Another campaign closes, and another one awaits.

[rogueslayer452]

Critical Role recently wrapped up their second campaign, and I don't have much to say about it, honestly. I sort of stopped watching midway through, since I was falling behind anyway (as you do) and I realized that I just wasn't motivated enough to watch the episodes fully. I eventually ended up watching highlights that are posted on YouTube to get the gist of what was happening. But as a whole, I wasn't emotionally invested with C2 as I was with C1, which was disappointing because I wanted to be but, well, you can't force a connection when there isn't one. And that's not to say that the second campaign was bad or anything, it just wasn't for me, and that's okay! Just because it wasn't my cup of tea doesn't mean it can't be someone else's.

My main issue was mostly with the fandom community, which that's a whole separate rant altogether because boy do I have Opinions on that matter. But I do think that kind of bled into my disinterest with C2 just a little bit, which is sad because you shouldn't let the misbehaviors and entitlement of a fandom ruin the possible enjoyment you have with something. Which is why I'll still be checking out C3 whenever it premieres, I'll just be separating myself from the fandom.

However, I have to say I'm more excited about The Legend of Vox Machina and the most recently announced projects, including the Vox Machina versus The Mighty Nein special one-shot!

Comments

[mousme.livejournal.com]

The CR fandom is so, so toxic, but I love the series. I avoid the fandom as much as possible except for my handful of close fandom friends (from a different fandom but who got into CR as well), because I cannot abide how awful they are.

I had trouble connecting with the characters in Campaign 2 much the same as you until I got about halfway in, aided along by the fact that I DID feel pretty connected to Caduceus, so he ended up being my gateway character to the rest of the party. They all ended up having (for me) really satisfying character growth arcs, and the final major plot arc was *so* compelling for me that I couldn't help but enjoy the ride.

I am looking forward to the short campaign this summer, because Matt so rarely gets to play, and I am curious to see what they do for Campaign 3!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I usually tend to carefully curate my online fandom experiences, since every fandom has an extremely toxic side and for the most part I've been able to be aware of that while not seeing it since I take the necessary measures to avoid it at all costs. But somehow, unfortunately, I saw more of it with C2 of CR than before, which is sad. I mean, to be fair some of the people I followed from C1 either lost interest with C2 or went onto other fandoms while also still being into CR but not blogging about it much, so I kind of went down a rabbit hole of trying to find things relevant to my interests with the campaign and that's when I encountered a shitload of wank and drama. Which I was both unsurprised and disappointed at the same time.

And listen, C1 wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either when it came to fandom wank, but I think the larger the fanbase got the more drama it would create, and C2 was a prime example of seeing that with the fandom. The level of entitlement from fans is astounding, my god.

As for C2 itself, I don't know I just wasn't emotionally connected to most of it, even after I stopped watching and only paid attention to the highlights of what happened in episodes I just couldn't really get invested with it (and for the most part I was only interested in those highlight videos for seeing the cast being silly with each other more than what was happening in the actual story, tbh). Perhaps I may go back to it in the future and see if that changes, but for now I'm just rather meh overall.

But yeah, I'm actually more excited about all those upcoming projects, and I really cannot wait to see Matt actually play! In a game that is part of his own created world! And have another DM for his world take those reigns! That's going to be great. I've seen Matt play in other games, of course, but rarely does he ever get the chance to do so especially in his own world so I'm really hyped for that. :D

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I get that.

The problem with only watching highlight reels is that you pretty much can't connect to the characters. The highlights aren't where the small character moments happen, and it's those that I find are what get me to resonate emotionally with the characters.

I'm excited to see Matt play! \o/

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

That's true, although some of the highlight videos I've seen do include some of the more emotional character moments of the episodes. Perhaps not all of them, obviously, but I guess what they felt were key character moments and such so I got the overall idea. But you're right, it doesn't really cover all the bases of those emotional character moments unless you watch the episodes fully.