A little rant about Critical Role Campaign 3
The 3rd critical role campaign is being very slow, in 8/9 chapters during the second campaign they closed two arcs quickly and the plot advanced quickly. The atmosphere was well defined and the characters starting to get to know each other.
In the time that has elapsed during this campaign, you do not feel any of that. The characters are together only by inertia, without a real justification to continue together.
Fearne is here just wasting time and along with Ashley's dice rolls, every time she wants to do something she consumes a lot of time without accomplishing something important. It is by far the weakest point of all players and it is time for her to realize that she is terrible at playing dnd. (yes, strong opinions)
Orym, who spends his time lamenting for the Ashari, is only there, only exists and Liam only uses it to "tempt" situations with Dorian, another character who has no justification to continue in the group.
To this let's add that they are not the only ones who really do not seem interested in pushing the plot. FCG and Ashton don't help either, the warforged doesn't really have an initiative to pursue his story and the genasi is just there trying to survive.
Travis just started with this character, which doesn't really justify why he didn't want to be there from the beginning (Matt basically wanted him at the beginning and that's why he brought Bertram) but Chetney doesn't feel like the big reveal after 3 episodes waiting for him .
Laudna and Imogen are the only ones interested and openly using their stories, though not to push their main story but to at least make them more audience-friendly.
Now, Marquet is not being the most entertaining thing in the world. The place does not feel as defined as it seemed in the first campaign and that is due to the fear of cultural appropriation, the chosen music. Now, in order not to hurt susceptibilities, everything feels diluted. In the second campaign the European atmosphere was felt, and it was accompanied by certain accents that made everything more enveloping. Matt is a great storyteller but without these resources, the magic is lost. The characters are trapped in this part of the story and it could easily be any part of the other continents due to the lack of distinctions.
And now that they are a company with many interests, they have to do things carefully, that also explains how they were cutting ties with the community. The death of Talks Machina is a clear example, and more with Brian not being able to say anything for an NDA.
I'm not saying it's bad, but clearly the environment changed a lot and it no longer feels entertaining.
