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Notlookingsohot t1_j2c15sw wrote

Very.

However, you may have to power through the first few episodes. They have a tone issue where the story wants to be taken seriously, but the humor is way too crass for the serious story.

The tone issue resolves itself after like episode 3 however, and its really fucking good.

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batosai33 t1_j2cjgw0 wrote

Yep. Episodes 1 and 2 were concepted when they thought that would be the whole thing. They thought they would get 50 minutes of animation to give everyone a taste of the crew, and show a story that happened before critical role (not required viewing) began.

Then everything exploded and a month later and they were pretty much guaranteed 24 episodes, so they started planning much more long term.

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Shower_caps t1_j2cs15j wrote

Good to know because the 1st episode was a bit much for me and I didn’t finish it. I will definitely give it another try.

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Gh0stMan0nThird t1_j2cy26w wrote

They definitely tried way too hard to show "this ain't your grand daddy's D&D"

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cathbadh t1_j2drq5g wrote

Yeah as someone who watched all of the first campaign, most of it twice, and half of the second, I wasn't a fan of the first couple episodes. I may have to try it again.

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batosai33 t1_j2dxmwo wrote

I find the third campaign to be a better version of the first, in a way. C2 didn't have as much of the fun chaos of the C1, but it also didn't have the growing pains, and long boring stretches that c1 had. C3 has the fun chaos, while also being more polished and streamlined.

C1 still has some of the best moments, but that is balanced out with a lot of slow, boring, and annoying moments.

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cathbadh t1_j2e2fg0 wrote

C2 was pretty terrible IMO. Too much angst and self hate. For pseudo bad guys they were really just mopey.

C1 would be hard to beat. Heck Sam's apology to Liam in the finale was a small thing that nobody noticed and it had me in tears. C1 got vastly better after Orion was kicked out.

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batosai33 t1_j2e3hxg wrote

They all felt like recovering addicts in C2, in a way. They didn't like who they had been and were redeeming themselves, which made Cad a great addition as basically the therapist. Unfortunately, that came at the price of the fun Molly was bringing to the group. I thought it was a good story, but it was a more serious story.

C1 had some great highlights, with sam's apology, and everything surrounding it being some of the best anything I have watched, but boy did it have a lot of growing pains to slog through to get there. Shopping episodes, learning to play for the audience, he-who-shall-not-be-named.

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gordito_delgado t1_j2e7psc wrote

This is exactly the impression I got.

Don't get me wrong, being crass and gross for no reason, is very funny when you are goofing around with your mates RPing and getting drunk. However it gets a little dull/annoying when overdone in a series like this.

Might give it another shot.

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nomadfoy t1_j2d15kd wrote

I'm pretty sure originally it wasn't going to include the first few episodes. The original kick starter was just trying to raise enough for the whitestone story. Then critters broke the Kickstarter record so they knew it they could do a whole season

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1Viking t1_j2dixl8 wrote

Nope. Originally it was for an episode or two (then 4–then back to what we eventually ended up getting) of pre live stream story arc. The live stream started a couple of years into their already ongoing campaign and they wanted to catch viewers up on what happened pre stream. Once they started getting the amount of donations that they did, they switched it over to being the Whitestone arc. They genuinely didn’t think they’d get enough money for more than a handful of episodes. The Critter Crush was real.

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TheLastMongo t1_j2c4lpc wrote

Part of the reason it settles in Ep 3 is that the first two episodes are based on an event that happened before the Critical Role livestream. They wrote the story for it as part of their Kickstarter. Ep 3 and forward is based on what happened live and they used the existing material.

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Middcore t1_j2c1v4r wrote

I wouldn't say it ever totally resolves itself. Basically any time Scanlan is talking or doing anything it's kind of jarring.

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Notlookingsohot t1_j2c2lqx wrote

It gets less jarring tho, and Scanlon tones it down just enough after the first few episodes that the tone clash goes away, at least IMO. Like before then I was seriously considering not finishing the show because the tonal difference was so egregious, and I say that as someone who is totally down with crass humor.

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Quxudia t1_j2cqdve wrote

I think the worst instance of it for me is the song in E3. It's a funny gag on its own but its juxtaposed with a really dramatic sequence and kinda steps on it. I was surprised when I finally saw the original stream that inspired that episode: There was no equivalent Scanlan song or joke in the original dinner-party episode of the stream, that whole sequence post dinner is played as basically straight drama and was surprisingly gripping to see play out despite the shoe string production CR was working with back then. While Scanlan's humor persists through the rest of the season I did feel like it found a better balance after E3 as the real season plot kicked in. Also helps that since I've seen the campaign now I know the fact early Scanlan's a bit of a manchild is only the start of his story and not the single note he's stuck on forever.

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PristineTX t1_j2f3etr wrote

Scanlan is actually a complicated garden. Season 1, you are outside, looking at the wall he built around it.

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Middcore t1_j2fifdi wrote

After season 1, people may not want to get inside.

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PristineTX t1_j2fizsl wrote

This attitude is why the art of screenplay writing peaked in the 1970s. Personally, I have more faith in the audience.

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Middcore t1_j2fvlh8 wrote

Jesus, buddy, we're talking about a character who makes a lot of raunchy jokes in a cartoon based on somebody's DnD campaign.

I watched a large portion of the first campaign of CR and they dialed up Scanlan's obnoxiousness about 1000% in LoVM compared to the way Sam played him then. They made a purposeful decision to use him for a certain type comic relief and "this is a show for adults" signaling in season 1. If you make being a loudmouthed randy attention whore a character's sole defining characteristic, the audience is going to decide whether they like him or not based on that, and a lot of them just aren't going to be interested when later you go "No wait he actually has hidden depths." That isn't a failing of the audience, that's a failing of screenwriting - and it's true whatever the era.

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DrGarrious t1_j2fhd6e wrote

Scanlon was always going to be the hardest character to translate to screen. Luckily the next season will have a lot of development for him.

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AReallyAsianName t1_j2cdb7g wrote

To be fair, the tone issues are basically Dungeons and Dragons, but the complaint is fair. Either way I love the series and second the recommendation.

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AuryxTheDutchman t1_j2dt14n wrote

That’s actually really good to know, I couldn’t get into ep 1. I’ll give it another go.

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