I think I had more or less the opposite reaction to you. I loved the earlier episodes of season 3 and episodes 7-9 have got me less excited, and I know exactly why. I'm going to try to explain without spoilers for episodes 7-9. I'm one of those people that gets frustrated by movie adaptations of books doing things differently to the source material, but I haven't been too bothered by the changes from stream to animation for Vox Machina because they are converting 114 episodes of an average of four hours each into what will ultimately most likely finish up as 48 half hour episodes so of course they have to cut out lots. I thought it was kind of genius that they combined the Vorugal fight, the fire plane story and the hell storyline and even brought in Zerxus, but the effect it has had on Pike since really doesn't seem consistent with her character at all, and seems solely to be in service of the themes of the current on stream campaign and I'm finding it hard to get behind that. Plus something happened at the end of episode 7 that also happened in the stream, but it became clear in episode 8 the consequences were going to be more permanent than in the game. I get why they did that. On stream you know they are rolling dice for everything and can always run out of luck. Vox Machina had amazing luck with a particular type of magic on stream. It never lost the tension on stream because of the dice, but on the show if they did it the same way it would just seem like plot armour and poor writing. It would make everything seem to lack any real stakes, so I get why they did that, but it it means the story is going to be very very different moving forward and I'm not sure I'm okay with that.
Very same for me, eps 7-9 really got me in a weird mood. Everything happened in such a different way compared to the campaign, one of the most hype and devastating fights was completely removed from the story and I was really hyped for that (SPOILER FOR CAMAPIGN 1 CRITICALR ROLE: I mean of coourse the fight with Thordak and then immediately Raisan). The whole thing at the end of episode 7 which you mentioned became vastly different. I don't know how to say it, I loved this show very much and liked every change up until these last 3 episodes but it really took me out of the vibe how differently almost EVERYTHING was handled. It felt like I was watching something that is not even Vox Machina's story. I hope the last 3 will put me back on track.
That is absolutely a great opinion! Which I want to start this reply by saying my video is my thoughts on how I felt. I determined that I value action more than character interaction. Secondly, while I didn't talk about specifics of 7-9 I do fully understand the huge change they made at the end of 7. SPOILER WARNING It is drastic. My friend (who never watched CR) hated that that happened, as it is his favorite character. For me, I'm not very upset. I trust the CR crew, they have been keeping the original story in tact while weaving in fun changes to keep it fresh this whole time. While they have now made a crazy change, I trust it'll work out in the end. Overall I find it intriguing. I think your thoughts on the matter are completely justified. If the change stands the story going forward will feel too different. Thanks for your thoughts.
I think the issue is that because Ashley wasn't around a lot in campaign 1, Pike didn't really have much of an arc at all and so anything they do for her is going to feel like a big deviation. Also regarding what happened at the end of ep. 7, I seriously doubt it stands. The way the cast have talked about it implies to me that this will be resolved, especially given that a certain evil scientist is still out there for us to go after.
@@Beagle5793 Don't forget though that the cannon reason Pike was absent a lot was she was working in the temple to Serenrae out of devotion to the Everlight. The very god she is turning her back on in the show. That's why it feels like a big deviation.
@@davidcroucher6262 Sure, but that was "canon" in the strictest possible terms. This to me feels like an acknowledgement that the canon of the campaign was flimsy at best, because it was literally just "we need an excuse, what's the simplest reason for why a cleric would be busy." This is a real character arc, where Pike has to actually contend with something. It is certainly a large deviation, but I guess for me when you're deviating from what was basically a last-minute excuse for a player absence it's probably a good thing.
I'm totally into it, but oddly enough I was in no rush to watch it. Once I did, I was totally into it and saw all the way up to episode 9. I think since I've not seen campaign 1, besides some classically funny clips here and there, that I'm not holding it up to anything. Now when The Mighty Nien starts airing I'm sure I might feel differently since I'm more familiar with that live campaign. But hey, thanks for your thoughts, I found this very interesting to listen to.
I'm glad you found it interesting! I also am more familiar with the Mighty Nein. But I have been more excited for LoVM because it's a story I'm (mostly) unfamiliar with. But I'm still excited to see what M9 looks like and how they tell the story.
Commenting before I finish watching the video but I jumped when I saw this recommendation because I've also been feeling the same way. Eventually I got around to catching up with the episodes of S3 and admittedly it has me hooked now that the story has been diverging from the original campaign but I'm curious to hear your theories about why the show doesn't have the same feeling rn
@@wallyallen7169 I'm glad others feel the difference too. While I'm not certain if my theories work for everyone, my last theory is what I believe has made it feel different (to me). I hope you liked the theories!
Absolutely. I agree. Somehow they're reactive instead of proactive. Despite making the same amount of plans. It is interesting, but it's different. (7-9 they're very proactive)
Hmm, interesting. I've actually been thinking this is the best season yet and I've been more anxious than ever before for new episodes each week. I love the slower character driven moments as much as the action though (episode 4 is easily among my favorites in the whole show), so I suppose I could see why you'd be less interested if you prefer fights all the time.
In terms of character moments I completely agree, this season is beautiful. I disagree with one part of your comment however "if you prefer fights all the time" No. I don't only want fights. I love the character moments too, but the fights and (more importantly) enemies being taken off the board keep me interested.
I think its because they’re cramming a LOT more of the campaign into a shorter period of time than the first two seasons. So for me, it feels rushed. We dont get time to immerse in the various locations and settings, and the enemies are passed over quickly.
I love this analysis. It took a whole season to prep for Umbrasyl, but for Vorugals death, it kinda just... happened. I was trying to convey that in my video at one point but I think it came out confusingly. Your wording is very concise and is exactly how I feel about it. Thank you!
@@Just.Westin makes me wonder if we’ll even see a season 5. I imagine things wouldn’t be so rushed if they plan on cramming “the whispered one” stuff into season 4
This show suffers from the same issue any show suffers from which was made with some original material. Critical Role built together a team to recreate their Campaign one, the source material, as a tv show. Since this team was new at the time, and had to prove itself they followed the source material as close as possible, and people loved it. As time goes on and the show is able to stand on its own legs, the creators feel like they have to input part of their own vision into an already existing story to "Enhance" it.... And the series goes further and further away from the original material. This is a risk and the story has to be good enough to make up for the loss of the enthusiasm coming from what would be the nostalgia of watching something you know by your heart... I do not think the changes are that impactful to make enough ripple, and the story gets a bit overcomplicated for no reason, as well as it takes away from the characters you know to add it to characters you do not care about as much. If this continues the next season will be only loosely based on the original material. It is a bit similar to what happened to Lord of the Rings since the first trilogy, or for example the show The Witcher. Although not exactly the same. The first trilogy of LotR deviated slightly and was beloved, Hobbits deviated more and received some pushback, and Rings of Power deviates drastically and the writing is not good enough to make up for this change and the show gets a heavy pushback. Changes are not bad, but you have to be a truly capable writer to make up for what you take away.
That is a fair assessment. However I do think the creators of Critical Role are the ones making the show, with help from outside sources of course. Travis, Sam, Liam, and Marisha(?) are consistently credited as head writers. So whether that issue is true for this show I am unsure. I think it's fairly original. But your point stands that it has deviated this season a little more than previous. If that is upsetting to you or others, then that is reason to voice your thoughts. Personally it hasn't bothered me, but I respect that it is true. Thanks for your input
If you think the first two seasons were closer to the source material you don't remember the campaign that well. Not to mention - no one is trying to "prove" something or change things for the sake of changing. The cast of the show is directly involved into the show's writing, Vox Machina voice actors write and direct scenes and sometimes entire episodes. Keyleth's voice actress wrote S3E7. These people love this story and these characters, because they created all of it, with improv, luck and dice, and lived that for many years. Now they have a chance to improve the story with proper script and structure, to cut out unnecessary parts and to emphasize more important things.
Funnily enough, I had some of the same theories for myself and for me, I think they fit. I think it's too much dragons and too much action and we now know the characters but that is also complaining on a very high level. It's still good, it's still fantasy, which has not enough good shows imo, it's still TTRPG come to "life", which is great.
![ILLSLICK - THE KING'S LANDING [Freestyle]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/feIJJnNkTfk/mqdefault.jpg)
It does feel like the characters are maturing and the stakes are way more serious. I am enjoying this season quite a bit!
Me too
My friends and family who don't know CR are entirely captivated by the characters and story. Which is surprising.
I too got some friends and family interested. It's much more digestible than the live streamed content
I think I had more or less the opposite reaction to you. I loved the earlier episodes of season 3 and episodes 7-9 have got me less excited, and I know exactly why. I'm going to try to explain without spoilers for episodes 7-9. I'm one of those people that gets frustrated by movie adaptations of books doing things differently to the source material, but I haven't been too bothered by the changes from stream to animation for Vox Machina because they are converting 114 episodes of an average of four hours each into what will ultimately most likely finish up as 48 half hour episodes so of course they have to cut out lots. I thought it was kind of genius that they combined the Vorugal fight, the fire plane story and the hell storyline and even brought in Zerxus, but the effect it has had on Pike since really doesn't seem consistent with her character at all, and seems solely to be in service of the themes of the current on stream campaign and I'm finding it hard to get behind that. Plus something happened at the end of episode 7 that also happened in the stream, but it became clear in episode 8 the consequences were going to be more permanent than in the game. I get why they did that. On stream you know they are rolling dice for everything and can always run out of luck. Vox Machina had amazing luck with a particular type of magic on stream. It never lost the tension on stream because of the dice, but on the show if they did it the same way it would just seem like plot armour and poor writing. It would make everything seem to lack any real stakes, so I get why they did that, but it it means the story is going to be very very different moving forward and I'm not sure I'm okay with that.
Very same for me, eps 7-9 really got me in a weird mood. Everything happened in such a different way compared to the campaign, one of the most hype and devastating fights was completely removed from the story and I was really hyped for that (SPOILER FOR CAMAPIGN 1 CRITICALR ROLE: I mean of coourse the fight with Thordak and then immediately Raisan). The whole thing at the end of episode 7 which you mentioned became vastly different. I don't know how to say it, I loved this show very much and liked every change up until these last 3 episodes but it really took me out of the vibe how differently almost EVERYTHING was handled. It felt like I was watching something that is not even Vox Machina's story. I hope the last 3 will put me back on track.
That is absolutely a great opinion!
Which I want to start this reply by saying my video is my thoughts on how I felt. I determined that I value action more than character interaction.
Secondly, while I didn't talk about specifics of 7-9 I do fully understand the huge change they made at the end of 7.
SPOILER WARNING
It is drastic. My friend (who never watched CR) hated that that happened, as it is his favorite character.
For me, I'm not very upset. I trust the CR crew, they have been keeping the original story in tact while weaving in fun changes to keep it fresh this whole time. While they have now made a crazy change, I trust it'll work out in the end. Overall I find it intriguing.
I think your thoughts on the matter are completely justified. If the change stands the story going forward will feel too different.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I think the issue is that because Ashley wasn't around a lot in campaign 1, Pike didn't really have much of an arc at all and so anything they do for her is going to feel like a big deviation. Also regarding what happened at the end of ep. 7, I seriously doubt it stands. The way the cast have talked about it implies to me that this will be resolved, especially given that a certain evil scientist is still out there for us to go after.
@@Beagle5793 Don't forget though that the cannon reason Pike was absent a lot was she was working in the temple to Serenrae out of devotion to the Everlight. The very god she is turning her back on in the show. That's why it feels like a big deviation.
@@davidcroucher6262 Sure, but that was "canon" in the strictest possible terms. This to me feels like an acknowledgement that the canon of the campaign was flimsy at best, because it was literally just "we need an excuse, what's the simplest reason for why a cleric would be busy." This is a real character arc, where Pike has to actually contend with something. It is certainly a large deviation, but I guess for me when you're deviating from what was basically a last-minute excuse for a player absence it's probably a good thing.
I'm totally into it, but oddly enough I was in no rush to watch it. Once I did, I was totally into it and saw all the way up to episode 9. I think since I've not seen campaign 1, besides some classically funny clips here and there, that I'm not holding it up to anything. Now when The Mighty Nien starts airing I'm sure I might feel differently since I'm more familiar with that live campaign. But hey, thanks for your thoughts, I found this very interesting to listen to.
I'm glad you found it interesting!
I also am more familiar with the Mighty Nein. But I have been more excited for LoVM because it's a story I'm (mostly) unfamiliar with.
But I'm still excited to see what M9 looks like and how they tell the story.
Commenting before I finish watching the video but I jumped when I saw this recommendation because I've also been feeling the same way. Eventually I got around to catching up with the episodes of S3 and admittedly it has me hooked now that the story has been diverging from the original campaign but I'm curious to hear your theories about why the show doesn't have the same feeling rn
@@wallyallen7169 I'm glad others feel the difference too.
While I'm not certain if my theories work for everyone, my last theory is what I believe has made it feel different (to me).
I hope you liked the theories!
The fighting definitely feels different. It seems like they're always running instead of fighting or problem solving.
Absolutely. I agree. Somehow they're reactive instead of proactive. Despite making the same amount of plans.
It is interesting, but it's different. (7-9 they're very proactive)
Hmm, interesting. I've actually been thinking this is the best season yet and I've been more anxious than ever before for new episodes each week. I love the slower character driven moments as much as the action though (episode 4 is easily among my favorites in the whole show), so I suppose I could see why you'd be less interested if you prefer fights all the time.
In terms of character moments I completely agree, this season is beautiful.
I disagree with one part of your comment however "if you prefer fights all the time"
No. I don't only want fights. I love the character moments too, but the fights and (more importantly) enemies being taken off the board keep me interested.
Interesting theories. I haven't made it too far into S3 yet, but I will keep this in mind when I do. Thanks for your insight
Wonderful. I hope the spoiler warnings helped you avoid any spoilers though 😮
I think its because they’re cramming a LOT more of the campaign into a shorter period of time than the first two seasons. So for me, it feels rushed. We dont get time to immerse in the various locations and settings, and the enemies are passed over quickly.
I love this analysis.
It took a whole season to prep for Umbrasyl, but for Vorugals death, it kinda just... happened. I was trying to convey that in my video at one point but I think it came out confusingly. Your wording is very concise and is exactly how I feel about it.
Thank you!
@@Just.Westin makes me wonder if we’ll even see a season 5. I imagine things wouldn’t be so rushed if they plan on cramming “the whispered one” stuff into season 4
@@gaymerknight3726 yeah. It's up in the air right now for sure.
I hope it's two more seasons, But I have no idea.
This show suffers from the same issue any show suffers from which was made with some original material.
Critical Role built together a team to recreate their Campaign one, the source material, as a tv show. Since this team was new at the time, and had to prove itself they followed the source material as close as possible, and people loved it. As time goes on and the show is able to stand on its own legs, the creators feel like they have to input part of their own vision into an already existing story to "Enhance" it.... And the series goes further and further away from the original material. This is a risk and the story has to be good enough to make up for the loss of the enthusiasm coming from what would be the nostalgia of watching something you know by your heart... I do not think the changes are that impactful to make enough ripple, and the story gets a bit overcomplicated for no reason, as well as it takes away from the characters you know to add it to characters you do not care about as much. If this continues the next season will be only loosely based on the original material.
It is a bit similar to what happened to Lord of the Rings since the first trilogy, or for example the show The Witcher. Although not exactly the same. The first trilogy of LotR deviated slightly and was beloved, Hobbits deviated more and received some pushback, and Rings of Power deviates drastically and the writing is not good enough to make up for this change and the show gets a heavy pushback.
Changes are not bad, but you have to be a truly capable writer to make up for what you take away.
That is a fair assessment.
However I do think the creators of Critical Role are the ones making the show, with help from outside sources of course. Travis, Sam, Liam, and Marisha(?) are consistently credited as head writers.
So whether that issue is true for this show I am unsure. I think it's fairly original.
But your point stands that it has deviated this season a little more than previous.
If that is upsetting to you or others, then that is reason to voice your thoughts.
Personally it hasn't bothered me, but I respect that it is true.
Thanks for your input
If you think the first two seasons were closer to the source material you don't remember the campaign that well. Not to mention - no one is trying to "prove" something or change things for the sake of changing. The cast of the show is directly involved into the show's writing, Vox Machina voice actors write and direct scenes and sometimes entire episodes. Keyleth's voice actress wrote S3E7. These people love this story and these characters, because they created all of it, with improv, luck and dice, and lived that for many years. Now they have a chance to improve the story with proper script and structure, to cut out unnecessary parts and to emphasize more important things.
@@Spherrum Thank you for agreeing with me. Very well said
Funnily enough, I had some of the same theories for myself and for me, I think they fit. I think it's too much dragons and too much action and we now know the characters but that is also complaining on a very high level. It's still good, it's still fantasy, which has not enough good shows imo, it's still TTRPG come to "life", which is great.
@@Kadarin187 yeah. I still like the show. It just took some thinking to figure out that it felt differently paced. Still one of my favorite shows