The self-help therapy sessions in C3 is just too much for me. The "we succeeded because you spoke your truth" got old very fast. I think they had a healthy balance of it in C2 but it seemed to work then. Idk, I can watch basically anything else to get that message if I wanted to. Plus the crassness of Ashton is just cringe.

My main gripe with this campaign is that the Supposed Moral Choice:tm: is not really a choice: only somebody clinically insane would look at the consequences of killing the gods and go "Yeah, let's totes do it!"

I may get some flak for this but a big point of contention for me is the overall anti-theist mood and dogging the deities in the world. Like I get none of the players are religious, if at all, but their reaction and playthrough in the world reacting to the BBEG feels very heavy handed and ridiculous to the point of caricature. It's one thing to be atheist, agnostic or anti-theist but this group is going full bore into fedora territory and it's not fun for me personally. Like how you just gonna crap on a god literally blessing you with their power? LOL It's just weird to me.

Group never felt like a group and just random people walking around. Characters: Immogen is just discount Tiberius. Very unintentional main character syndrome, mind reading counters so much exploring nature of DnD. As well as her ruining other characters moments with red moon crap. Everyone save for Chet, Laudna, and FCG are boring, uninteresting, or just moody and their moments are just swept under the rug for Immogen moments. The pure disrespect of the legacy Characters is utterly gross. The random mad maxx stuff was really out of left field. Like, oh hey we have machine guns and morter bikes now yet no other nation is marching there to basically have a tech boom?(pulling a legend of Korra) I feel like Brenden did more in EXU pre calamity then Matt has done all C3. I actually was invested and wanted more. In all honesty I'm just going to wait for C3 to die and try C4 when it happens. Hopefully that will explode, pun intended. Granted, this is all my opinion, and if other critters like C3 more power to you

It just drags. And the guest players don't seem relevant.

Here's my take on this. CR is simply a WAY bigger business in C3 than it was in C1 and C2. They're unfocused right now. C3 is not their only concern, and I believe it's impacting the quality. During C3 (post-Covid), they also ran Calamity, Candela Obscura, Vox Machina animated releases of S1 & S2, Mercer DM'ing on D20 for multiple epic episodes, prep on Daggerheart and Candela Obscura gaming systems, potentially working on separating from Hasbro/WotC, tons of new merch, Marisha fighting someone, commitment to Four Sided Die episodes and getting back into the Con circuit. I feel like the split of the party in C3 has been a stall tactic to give all the CR people some time to breathe. But it has not lightened the load for Mercer, through which all good things come. So even the quality (and the point) of this split has been diluted. Say what you want about the specifics of C3 that you may love or hate (C1 & C2 developed various storylines over time). None of that is really the problem. It's lack of focus. Too many irons in the fire. The Vox Machina series would've been enough for any small business to put out. CR did that and tons more. C3 is suffering for it. Add in that Mercer was clear that the party would be in over their head in C3. Working thru problems way out of their paygrade. And so far, that's been true. Regardless of the strange party mix and bent for chaos, these characters are out of their league. This is by design. And it's less enjoyable to watch. Nuff said. Thanks for letting me rant a bit...

I appreciate you putting this out there and I think you have very valid points. For me, it's the characters the players created. C1 had very basic characters that we saw evolve and change with very few mysterious backstories, which worked very well and we felt strong connections to. C2 had that again, but a few characters (IMO Nott, Caleb for example) had these mysterious backstories that got revealed very effectively, but were the minority. Other characters were relatively straightforward (Beau, Yasha, Jester, Fjord to some degree). Sure they have secrets but their existence is not a mystery. C3 it seems that everyone has a secret, everyone has a plot behind them and its' like we're playing catch up. FCG, Chetney, Imogen, Laudna, Fearne, Ashton...essentially everyone except Orym has some sort of mysterious origin story that we may or may not get info about which feels very unsatisfying.

I do kinda think the red moon plot maybe should have been the last arc of the campaign or at least been held off from happening for maybe an arc or two of going through everyones backstorys (excluding Imogen’s backstory as hers in tied into the moon arc)

I gave up on Season 3 like 12 episodes in. And i have so many reasons......

I might not agree with your opinion but I'm so tired of this community saying you can't critize it.... It's a multimillion dollar company, of course you can critize it!! They are doing this for our entertainment first and theirs second

Checked out at about episode 60 and haven't really missed it. Ironically, I think this is around when this video came out, lol. This was after those awful dragging sessions where they plan something for 3 hours and then their plan falls apart around 2 minutes later. I checked out completely when they were going around destroying the malleus keys (or whatever they're called). It's a shame, too, the first few episodes with Bertrand and up to the big ball, it was really engaging but since they left the initial city, it was tedious to the extreme, apart from a few moments like the Deathwish Run but too sparse to make it worth the time investment. Maybe I'll get back to it but every time I try I feel sorta detached from the whole thing.

I tried watching it and the best parts were the first 15 -20 episodes after that I just couldn't get into the characters.

The double irony is that despite the focus on the "Red Moon"/Apocalypse, it's clearly not all that bad if they can BAMPF! around with obnoxious NPCs(Abriya is enthusiasm cancer in every way) for months on end. Kinda kills the "sense of urgency" and "The End is Neigh" vibe, tbh.

For campaign 3, the characters are all so extreme that they never seem to fit with one another. They all seem to be going in different directions and trying to force the rest to go with them.

Honestly lost interest in campaign 3… mighty nein was best, vox was a close contender, this third campaign isn’t bad where i do enjoy like 3-4 characters to varying degrees… but they just don’t keep me there… fresh cut grass just does literally nothing for me… which is sad since knott and scandlin are soooo dear to me FCG just was a ball drop for me personally.

It's prerecorded for the audiences entertainment to edit over any unapproved language or jokes, reactions are overblown for the sake of the camera, Contracts are signed for merchandise that involve all the PC's likeness and there is too much money on the line to take risks. You will never see an organic PC's death in the game that sticks so there are no stakes so it has basically devolved into some kind of weird soap opera to play into their insane parasocial fans. It's no longer a bunch of friends playing a game it's a corporate product made and packaged to be sold to a consumer.

C3 is filled with side characters. None of them are capable/willing to front the group and drive the narrative. Imogen was doing it until Sam threw it in her face as the "main character" and since she is just as meandering as the rest.

People said campaign 2 sucked comparing it to campaign 1, people are saying campaign 3 sucks comparing it to campaign 1&2, people will continue to compare and criticize something not realizing what they're doing

I can honestly say that off all the Campaigns this one feels the most scripted,

I understand where you're coming from with there being too much focus on the Red Moon. If I were to guess, I'd bet they are trying to stay focused on their new RPG system, Daggerheart. Which is set to release sometime early next year. Maybe Critical Role viewed Campaign 3 as the "set up". The time to change everything, before moving forward.

1.) The OGL siding with WOTC/Hasbro. 2.) The try hard mentality. They are treating these characters as work. Or, it seems that they don't care about the characters. 3.) They're burnt out. The story might be there, but the mind is tired.

I remember lying in my bed at night for the release of episode 1, and the reveal of the characters instantly made me worried. Half of them felt too absurd for me to get attached to. FCG especially was just too strange for me to like. The other half just didn't interest me much. Bertrand's death made me feel nothing, even though the party acted like they lost a lifelong friend. It just felt like they were doing Molly's death all over again. I liked Laudna's reveal, but it was also kind of annoying to see Delilah Briarwood AGAIN! Lastly, Matt's utter disgust at Chetney's tattoo, and his subsequent lecture on alpha males was not fun to watch. Not saying I disagree, but the utter contempt was just uncomfortable to me. I don't need morality lectures in my silly tabletop game, and I don't enjoy seeing grown adults act so foul.

My biggest issue is their trying to tell a Burning Wheel story using 5e. What they do in game that is the entertainment part has next to no mechanical support so Matt and the players have to do all the heavy lifting and making it good despite 5e rather than because of it. All 5e brings to the table is the combat, and then they end up doing way too much combat because that's what D&D needs. If they played a game like Burning Wheel combat could be a narrative tool like in a novel, and a GM response rather than a requirement of the system. On top of that the beliefs and instincts will let them bring backstory easier into the game because there are specifics for the GM to target rather than generalisations. It also gives a stance to the characters beyond "this is a thing" so Matt has something to challenge and tie into other events. He does all that already but this way the game is doing all the heavy lifting so he can spend less time worrying about it.

Everything after campaign 1 is lame.

They should split the party one go evil the other go good n fight at the end at this point.

I just want to see the main cast, I have nothing against guests but I am invested in Travis marisha Liam talisan Ashley Sam and Laura. Them and their characters interacting with each other to beat the bad guys and save the day. That’s just me personally.

The problen is because is the characters Suck. Laudna was good in the 8 first episodes after that she became repetive. Imogen is terrible. OMG i hate Imogen. She is like child of the profecy Naruto vibes. Fearne is cool, she is the best character of Asheley, maybe because she play it more. Orym is bland. He lack motivacion. Chetney is perfect. He is one of the best characters in the shown period. Ashton is the worst character of Taelesin. FCG is a coll character. I like Sam interpretecion of him. But he is terrible Cleric. Terrible. And Sam is very good whith play if his backstory and FGC have amnesia. Making Sam lose a big part of his play style.

honestly, i think they just went for the red moon too fast. from the get-go it felt like they were going for the end game, and that just threw everything off. it shouldn't have been introduced until halfway through, at the earliest.

I love this campaign. Its different because starting off they were groups of people who knew each other joinig up. I dont think the play is rushed, I feel the urgency of figuring things out. As this has probably been the biggest baddest thing to happen

Well, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. read the following as opinion and not fact, because it is not fact. It's just easier to make direct affirmative statements. I happen to like this one the most, and disagree with a lot of your points. These character have all developed quite a lot. Were some parts rushed? No more than the players chose to rush them with only a handful of exceptions. I guess I have different expectations of what to get out of it, though. I think the pacing is excellent for the most part, with only a few parts to take issue with. You aren't actually wrong here, I just don't agree with your opinion. I've seen this opinion a bit here and there, but also a bunch of dissenting opinion as well. Also, on the emotion thing: Their current characters all express emotion differently (not less) than their older characters. If anything, there is a lot more emotion going on, and it is often more intense, it's just directed toward different things. I would agree if you said the characters typically are sharing less inter-party emotional reaction, though, but it's not a huge amount less. They all have very deep issues they are dealing with in their own ways that are frequently getting in the way of that, and it would make less sense for them to behave otherwise. They all have different and in many cases more impactful connections to the major plot, and that plot is substantially more dour and consistently more of a pressing issue, as well. It would feel awkward if they reacted like their older characters to the happenings in this one. Are there big differences? Sure. I just don't agree they are bad, and in fact think most are good. I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of this campaign than campaign two. I wont say more than campaign one, and the difference isn't actually all that much. I did kinda get bored of campaign two and waited and skipped ahead, though. I'm not sure but I think the lull for me began around the arc where they were first dealing with the pirates a bunch, and I just got kinda bored for some reason I don't really remember. I haven't been bored yet this season at all. Quite the opposite. I love all these characters and their stories and interactions, and I especially love the worldbuilding that is happening here.

Thank you for your points of concern for campaign 3 and I completely agree wjth them. I think what really started the concern was when they began to pre record the sessions. Now while i totally understand the practicality of that move, it removes the element of being "live" with the players. Half the time watching them play for real on the spot made it exciting. Nowadays it sorta feels hollow because they're not there on Thursday 😢. Another point to consider is how big Critical Role has become. Let's face it: they're no longer a struggling little company, they've become a media kingdom which in some ways makes it worse for us fans. They're not focused on the game anymore, they have other projects that take their time and so the gameplay can seem stale. Now in regards to the actual campaign, i agree that this has been a aort of railroaded campaign. And from i could tell from earlier comments is that Bells Hells is STILL trying to find their Avengers moment to become a cohesive fighting unit, which is a problem, especially 80 episodes in. Don't get me wrong, i actually thought CR trying new types of characters was pretty cool, but their personalities are all over the place which can really the synergy of the party. And i get that in real life we are chaotic, but when placed in a group situation there has be am eventual intro to unity. And another thing! Make Robbie Daymond a full cast member dang it! I love the cast, but they be stale sometimes, he was a breath of fresh air in the gameplay 🎉.

The "adult film shoot" was the jumping the shark moment. It was so forced, so nonsensical, so desperate. Matt should have shut that down.

Percy Had the most back story that is why his my favourite

The big reason that the third season seems to suck is that it is suffering from the success of the first two seasons. The first season was new and interesting something we had not seen before. The second season was different even as it was set in the same world. The third season is not really different from the previous seasons and most importantly the viewers are jaded and expecting to much of the cast. This is atmiditly my own view of the situation.

Interesting points. I'd be curious how campaign 2 stacks up through this many episodes. I recall a lot of Beau's character development coming late while Fjord and Yasha dominates the early part of the campaign. I thought the guest stars recently really helped the above board banter.

The problem is the classes suck. Always the way with sorc. It's uninteresting.

I drifted off of CR during C2. Back then i saw that something is not clocking as id did in C1. After about 40? episodes of C2 i still was not sure what is this story supposed to be about. Not in "mysterious" way, just in "what is going on, why is it written like that" way. Plus characters were... bland? To the point i watched most of characters seemed written off of same scheme of "You think you f'd up in your past but noo its actually OTHERS fault, you are good the way you are". I simply found it cheap and harmful, not to mention that its just bland compared to characters from C1. Most of it was simply "oh woe me my poor soul" with rolling dice. So i dropped it after some time. Then there was non-mercer exandria.... and lets say that it should be shown on some workshops on how not to DM. Did not even touch C3, as Since C1 CR and its members did some... questionable things and got involved in some... QUESTIONABLE dramas showing too much where their views are instead of focusing on what was good in the "product" itself. Simply cant watch it anymore for prolonged period of time not seeing that rather than story they focused on "sending a message". Buuut i liked the tv series.

I will love CR regardless, the cast is such an inspiration to me, and I felt sad that I haven't been able to connect with this campaign. I've seen a video before that completely counter arguments this saying that pretty much there is no consequences for them, they are going anywhere else except the moon like the fey realm when the gods and exandria is on the verge of destruction. Plans take 3 hours and fall apart in two minutes, and finally there are too many jokes and joke characters. So although two videos completely contradict each other, the final point for both is that it feels less impactful, less emotional and no consequences

I'll take the chic who plays prism over Ashley any day. I'm like 3 episodes behind when normally I stayed up to listen live, so something is off that isn't keeping my attention. Could be me, idk, but the emotions of campaign 1 felt genuine, and now it feels like acting.

Minor gripe but Caduceus basically keeps his arc in his pocket an it only comes into focus as it resolves itself. Yes he demonstrates many intentions of being mostly their for the support of others. But his actual arc spotlight time is less than any character including C3 to the point that the resolution felt like whiplash to me. Not that your arguments are wrong per se but it invalidates what you are trying to put out as evidence.

as the old addage goes, "ya can't please everyone." I love the Ruidis story but i feel like it has a lot more to do with JUST Imogen and her backstory. Chetney, Fearne, and Laudna are all connected to its flares. the implications of it's destruction or whatever has large enough ramifications to involve EVERYONE. this ruidis thing has been a thing since campaign 1. im rewatching campaign 2 and the second episode he reminds them, "yes there's 2 moons we just didn't have much reason to focus on it during the first campaign." if the first campaign would've happened around an apogee solstice, it would've been more centered around Ruidis IMO. but he waited until the third to where much of the world was established for a reason. i love it and can't wait to see where it goes. maybe the cataclysm that "birthed" ashton in his new form ALSO happened during a solstice, just not an apogee? maybe that's why it failed? also the teleportation took him CLOSER to where the catastrophe happened. i've been emotionally invested since the beginning idk what's keeping yall from connecting

1. Tone. I noticed that Matthew Mercer tends to run his games with some amount of seriousness more like in Tolkien or Star Wars. Meanwhile, his players generally play their characters silly like Marvel characters or Rick and Morty characters. I do not like my goofy shit in D&D. 2. The players made boring characters (to me anyway). I think all his players made shite characters for campaign 3, and I tapped out somewhere around episode 6. I especially hated Laudna and considered resuming watching when I heard she died. That was very exciting for me.

Yeah, I agree. Good luck with some of the critters who find this video. I salute you

I mean, it's a game, not a scripted show. Matt has a story to tell that's vital to the growth of the gaming world. But the players are not along for the ride, WE are. I watch this game because of the players and because Matt is a damned genius. If more than 1 or two of these people play in a game, I'll watch it. Is the story as compelling as S1 or S2? Maybe not (although I find the religious conflict, arguments regarding freedom of choice, and the dark side of power are VERY weighty and fascinating story beats). But we need to remember we are watching a game, not critiquing Rothfuss livestreaming attempts to write that 3rd novel (which... hey. 1st book took 15 years to write. Man has the right to take as long as he needs to write the 3rd book). It's a game. Not a novel. We are PRIVILEGED to watch these Voice Actors do their thing. If you're not as big a fan of the story, take some lessons back for your own game. Punch up the pace, do a TPK or two. OR go the Gygax route, have time pass in-game while it passes in real life, have players collect taxes and grow crops. The roots of the game should be a reminder that pacing and story are not solely up to the DM/GM. This is collaborative storytelling, with a framework in place that makes some things clunky. That's it. Otherwise, we've got a great world-builder at the helm, with some seriously impressive Players that most DMs/GMs would give their right arm to have the privilege of running a game for. Let's cut them a bit of slack, ok? And if you really don't like this season as much, you can watch Dimension 20, or Midst, or Candela Obscura, or hell, reruns of Acq Inc or B Team or DCA. It's a game, folks. Sometimes the mechanics and the ground laying and the collaborative nature of the endeavor takes time.

The problem with this this campaign is that Matt has removed hope from the world. It feels like he wants to tie up lose ends which is why they went to Molaesmyr and have to kill off Ludinus so they can close the chapter with as many questions answered as possible in time for Daggerhearts release and eventual takeover. I am all for the new systems release, however I signed up for D&D. Candela and Daggerheart may be interesting new games but I have no plans to change my play style to fit these new systems.

So now we’re gonna act like this is a tv show and we should critique it’s pacing?? They should go feed chickens when the world is about to end? (I appreciate your opinions though, always good to hear other points of view)

I mean it's only 63 episodes in... While there are 141 of campaign 1 and 2 each... My feeling is that you're comparing campaign 32 the feelings you had at the end of campaign 1 and 2. Not remembering how long it took to get there and how there would be big chunks that were focused on each individual's backstory I mean campaign two with the guitar thing that was the exact same thing as the red moon in campaign 3. How many times did the Ottawa overtake the story up characters that weren't even connected?

Then make your own successful D&D show and you make deals with Amazon among others. You go ahead and do that. R.I.P F.C.G

I don't feel like it is any slower paced than C1 or C2. I do feel like C1 still holds up the best but I feel like it's because they were playing the game now they are making a production so the added pressure of "We gotta make this right." Has an affect. I also feel like the characters in C3 conflict more with their player. I live Ashley as an actress but I don't see Fern there, same with Laura, Marisha, Travis, and Sam. Granted this is likely a personal view but the fact that I became more invested in the guest PCs and through them slightly more into the core cast makes me wonder. The irony to that is I didn't like Dorian in the main cast either.

To say that it "sucks" is a bit too much, but I'll admit that I struggle to get attached to the characters and...to get inversted in the story... I still love it but now I have to focus on it, almost force myself to get into it (not force myself to like it, it's just like I have to get myself into the story BEFORE watching an episode, be it on stream or afterward). And I hate to be this guy, but I feel like the first two campaigns were easier to be inversted in (especially the second one for me at least) and the main reason being the characters...

Side thing too: FCG's romance with the other warforged felt very weird and forced. They try to represent genders and identities bc woke but why wouldn't they create an asexual relationship from that? It feels like they put him there FOR FCG, I don't get it, it feels so ingenuine.

I dont like character bacsktories in my campaigns. Of course when my players want to I encourage it, but keep it minimal. Not everyone is the same or has the same passion for writing. If you got one guy at the table who kills it and writes out a whole life story and another who doesnt. Suddenly someone is pulling the spitlight toward them like a black hole and someone is gonna get neglected.

I am sorry others are not enjoying this campaign as much as the prior two... I have to say that I am enjoying it quite as much as the first two... I hope those who are not enjoying the overall experience can find enough of those joyous interludes that abound...

I know this is months old now, but I ended up here and just want to say it seems we're in a good stint of the campaign now nearing the end of 2023.

So any campaign you’ve been in has always covered every single person’s backstory? Sometimes that’s just how the story goes, but EXPERIENCE will tell us that Matt doesn’t leave anyone out. He is always keeping these things in mind and working towards it. Stop comparing like this is scripted or planned by everyone involved.

Damn... I even forgot Marisha died 😂 and I watched this recently

Weird. Campaign 3 is the first watchable campaign they've played for me. It's the first one that had good pacing. I find the filler episodes a little bit of slag and back to the previous campaigns pacing.

Honestly I lost interest in watching entire episodes of CR way back in campaign 1, tried to get in to campaign 2 but it was just more of the same roadblocks that kept me from enjoying it, at most I now watch highlight clips that way I get all of the fun without having to sit through 3 or 4 hours of nothing, I much rather just spend that time actually playing an RPG instead of watching others play. I don't think live-plays are my cup of tea beyond highlight clips. (I also despise watching people play videogames for essentially the same reason)

So, I can agree that this isn’t the best season so far. Do I believe that it has to be? No. Exponential improvement isn’t possible and I’m just enjoying the filler campaign. It’s not done but I think we’ll get a calamity event to mess the world up now that all continents are explored.

To add to your last point. I remember Marisha saying that in this campaign "all bets are off" and "anything can happen". Ironic, considering Laudna's 'death' early in the campaign. C3 is long, boring, and very low-stakes which kind of contradicts the apocalyptic vibe they are going for.

I stopped watching 20min into the first episode, which was 5min after all the intro stuff. The fanbase took too much hold over things and they started using pronouns for no reason. I could take the joke of Talisin’s Frankenstein monster being “they”, but the robot? No. That was the last second I watched. The cringey, overzealous fans ruined what was supposed to be just a group of friends playing D&D and I hate them for it. Not the cast, but those toxic fans.

C1 was the cast being themselves. Everything since then has only gotten more and more predictable and pedantic. The amount of Woke, Leftie, California politics don't help either (muh pronouns). Nu-CR "fans" would literally cancel the cast of C1, if it aired today. That's how twisted the show has become.

Saying this story is too stuck on the red moon is like saying C2 was to big on Ukotoa.

I like campaign 3 more then campaign 2!

I swear ppl just HAVE to bitch about something all the time. They can't just enjoy it for what it is

well someone's desperate for views

Cheap engagement bait, try harder

Bells Hells is more entertaining than M9! That campaign was boring af

Clickbait titles are so fucking cringe.