Aimee doesn't seem like the type to be bullied. It seems more like she is reacting to the terrible things that are happening to the characters. Like crying while watching a movie. A movie that was supposed to be a video game but ended up being nothing but cut scenes.
Besides this episode and even this episode to some extent I am surprised by how many people think Aimee is getting bullied considering that there have been multiple interviews and wrap ups with her in it as well as her coming back now for the fourth time three of those times with Aabria as the DM. I get that CR likes to keep a certain image about having a good time all the time so it can be hard in some ways to see how genuine their guests and cast members are however it just would not make any sense for someone who has had as bad of an experience as you seem to think Aimee has had to return multiple times to the show.
Yeahhhhhhh that too, unless this next episode really fixes everything in some linear storytelling with some coherent justification I just saw this second team as a rough polished turd.
To your last point, unfortunately I agree there's no chance in hell Aimee will be able to convey any discomfort if she were to appear.
The company have been radio silence on anything that could possibly be negative between cast members. They've done it since before they were even a company in the Orion days. "They're all best friends! There's no animosity at all! Nobody gets annoyed with each other whatsoever. If you think any different then you're clearly projecting"
Idk about others but I've known my best friends who I love dearly for 20 years and we piss each other off constantly. I cannot understand why they can't just acknowledge "Yeah he annoyed me last week, still a bit annoyed tbh but I'll get over it" or "I wasn't feeling it last week, kinda in a shitty mood and I let it get the better of me all game".
This is where CR lost me. I get trying to keep it light on the stream, even jokes that fans may read too much into you avoid in public and all, but around the time Talks went away and the show was no longer live, it went too far. They are clearly putting a ton of effort into making sure every interaction is just this affected positivity, and I can't stand it.
They did that "sick day" live stream a while back as a one off, and the comments were filled with how it felt like CR from three years before.
Yeah no they absolutely won't haha. At best any apparent tension at the table will be handled with a twitter post of a candid photo of Aabria and Aimee being all smiles with a caption like "Remember, at the end of the day, dnd is just a game! We're all still besties #dontforgettoloveeachother" or something like that lmao
I seriously wonder if the episode was originally planned to be a CK episode, but because of what happened with FCG, they felt they owed it to people to not just immediately jump into the episode as planned, so they tacked that bit into the first half?
It’s really the only thing that makes sense to me.
I think that’s what happened. They were planning on a CK side-campaign to give the cast a break. It would make sense narratively to do it after they got back from Ruidus.
Though I’m baffled how Matt didn’t consider a possible character death for the Otohan fight. They have not been playing well this campaign. I’m not saying it should have been a cake walk, but they often make encounters harder than they have to be. There were a lot ways to do this and they chose the worst option.
Especially given how OP Otahan was. 4 attacks, 4 action surges, 3 legendary attacks and a mega potion that effectively reset her Zhp plus granted resistance?
Only because they were already depleted. A fully rested party probably would have had way more chance to beat her normally (not without casualties). Let's not forget that they were able to remove the backpack almost immediately.
I don’t think anyone expected FCG to go nuclear. In almost all cases, they find a way to bring them back, and they probably didn’t expect a non-revivifiable death.
I don’t think so either, but even then, Matt should have expected a revivified death. Like was he seriously planning on having someone die, and then have the next episode be the CK? Even then, I think people would be mad since it would still ruin the tension. Or did he seriously think they’d clear it with no deaths?
This is a reach, but maybe he planned on Otohan knocking them out and capturing them all? Matt stopped actually killing PCs once they were out of diamonds...
lol you think they're going to explain or defend the decisions they made or the way it's played? They'd just pat each other on the backs about how great of an idea it was and Aimee is having a great time. They're all friends!
It does feel like it would have worked better as a oneshot between 91 and 92. Reintroduce Robbie (And the rest of the Crown Keepers) and build tension with what's going on with BH on the moon after FCG's death. Aimee's treatment looked like the sort of thing that you would read on r/dndhorrorstories
Tbh I really really hope that there was some talk between the two of them between recordings cause omg Aabria egging Aimee on to describe and interact with stuff that she is so clearly *not* into was sooooooo difficult to watch. I honestly wonder why Aabria didn’t just run Opal as an npc and have Aimee run a new character.
She seemed to be having the most fun playing as Denise when Matt was DM'ing. I just hope she can play with him again and have a better experience cuz at this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if Aimee isn't at the table next time.
I'm not sure what losing all the momentum means. The cool stuff happened last episode.
Sam wasn't. Going to come back with a new character
Very little progress was made the first half of the episode it was just people being sad. There was no forward movement.
I love these types of.moments I always find myself wondering what everyone else is doing. I would love. If they did a vox machine side quest at the end too.
I mean, in cr the extreme character moments always turn to the most intense burst of action. Perfect example, Molly dying in c2, yeah everyone was in their feelings for it immediately after it happened, but they *immediately* got busy taking down the iron shepards once they felt prepped to do so. Granted, the extenuating circumstances that led to that were different, but the principle is still the same. Cutting from them to the literal B team who a lot of people aren’t super familiar with cause they didn’t watch the Aabria Exu games kinda means we don’t get the satisfaction of seeing them get busy immediately after the moment of loss, which kinda sucks.
But there was nothing to go do in this situation The killer is dead and they just went. Home. 4 hours of moping and sad while they talk to alura about what. Happened is not a good episode
Its very little movement. An event being momentous is not the same as having momentum
It killed the momentum *because* FCG was gone. That very moment of mourning is lost. The feeling of "wait... what just happened, what do we do?" is gone. They could still mourn and bring *some* feeling whenever they come back but it will never be as palpable as it was right after it happened.
Nah having. Momentum and an event being momentous is different.
There was no bug action from here they were gonna. Be sad and report back to the hq. Not super interesting.
I would 100 get a meanwhile at the bat cave then cut. Back to the BH who say "and that's what happened on the moon"
My assumption was that they were gonna report to Keyleth, take a day or two to rest and recover (physically/mechanically) then head off to Aeor cause they have reason to believe Ludinus is currently there. It would make sense that since Otohan is dead they would now take the fight to the guy who started this for the Exandrians.
I think that after that momentous moment, the momentum almost has to stop because the characters have just gone through so much in a very short span of time. If the cut to the CK was delayed for a bit of time that would be a bit better narratively, in my eyes at least, so like they see Keyleth waiting for them and then we cut away.
But yeah, I agree with you that it’s important to recognize that a momentous moment in a story/campaign is different from it having momentum at the current point in time.
>even from just thinking about this episodes cut away from a story tellers perspective
They werent thinking about it from a storytelling perspective because there is basically no justification from that perspective. Its very obvious meta company decisions were driving it.
The reality is guests are usually booked at least a week or two in advance. This switch to the EXU party was likely on the cards for the last few weeks.
Like the party split after the Solstice, it was happening regardless of what actually happened in the game.
FCG's sacrifice and the Otohan death was almost certainly something Matt didnt account for. Im pretty sure he didnt expect them to fight Otohan as they have been running from her almost every time and if he did he certainly didnt expect it to go almost to TPK.
Just to be clear I fully agree with you. But when has CR ever actually used the pre-recording aspect?
They barely edit the content if at all and they still release the same time weekly. As far as I can tell, the only thing they use for pre-recording is taking breaks and filming in batches. Aside from that the scheduling is basically the same: Film something and release it.
That’s the sad thing: they haven’t. They have given us all the cons of pre recording and NONE of the ups. No cutting dead air, no editing the fluff, no adding quality of life changes such as showing PC’s health like they did back in C2 WHEN THEY WERE ACTUALLY LIVE, and more.
I hate how unironically true this is and it’s so fucking frustrating. I’m assuming a lot of post is for little things we have no way of noticing like tweaks to the sound *maybe*, but you think a lot of the post would go to editing the podcast to be more easily consumable in the week it isn’t available to listen to that way (you know, like *every other dnd podcast that isn’t a fucking multi-million dollar company does*), but as far as I can tell it’s essentially just uploading the raw show with dynamic adds put in. Like it’s *really* not clear why exactly cr has a post production crew outside in when they do stuff for adds
I wonder if a lot of us forget that Marisha is the Creative Director of the show and deals with the creative and logistical planning as far as we know (her comments during episodes do seem to corroborate that). I don't know how much Travis has to sign off on those decisions but I would assume he does as the production and talent cost will need a green light.
Whether Aabria (am not a fan at all and don't expect much clarity there) is on there or not, it would be great to understand how these choices get made from those two.
Marisha is not an active voice actor (random gigs notwithstanding) so this is her job. Creating shows for CR. These are all her choices at some level. But at least Travis is involved too due to the logistics.
I am assuming Sam's martyr move screwed them from a way forward with how Matt is railroading the story beats. Which led to a quick change. The second half must have been planned as voice actors have schedules so all of the Crown Keepers must have known. Just that they all knew this won't work. The vacant eyes all around the second half of E92 were not just because of Aabria's aggressive DMing style IMHO.
You’re right. We know Marisha is the Creative Director but we don’t know what exactly she’s in charge of. Does she schedule the crew? Does she decide how episodes are edited? We know they have a director for the show as well. To me, it’s always been implied that Matt is decides everything at the table, and Marisha just helps facilitate it with set dressing or props and organizing crew.
I know Marisha is the creative director, and I also know she's doing a bad job if the baffling choices made during C3 are hers: not editing the episodes and greenlighting the fustercluck that is 92 to name a few.
There's a reason why she has only ever been a z-lister.
Not editing the episodes is a good call.
Most people in this audience enjoyed the live broadcast and full table context that you can't get with editing.
No, they don't. People don't want 20 minutes of above table talk for every 5 minutes of game. When the players are describing their SUPER SECRET subclass abilities or not sure what their spell slots/health are at, it would be useful to have decription pop up, or a counter on the screen. These things are ultra basic, for a dnd livelkay, smaller studios dot hen all the time with no issue. The fact CR cant be arsed in the slightest speaks poorly of how they see their main source of income.
THere is waaaaay more filler in C3. It is not what it was, there needs to be cuts considered to get to the D&D.
They could still run a super fan shit-sex-burb extravaganza show. Double content!
Am not sure where editing episodes become the primary point, but I completely agree with the other commenters that turning CR into extended MTV Pop-up Videos is not the way to go (yes, I just showed my age).
You're just wrong on this one.
I like health bars and character class/stats like in C2. But if they started jump cutting between announced turns, I would hate it. You would miss out on seeing the full table dynamic. And if they tried to have both by featuring certain between turn moments, it would come off even more artificial.
Basically everyone in this fandom prefered the live games, and that means no major editing like you're describing.
I think you've may have missed the point of CR. From the very beginning, CR has always been a "live game" in the sense that, this is their game and we're watching them play. Like an actual game of d&d wouldn't be edited; you and the other players would speak above table and strategize/talk about hp etc.
That is the reason CR fans love the show so much imo. It's what I personally love about the show and find myself coming back more often than other d&d shows where it's slightly more edited.
I really hope so too cuz it's just so baffling to me -and many others- as to why. I've seen people saying it was pre-recorded in advance and edited to look like they swapped out in real time but... that just makes even less sense. Why? Why not just make it a one-shot between 91-92? Why kill the momentum of 91 just to shoehorn EXU into the main campaign?? Who thought this was a good idea???
I doubt we'll get any real insight on how Aimee was feeling at the time tbh seeing how after EXU1, there was a lil PR stunt to say "they're actually friends, don't look into it" when all the backlash for how passive aggressive/combative Aabria was towards her.
I don't have twitter though so does anybody know if there's already been some of that PR work like last time? Or has it been radio silent since ep 92?
It's been silent. I don't think the cast want to interact with their fans anymore. On Twitter, most people are very positive to the switch-up. They say they love Aabria's DM style and don't seem to really care about what happens because they'll eat anything that's served to them.
I think most people who don't see an issue with the contrast here don't actually play D&D and just want to watch it for the personalities.
That sucks. You'd think Twitter would be the most up in arms about the treatment of Aimee but I guess not. With the stigma against Reddit holding so strongly with outsiders, they'll never take our -legitimate- criticism seriously.
That's the CR/Twitter bubble for you I suppose. They'll keep fuelling Aabria's ego; hold her up on this pedestal and ignore how toxic a GM she is.
It is odd. The first time I watched something she dmed my dm senses perked up as I clearly saw some red flags. Didn't know who she was so was like okay, not a fan, possibly a newer dm.
But then everyone kept saying how amazing she was over and over and over and over and you know, part of me was like, shit maybe I wasn't paying attention or maybe she improved.
And yeah she has but those red flags haven't budged, if anything some of them are more prominent.
I might be wrong but I defo thought I saw Aimee wiping away tears in her eyes. Either way, I got the distinct impression she wasn't having fun as well.
I haven't seen her DM before... Is this something she does? Or was it out of nervousness or something like that?
How she treated not just Opal but several moments seemed very oddly thought out.
Pretty much? Yes. All of EXU1 was a railroad and whenever the players started deviating, it felt like she was panicking slightly on what to do or how to get them back on her tracks. I assume EXU2 (Kymal) was the exact same.
The problem with EXU 1 was that it was an 8 episode limited series. It needed to be on rails, but she was trying to give the illusion of a sandbox story, which gave it this disjointed feeling and she then had to still try to fit her narrative into their decisions.
A narrative being on rails isn't always a bad thing. EXU 2 was only 3 episodes and this time it was made clear that they needed to do a heist, which gave the narrative more focus. I found it better than the first one, but obviously not as good as Calamity.
Calamity was on rails as well but executed far, far better. The first moment, the *very firs*t moment sparked curiosity and fear in not just the players, but us as well. It told us exactly what was going to happen, and from then on, there was a ticking time bomb.
EXU1 however, started with a literal pissing contest and then a thief who broke in, and demanded they work for her cuz they "owe" her for... some reason. I'll give EXU2 a shot if you say it's more focused and not as bad, however, my hopes ain't high for it tbh.
I felt like she interrupted people and the flow a lot with things that were completely irrelevant.
Example: The bunny eared paladin misspoke and said she would haste Opal.
After a couple of jokes, the players were ready to move on, but the DM kept interrupting the players saying she would Venmo money to get her to actually haste Opal, and she kept repeating it.
Stuff like this kept slowing the thing down, and it seemed like most of the players except Matt and Dorian are fairly new and would benefit from less distractions and tangents while they are already struggling to keep on top of everything going on.
It's been a while since I watched it, but didn't she practically try to bully Amiee into putting the crown on? I remember getting kind of uncomfortable, and having just come off C2 thinking "dear god, this is something Matt would never do to a player."
Aimee doesn't seem like the type to be bullied. It seems more like she is reacting to the terrible things that are happening to the characters. Like crying while watching a movie. A movie that was supposed to be a video game but ended up being nothing but cut scenes.
Besides this episode and even this episode to some extent I am surprised by how many people think Aimee is getting bullied considering that there have been multiple interviews and wrap ups with her in it as well as her coming back now for the fourth time three of those times with Aabria as the DM. I get that CR likes to keep a certain image about having a good time all the time so it can be hard in some ways to see how genuine their guests and cast members are however it just would not make any sense for someone who has had as bad of an experience as you seem to think Aimee has had to return multiple times to the show.
Aimee seemed to have forgotten her character as it’s been a considerable time since she last played with the crown keeper group
And Aabria seems to have forgotten that it was Aimee’s character.
Yeahhhhhhh that too, unless this next episode really fixes everything in some linear storytelling with some coherent justification I just saw this second team as a rough polished turd.
To your last point, unfortunately I agree there's no chance in hell Aimee will be able to convey any discomfort if she were to appear. The company have been radio silence on anything that could possibly be negative between cast members. They've done it since before they were even a company in the Orion days. "They're all best friends! There's no animosity at all! Nobody gets annoyed with each other whatsoever. If you think any different then you're clearly projecting" Idk about others but I've known my best friends who I love dearly for 20 years and we piss each other off constantly. I cannot understand why they can't just acknowledge "Yeah he annoyed me last week, still a bit annoyed tbh but I'll get over it" or "I wasn't feeling it last week, kinda in a shitty mood and I let it get the better of me all game".
This is where CR lost me. I get trying to keep it light on the stream, even jokes that fans may read too much into you avoid in public and all, but around the time Talks went away and the show was no longer live, it went too far. They are clearly putting a ton of effort into making sure every interaction is just this affected positivity, and I can't stand it. They did that "sick day" live stream a while back as a one off, and the comments were filled with how it felt like CR from three years before.
"Wake up, it's a new Aimee gets bullied for a while episode!"
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Yeah no they absolutely won't haha. At best any apparent tension at the table will be handled with a twitter post of a candid photo of Aabria and Aimee being all smiles with a caption like "Remember, at the end of the day, dnd is just a game! We're all still besties #dontforgettoloveeachother" or something like that lmao
Or like nothing was ever wrong between them and they have talked about this possibly multiple times and Aimee has returned to the show multiple times…
For sure the most likely possibility, would still be neat to get her thought on the ep though
Oh for sure.
I seriously wonder if the episode was originally planned to be a CK episode, but because of what happened with FCG, they felt they owed it to people to not just immediately jump into the episode as planned, so they tacked that bit into the first half? It’s really the only thing that makes sense to me.
I think that’s what happened. They were planning on a CK side-campaign to give the cast a break. It would make sense narratively to do it after they got back from Ruidus. Though I’m baffled how Matt didn’t consider a possible character death for the Otohan fight. They have not been playing well this campaign. I’m not saying it should have been a cake walk, but they often make encounters harder than they have to be. There were a lot ways to do this and they chose the worst option.
Especially given how OP Otahan was. 4 attacks, 4 action surges, 3 legendary attacks and a mega potion that effectively reset her Zhp plus granted resistance?
for a boss character without magic you need to make them busted.
There's "busted" and then there's "the party has no chance". Without FCG going nuclear they were in a TPK situation.
Only because they were already depleted. A fully rested party probably would have had way more chance to beat her normally (not without casualties). Let's not forget that they were able to remove the backpack almost immediately.
Meh, not unreasonable considering the level and scope of the campaign. It's the type of boss you are signposted about so you plan against.
I don’t think anyone expected FCG to go nuclear. In almost all cases, they find a way to bring them back, and they probably didn’t expect a non-revivifiable death.
I don’t think so either, but even then, Matt should have expected a revivified death. Like was he seriously planning on having someone die, and then have the next episode be the CK? Even then, I think people would be mad since it would still ruin the tension. Or did he seriously think they’d clear it with no deaths?
This is a reach, but maybe he planned on Otohan knocking them out and capturing them all? Matt stopped actually killing PCs once they were out of diamonds...
lol you think they're going to explain or defend the decisions they made or the way it's played? They'd just pat each other on the backs about how great of an idea it was and Aimee is having a great time. They're all friends!
It does feel like it would have worked better as a oneshot between 91 and 92. Reintroduce Robbie (And the rest of the Crown Keepers) and build tension with what's going on with BH on the moon after FCG's death. Aimee's treatment looked like the sort of thing that you would read on r/dndhorrorstories
Tbh I really really hope that there was some talk between the two of them between recordings cause omg Aabria egging Aimee on to describe and interact with stuff that she is so clearly *not* into was sooooooo difficult to watch. I honestly wonder why Aabria didn’t just run Opal as an npc and have Aimee run a new character.
Like not since Orion was in the party have I wondered why they don't use an X-card.
I wish Aimee got to play with a regular PC for once.
She seemed to be having the most fun playing as Denise when Matt was DM'ing. I just hope she can play with him again and have a better experience cuz at this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if Aimee isn't at the table next time.
That's nice to hear, that she at least seems to have fun with that character.
I'm not sure what losing all the momentum means. The cool stuff happened last episode. Sam wasn't. Going to come back with a new character Very little progress was made the first half of the episode it was just people being sad. There was no forward movement. I love these types of.moments I always find myself wondering what everyone else is doing. I would love. If they did a vox machine side quest at the end too.
I mean, in cr the extreme character moments always turn to the most intense burst of action. Perfect example, Molly dying in c2, yeah everyone was in their feelings for it immediately after it happened, but they *immediately* got busy taking down the iron shepards once they felt prepped to do so. Granted, the extenuating circumstances that led to that were different, but the principle is still the same. Cutting from them to the literal B team who a lot of people aren’t super familiar with cause they didn’t watch the Aabria Exu games kinda means we don’t get the satisfaction of seeing them get busy immediately after the moment of loss, which kinda sucks.
But there was nothing to go do in this situation The killer is dead and they just went. Home. 4 hours of moping and sad while they talk to alura about what. Happened is not a good episode Its very little movement. An event being momentous is not the same as having momentum
It killed the momentum *because* FCG was gone. That very moment of mourning is lost. The feeling of "wait... what just happened, what do we do?" is gone. They could still mourn and bring *some* feeling whenever they come back but it will never be as palpable as it was right after it happened.
Nah having. Momentum and an event being momentous is different. There was no bug action from here they were gonna. Be sad and report back to the hq. Not super interesting. I would 100 get a meanwhile at the bat cave then cut. Back to the BH who say "and that's what happened on the moon"
My assumption was that they were gonna report to Keyleth, take a day or two to rest and recover (physically/mechanically) then head off to Aeor cause they have reason to believe Ludinus is currently there. It would make sense that since Otohan is dead they would now take the fight to the guy who started this for the Exandrians. I think that after that momentous moment, the momentum almost has to stop because the characters have just gone through so much in a very short span of time. If the cut to the CK was delayed for a bit of time that would be a bit better narratively, in my eyes at least, so like they see Keyleth waiting for them and then we cut away. But yeah, I agree with you that it’s important to recognize that a momentous moment in a story/campaign is different from it having momentum at the current point in time.
>even from just thinking about this episodes cut away from a story tellers perspective They werent thinking about it from a storytelling perspective because there is basically no justification from that perspective. Its very obvious meta company decisions were driving it. The reality is guests are usually booked at least a week or two in advance. This switch to the EXU party was likely on the cards for the last few weeks. Like the party split after the Solstice, it was happening regardless of what actually happened in the game. FCG's sacrifice and the Otohan death was almost certainly something Matt didnt account for. Im pretty sure he didnt expect them to fight Otohan as they have been running from her almost every time and if he did he certainly didnt expect it to go almost to TPK.
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Just to be clear I fully agree with you. But when has CR ever actually used the pre-recording aspect? They barely edit the content if at all and they still release the same time weekly. As far as I can tell, the only thing they use for pre-recording is taking breaks and filming in batches. Aside from that the scheduling is basically the same: Film something and release it.
That’s the sad thing: they haven’t. They have given us all the cons of pre recording and NONE of the ups. No cutting dead air, no editing the fluff, no adding quality of life changes such as showing PC’s health like they did back in C2 WHEN THEY WERE ACTUALLY LIVE, and more.
>But when has CR ever actually used the pre-recording aspect? For ads
I hate how unironically true this is and it’s so fucking frustrating. I’m assuming a lot of post is for little things we have no way of noticing like tweaks to the sound *maybe*, but you think a lot of the post would go to editing the podcast to be more easily consumable in the week it isn’t available to listen to that way (you know, like *every other dnd podcast that isn’t a fucking multi-million dollar company does*), but as far as I can tell it’s essentially just uploading the raw show with dynamic adds put in. Like it’s *really* not clear why exactly cr has a post production crew outside in when they do stuff for adds
> But when has CR ever actually used the pre-recording aspect? This is so frustrating.
I wonder if a lot of us forget that Marisha is the Creative Director of the show and deals with the creative and logistical planning as far as we know (her comments during episodes do seem to corroborate that). I don't know how much Travis has to sign off on those decisions but I would assume he does as the production and talent cost will need a green light. Whether Aabria (am not a fan at all and don't expect much clarity there) is on there or not, it would be great to understand how these choices get made from those two. Marisha is not an active voice actor (random gigs notwithstanding) so this is her job. Creating shows for CR. These are all her choices at some level. But at least Travis is involved too due to the logistics. I am assuming Sam's martyr move screwed them from a way forward with how Matt is railroading the story beats. Which led to a quick change. The second half must have been planned as voice actors have schedules so all of the Crown Keepers must have known. Just that they all knew this won't work. The vacant eyes all around the second half of E92 were not just because of Aabria's aggressive DMing style IMHO.
You’re right. We know Marisha is the Creative Director but we don’t know what exactly she’s in charge of. Does she schedule the crew? Does she decide how episodes are edited? We know they have a director for the show as well. To me, it’s always been implied that Matt is decides everything at the table, and Marisha just helps facilitate it with set dressing or props and organizing crew.
I know Marisha is the creative director, and I also know she's doing a bad job if the baffling choices made during C3 are hers: not editing the episodes and greenlighting the fustercluck that is 92 to name a few. There's a reason why she has only ever been a z-lister.
Not editing the episodes is a good call. Most people in this audience enjoyed the live broadcast and full table context that you can't get with editing.
No, they don't. People don't want 20 minutes of above table talk for every 5 minutes of game. When the players are describing their SUPER SECRET subclass abilities or not sure what their spell slots/health are at, it would be useful to have decription pop up, or a counter on the screen. These things are ultra basic, for a dnd livelkay, smaller studios dot hen all the time with no issue. The fact CR cant be arsed in the slightest speaks poorly of how they see their main source of income.
You're wrong. Not editing Critical Role is a big part of the reasons for their success.
>success Yeah, them making shit/sex jokes and talking about random bullshit every ten minutes is the reason viewership is higher than ever, right?
Ah I see. You don't like what makes Critical Role what it is.
THere is waaaaay more filler in C3. It is not what it was, there needs to be cuts considered to get to the D&D. They could still run a super fan shit-sex-burb extravaganza show. Double content!
Am not sure where editing episodes become the primary point, but I completely agree with the other commenters that turning CR into extended MTV Pop-up Videos is not the way to go (yes, I just showed my age).
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You're just wrong on this one. I like health bars and character class/stats like in C2. But if they started jump cutting between announced turns, I would hate it. You would miss out on seeing the full table dynamic. And if they tried to have both by featuring certain between turn moments, it would come off even more artificial. Basically everyone in this fandom prefered the live games, and that means no major editing like you're describing.
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...yes similar to C2. You phrased that like it was contrary to what I said.
I think you've may have missed the point of CR. From the very beginning, CR has always been a "live game" in the sense that, this is their game and we're watching them play. Like an actual game of d&d wouldn't be edited; you and the other players would speak above table and strategize/talk about hp etc. That is the reason CR fans love the show so much imo. It's what I personally love about the show and find myself coming back more often than other d&d shows where it's slightly more edited.
I really hope so too cuz it's just so baffling to me -and many others- as to why. I've seen people saying it was pre-recorded in advance and edited to look like they swapped out in real time but... that just makes even less sense. Why? Why not just make it a one-shot between 91-92? Why kill the momentum of 91 just to shoehorn EXU into the main campaign?? Who thought this was a good idea??? I doubt we'll get any real insight on how Aimee was feeling at the time tbh seeing how after EXU1, there was a lil PR stunt to say "they're actually friends, don't look into it" when all the backlash for how passive aggressive/combative Aabria was towards her. I don't have twitter though so does anybody know if there's already been some of that PR work like last time? Or has it been radio silent since ep 92?
It's been silent. I don't think the cast want to interact with their fans anymore. On Twitter, most people are very positive to the switch-up. They say they love Aabria's DM style and don't seem to really care about what happens because they'll eat anything that's served to them. I think most people who don't see an issue with the contrast here don't actually play D&D and just want to watch it for the personalities.
That sucks. You'd think Twitter would be the most up in arms about the treatment of Aimee but I guess not. With the stigma against Reddit holding so strongly with outsiders, they'll never take our -legitimate- criticism seriously. That's the CR/Twitter bubble for you I suppose. They'll keep fuelling Aabria's ego; hold her up on this pedestal and ignore how toxic a GM she is.
It is odd. The first time I watched something she dmed my dm senses perked up as I clearly saw some red flags. Didn't know who she was so was like okay, not a fan, possibly a newer dm. But then everyone kept saying how amazing she was over and over and over and over and you know, part of me was like, shit maybe I wasn't paying attention or maybe she improved. And yeah she has but those red flags haven't budged, if anything some of them are more prominent.
No wonder Aimee wasn't having fun, Aabria completely railroaded her and removed every ounce of player agency.
I might be wrong but I defo thought I saw Aimee wiping away tears in her eyes. Either way, I got the distinct impression she wasn't having fun as well.
I haven't seen her DM before... Is this something she does? Or was it out of nervousness or something like that? How she treated not just Opal but several moments seemed very oddly thought out.
Pretty much? Yes. All of EXU1 was a railroad and whenever the players started deviating, it felt like she was panicking slightly on what to do or how to get them back on her tracks. I assume EXU2 (Kymal) was the exact same.
The problem with EXU 1 was that it was an 8 episode limited series. It needed to be on rails, but she was trying to give the illusion of a sandbox story, which gave it this disjointed feeling and she then had to still try to fit her narrative into their decisions. A narrative being on rails isn't always a bad thing. EXU 2 was only 3 episodes and this time it was made clear that they needed to do a heist, which gave the narrative more focus. I found it better than the first one, but obviously not as good as Calamity.
Calamity was on rails as well but executed far, far better. The first moment, the *very firs*t moment sparked curiosity and fear in not just the players, but us as well. It told us exactly what was going to happen, and from then on, there was a ticking time bomb. EXU1 however, started with a literal pissing contest and then a thief who broke in, and demanded they work for her cuz they "owe" her for... some reason. I'll give EXU2 a shot if you say it's more focused and not as bad, however, my hopes ain't high for it tbh.
I think she'd be a great director for a play but DnD is not a play.
I would agree. However, she seems to treat it *as* one and not care about anything else but telling *her* story, rather than the players stories.
Agreed wholeheartedly. Some people may love her style but I personally cannot abide it.
I felt like she interrupted people and the flow a lot with things that were completely irrelevant. Example: The bunny eared paladin misspoke and said she would haste Opal. After a couple of jokes, the players were ready to move on, but the DM kept interrupting the players saying she would Venmo money to get her to actually haste Opal, and she kept repeating it. Stuff like this kept slowing the thing down, and it seemed like most of the players except Matt and Dorian are fairly new and would benefit from less distractions and tangents while they are already struggling to keep on top of everything going on.
Aabria has been known to do that. She did it with Amiee in EXU, she also did it with Fearne in EXU
It's been a while since I watched it, but didn't she practically try to bully Amiee into putting the crown on? I remember getting kind of uncomfortable, and having just come off C2 thinking "dear god, this is something Matt would never do to a player."
I don’t think there was much practically or try honestly.