I cannot deny that I've found the (in my eyes, pretty nonsensical) idea that anything Thjazi was doing was in service of what The Sundered Houses want quite annoying and exhausting to watch (in fact, I've complained about it before). I do not understand why the PCs latched onto it. I don't think their reasoning is particularly compelling based on the evidence they have, and I don't think it makes any sense on a metanarrative level. So I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we finally got a full explanation for the paints. Only for them to still be saying "what if the Tachonis want the play to happen" in the cooldown
btw if anyone cares i uh don't think i'm gonna keep watching c4? i'm two eps behind now and the motivation is just not there to sustain 4+ hours a week. i miss the og cast so bad the synergy simply isn't there for me anymore it makes me so sad. i'm v sorry
love how neatly this completely guts VM's defining sacrifices lol
The Sunken Tomb? 'Take me instead you raven bitch - but only for 30-odd years tho'
Scanlan sacrificing his Wish to make sure Vecna didn't get away? Well now Vecna's BACK and MORTAL again (hey remember how most of his awful deeds were done as a lich?) AND it doesn't matter that Scanlan couldn’t save Vax then because they get him in a gift basket now! That’s a twofer! Back to square one!
Makes the two kids named after him hella awkward huh?
i’m sorry to be so negative about a pc i really wish i felt differently, but oh my gosh bolaire can you stop being the most irritating guy in the room for half a second? maybe? please??
This is something that’s been mentioned before but with the benefit of most of the finale under our belts, I think it’s safe to say that the next campaign will benefit greatly if it is largely disconnected from those that came before. It’s one thing to see the impacts of a previous campaign in a shared world but the intertwined nature of this campaign has been a disservice to all three. I think it’s done the most damage to campaign 3 and the least damage to campaign 2 but none of them are as strong as they were or could have been.
god it is so nice to have a person of color that loves c3 and gets it's story because everyone else on here thinks c3 is bad and poorly written and corporate and the main defender for c3 is a white guy gushing over the his white supremacist wizard fave
I'll get to the rest in a minute but saying that c3 is corporate is CRAZY to me 😭 like the campaign about challenging established norms??? and taking down power structures????? all about disabled and outcasted people????????? WITH A PUNK IN IT'S MAIN CAST?????????????? guys at some point we gotta be serious here. the only thing I'll say was probably a corporate move from cr is speedrunning to end the campaign prior to the anniversary. and even THEN that's just my gut talking
(more in the read more section because rambly and discoursey)
admittedly, I do think that there are certain nuances of the conflict that were not fully explored, which hurt the impact of c3's message a little. the campaign's not perfect after all. however, c3 is a story about change, breaking free of/unashamedly straying away from societal constraints, and having the strength to move on during times of adversity. which it does well in portraying from its plot to its characters. the times that the campaign does nail it's themes and messaging, it's REALLY GOOD.
one such instance of said times is the issylra arc. maaaaaaan, I could talk about the issylra arc for HOURS I love it so much. not only was it so interesting to watch, I do truly feel like it was the best representation of the political, theological, and societal nuance that centered the conflict of the story. all the power players in that story all had reasons for their actions, things to fight for, yet had flaws and and personal agendas too. there was no clear good or bad, just human, and seeing the the player characters deal with the uneasiness of that while we experienced was just MWAH. while I've never been able to completely correlate 1:1 the pantheon to religion in our world like others have due to the nature of gods in exandria being so unique, what was happening in hearthdell? I could do so PERFECTLY. in more ways than one. speaking of being poc, I think I resonated a lot more with the arc too because I could see a lot of my own historical background in it as well, to the point that if I went on about it I'd be seen as a madman most likely. and I do think that uneasiness and lack of clear morality, along with it challeneing a lot of what was pre-established in exandrian society is what has made it so controversial and misunderstood amongst bells hells haters and likers alike. issylra arc the people don't deserve you. issylra arc I get you in a deeper and more fundamental way than the people do.
bor'dor in particular was such a good addition to the narrative. he was able to somehow encapsulate multiple elements of the conflict, from the manipulation of ludinus and the vanguard for selfish gain, to the fickle nature of the gods, to the inherent classism and mortal corruption that run rampant in exandrian society, all in one backstory. it's genuinely impressive the more I think about it. it's such a shame that due to his status as a guest pc and the nature of his betrayal and death, he was not discussed of much once bells hells got back together, I do think it could have strengthend the campaign even more. at least he haunted team issylra for the rest of the campaign...at least we have that. anyways utkarsh you will always be famous.
if there is one plot point is c3 that left a bad taste is my mouth though, it's the conflict between weavemind and ruidian society. which is unfortunate, because it was such a good concept with great build up. it truly makes me sigh because.....what do you mean you give us a totalitarian regime that strips freedom and privacy from it's people to the point that they use EUGENICS to be able to control their people, give us glimpses of the ruidian people and their culture, show how dire their situation and how much they yearn for more, show us the voilition, a revolutionary group determined to take their home back for themselves and make it better, have to hells meet them and aid them, show ALL of that.....just for 7 other guys to beat them in a single battle?? 🫠🫠🫠🫠 and because there was never enough time for the hells to connect with any of the ruidian people the aftermath of having said regime changed is just....tossed aside and not discussed at all besides a little side note in imogen's epilogue 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 like in general there was NOT enough ruidus in the campaign but....this one hurts a lot. IT COULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A UPLIFTING STORY NOTE AND A FANTASTIC PARALLEL TO WHAT WAS GOING ON IN EXANDRIA BUT ALAS.
as for the second part of that ask.... yeah :///// quite frankly, I've been more upset with fandom reactions to c3 than the actual campaign itself (which is....well not surprising, but definitely something), from both c3 haters who refuse to give it the benefit of the doubt and c3 likers who.....interpret elements of the campaign with a very a different lens for me, that's for sure. about the pantheon and those that follow it yeah, but a bulk of them are about ludinus. some of y'all give that man waaaaaaaaaaay too much benefit of the doubt 😭
it doesn't help with how I am in general....not loving the finale/post campaign ludinus situation we've got going on right now. I'll hold back from formulating my full opinion on it because I know they want to continue the ludinus thread in future liveshows but..... yeah that's another thing that could potentially leave a bad taste in my mouth.
anyways, sorry to ramble on but in short, yeah, I do really like the narrative c3 had! a message of change and hope if always welcome with the way the world is going right now. and the inclusion of more diverse players, characters backgrounds, and settings (marquet I'll always love you we needed more of you) definitely is great too!
Couldn't stay up until the end of the episode but I saw a post saying that Vax is alive and back with Keyleth? I'm... So pissed. Never before have I written a fix-it fic to make someone die but this may be the first one.
Look, I love Vax. And I really enjoyed his relationship with Keyleth in cr1. But for Everlight's sake, I'm an adult who not only can handle a story about loss but also can find beauty and comfort in it. Vax's sacrifice was important, so was Keyleth's grief and they made me cry but that doesn't mean I wished for this situation to be "fixed" by bringing Vax back to life. His sacrifice should be respected, not treated as something that had to be reversed for the story to have a happy ending. He sounded relieved to be able to go see his mother again, all those years ago. Let him have his rest instead of pulling him back to a place that wasn't really his for so many years, that moved on (Deanna vibes, anyone?)
And Keyleth too should be allowed to get her happy ending without Vax being back - no matter if that means moving on and starting to love someone else or remaining alone but finding happiness in her people and friends.
I'm an adult and I don't need to have a miracle-ending to every less-than-stereotypically-perfect situation. When you do that it stops feeling like a true miracle and starts to feel like a cheap handout to keep your fans placated.
