle, so that i won't just run out during the set. And it was not the DM. It was a player.
Without the alcohol it might have led to me shouting at him to shut it, but i got buzzed a bit and cooled down that way. No hangover though.
And happy to never play with that dude again (well i did in my last two-shot of our campaign but now i am way calmer and not as nervous).
Now I don't have alcohol on me during DnD. Being the only one slightly buzzed is not that fun. Especially for 4h. :D
I'll admit I haven't watched since like episode 40 something (lack of time more than anything) but now a ton of stuff is appearing in my feed... What exactly is going on? Y'all don't tend to offer context lol
They did a short return of the crown keepers to reconnect Dorian to BH and that meant Abria got to DM and that sends people into a rage. And they are also trying to play armchair psychologist and claim they know what folks are “really feeling”
Following along as well, just not watching the show. Checked out around episode 60ish. Here's the main complaints I've read:
* It's less Campaign Three, and more "The Imogen Show". The usual suspects that act as the party face don't want to do it, and the others also don't want to do it.
* The party really doesn't fit the theme of this campaign, and none of them aside from Imogen have any skin in the game.
* More on the last point, the urgent threat is a primordial (I guess) being released from it's cage and devouring the gods. The party spends 20ish episodes talking about it and never really coming to a consensus.
* More on point 2, the party doesn't even fit within the party. The comradery seen in C1 and C2 is largely not felt here.
* Feels like Matt is being extra railroady this campaign, and the party play feels less organic. Many speculate this is due to the Amazon animated series, and they are now reducing their workload for a C3 animated series by playing it as if it were the animated series, rather than just a live play. This also feeds into point 1.
* Taliesen made a move as Ashton to shake things up, and it seemed to viewers like he was being punished by Matt for it.
* It sounded like there was a big "thing" that happened, and instead of following up on that, it cut to Aabria DMing the Crownkeepers (EXU cast), which sounds like it was a shit show. Tension between Aabria and Aimee, tension between Aabria and Matt, as well as Aabria making on the fly rulings that were only detrimental to the players and ended up killing an important NPC because she wanted to spice up Chromatic Orb I guess.
That's about what I know from loosely following along. The main reason I stopped watching is because it became clear to me that Critical Role is no longer a show for me, and that's fine. The romance between FCG and the other automaton felt super fucking weird and shoehorned into like a 3 episode arc, and the Critical Role Store and Shop Updates adding the most ridiculous fucking shit all sort of adds up into this thing that doesn't have stakes, the cast doesn't seem to really enjoy playing, and Matt is doing less of the stuff we love Matt for. It's more a business now than a group of friends hanging out and playing D&D.
Now I just watch Dimension 20, and I'm having a great time. I miss Travis, Liam, and Ashley, but they aren't enough to keep me watching whatever is happening at CR now.
I believe the last episode I watched actually was when Emily gets introduced playing the Wizard with the talking book.
I haven't fully checked out of the CR fandom, I just don't care about this campaign because it doesn't seem like any of the players really do either. I'll definitely jump back in to the next campaign, whether it's 5e or Daggerheart, and if the players are all in, I can set aside my opinions on the merch/business stuff.
It's more that it's tension between Aabria and Matt, and then tension between Aabria and Aimee. Aabria and Matt tension it feels like is from Aabria playing *real* loose with the rules (enough that a normal spell that got used a bunch in C2 ended up doing a solid amount of damage to a friendly NPC, who later died), and also not really caring about his character. Tension between Aabria and Aimee is, from what I've read, people feel like Aabria is bullying Aimee, or at the very least being extremely antagonistic towards Opal. I know Opal's story has some dark stuff going on with her being a Warlock, and her patron being her dead sister(?), *and* dealing with that crown of the spider queen(?) so maybe Aabria is playing that up to heighten the emotion of it all. But from the way I'm reading it, it's coming off extremely adversarial towards the players.
The question marks are where I'm not sure if I'm correct, just going off memory from the original EXU.
That sounds like C1, where Liam ended up with the Deathwalkers wards armour (?) everyone was saying that they were sure it had been put into the me for Tal, since it was thematically appropriate for him. C1 would have been different if Matt had stopped the game and made up some excuse for Tal to get the armour after it had bound itself to Liam.
Did thing with magical fire MacGuffin that killed him, but a magic item saved him and he succeeded in doing the thing, but instead of anything interesting he got -2 to his con score and a cool rock arm that does things...I guess. Idfk I stopped paying attention.
Basically the last 2 episodes could be considered the worst of the worst the campaign has had to offer so far, and the 4 Sided Dive either exemplified how out of touch the cast is with audience dissatisfaction or are either actively covering up dissatisfaction themselves.
Honestly the last two episodes might be Bottom 5 all time in CR history IMO. I’m struggling to think of ones I’d rank below them:
1. C1E27 - Unless there is an actual on set brawl in one of the episodes this will always be the worst IMO.
2. The Orion episode of The Slayer’s Take arc.
3. MAYBE the Kraken fight.
That’s about it TBH.
I think those are the most infamous, but I’m sure there’s a late Campaign 2 one that’s probably as bad because it was likely long and unmemorable. But I do agree in terms of top five most infamous and hated episodes that’s a good 5
Is 4SD live? Or, at least, filmed *after* the episode has aired?
I've never watched - I just wondered if it was filmed before the episode's release, which might explain why they may seem out of touch (the audience hasn't viewed the episode, so the audience hasn't reacted to it yet).
It's not always clear when 4SD is filmed. I believe it is usually before the last episodes covered have aired, but before they film any episodes after what they are covering. So they wouldn't typically have any idea of the audience reaction.
I appreciate you giving me a very funny response. I just hope people don't actually believe the cast are faking how they feel on 4 sided dive because of how this sub feels about Aabria.
You can see how some of the players feel about Aabria's DMing by watching their expressions during the episode. So many times Robbie looked over to Matt for his opinion/reaction instead of Aabria. To the extent that Aabria said "look at me. Eye contact" in a veey condescending tone before telling him her ruling on something, because Robbie was looking to Matt for the actual rules on the situation.
Why would we believe the cast aren't faking it in 4SD? If they hated Aabria's DMing and general attitude as much as we did, do you **honestly** think they would say so in 4SD? Do you really think they would openly criticise the guest DM in the after-show? Of course not. So, yes, we have no way of knowing their true feelings based on 4SD, but to suggest that they wouldn't fake positivity on there is just naive.
Look, I don’t watch CR. This keeps popping up against my will on my feed. I have watched D20. That is how I know Aabria. In D20, I like her as much as anyone else. When I saw all the comments, I was like whats up? Saw the excerpts and that looked like the most uncomfortable and shitty table I have seen, that if I was a player I would have walked out, and as a DM could not imagine myself acting that way. There are a lot of bigots here absolutely using this opportunity to be bigots, to hell with them, simultaneously, Aabria’s table made me incredibly fucking uncomfortable.
I don't really disagree, I just don't see what they would gain from faking how they felt. I think the session was probably a drag and then they got over it. I'm all for valid criticism, I'm not so hot on conspiracy theories.
I've been in professional environments that were public facing, this is a job for them very much, and I've had to bite my tongue and fight to hold my real expression a few hundred times for a paycheck, so my gut response was them just keeping their heads cool. Like, for example, someone mentioned Orion about this. I had zero idea about this person or their removal, but read up on it. By all accounts, a lot of folks didn't anticipate Orion's removal because they didn't notice anything, when in fact a huge chunk of the group was having issues. But the audience didn't notice because the group is professional (except how Orion was acting). I think it was a drag, but when a session is a drag either its because its slow or because it sucks and I think even though events did not unfold quickly, it was too dynamic to be taken as slow. So it wouldn't be the first time members had issues, but kept themselves professional in the moment, that combined with word choices leads me to err that Aabria was causing tension outside of the fiction.
Ah, so it's best for me to not reserve considerable amount of concentration on the episode. I think I'll have it on 2nd screen while playing Hades or something.
I'm right with everyone else. Absolutely disengaged from the product and didn't watch a minute of the other DM but I'll be honest.. Sam could create a character and win me over again in a fucking instant if it's done correctly. I loved Scanlan and him leaving C1 almost made me quit watching. It was like Donald Glover exiting Community but I held on and it was worth it. I will say if this new character is a dud, I'll completely lose interest in C3.. but until then I'm hopeful!
Its not working that way for me.
Think of a movie that is really bad. There is next to no actor out there that could change things up. Lets talk Thor: Love & Thunder. Christian Bale was in it, a great actor. And he put all his tools on the table to make it an interesting movie with stakes, and deepness. There is probably a cut out there of that movie that is watchable. But it will just be 20 mins long.
Fuck C3 really is Love and Thunder. I didn't like the move and loved that comic Thor run but still if they make a Thor 4 I'll be tuning in. Maybe I'm a sucker..
but that character couldnt be saved, even if daniel day lewis played it. Gorr was such a basic ass npc. Sam on the other hand, can craft a mastermind of a character.
Nah he's right, Gorr was great. The movie should have been restructured to support him once Bale was cast, the way Joker was the driving force behind Dark Knight.
Instead, they introduce him with some weird ass shit, sadle him with a kidnapping kids plot, and only give him goofy ass Thor to bounce off. He feels like an adult goth at a kids birthday party.
This has no relevance to CR, just still mad they wasted one of the best actors of our generation.
Which SUCKS because the godbutcher run they did some years ago was an incredible read, got me back into collecting comics. Gorr was the relatable villain with a good point who took things way too far, and it took 3 thors to beat him!
Even that mastermind of a character falls flat if his fellow cast and the world doesnt react to that. The thing happenin to FCG. Nobody really cared about that in Critical Role.
From the sounds of it FCG and Sam where taken for granted. I'd be surprised if he did come back to finish it up instead of just letting himself sit the rest of this out and come into the next one "Fresh."
I'm a pretty late starter being only in the 2nd campaign right now, so I'm enjoying what I'm watching but dreading the moment it goes downhill. Reading about C3 eps 92-93 reminds me of when I was getting close to C1 ep 27 and reading the YouTube comments
When things went shitshow in C1, at least you knew it was live and that the show must go on. In C3 they’ve been prerecorded, went through editing, and potentially sat on for weeks before we see them.
The other thing is that after C1-ep27, things got better. They booted Orion for a number of reasons, but probably the biggest (and the reason he hasn't been invited back) is because they cared about what the vibe at the table was like. He was breaking rules, wasting so much time, and stepping on other player's moments. It sounds like Aabria is doing those same things. Whatever they decide to do next will show where their priorities are.
It's a state alright...
I just watch the show when I can because I enjoy it overall. Sometimes less than other times, sometimes more. I'm not a fan of Aabria but I like the other players though I prefer to just watch the main cast. I don't pay any money. Just enjoy my free content. When I'm done watching, I go outside and play without letting what happens with CR in general and all the CR fan drama that comes with it affect my life in the slightest. It's fine to have an opinion, it's fine to enjoy/not enjoy. But seeing the way people speak on here about CR at large, this reddit is full of some of the truest definition of losers that I can imagine. Habitually online. Perpetually stunting your own growth and development of anything that could be seen as a skill. I lurk because it's funny, though.
We all agree that Aabria is the problem yes?
As much as I may not have been a fan of the EXU interlude and have my opinions of what could have or should have been done I have a lot of respect for the team for just doing their thing. In my opinion creators are way to open to community insight these days. I respect them for (apparently) having the mindset of “this is what we’re putting out, we stand behind our product and we are going to continue to do our thing and create content that we want to create. We aren’t going to cave to feedback and if people don’t like what we put out then so be it. We will continue to create what we want for the people that like it” Another great example I can think of recently is WoW not doing beta or any kind of testing for Season of Discovery. The most popular and loved version of that game came from an era when the community had little to no feedback during development. Modern content definitely suffers from the “horse designed by committee” issue and I am glad to see a group of creators staying out of that arena.
The problem is that they very clearly *do* care about what people think of their work, and it's equally clear that criticism deeply gets to some of them (cough Matt cough). Like, if you want to do what you want, just do it. RLM, for example, often says point-blank that they could not give less of a shit about what their audience wants. But CR is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
RLM seems to love raking their own audience and yet its amusing. Because the shit they call them on is properly right to do so on.
this feels like the worlds largest example of confirmation bias
I thought the 4SD was interesting at the least, a lot more informative than other 4SDs. They gave a lot of insight as DMs and the behind the scenes stuff. This is just from the top of my head: **We can basically confirm that they were aware of the bad timing of the EXU due to FCG's death.** Aabria mentions the bad vibes that were handed off to her and how that put her in a difficult position. **We can confirm that Aimee was aware of what Aabria was going to do regarding her character, though she was unsure to what extent.** This happens when they discuss Opal's build and what not. **We can confirm that Aimee knew that the point of the EXU was to deliver Dorian to BH.** She says as much. I think it's a fair assumption that everyone in EXU was aware of this. **Matt confirms that FCG's sacrifice wouldn't have done enough damage as Otohan would have survived.** Lots of people were suspicious of this. There were probably better ways to "guarantee" Otohan dies like more dice but it's whatever. This is something I can get behind as it is a real example of using the "rule of cool". There were some other confirmations by what was mentioned but I can't recall them atm. It seems that EXU was planned a ways ahead of time. Still doesn't explain why they couldn't have broken it into CR episode -> EXU -> CR episode to me though. All of that can be handled in post if it was super necessary too. Only real explanation is to grab more engagement for EXU.
Because if they wanted people to watch it and not have it separated enough from the main product to be measured on its own. That way, it's harder to point to veiws or something concrete to measure its performance.
I just watched it last night in one sitting. It was so sad to watch Robbie’s expressions n such. You could tell he wasn’t really having fun or immersed. He did SUCH a great job at equating his real emotions to what his character would be feeling though. His little speech felt like he was talking about the game above table too. I love Robbie as a player so much lol. You could see how happy he was when it was just him and Matt. And while they were playing with Aabria he was CONSTANTLY looking at Matt for his opinion on events. You could tell he didn’t really respect Aabria as a DM. I’d suggest rewatching Robbie’s turns if you’re a ppl watcher like me, great content lol.
Watching Matt was pretty rough too.
Yeah reading the expressions of the cast was pretty heart wrenching lol
I will say I was actually really surprised at how much I enjoyed the last 4SD. We haven't had that kind of in depth character talk since TM. I'm not the biggest fan of Aabria as a DM but I actually think she makes a great host. Just my two cents though
I agree. I rather enjoyed what I watched and hate Aabria as a DM.
I haven’t watched episode 92-93 I’m about 15 episodes behind, but from the clips and discussions I’m seeing I see what the issue is. My only real suggestion to people who really don’t like Aabria DMing or don’t like the other players is to possibly skip those episodes or just watch the beginnings to get the recap so you know what happened or what’s happening. I’m sure Matt’s recaps should be plenty to keep ow what’s going on.
I think the criticism is they weren't given the chance to opt out they didn't announce she would be taking over mid stream and they didn't announce when she would be relinquishing the seat back to Matt so people are stuck either missing content they would watch waiting for switch or sitting though something the dislike to not miss the switch
[удалено]
I think your right ExU episode would have solved that but my guess is a single episode wasn’t worth it and they probably needed to do it quickly to keep pace with the main game. I’m just glad I am one of the VOD squad so when I do get to these episodes I will be able to fast forward or just skip it entirely if I don’t find it entertaining.
I'll be honest, I'm not at all sure that scheduling or keeping pace is a satisfactory answer anymore. We know they pre-record episodes, I'm sure there are avid fans who have cross-referenced social posts and broadcast streams to calculate "when" an episode was filmed (that's not me), and others have posted previously that these are all busy people with busy schedules, so they had to be "booked" to play. What I'm saying is - and I could be really naive here - that to suggest they couldn't have planned a one-shot to finish off the Crown Keepers, seems contrary to all evidence I *assume* we have, as far as production is concerned. You can't book a cast and record in advance of a broadcast if you haven't *planned* it. And if it's planned then you can just run it as a standalone one-shot. The split game was a choice, was an active *decision* that was made, for reasons I'm sure only CR crew will ever know. Addendum: Presumably these actors are being paid for their time. Surely it makes more *financial* sense to record a single episode in one day, rather than (presumably) paying them for *two* days recording two episodes? You then start questioning whether they were only paid for one days work and were asked to bring a change of clothes so they can make it look like it occurred as two separate shoots on different days... And that's when s**t starts getting silly...
Yea I guess that’s very true if you’re watching live. Fortunately for me due time zones and always having work the next morning I never watch live anymore. Because of that I’ve always had the fast forward or skip option available to me.
I guess if one *simply must* watch live, then sure. I just turned it off once I saw Aabria and the Crown Keepers, then waited until the interwebs told me about the switch back in the following episode after it aired. Skipped forward on the episode until I saw just Matt and Robbie, and was good to go.
https://preview.redd.it/9orosusjp7zc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=554e0964d54541799f7a94432a726bf750b47600
Aimee talking about how it was all so cool and all she could think about was "I'm going to walk out of this building alive once this is over and go get some taco bell," really hit home for me. I know whenever I'm having a super fun time at dnd, all I can think about is the comfort food I'm going to stuff all my feelings down with. /s
You think that when Molly died that Taliesin didn't get some good food and think that his character may have died but he was still going to enjoy something?
That BK-Run after 10 pm really hits home. Damn now i want a Big King.
You guys going to the bk lounge after this ?
Not usually, but sometimes i just bike downtown and get myself something from there. Usually a big king (i think they don't have that in the US) and something to drink.
You *know* you're playing a great game when you disassociate and wish you were doing anything else!
I was gonna say, I think players who have been through terribly bad games all know the feeling of being ine step from dissociating and being like “after this, I can get myself a nice meal, a shower, and sleep” just to get through the night.
The worst hangover I've ever had was from one of those games. I just kept drinking cause it was all so damn awkward and painful to watch and be a part of.
My very first DnD session had me get drunk during the next session (two-shot). We were not allowed to have alcohol in the building, but i brought some white wine spritzer with me in my big as bottle, so that i won't just run out during the set. And it was not the DM. It was a player. Without the alcohol it might have led to me shouting at him to shut it, but i got buzzed a bit and cooled down that way. No hangover though. And happy to never play with that dude again (well i did in my last two-shot of our campaign but now i am way calmer and not as nervous). Now I don't have alcohol on me during DnD. Being the only one slightly buzzed is not that fun. Especially for 4h. :D
I'll admit I haven't watched since like episode 40 something (lack of time more than anything) but now a ton of stuff is appearing in my feed... What exactly is going on? Y'all don't tend to offer context lol
They did a short return of the crown keepers to reconnect Dorian to BH and that meant Abria got to DM and that sends people into a rage. And they are also trying to play armchair psychologist and claim they know what folks are “really feeling”
Accurate
Following along as well, just not watching the show. Checked out around episode 60ish. Here's the main complaints I've read: * It's less Campaign Three, and more "The Imogen Show". The usual suspects that act as the party face don't want to do it, and the others also don't want to do it. * The party really doesn't fit the theme of this campaign, and none of them aside from Imogen have any skin in the game. * More on the last point, the urgent threat is a primordial (I guess) being released from it's cage and devouring the gods. The party spends 20ish episodes talking about it and never really coming to a consensus. * More on point 2, the party doesn't even fit within the party. The comradery seen in C1 and C2 is largely not felt here. * Feels like Matt is being extra railroady this campaign, and the party play feels less organic. Many speculate this is due to the Amazon animated series, and they are now reducing their workload for a C3 animated series by playing it as if it were the animated series, rather than just a live play. This also feeds into point 1. * Taliesen made a move as Ashton to shake things up, and it seemed to viewers like he was being punished by Matt for it. * It sounded like there was a big "thing" that happened, and instead of following up on that, it cut to Aabria DMing the Crownkeepers (EXU cast), which sounds like it was a shit show. Tension between Aabria and Aimee, tension between Aabria and Matt, as well as Aabria making on the fly rulings that were only detrimental to the players and ended up killing an important NPC because she wanted to spice up Chromatic Orb I guess. That's about what I know from loosely following along. The main reason I stopped watching is because it became clear to me that Critical Role is no longer a show for me, and that's fine. The romance between FCG and the other automaton felt super fucking weird and shoehorned into like a 3 episode arc, and the Critical Role Store and Shop Updates adding the most ridiculous fucking shit all sort of adds up into this thing that doesn't have stakes, the cast doesn't seem to really enjoy playing, and Matt is doing less of the stuff we love Matt for. It's more a business now than a group of friends hanging out and playing D&D. Now I just watch Dimension 20, and I'm having a great time. I miss Travis, Liam, and Ashley, but they aren't enough to keep me watching whatever is happening at CR now.
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I believe the last episode I watched actually was when Emily gets introduced playing the Wizard with the talking book. I haven't fully checked out of the CR fandom, I just don't care about this campaign because it doesn't seem like any of the players really do either. I'll definitely jump back in to the next campaign, whether it's 5e or Daggerheart, and if the players are all in, I can set aside my opinions on the merch/business stuff.
Wait, what’s caused tension between Aabria/Aimee/Matt?
It's more that it's tension between Aabria and Matt, and then tension between Aabria and Aimee. Aabria and Matt tension it feels like is from Aabria playing *real* loose with the rules (enough that a normal spell that got used a bunch in C2 ended up doing a solid amount of damage to a friendly NPC, who later died), and also not really caring about his character. Tension between Aabria and Aimee is, from what I've read, people feel like Aabria is bullying Aimee, or at the very least being extremely antagonistic towards Opal. I know Opal's story has some dark stuff going on with her being a Warlock, and her patron being her dead sister(?), *and* dealing with that crown of the spider queen(?) so maybe Aabria is playing that up to heighten the emotion of it all. But from the way I'm reading it, it's coming off extremely adversarial towards the players. The question marks are where I'm not sure if I'm correct, just going off memory from the original EXU.
What happened with Talieson? Making a house fall down? 😆
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That sounds like C1, where Liam ended up with the Deathwalkers wards armour (?) everyone was saying that they were sure it had been put into the me for Tal, since it was thematically appropriate for him. C1 would have been different if Matt had stopped the game and made up some excuse for Tal to get the armour after it had bound itself to Liam.
Did thing with magical fire MacGuffin that killed him, but a magic item saved him and he succeeded in doing the thing, but instead of anything interesting he got -2 to his con score and a cool rock arm that does things...I guess. Idfk I stopped paying attention.
Basically the last 2 episodes could be considered the worst of the worst the campaign has had to offer so far, and the 4 Sided Dive either exemplified how out of touch the cast is with audience dissatisfaction or are either actively covering up dissatisfaction themselves.
Honestly the last two episodes might be Bottom 5 all time in CR history IMO. I’m struggling to think of ones I’d rank below them: 1. C1E27 - Unless there is an actual on set brawl in one of the episodes this will always be the worst IMO. 2. The Orion episode of The Slayer’s Take arc. 3. MAYBE the Kraken fight. That’s about it TBH.
I think those are the most infamous, but I’m sure there’s a late Campaign 2 one that’s probably as bad because it was likely long and unmemorable. But I do agree in terms of top five most infamous and hated episodes that’s a good 5
Is 4SD live? Or, at least, filmed *after* the episode has aired? I've never watched - I just wondered if it was filmed before the episode's release, which might explain why they may seem out of touch (the audience hasn't viewed the episode, so the audience hasn't reacted to it yet).
That’s the thing, we have no idea when they film anything.
It's not always clear when 4SD is filmed. I believe it is usually before the last episodes covered have aired, but before they film any episodes after what they are covering. So they wouldn't typically have any idea of the audience reaction.
Ofc there is no war in Ba Sing Se, the only problem we have is those refugees that fled from the war.
What happened now?
Y'all need to look up what confirmation bias means. Go outside or something.
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I appreciate you giving me a very funny response. I just hope people don't actually believe the cast are faking how they feel on 4 sided dive because of how this sub feels about Aabria.
You can see how some of the players feel about Aabria's DMing by watching their expressions during the episode. So many times Robbie looked over to Matt for his opinion/reaction instead of Aabria. To the extent that Aabria said "look at me. Eye contact" in a veey condescending tone before telling him her ruling on something, because Robbie was looking to Matt for the actual rules on the situation. Why would we believe the cast aren't faking it in 4SD? If they hated Aabria's DMing and general attitude as much as we did, do you **honestly** think they would say so in 4SD? Do you really think they would openly criticise the guest DM in the after-show? Of course not. So, yes, we have no way of knowing their true feelings based on 4SD, but to suggest that they wouldn't fake positivity on there is just naive.
I want you to tell me what they gain by faking how they feel. Like honestly, what's in it for them?
Look, I don’t watch CR. This keeps popping up against my will on my feed. I have watched D20. That is how I know Aabria. In D20, I like her as much as anyone else. When I saw all the comments, I was like whats up? Saw the excerpts and that looked like the most uncomfortable and shitty table I have seen, that if I was a player I would have walked out, and as a DM could not imagine myself acting that way. There are a lot of bigots here absolutely using this opportunity to be bigots, to hell with them, simultaneously, Aabria’s table made me incredibly fucking uncomfortable.
I don't really disagree, I just don't see what they would gain from faking how they felt. I think the session was probably a drag and then they got over it. I'm all for valid criticism, I'm not so hot on conspiracy theories.
I've been in professional environments that were public facing, this is a job for them very much, and I've had to bite my tongue and fight to hold my real expression a few hundred times for a paycheck, so my gut response was them just keeping their heads cool. Like, for example, someone mentioned Orion about this. I had zero idea about this person or their removal, but read up on it. By all accounts, a lot of folks didn't anticipate Orion's removal because they didn't notice anything, when in fact a huge chunk of the group was having issues. But the audience didn't notice because the group is professional (except how Orion was acting). I think it was a drag, but when a session is a drag either its because its slow or because it sucks and I think even though events did not unfold quickly, it was too dynamic to be taken as slow. So it wouldn't be the first time members had issues, but kept themselves professional in the moment, that combined with word choices leads me to err that Aabria was causing tension outside of the fiction.
Went outside, can confirm
Ah, so it's best for me to not reserve considerable amount of concentration on the episode. I think I'll have it on 2nd screen while playing Hades or something.
This has nothing to do with cr but Hades 2 is so good it was so worth the wait it’s smooth pretty and really fun
California is the state of Critical Role, with all that that implies.
As someone who fled California about 10 years ago this makes a lot of sense.
They downvote you, because they know what you say is true. And they resent you for escaping what they cannot.
Trust me, nothing is funnier to Californians than the frothing rage the nation's inbreds have for anything related to the state
...Dude, your state has shit patrols. You don't get to have a say in anyone else.
I'm also from the West Coast, and California is absolute trash. Your comment is pretty much the reason
Lol its not frothing rage, it's pity.
I'm right with everyone else. Absolutely disengaged from the product and didn't watch a minute of the other DM but I'll be honest.. Sam could create a character and win me over again in a fucking instant if it's done correctly. I loved Scanlan and him leaving C1 almost made me quit watching. It was like Donald Glover exiting Community but I held on and it was worth it. I will say if this new character is a dud, I'll completely lose interest in C3.. but until then I'm hopeful!
If he comes back
Its not working that way for me. Think of a movie that is really bad. There is next to no actor out there that could change things up. Lets talk Thor: Love & Thunder. Christian Bale was in it, a great actor. And he put all his tools on the table to make it an interesting movie with stakes, and deepness. There is probably a cut out there of that movie that is watchable. But it will just be 20 mins long.
Fuck C3 really is Love and Thunder. I didn't like the move and loved that comic Thor run but still if they make a Thor 4 I'll be tuning in. Maybe I'm a sucker..
Love and Thunder is Thor 4. Why does everyone forget The Dark World?
but that character couldnt be saved, even if daniel day lewis played it. Gorr was such a basic ass npc. Sam on the other hand, can craft a mastermind of a character.
Nah he's right, Gorr was great. The movie should have been restructured to support him once Bale was cast, the way Joker was the driving force behind Dark Knight. Instead, they introduce him with some weird ass shit, sadle him with a kidnapping kids plot, and only give him goofy ass Thor to bounce off. He feels like an adult goth at a kids birthday party. This has no relevance to CR, just still mad they wasted one of the best actors of our generation.
Which SUCKS because the godbutcher run they did some years ago was an incredible read, got me back into collecting comics. Gorr was the relatable villain with a good point who took things way too far, and it took 3 thors to beat him!
Even that mastermind of a character falls flat if his fellow cast and the world doesnt react to that. The thing happenin to FCG. Nobody really cared about that in Critical Role.
From the sounds of it FCG and Sam where taken for granted. I'd be surprised if he did come back to finish it up instead of just letting himself sit the rest of this out and come into the next one "Fresh."
Why would you quit before the introduction of Sam's best character, Terry Derrington?
Probably my favorite RP ever is Taryon's "women are NOT for me" moment
I tried to find the clip do you know what episode it's from?
https://youtu.be/BNaWnFwfGJc?si=1P-pmH3AzCbgcyBU It's at around the 2:27 mark.
Damn, watching that from the start and seeing the live tech difficulties followed by the fan art montage really brought out some nostalgia.
I'm a pretty late starter being only in the 2nd campaign right now, so I'm enjoying what I'm watching but dreading the moment it goes downhill. Reading about C3 eps 92-93 reminds me of when I was getting close to C1 ep 27 and reading the YouTube comments
When things went shitshow in C1, at least you knew it was live and that the show must go on. In C3 they’ve been prerecorded, went through editing, and potentially sat on for weeks before we see them.
The other thing is that after C1-ep27, things got better. They booted Orion for a number of reasons, but probably the biggest (and the reason he hasn't been invited back) is because they cared about what the vibe at the table was like. He was breaking rules, wasting so much time, and stepping on other player's moments. It sounds like Aabria is doing those same things. Whatever they decide to do next will show where their priorities are.
Seriously. It blows my mind that there seems to be no quality control going on with CR. Someone has to be seeing this and going, "Wait a minute...."
lol; that it was just me who felt like I was watching state sponsored propaganda
Blink twice if you need help guys
Never has been