They said in the live "Tale Gate" that there will be a campaign 4, they're already working on it. But they did not say what system they will use. So my prediction is they will switch to Daggerheart, and they'll push forward in time a significant amount. I would bet hundreds, maybe even 1000 years. Far enough where you don't have to have any knowledge of the previous campaigns, while still keeping it in the world so we can have Easter eggs, much like campaign 2. Ideally, I think it would start with the state funeral of The Voice of the Tempest. Keyleth being the last living connection to this era, her death would signal a complete break from the previous campaigns, so that new viewers could come on without any previous context.
I personally hope all Exandria campaigns stay d&d. But for c4 I do hope we get everyone playing races we haven't gotten yet. Especially since they want an underwater campaign. Like Talisen pulling a Travis and pulling his dagger heart character Sir Dante into this world. Getting a merfolk PC, a ruidian PC, a tabaxi, an insect, or one of the elephant folk or one of them being dragon or dragon Bourne. Humans, elves, halflings, dwarves are kind of hitting a wall now. Like I want Laura to play the daintiest, petite little thing who is an unrestrained anger-holic barbarian. Sam as a tabaxi wizard named Frumpkin the 4th, named after his forefather who was granted a regular body by nana Mory for great service to the world. Marisha maybe playing a mermaid or merfolk artificer/paladin. Travis as a dragonborne monk, Liam as any ruidian race in that tragedy bard thing. And Ashley could be a water genassi warlock
I might be among the minority on this but I really liked Campaign 3, even if it had its slow moments (every campaign has had this so far). I think this campaign was a transition point for Exandria so they could open up their options for future campaigns and create some variety for themselves as well as the audience. That meant the scope of the campaign had to be world-altering and due to the fact that the campaigns aren't thousands of years apart you can't have world-altering events without Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein showing up in some capacity. Which worked out for the best because there were a lot of story and character threads that needed closure and an eight hour finale allowed for that to happen in a satisfying way. Maybe its not realistic, but considering the context of the cast and crew's lives for the past chunk of months (first with Sam's situation and then with the wildfires)... who can blame them for wanting to end their campaign with something sweet?
I think you have to admit to yourself that it does not matter how bad Critical Role campaigns may turn, you are still a fan no matter what and would never criticize them. You are in a fan club.
@ I mean, maybe it’s because I wasn’t that big into DnD before critical role and tbh it’s still not the biggest part of it for me. So any critiques I would have are more about story beats I didn’t love (Ashton trying to take the second shard as an example). But generally most people I see are being really black and white about the whole thing. Either “oh it’s the best thing ever made” or “this was so terrible,CR is dead”
I actually love that Ashton lived. I know some people think it lessened things somehow but I think it would have been a disservice if Ashton in particular had permanently died in some big martyring heroic moment. Especially when DND is known for resurrection. Ashton has passively wanted to die their *entire* life, and tried several times to do it this campaign, it's the same problem FCG had, which Ashton even talks about being just like them. FCG ultimately did give in to that impulse, even if for a very good reason. That Ashton failed several times to do so, really hammers (ha) home that that doesn't need to be the way their life goes. They can and have to keep living, for the good and the bad. Their life means more than their death. They are good for more than just what their death would accomplish, but for what they can accomplish in life. Life's a bitch and then you keep living. Also they're my favorite and i would have been Inconsolable if they'd died for that reason and the reason above. After everything, they truly deserve to *live* now that the world isnt on the line and they have people that care about them and have remembered how to let others in and love in return.
Im guessing critical role is going to have two games going. One will be the main game (D&D) and the other will be more like candela obscura but using daggerheart. My guess for the classes the crew will play is: Taliesin - rogue or wizard, Laura - barbarian or blood hunter, Travis - cleric or druid, Marisha - bard or ranger, Sam - druid or fighter, Ashley - fighter or warlock, Liam - bard or sorcerer
I think Liam is for sure gonna be a cleric, in a interview once he mentioned he wanted to play the basic dnd party (wizard,rouge,fighter, and rouge) but do the opposite of mainstream characterization of these classes. So basically last one would be the cleric
Tbh , dnd is not worth useing. People don't watch CR because of dnd , they can replace it with any ttrpg . i assume they just go full Dagenhart . even though i desperately want them to play pathfinder 2e
Beacon Ashton I think was improvised. I think the original plan was to use the one Vox Machina collected rescuing Vax. But Tal made Matt an offer too good to refuse.
Definitely felt like an Infinity war and Endgame type finale with Cameos from characters across the story lines and capped off with a Thanos retirement moment for Ludinus Wait, does this mean that they all show up a couple years from now in the shattered teeth and Orym cuts Ludinus' head off and says under his breath. Yes, I should have gone for the head.
During the "talegate" someone said something about the campaign 4 characters and it was a d&d build. Still doesn't mean anything is set in stone, but I'm hoping for d&d and not daggerhart.
D&D keeps their lights on, so unless WOC really does something that turns them off completely, or Daggerheart or another Darrington Press game takes off enough to keep them going, I doubt they’d bite the hand that feeds them.
I was frustrated that they were able to revive Ashton after his big sacrifice. He thought things through and made the choice, knowing it would be the end of him. It was a selfless act for the greater good and very much not Ashton's typical stance. Which made his willing sacrifice all that more nobel. The first two attempts failed outright, a clear indication that Matt wanted it to stand. But they kept trying and finally succeeded. But it lessened the storytelling and Ashton's sacrifice!
I liked it. Ashtons intentions to do good were still witnessed by everyone, but reviving him showed him that taking the easy way out isnt right. Its always bugged me how much Ashton preached "life is always going to suck, you just have to be strong enough to keep pushing through it" yet at every opportunity to be a martyr he gets he goes for it. I think being revived also finally made it sink in that he is truly loved and is not alone anymore
My least favorite campaign of the three. But that's like an ice cream enjoyer saying it's my least favorite flavor of ice cream. Still love the world, the cast, the characters, all of it; there was just something about the structure that didn't click for me. I'm excited for whatever Campaign 4 will bring, since it'll probably be disconnected from this trilogy's characters.
It is 100% true. People are utterly scared of criticizing Critical Role as a whole. It is not that the cast members care, but the fans are like rabid, green-haired Trumpists (or liberals) defending everything they do even when it comes to obvious mistakes. Like too big, too fast. Matt makes mistakes too.
I have just started as A Game Master with player who gave me backstories and I see how things can seem scripted because I can work their stories into fill spots I need. its not scripted its building with the block the players and the dice give you if some of the gods had gone away that would of also been woven in.
I do kinda hope they continue to use D&D for the main campaigns, and use Daggerheart for smaller series’s; some of the reasons for this is that I’ve seen many people saying they’d leave CR if C4 isn’t a D&D game as CR is many people’s introduction to D&D and many use it to learn how to play D&D, and from what I can tell Daggerheart can be used for short 7-10 session series’s very easily but for a series that can easily go to 100 episodes you’d need a system like D&D to hold it together as Daggerheart doesn’t seem to have enough material to last that long
They won't. In the live "Tale Gate", they explicitly said that they will have a campaign 4, but sidestepped the question of which system they're using. The whole point of campaign 3 was to get rid of that last connection to D&D - the pantheon. Why would they spend that much effort to tell that story, and build a whole new system, just to continue giving free publicity to a competitor that has tried to screw them over multiple times? That would be dumb. As for people leaving, there might be some. But it won't be nearly as many as the new viewers they get jumping on. Campaign 4 is going to be far in the future, where new viewers don't have to know the history of past campaigns, so it's a great jumping on point for viewers who are curious after seeing TLoVM and M9 animated series. Most people are here to watch this group of friends tell a good story. The mechanics don't matter.
I'm honestly hoping they go full into Daggerheart for the main campaign 4, I'm not a fan of the 2024 dnd ruleset plus I think it gives Matt and the players more creative control to tell their story since it's their game
@@MeluhKnighti mean, I get the sentiment that playing their own game gives them creative control, but it doesn’t seem like using d&d up til now has given wotc any control. They have two Amazon series based on the streams and there is no Hasbro/wotc presence involved in the production of them. It is their ip. The gods were given alternate names to accomplish this. I think they’ll play Daggerheart but I don’t think it has much to do with them owing Hasbro anything or Hasbro having any sort of input into what they do on the show. Letting Exandria continue to be in d&d would also give them the opportunity to create a new world using their new game. Which seemed to be the designers’ intent, who have done a few interviews where they highlight the collaborative world building premise. If the Daggerheart premise is there is no official setting, permanently shifting Exandria over would undermine that quite a bit. I will watch C4 no matter which system they use, I just think there’s a fair amount of evidence to Exandria not moving forward in Daggerheart.
I don't see how Daggerheart would not be good for a long term campaign, it's not like D&D has that much content to be used over 100's of episodes. The content is the story they make not the system and I would be surprised if they would not consider Daggerheart to promote their own system as the main campaign.
@ You may not have been aware of the events surrounding Hasbro the last few years, but 2 years ago they tried to change their license. They tried to make it so that anyone who streamed D&D actual play content, and made above a certain amount, would have to pay them royalties. They got a ton of pushback, so they rolled that back quickly, but there's no guarantee that they won't try again. The animated series have had to make a number of changes in order to avoid their copyright. And that's fine because they're not playing D&D in the animated series, they're creating a story. They can change the names of monsters and gods and whatever to avoid those copyrights. But when it comes to the campaigns, if WotC tries to do something like their OGL again, that would screw CR. Better to cut ties with them completely.
I always think of the Ashton as the one of the characters of Hercules (the one with the Rock) where everytime theres danger of battle he goes into it waiting to finally meet his end. Hilarious but also nerve wrecking everytime.
The characters in Campaign 3 were not epic enough to be dealing with gods. Someone else mentioned "rushed" and yes that is true. Reminding you all that the sweet spot of D&D is level 5-10. However, D&D has evolved so now it is also entertaining to play levels 15-20. Wasn't always the case.
I agree. Could've been fleshed out, included more character dynamics, and much more focus on character interaction with individual's important to the individual's story vs the importance to the whole of the wider lore. But I still enjoyed it and see it as very important to the story of Exandria since this was the campaign the re-shuffled the makeup of Exandria setting the stage for Campaign 4 to feel fully fresh and new.
I can imagine it’s an end of how dnd and critical role is thought of, to an era what it can be. And I don’t know about you and everyone here watching but, I’m getting some elements of the final fantasy franchise from post campaign 3
@mattturner5750 yeah I was one of them but some people are acting up about if it's gonna be dnd or daggerheart for c4. This more of less solidified that it will be daggerheart. And it will line up with release of the system as well.
I hope the next campaign is a new starting off point for us new critters. I started watching C3 and really loved these characters but hard fell off as it became more apparent that you will have no clue wtf is happening if you hadn’t watched Vox or mighty nein and that soured it a lot for me. I didn’t know I was signing up to watch Avengers Endgame basically.
Love this video and love your takes as always. But I don't think peoples main criticisms with Campaign 3 was the "Moral complexity". I think the issue was more fundamental than that. The dynamics between the characters were simply weaker this time around. No Brother and sister dynamic, no rich guy/poor guy divide. No will-they-won't-they romance (until later) No internal rivalry between party members, no conflicting goals & wants. Most of the focus was on wider lore implications and call backs to earlier events which, while intellectually interesting, weren't EMOTIONALLY engaging. It's why I've enjoyed watching recaps (such as yours!) because I do want to know WHAT happens, but the character interactions are so 'meh' that I haven't wanted to watch 4 hours of it to get the information. Meanwhile I could watch Jester and Fjord banter all day or watch the weird "reckless mother" Vs "responsible son" dynamic between Caleb & Nott. (Not to mention the relationship between molly & Yasha. And Between Yasha and Beau, Molly & Nott. etc) But that's just my feeling on things. Regardless. Stay awesome Finn!
I wasn't a fan of this series and what you described is exactly why. I don't think people have problems with morally complex characters or Breaking Bad would have been a failure. I think the characters were much more jokey and their ties to each other much more loose. The romances felt like they were slapped on just to have romance and so that everyone could couple up. This season felt much more pre determined than usual.
I agree on some level. I feel it became what Matt didn't want any of his campaigns to become. Just a myriad of callbacks and cameos of previous characters from past campaigns that lost focus on the current character's journey and endeavors. While it for sure was enjoyable to watch it tie all back to the past 2 campaigns, it didn't feel fully fleshed out like the past 2 did. We got little to nothing about Laudna's actual blood family's history. Very little from Dorian's family history and his interaction back home. A bit explored but not fully into Chet's lycan history and it's true potential. A brush past Imogen's and her mother's adaptation back into Exandria life together. Very little into Ashton's reunion with his past troupe. Some but definitely could've been more into Fearne's history with the Seelie Court. For sure wanting more from Orym's history with the Ashari. And also very little with FCG's history from Aeor and Devexian once he was gone. It just felt like a rush to the finish line.
Also agree on the lack of dynamics. I felt Tal was trying to push that with Ashton siding against the gods but the group as a whole just drowned out his perspective to match theirs ultimately.
Did we watch the same campaign? "No Brother and sister dynamic," - except Imogen and Orym (even when they're not playing siblings, the twin vibes come through), Fearne and the witches, Ashton and everyone. I'd say Chetney and everyone, but his was more a grandpa vibe. "no rich guy/poor guy divide." Who was the "rich guy" in campaign 2? "No will-they-won't-they romance (until later)" - Imogen and Laudna - that was there from episode 1, Fearne and Ashton, Orym and Dorian, Fearne and everyone, Chetney and everyone "No internal rivalry party members," - Let me introduce you to Cheney Pock'oPea. He had the same fun rivalry with several party members (especially Imogen and Ashton) that Grog had with Vax. Also, Fearne and Ashton constantly pickpocketing each other. But if you want actual interparty conflict, not just good natured rivalries, then: "no conflicting goals & wants." I mean, every 10 episodes was the party arguing about whether or not to kill the gods. None of that was missing in campaign 3. The issue is how it's presented to us. The story format is vastly different between all three campaigns. Campaign 1 was very balanced between epic storytelling with a few major arcs, and episodic storytelling with smaller episodes focused on the characters. Campaign 2 was largely episodic for 2/3 of it, with only the final Lucian arc being a more epic story. The rest of the time the were just meandering from mini-arc to mini-arc, so there was much more focus on the characters to drive the story. Campaign 3 was mostly epic, with one single story arc across the entire campaign. That can make the story feel slower (especially with the end of month breaks). And the character interactions were less of the focus. They were there, but they don't stand out as much because they were rolled into the rest of the story. If you're not a fan of the epic story format, then I can see you having a problem with campaign 3. But most of the other criticisms people have come up with for campaign 3 are just patently wrong.
@@monsta6501 Sure, but we have that in every campaign. We literally got one episode into Beau's family, and that was it. We know more about her mentor at the Cobalt Soul than we do her parents. We didn't see any of Yasha's past until the finale - we only heard a few stories. Fjord we only talked to Vandren in the finale, and there was no exploration of his history at all. Caduceus we only saw his family a few times. Caleb, Veth, and Jester are the only ones who had fully fleshed out backstories that we got to see. And of course, there's always more that we could go into. But we saw what was important. The things that were relevant to the characters and the story happening right now.
I was really hoping the next campaign would begin at keyleths funeral 1300ish years in the future. But now that the Gods are humanoids they’re definitely going to have to explore that story line of the Gods lives
ME TOO! I've been saying for a while that her funeral would be a great way to start the next campaign. Honestly, I really hope they don't explore the human god story. Downfall was interesting, but I don't want a whole campaign about trying to find them when we just had a whole campaign about getting rid of them.
@ yea it would be a very god heavy storyline but I feel like them fleshing that out has to be done on screen. Too much opportunity for some awesome stories and world building potentials
@ Yeah, but then we're right back where we started. Plus it becomes another railroaded campaign, and we just got done with that. I'd much rather see them set it far in the future, where the events of the current era aren't going to matter much. There's still room for a flashback "Downfall" type miniseries if they want to explore the mortal gods later. But the next full campaign shouldn't have any ties to this one. Plus, they've been working on campaign 4 already, without knowing how campaign 3 would end, so how could they have planned for the gods to be mortal or the need to search for them.
Thing is Campaign 3's premise is not wholly unique even in DND. The decision they made would mirror the times of trouble in the Forgettn Realms, which was not a fun time for gods or mortals. Honestly, if they went the route of the Times of Trouble, like stories, the next campaign would be the bloodiest and most brutal time for them.
I want to watch this vid so bad, but C3 is the only campaign that I don’t have spoilers for yet. I’ll like the vid for the algorithm, but I can’t watch this yet.
3:58 I dont think there was supposed to be a plan to regain there godhood at all, this is supposed to be a permanent solution hence the luxon part. Also in Downfall the Gods didnt use any rites they had a different method to essentially virgin birth themselves into mortal forms but their spark of divinity was still there.
its over! finally! i cant believe its been a hundred episodes since critical role was a staple in my week, im so glad ill have critical role back on the menu again! i hope they have at least half the characters at the table that i can stand to watch next series
I absolutely LOVE your videos!! Although not a begining to end Critter < I started a few years after C1> but I do love and have followed from C1 and I must say I LOVE Laura Bailey- not to take away from any of them but in my eyes she has inspired me to be me in my real life and what she did in C2 with the Hag was PRICELESS I, like everyone else I am sure, was on the edge of my seat hoping Vax and Keyleth would have their happy ending and I cried when they did. What I would LOVE to see in C4 is our players playing the Gods as their human counterparts- THAT would be an interesting campaign. This is just MY take on the 3 campaigns: I had a bit of difficulty gettin into C3 as it was slow in parts but once it got going I was hooked. C1 was definitely fun and seemed like a typical D&D campagin, C2 was a bit more on the delving into characters campaign but still had that playfulness
While campaign 3 was not my overall fave compared to 1 or 2, it still had all time great moments, Otohan Thull, is a Top 3 villain in CR in my opinion, and while it’s “technically exu” Calamity and Downfall were brought to us because of the events of campaign 3, both of which are top tier ttrpg content. I would say that where campaign 3 lessens overall for me is that BellsHells as a whole just doesn’t hold up to Vox Machina or M9 in terms of my overall investments in their individual character arcs, again overall.
If they stay with DND for campaign 4 I hope the character choices are wilder than before, character types that challenge the cast to portray and play like Travis playing a mage or Ashley having a decisive character etc.
So, I am guessing you are voting left? Me too, but it does not mean you always have to pretend to be edgy, push boundaries, or pi$$ on the traditional D&D game/rules. If anything is lacking for Critical Role and the fan-club is right-wing attitudes. They are actually being excluded and that is BS. I would love a completely traditional campaign to include all North-Americans. How about not having 50% of characters being gender fluid or LGBT? Just a thought. Let's invite the Trumpists. It makes economically sense.
I see a lot of people that seem very sure that Crit Role is going to stay with DnD for their next campaign. I'm not an oracle but it doesn't seem to make much business sense to not play their main campaign in the new system. I think most people that watch Crit Role are Crit Role fans more than DnD fans and if they utilize their show as free advertisement for their game I feel like that will be much more effective than just keeping on with DnD. Not to mention that Daggerheart's play style is pretty much built for how they play and IMO a better system for story focused games.
I think one of two things is happening. 1) They are switching to Daggerheart and they know it. They are choosing not to announce it yet because they do not want people to stop watching until the very last moment. They understand that they will lose a portion of their audience if they do this. The question is how much. Tabletop RPGs are already something with a small audience and moving away from DND is basically moving into a Niche within a Niche. If its 20 - 30% of their audience they could survive it if Daggerheart sells well. But if its more, perhaps even a majority, they would most likely have to downsize their company or reduce their production value. Perhaps even both. But they would be betting on themselves and potentially introduce an actual rival to D&D. 2) They don't know what they are going to do for C4.. They would like to make the switch but have serious doubts enough of their audience will stay with them. In order to get more information about the potential popularity of DH they will release a shorter DH campaign after EXU divergence that will run their new system. They will watch their views along with how well DH is selling to customers and make a decision at that point. DH releases in the Spring after all. If the views are down too much and DH doesn't sell enough then they will go back to DND for C4. If both do well enough then they will make the switch. There could be a middle ground here where they may run 2 campaigns at the same time, but i have no idea if they can support that financially or if the cast would even be interested in something like that. If they do it they could reduce amount of people at the table that might help. All of this is just speculation on my part and we will obviously have to wait and see what occurs.
They switched to D&D from Pathfinder for business reasons, D&D is massively more popular and that helps draw in new viewers which means more donations, subs, merch sales and higher value for their ad spots, the companies main sources of revenue. Candela Obscura has not been a success on their channel despite it being their own game so it's clear the fan base won't just come over for a new game just because it has the cast and CR branding, compared to the EXU series, the party split in C3 or the Downfall saga, even though all those series/sagas had short runtimes, different GM's and guest players like CO, they were still D&D and much more successful then the CO series. CO suffered massive drop-off in viewership after the first couple of episodes as the fanbase just bounced off of it despite the cast's best efforts and high production values. There are other factors into why CO failed compared to the D&D content for CR, from the horror theme to the release schedule, but committing to a multiyear campaign with that kind of uncertainty compared to the known D&D factor doesn't seem like a smart business move. The upside of selling a couple hundred thousand more copies of the rules vs losing hundreds of thousands of views on 100+ episodes and all their subs, donations, the decrease in ad revenue because of the smaller audience, the lost merch sales for two-three years of the campaign, I just don't think they offset.
@@bunch1 I think you are right in part, the Daggerheart vids have slightly lower viewership than the main campaign big episodes but higher than the low viewed ones but that is every video that isn’t the main campaign. Their daggerheart videos recently have done pretty similar views to their comparable dnd sessions. I think you and previous are probably right in that they are seeing how the winds blow with DH, but I think that anything that isn’t the main campaign is going to suffer. I think making a main campaign with it could draw in the views but that’s just my thoughts from playing DH. I honestly haven’t met many critters who are old school die hards but I haven’t met them all so I could be wrong.
@@allstatejake The Christmas oneshot did alright, but the Menagerie trilogy started strong with lots of interest for the new system and fell off hard, and outside of CR there hasn't been much interest in the system to actually watch it, the only other channel I watched did 2 streams and the views dropped from like 40k to 10k, most of the other vids on TH-cam that are actual plays, not opinions/reactions, only have a few thousand. So the system doesn't seem to be a big draw while outside of CR D&D actual plays and other content around the game are still pulling in hundreds of thousands/millions of views.
I loved C3, but me personally I think it needed 10-20 more episodes with just bells hells peppered throughout. How many episodes are C3 but not a hells episode or was during that massive party split. Ashton needed more time, and I think I speak for most of not all of us that we are mad FCG didn't make it back to aeor.
Campaign 3 never felt....serious. i liked 1 and 2 a lot. 3 felt like a f it cluster. And i agree. Their characters made some really dumb decisions that didn't have the consequences they should have.
While the undertaking was heroic. The episode itself was very ho-hum...Matt mentions he didn't intend it to run on that long and it probably would have been better if it hadn't. But I'm sure folks will like the content. The Campaign 3 story ended up as ridiculous as it always was. The party basically flirted through and never had to pay for any choices they made. They all came out happy in the end. I would hope they take a long break and really see if they want to dig in for campaign 4. They have the chops to do something special. But is it worth it for them?
Unfortunately for me I dropped Campaign 3 very early on, didn't like a lot of the characters and just couldn't vibe with any of them to warrant watchinf the Campaign, glad there are people that enjoyed it though. I'd bet the CR team will probably take a few weeks or even months off before starting Campaign 4.
It would be an interesting story for a miniseries, but I wouldn't want to see it as a whole campaign of it. I'm hoping they jump forward 1000 years or so. Whole different Exandria, no gods, and opening on the state funeral for Keyleth as the Voice of the Tempest, so that we have a clean jumping on point for new viewers.
i like campaign 3 but imo its the weakest campaign. I never connected with the characters and some arcs were super slow slower then any other arcs in any of the other campaigns
Nah, this campaign stinks, stupid character development, stupid character choices, stupid asides that were worthless to the overall plot, and the worst thing for me was how there were no consequences for their stupid choices. Hated this campaign from start to end.
I actually love that they lived. I know some people think it lessened things somehow but I think it would have been a disservice if Ashton in particular had permanently died in some big martyring heroic moment. Especially when DND is known for resurrection. Ashton has passively wanted to die their *entire* life, and tried several times to do it this campaign, it's the same problem FCG had, which Ashton even talks about being just like them. FCG ultimately did give in to that impulse, even if for a very good reason. That Ashton failed several times to do so, really hammers (ha) home that that doesn't need to be the way their life goes. They can and have to keep living, for the good and the bad. Their life means more than their death. They are good for more than just what their death would accomplish. Life's a bitch and then you keep going.
And that is not an uncommon opinion personally i think that any version of campaign 3 no matter what happened or how the story was told would have faced major criticism especially compared to campaign 2 but i mean dont get me wrong there are definitely issues with campaign 3 but i overall don't think it was bad it just didn't live up to expectations or potential and it didn't surpass its predecessor which will anything look bad
@ariannegorringe9143 no. It was bad. And at times really bad. But its subjective I suppose. Been saying it for 100 episodes, and I didn't say it first.... the table and the GM were wanting to tell different stories... the GM won out in the end but that seems to be the major flaw in campaign 3.
Before starting the video, I hope there will be a campaign 4 that a newbie like me could be follow in live!
I saw an article about this - apparently there *was* a slip-up re a Campaign 4. I'd like that.
Ah, Finn's discussed this in another video!
They said in the live "Tale Gate" that there will be a campaign 4, they're already working on it. But they did not say what system they will use. So my prediction is they will switch to Daggerheart, and they'll push forward in time a significant amount. I would bet hundreds, maybe even 1000 years. Far enough where you don't have to have any knowledge of the previous campaigns, while still keeping it in the world so we can have Easter eggs, much like campaign 2. Ideally, I think it would start with the state funeral of The Voice of the Tempest. Keyleth being the last living connection to this era, her death would signal a complete break from the previous campaigns, so that new viewers could come on without any previous context.
I personally hope all Exandria campaigns stay d&d. But for c4 I do hope we get everyone playing races we haven't gotten yet. Especially since they want an underwater campaign. Like Talisen pulling a Travis and pulling his dagger heart character Sir Dante into this world. Getting a merfolk PC, a ruidian PC, a tabaxi, an insect, or one of the elephant folk or one of them being dragon or dragon Bourne. Humans, elves, halflings, dwarves are kind of hitting a wall now. Like I want Laura to play the daintiest, petite little thing who is an unrestrained anger-holic barbarian. Sam as a tabaxi wizard named Frumpkin the 4th, named after his forefather who was granted a regular body by nana Mory for great service to the world. Marisha maybe playing a mermaid or merfolk artificer/paladin. Travis as a dragonborne monk, Liam as any ruidian race in that tragedy bard thing. And Ashley could be a water genassi warlock
I agree. I hope they don't use the DnD rule set, so they are not holden to WotC
I might be among the minority on this but I really liked Campaign 3, even if it had its slow moments (every campaign has had this so far). I think this campaign was a transition point for Exandria so they could open up their options for future campaigns and create some variety for themselves as well as the audience. That meant the scope of the campaign had to be world-altering and due to the fact that the campaigns aren't thousands of years apart you can't have world-altering events without Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein showing up in some capacity. Which worked out for the best because there were a lot of story and character threads that needed closure and an eight hour finale allowed for that to happen in a satisfying way. Maybe its not realistic, but considering the context of the cast and crew's lives for the past chunk of months (first with Sam's situation and then with the wildfires)... who can blame them for wanting to end their campaign with something sweet?
I think you have to admit to yourself that it does not matter how bad Critical Role campaigns may turn, you are still a fan no matter what and would never criticize them.
You are in a fan club.
@ I mean, maybe it’s because I wasn’t that big into DnD before critical role and tbh it’s still not the biggest part of it for me. So any critiques I would have are more about story beats I didn’t love (Ashton trying to take the second shard as an example). But generally most people I see are being really black and white about the whole thing. Either “oh it’s the best thing ever made” or “this was so terrible,CR is dead”
@@matsinilsson9578
you need to realize your are that exact same person except on the other side of the coin
@ Ok, I hear you. Sounds reasonable.
@ I actually don't understand this comment at all. What side of the coin am I again? What are the sides? Do enlighten me.
I actually love that Ashton lived. I know some people think it lessened things somehow but I think it would have been a disservice if Ashton in particular had permanently died in some big martyring heroic moment. Especially when DND is known for resurrection.
Ashton has passively wanted to die their *entire* life, and tried several times to do it this campaign, it's the same problem FCG had, which Ashton even talks about being just like them. FCG ultimately did give in to that impulse, even if for a very good reason. That Ashton failed several times to do so, really hammers (ha) home that that doesn't need to be the way their life goes. They can and have to keep living, for the good and the bad. Their life means more than their death. They are good for more than just what their death would accomplish, but for what they can accomplish in life.
Life's a bitch and then you keep living.
Also they're my favorite and i would have been Inconsolable if they'd died for that reason and the reason above. After everything, they truly deserve to *live* now that the world isnt on the line and they have people that care about them and have remembered how to let others in and love in return.
Great take
@Weirdbrit thanks I have a lot of feelings over the sexy violent rock person with the perfect voice 🥰
I really love how when Ashton first got his head blown up, he woke up alone, but this time he woke up surrounded by everyone he loves : )
@@voryntheriolu2525 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 it's what he deserves
@@voryntheriolu2525 🥺🥺🥺 it's what he deserves
Im guessing critical role is going to have two games going. One will be the main game (D&D) and the other will be more like candela obscura but using daggerheart. My guess for the classes the crew will play is: Taliesin - rogue or wizard, Laura - barbarian or blood hunter, Travis - cleric or druid, Marisha - bard or ranger, Sam - druid or fighter, Ashley - fighter or warlock, Liam - bard or sorcerer
I think Liam is for sure gonna be a cleric, in a interview once he mentioned he wanted to play the basic dnd party (wizard,rouge,fighter, and rouge) but do the opposite of mainstream characterization of these classes. So basically last one would be the cleric
@@Chris.Zama0 you said rogue twice instead of cleric
@@avis199 Sorry! My mistake lol but yeah I meant cleric, but I’m curious as to how Liam he would be a “unique” cleric
Tbh , dnd is not worth useing. People don't watch CR because of dnd , they can replace it with any ttrpg .
i assume they just go full Dagenhart . even though i desperately want them to play pathfinder 2e
@@snakeinabox7220they left pathfinder bc dnd had a better audience for a streamed let’s play.
Beacon Ashton I think was improvised. I think the original plan was to use the one Vox Machina collected rescuing Vax. But Tal made Matt an offer too good to refuse.
I hope if they animate it, ashton stays dead, as that was a great ark for them (as much as I love ashton and wanted him to live)
Definitely felt like an Infinity war and Endgame type finale with
Cameos from characters across the story lines and capped off with a Thanos retirement moment for Ludinus
Wait, does this mean that they all show up a couple years from now in the shattered teeth and Orym cuts Ludinus' head off and says under his breath. Yes, I should have gone for the head.
I just started campaign 3 episode 9. Been catching up from C1E1 in order. Hope when Campaign 4 is here I can watch it live
…did you watch this and spoil the entire thing for yourself?
During the "talegate" someone said something about the campaign 4 characters and it was a d&d build. Still doesn't mean anything is set in stone, but I'm hoping for d&d and not daggerhart.
I hope so too, they will piss away viewership if they go full Daggerheart. I will probably not watch, but we shall see
D&D keeps their lights on, so unless WOC really does something that turns them off completely, or Daggerheart or another Darrington Press game takes off enough to keep them going, I doubt they’d bite the hand that feeds them.
I was frustrated that they were able to revive Ashton after his big sacrifice. He thought things through and made the choice, knowing it would be the end of him. It was a selfless act for the greater good and very much not Ashton's typical stance. Which made his willing sacrifice all that more nobel.
The first two attempts failed outright, a clear indication that Matt wanted it to stand.
But they kept trying and finally succeeded. But it lessened the storytelling and Ashton's sacrifice!
Imho that's campaign 3 in a nutshell.
Tal's characters aren't allowed to stay dead lol
I liked it. Ashtons intentions to do good were still witnessed by everyone, but reviving him showed him that taking the easy way out isnt right. Its always bugged me how much Ashton preached "life is always going to suck, you just have to be strong enough to keep pushing through it" yet at every opportunity to be a martyr he gets he goes for it. I think being revived also finally made it sink in that he is truly loved and is not alone anymore
My least favorite campaign of the three. But that's like an ice cream enjoyer saying it's my least favorite flavor of ice cream. Still love the world, the cast, the characters, all of it; there was just something about the structure that didn't click for me. I'm excited for whatever Campaign 4 will bring, since it'll probably be disconnected from this trilogy's characters.
That’s a good way to put it. Nighty nine is chocolate flavor for me and campaign is strawberry.
@kylawilson6674 what's wrong with strawberry?😢
@@kylawilson6674I’m the opposite, the structure of c2 was a clusterfuck
Personally, campaign 3 went too big too fast for me. I know it's a taste thing, but I prefer the smaller scope stories.
It is 100% true. People are utterly scared of criticizing Critical Role as a whole. It is not that the cast members care, but the fans are like rabid, green-haired Trumpists (or liberals) defending everything they do even when it comes to obvious mistakes. Like too big, too fast.
Matt makes mistakes too.
I have just started as A Game Master with player who gave me backstories and I see how things can seem scripted because I can work their stories into fill spots I need. its not scripted its building with the block the players and the dice give you if some of the gods had gone away that would of also been woven in.
I do kinda hope they continue to use D&D for the main campaigns, and use Daggerheart for smaller series’s;
some of the reasons for this is that I’ve seen many people saying they’d leave CR if C4 isn’t a D&D game as CR is many people’s introduction to D&D and many use it to learn how to play D&D, and from what I can tell Daggerheart can be used for short 7-10 session series’s very easily but for a series that can easily go to 100 episodes you’d need a system like D&D to hold it together as Daggerheart doesn’t seem to have enough material to last that long
They won't. In the live "Tale Gate", they explicitly said that they will have a campaign 4, but sidestepped the question of which system they're using. The whole point of campaign 3 was to get rid of that last connection to D&D - the pantheon. Why would they spend that much effort to tell that story, and build a whole new system, just to continue giving free publicity to a competitor that has tried to screw them over multiple times? That would be dumb.
As for people leaving, there might be some. But it won't be nearly as many as the new viewers they get jumping on. Campaign 4 is going to be far in the future, where new viewers don't have to know the history of past campaigns, so it's a great jumping on point for viewers who are curious after seeing TLoVM and M9 animated series. Most people are here to watch this group of friends tell a good story. The mechanics don't matter.
I'm honestly hoping they go full into Daggerheart for the main campaign 4, I'm not a fan of the 2024 dnd ruleset plus I think it gives Matt and the players more creative control to tell their story since it's their game
@@MeluhKnighti mean, I get the sentiment that playing their own game gives them creative control, but it doesn’t seem like using d&d up til now has given wotc any control. They have two Amazon series based on the streams and there is no Hasbro/wotc presence involved in the production of them. It is their ip. The gods were given alternate names to accomplish this.
I think they’ll play Daggerheart but I don’t think it has much to do with them owing Hasbro anything or Hasbro having any sort of input into what they do on the show. Letting Exandria continue to be in d&d would also give them the opportunity to create a new world using their new game. Which seemed to be the designers’ intent, who have done a few interviews where they highlight the collaborative world building premise. If the Daggerheart premise is there is no official setting, permanently shifting Exandria over would undermine that quite a bit.
I will watch C4 no matter which system they use, I just think there’s a fair amount of evidence to Exandria not moving forward in Daggerheart.
I don't see how Daggerheart would not be good for a long term campaign, it's not like D&D has that much content to be used over 100's of episodes. The content is the story they make not the system and I would be surprised if they would not consider Daggerheart to promote their own system as the main campaign.
@ You may not have been aware of the events surrounding Hasbro the last few years, but 2 years ago they tried to change their license. They tried to make it so that anyone who streamed D&D actual play content, and made above a certain amount, would have to pay them royalties. They got a ton of pushback, so they rolled that back quickly, but there's no guarantee that they won't try again.
The animated series have had to make a number of changes in order to avoid their copyright. And that's fine because they're not playing D&D in the animated series, they're creating a story. They can change the names of monsters and gods and whatever to avoid those copyrights. But when it comes to the campaigns, if WotC tries to do something like their OGL again, that would screw CR. Better to cut ties with them completely.
Whoa LAURA BAILEY sure hit the wall in that intro. 😂
I always think of the Ashton as the one of the characters of Hercules (the one with the Rock) where everytime theres danger of battle he goes into it waiting to finally meet his end. Hilarious but also nerve wrecking everytime.
The characters in Campaign 3 were not epic enough to be dealing with gods.
Someone else mentioned "rushed" and yes that is true. Reminding you all that the sweet spot of D&D is level 5-10.
However, D&D has evolved so now it is also entertaining to play levels 15-20. Wasn't always the case.
I agree. Could've been fleshed out, included more character dynamics, and much more focus on character interaction with individual's important to the individual's story vs the importance to the whole of the wider lore. But I still enjoyed it and see it as very important to the story of Exandria since this was the campaign the re-shuffled the makeup of Exandria setting the stage for Campaign 4 to feel fully fresh and new.
I can imagine it’s an end of how dnd and critical role is thought of, to an era what it can be. And I don’t know about you and everyone here watching but, I’m getting some elements of the final fantasy franchise from post campaign 3
Headcanon: the ending of C3 is justification and lore of why daggerheart doesn't have clerics and paladins and has seraphs and guardian classes.
People were saying this 80 episodes ago.
@mattturner5750 yeah I was one of them but some people are acting up about if it's gonna be dnd or daggerheart for c4. This more of less solidified that it will be daggerheart. And it will line up with release of the system as well.
@@JeremyOnyxbear yeah.. its business. The Gods were going away in Exandria.
I only wish they would have raised 25,000gp in diamonds so Dorian could use True Resurrection to bring FCG back.
I am surprised they didn't try and ask the change bringer if FCG made it to her okay.
I hope the next campaign is a new starting off point for us new critters. I started watching C3 and really loved these characters but hard fell off as it became more apparent that you will have no clue wtf is happening if you hadn’t watched Vox or mighty nein and that soured it a lot for me. I didn’t know I was signing up to watch Avengers Endgame basically.
What a wild ride this was :’)
Do you think they will use the 2024 rules or Dagger heart rules for the next campaign?
They will lose too many people if they switch to Daggerheart. It is 100% clear.
Love this video and love your takes as always.
But I don't think peoples main criticisms with Campaign 3 was the "Moral complexity". I think the issue was more fundamental than that.
The dynamics between the characters were simply weaker this time around. No Brother and sister dynamic, no rich guy/poor guy divide. No will-they-won't-they romance (until later)
No internal rivalry between party members, no conflicting goals & wants.
Most of the focus was on wider lore implications and call backs to earlier events which, while intellectually interesting, weren't EMOTIONALLY engaging.
It's why I've enjoyed watching recaps (such as yours!) because I do want to know WHAT happens, but the character interactions are so 'meh' that I haven't wanted to watch 4 hours of it to get the information.
Meanwhile I could watch Jester and Fjord banter all day or watch the weird "reckless mother" Vs "responsible son" dynamic between Caleb & Nott. (Not to mention the relationship between molly & Yasha. And Between Yasha and Beau, Molly & Nott. etc)
But that's just my feeling on things. Regardless. Stay awesome Finn!
I wasn't a fan of this series and what you described is exactly why. I don't think people have problems with morally complex characters or Breaking Bad would have been a failure. I think the characters were much more jokey and their ties to each other much more loose. The romances felt like they were slapped on just to have romance and so that everyone could couple up. This season felt much more pre determined than usual.
I agree on some level. I feel it became what Matt didn't want any of his campaigns to become. Just a myriad of callbacks and cameos of previous characters from past campaigns that lost focus on the current character's journey and endeavors. While it for sure was enjoyable to watch it tie all back to the past 2 campaigns, it didn't feel fully fleshed out like the past 2 did. We got little to nothing about Laudna's actual blood family's history. Very little from Dorian's family history and his interaction back home. A bit explored but not fully into Chet's lycan history and it's true potential. A brush past Imogen's and her mother's adaptation back into Exandria life together. Very little into Ashton's reunion with his past troupe. Some but definitely could've been more into Fearne's history with the Seelie Court. For sure wanting more from Orym's history with the Ashari. And also very little with FCG's history from Aeor and Devexian once he was gone. It just felt like a rush to the finish line.
Also agree on the lack of dynamics. I felt Tal was trying to push that with Ashton siding against the gods but the group as a whole just drowned out his perspective to match theirs ultimately.
Did we watch the same campaign?
"No Brother and sister dynamic," - except Imogen and Orym (even when they're not playing siblings, the twin vibes come through), Fearne and the witches, Ashton and everyone. I'd say Chetney and everyone, but his was more a grandpa vibe.
"no rich guy/poor guy divide." Who was the "rich guy" in campaign 2?
"No will-they-won't-they romance (until later)" - Imogen and Laudna - that was there from episode 1, Fearne and Ashton, Orym and Dorian, Fearne and everyone, Chetney and everyone
"No internal rivalry party members," - Let me introduce you to Cheney Pock'oPea. He had the same fun rivalry with several party members (especially Imogen and Ashton) that Grog had with Vax. Also, Fearne and Ashton constantly pickpocketing each other. But if you want actual interparty conflict, not just good natured rivalries, then:
"no conflicting goals & wants." I mean, every 10 episodes was the party arguing about whether or not to kill the gods.
None of that was missing in campaign 3. The issue is how it's presented to us. The story format is vastly different between all three campaigns.
Campaign 1 was very balanced between epic storytelling with a few major arcs, and episodic storytelling with smaller episodes focused on the characters.
Campaign 2 was largely episodic for 2/3 of it, with only the final Lucian arc being a more epic story. The rest of the time the were just meandering from mini-arc to mini-arc, so there was much more focus on the characters to drive the story.
Campaign 3 was mostly epic, with one single story arc across the entire campaign. That can make the story feel slower (especially with the end of month breaks). And the character interactions were less of the focus. They were there, but they don't stand out as much because they were rolled into the rest of the story.
If you're not a fan of the epic story format, then I can see you having a problem with campaign 3. But most of the other criticisms people have come up with for campaign 3 are just patently wrong.
@@monsta6501 Sure, but we have that in every campaign. We literally got one episode into Beau's family, and that was it. We know more about her mentor at the Cobalt Soul than we do her parents. We didn't see any of Yasha's past until the finale - we only heard a few stories. Fjord we only talked to Vandren in the finale, and there was no exploration of his history at all. Caduceus we only saw his family a few times. Caleb, Veth, and Jester are the only ones who had fully fleshed out backstories that we got to see. And of course, there's always more that we could go into. But we saw what was important. The things that were relevant to the characters and the story happening right now.
I was really hoping the next campaign would begin at keyleths funeral 1300ish years in the future. But now that the Gods are humanoids they’re definitely going to have to explore that story line of the Gods lives
ME TOO! I've been saying for a while that her funeral would be a great way to start the next campaign. Honestly, I really hope they don't explore the human god story. Downfall was interesting, but I don't want a whole campaign about trying to find them when we just had a whole campaign about getting rid of them.
@ yea it would be a very god heavy storyline but I feel like them fleshing that out has to be done on screen. Too much opportunity for some awesome stories and world building potentials
@ Yeah, but then we're right back where we started. Plus it becomes another railroaded campaign, and we just got done with that. I'd much rather see them set it far in the future, where the events of the current era aren't going to matter much. There's still room for a flashback "Downfall" type miniseries if they want to explore the mortal gods later. But the next full campaign shouldn't have any ties to this one.
Plus, they've been working on campaign 4 already, without knowing how campaign 3 would end, so how could they have planned for the gods to be mortal or the need to search for them.
What a wild ride! Love bells hells!
Thing is Campaign 3's premise is not wholly unique even in DND. The decision they made would mirror the times of trouble in the Forgettn Realms, which was not a fun time for gods or mortals. Honestly, if they went the route of the Times of Trouble, like stories, the next campaign would be the bloodiest and most brutal time for them.
I want to watch this vid so bad, but C3 is the only campaign that I don’t have spoilers for yet. I’ll like the vid for the algorithm, but I can’t watch this yet.
3:58 I dont think there was supposed to be a plan to regain there godhood at all, this is supposed to be a permanent solution hence the luxon part. Also in Downfall the Gods didnt use any rites they had a different method to essentially virgin birth themselves into mortal forms but their spark of divinity was still there.
its over! finally! i cant believe its been a hundred episodes since critical role was a staple in my week, im so glad ill have critical role back on the menu again! i hope they have at least half the characters at the table that i can stand to watch next series
I absolutely LOVE your videos!! Although not a begining to end Critter < I started a few years after C1> but I do love and have followed from C1 and I must say I LOVE Laura Bailey- not to take away from any of them but in my eyes she has inspired me to be me in my real life and what she did in C2 with the Hag was PRICELESS I, like everyone else I am sure, was on the edge of my seat hoping Vax and Keyleth would have their happy ending and I cried when they did. What I would LOVE to see in C4 is our players playing the Gods as their human counterparts- THAT would be an interesting campaign. This is just MY take on the 3 campaigns: I had a bit of difficulty gettin into C3 as it was slow in parts but once it got going I was hooked. C1 was definitely fun and seemed like a typical D&D campagin, C2 was a bit more on the delving into characters campaign but still had that playfulness
While campaign 3 was not my overall fave compared to 1 or 2, it still had all time great moments, Otohan Thull, is a Top 3 villain in CR in my opinion, and while it’s “technically exu” Calamity and Downfall were brought to us because of the events of campaign 3, both of which are top tier ttrpg content. I would say that where campaign 3 lessens overall for me is that BellsHells as a whole just doesn’t hold up to Vox Machina or M9 in terms of my overall investments in their individual character arcs, again overall.
With all it's flaws I still really enjoyed Campaign 3.
I don't know where/how they could have fit it in, but I would have liked to see "One-Punch" Grimpoppy again..
The ending was perfect in every way and you can't tell me otherwise
Well, it isn't, cause the ending is yet to come, Divergence is the true ending, lol
If they stay with DND for campaign 4 I hope the character choices are wilder than before, character types that challenge the cast to portray and play like Travis playing a mage or Ashley having a decisive character etc.
So, I am guessing you are voting left? Me too, but it does not mean you always have to pretend to be edgy, push boundaries, or pi$$ on the traditional D&D game/rules. If anything is lacking for Critical Role and the fan-club is right-wing attitudes. They are actually being excluded and that is BS. I would love a completely traditional campaign to include all North-Americans. How about not having 50% of characters being gender fluid or LGBT? Just a thought. Let's invite the Trumpists. It makes economically sense.
I believe the entire point of campaign 3 was predetermined: get rid of all dnd references. So bye gods. It was one long railroad.
No rant, a love letter :)
It took me 3 days to watch the whole finally session. It was amazing IMO
im looking forward to them calling series 4- EXU Convergence
I felt sad that they touch what the fall of the gods meant to some characters, even NPCs and not to Caduceus.
I see a lot of people that seem very sure that Crit Role is going to stay with DnD for their next campaign. I'm not an oracle but it doesn't seem to make much business sense to not play their main campaign in the new system. I think most people that watch Crit Role are Crit Role fans more than DnD fans and if they utilize their show as free advertisement for their game I feel like that will be much more effective than just keeping on with DnD. Not to mention that Daggerheart's play style is pretty much built for how they play and IMO a better system for story focused games.
I think one of two things is happening.
1) They are switching to Daggerheart and they know it. They are choosing not to announce it yet because they do not want people to stop watching until the very last moment. They understand that they will lose a portion of their audience if they do this. The question is how much. Tabletop RPGs are already something with a small audience and moving away from DND is basically moving into a Niche within a Niche. If its 20 - 30% of their audience they could survive it if Daggerheart sells well. But if its more, perhaps even a majority, they would most likely have to downsize their company or reduce their production value. Perhaps even both. But they would be betting on themselves and potentially introduce an actual rival to D&D.
2) They don't know what they are going to do for C4.. They would like to make the switch but have serious doubts enough of their audience will stay with them. In order to get more information about the potential popularity of DH they will release a shorter DH campaign after EXU divergence that will run their new system. They will watch their views along with how well DH is selling to customers and make a decision at that point. DH releases in the Spring after all. If the views are down too much and DH doesn't sell enough then they will go back to DND for C4. If both do well enough then they will make the switch. There could be a middle ground here where they may run 2 campaigns at the same time, but i have no idea if they can support that financially or if the cast would even be interested in something like that. If they do it they could reduce amount of people at the table that might help.
All of this is just speculation on my part and we will obviously have to wait and see what occurs.
They switched to D&D from Pathfinder for business reasons, D&D is massively more popular and that helps draw in new viewers which means more donations, subs, merch sales and higher value for their ad spots, the companies main sources of revenue. Candela Obscura has not been a success on their channel despite it being their own game so it's clear the fan base won't just come over for a new game just because it has the cast and CR branding, compared to the EXU series, the party split in C3 or the Downfall saga, even though all those series/sagas had short runtimes, different GM's and guest players like CO, they were still D&D and much more successful then the CO series. CO suffered massive drop-off in viewership after the first couple of episodes as the fanbase just bounced off of it despite the cast's best efforts and high production values. There are other factors into why CO failed compared to the D&D content for CR, from the horror theme to the release schedule, but committing to a multiyear campaign with that kind of uncertainty compared to the known D&D factor doesn't seem like a smart business move. The upside of selling a couple hundred thousand more copies of the rules vs losing hundreds of thousands of views on 100+ episodes and all their subs, donations, the decrease in ad revenue because of the smaller audience, the lost merch sales for two-three years of the campaign, I just don't think they offset.
@@bunch1 I think you are right in part, the Daggerheart vids have slightly lower viewership than the main campaign big episodes but higher than the low viewed ones but that is every video that isn’t the main campaign. Their daggerheart videos recently have done pretty similar views to their comparable dnd sessions. I think you and previous are probably right in that they are seeing how the winds blow with DH, but I think that anything that isn’t the main campaign is going to suffer. I think making a main campaign with it could draw in the views but that’s just my thoughts from playing DH. I honestly haven’t met many critters who are old school die hards but I haven’t met them all so I could be wrong.
@@allstatejake The Christmas oneshot did alright, but the Menagerie trilogy started strong with lots of interest for the new system and fell off hard, and outside of CR there hasn't been much interest in the system to actually watch it, the only other channel I watched did 2 streams and the views dropped from like 40k to 10k, most of the other vids on TH-cam that are actual plays, not opinions/reactions, only have a few thousand. So the system doesn't seem to be a big draw while outside of CR D&D actual plays and other content around the game are still pulling in hundreds of thousands/millions of views.
Was it on beacon? When wiill it be knw youtube ?
I loved C3, but me personally I think it needed 10-20 more episodes with just bells hells peppered throughout. How many episodes are C3 but not a hells episode or was during that massive party split. Ashton needed more time, and I think I speak for most of not all of us that we are mad FCG didn't make it back to aeor.
Campaign 3 never felt....serious. i liked 1 and 2 a lot. 3 felt like a f it cluster. And i agree. Their characters made some really dumb decisions that didn't have the consequences they should have.
Hope Sam sits out the next campaign. I need a vacation from his constant trolling.
While the undertaking was heroic. The episode itself was very ho-hum...Matt mentions he didn't intend it to run on that long and it probably would have been better if it hadn't. But I'm sure folks will like the content.
The Campaign 3 story ended up as ridiculous as it always was.
The party basically flirted through and never had to pay for any choices they made. They all came out happy in the end.
I would hope they take a long break and really see if they want to dig in for campaign 4. They have the chops to do something special. But is it worth it for them?
Unfortunately for me I dropped Campaign 3 very early on, didn't like a lot of the characters and just couldn't vibe with any of them to warrant watchinf the Campaign, glad there are people that enjoyed it though. I'd bet the CR team will probably take a few weeks or even months off before starting Campaign 4.
I am waiting for a player to try and play one of the gods in mortal form. Could be a lot of fun
It would be an interesting story for a miniseries, but I wouldn't want to see it as a whole campaign of it. I'm hoping they jump forward 1000 years or so. Whole different Exandria, no gods, and opening on the state funeral for Keyleth as the Voice of the Tempest, so that we have a clean jumping on point for new viewers.
I liked Campaign 3.
I have a Pitch For Campaign 4
Should've edited in "electric boogaloo"-counter :D
ty
Exanderia: Daggerheart/2nd Edition
i like campaign 3 but imo its the weakest campaign. I never connected with the characters and some arcs were super slow slower then any other arcs in any of the other campaigns
Centaurs.
Campaign 3 was boring. Very dull. And a bland ending.
Nah, this campaign stinks, stupid character development, stupid character choices, stupid asides that were worthless to the overall plot, and the worst thing for me was how there were no consequences for their stupid choices. Hated this campaign from start to end.
And it was the best campaign of them all, with the best group, the two best characters in the entire franchise, and will be *super* hard to top.
Campaign 1 < Campaign 2 < Campaign 3 (underwhelmingly mid). But hey, maybe Campaign 4 will be great, some 40 somethings and dnd what could go wrong.
Spoiler
Ashton should have stayed dead, however im happy hes alive. Also i need frida wolf art
I actually love that they lived. I know some people think it lessened things somehow but I think it would have been a disservice if Ashton in particular had permanently died in some big martyring heroic moment. Especially when DND is known for resurrection. Ashton has passively wanted to die their *entire* life, and tried several times to do it this campaign, it's the same problem FCG had, which Ashton even talks about being just like them. FCG ultimately did give in to that impulse, even if for a very good reason. That Ashton failed several times to do so, really hammers (ha) home that that doesn't need to be the way their life goes. They can and have to keep living, for the good and the bad. Their life means more than their death. They are good for more than just what their death would accomplish. Life's a bitch and then you keep going.
@ashleyjohnson9651 well said, I'm happy either way tbh
Thank fucking god this campaign is over. Honestly couldn't stand it. But at least the cast had fun.
do you want a prize lmao?
@squiddums4200 For sitting through all these episodes? Sure.
Campaign 3 sucked.
And that is not an uncommon opinion personally i think that any version of campaign 3 no matter what happened or how the story was told would have faced major criticism especially compared to campaign 2 but i mean dont get me wrong there are definitely issues with campaign 3 but i overall don't think it was bad it just didn't live up to expectations or potential and it didn't surpass its predecessor which will anything look bad
@ariannegorringe9143 no. It was bad. And at times really bad. But its subjective I suppose.
Been saying it for 100 episodes, and I didn't say it first.... the table and the GM were wanting to tell different stories... the GM won out in the end but that seems to be the major flaw in campaign 3.
It had it's ups and downs. Laudna's origin story was an up. The downs...
Well I enjoyed it, so there lol sorry it sucked for u
cool, do you want a medal for not enjoying it?