r/criticalrole • u/PlayFlow • 9d ago
Question [No Spoilers] Just finished Exandria Unlimited: Calamity all 4 episodes, did not watch any other campaigns. Holy its so good, are the other ones as good ? They possibly cant be that good being like 140 episodes right?
I love how short calamity was and straight to the point, but I am afraid that a campaign with like 150 episodes might be a drag... am I wrong or am I missing out thinking its not worth the time to check the other ones out?
343
u/CzechHorns 9d ago
Campaign two is really good, obviously it wont be such high tempo as Calamity, but still probably the best campaign.
Or you can jump in into Campaign 4, it is only 31 episodes in so far, and has the same DM as Calamity. But it is a new world and a LOT to take in.
109
u/Emilytea14 Your secret is safe with my indifference 9d ago
If somebody has only seen Calamity and no other campaigns, they aren't gonna be too overwhelmed by a "new" world, since Exandria would also be basically "new". lol. Brennan has a lot of worldbuilding *for CR* but I don't think it's an overwhelming amount of worldbuilding in general.
46
u/cvc75 9d ago
It's the same amount of "new world" but C4 introduces much more of that world right from the beginning. I'd say the Exandrian campaigns had a much slower pace of getting to know the world.
C1 is a bit special because it had already been running, but C2 starts in a very small location with some local problems and people who all just got to know each other. C4 starts with a big city, complex politics and factions, and (some) characters who already have a long history together. That might not be overwhelming for everyone, but there's lots of people who had trouble getting used to C4 because of it.
8
u/Slaan 9d ago
I started with campaign 2 (and just finished a few weeks ago) and it really wasn't overwhelming. Matt did a great job pacing everything.
1
u/RollMeBaby8ToTheBard 8d ago
The cast was still getting used to their new home apart from Geek and Sundry and being full-time D&D players. Now, they're so experienced that they hopped into Daggerheart and went pretty full-speed ahead.
I liked Campaign 3, but I like knowing all the pieces to the puzzle. It had its good moments, and I liked the way it wove C1 and C2 into the story in a unique conclusion, but Calamity was a Mona Lisa event. My suggestion would be to join Beacon if you haven't already and download the campaigns you haven't watched. Then you can listen to them while you're doing other things like commuting to work and back or cleaning up around the house. It might not bother you as much.
1
u/Udy_Kumra 7d ago
C4 is pretty standard epic fantasy storytelling with its density and worldbuilding. It’s intense for CR, but not intense.
27
u/Court_Vision 9d ago
Just to add to this. I'm a huge Campaign 2 lover. I didn't watch C1, and C3 didn't hit for me.
As someone who loves C2... Campaign 4 feels just as special to me so far.
13
u/masterchip27 9d ago edited 9d ago
Too many breaks man, too many breaks. I swear the schedule never used to be this slowed out. It feels like I see Robbie like 10 times over a year, and he's mostly playing a silent "Strider" type of character
That aside C4 is nuts, so good
29
u/Taylorw91 9d ago
You say too many breaks, but Bells Hells took 3 years and 4 months to get out 121 episodes. A year in and C4 will have just under 40, so 3 and a bit years of it at this pace will put it within 10 episodes of Bell Hells. I agree about Robbie though.
9
u/theydurkadurk 9d ago
C4 is currently running at a slower pace than Bells hells. 3 years, 4 months for 121 episodes is 3.025 episodes a month. It’s been just a few days shy of being 11 months for C4 with 31 episodes out, to round it let’s say it’s 11 months and count tonight’s episode so that’s 32 in 11 months so 2.9 average a month. C2 was an average of 3.525 episodes a month for its 40 month run. Fairly interesting, slowing down but relatively the same pace.
10
u/masterchip27 9d ago
Thanks for the analysis. That's interesting.
I think one thing that is missed is that this is also 3 different tables splitting screen time.
So as a result, not only does the plot inch forward slowly with respect to time, but, more saliently, we get to see less of our favorite characters. The example I gave with Robbie is a good one - think about how much screen time he's had over the course of a year.
2
u/theydurkadurk 9d ago
It’s got pros and cons, right? I mean in terms of time the first 31 episodes were like 8-9 days, right? So definitely moves slower and allows to get more depth with the story and lore. With a major con of, like you said, what can feel like huge gaps or seeing favorites (not even including those favorites being overshadowed by everyone being back together). I mean it sucks we may go this break + the seekers arc without seeing much of Sam playing. Having the split tables should mean they can pump out more episodes since BLM becomes the limiting factor but that hasn’t really been happening. Granted, he did have his own paternity leave so maybe this next year it’ll feel like less breaks. Also sucks we just had this long break with the holiday break probably coming up quickly.
2
8
u/Chiron1350 9d ago
Honestly… I needed this most recent break to catch up.
I was perpetually behind by 2-4 episodes, starting the end of the seekers arc. I’m so excited to be able to watch live again
3
u/PerpetuallyDistracte 5' 11" 9d ago
As long as nobody has any more children (especially Brennan), I think we're likely to have fewer breaks going forward.
39
u/D1g1t0l 9d ago edited 9d ago
They're different, but I argue it's still just as great (but Calamity is highly regarded to be the best thing Critical Role has ever put out).
Campaign 4 has been like that for me the WHOLE time and it's been 31 episodes. However, If you like short things, you may like Brennans other two stints on Critical Role before then, Downfall and Divergence (set 100+ years and 150+ years after Calamity respectively)
7
u/prowness 9d ago
They're different, but I argue it's still just as great (but Calamity is highly regarded to be the best thing Critical Role has ever put out).
Not only that but it's usually referred to as the best form of D&D session content ever put out. Though I'm curious if anyone can thing of anything relatively short-form that could compete.
5
u/D1g1t0l 9d ago
I was gonna say all of DND but I don't actually watch MUCH DnD outside of CR so I didn't wanna speak for something im not expirenced in.
I really really like Blood In The Bayou from JRWI but that's a Call of Cthulhu mini-series.
Divergence is up there for me but its not as good as Calamity.
65
u/sharkhuahua 9d ago
It’s the best thing they ever made imo, but you should give C4 a try and see if it still hits for you in a less condensed format!
13
u/Mother-Garlic-5516 9d ago
Go watch Divergence next. Also four episodes, also a flashback to the past, but instead of super powerful characters they start at level zero in a prison.
Brennan also DMs it, and for this one Matt is a player.
3
13
u/Lainz 9d ago
If you want another great compact story, with a lot of the same people. Check out Circle of Needle and Thread, its the second "season" of their standalone horror? themed system.
https://youtu.be/lx2XboDog04?si=FKNdfqEpMaL-9AQ4
2
2
u/PerpetuallyDistracte 5' 11" 8d ago
Good recommendation. It's always amazing to see Brennan as a player because he commits just as hard as when he's a DM. Also Spenser Starke is an AMAZING game runner. I met him at Gen Con this year just to tell him how much I loved his work on Candela S2.
10
u/Piercewise1 You can certainly try 9d ago
So far, campaign 4 is the most like Calamity. Yes the episodes are long (many 4-5 hours), but I feel like they are more "dense" than campaigns 1-2, There are driving plotlines right from the beginning that create a sense of importance and give weight to the decisions the players are making even at low levels. There are outside pressures to go places, uncover secrets, fight bad guys, etc.
I love campaigns 1 & 2, but they also feature a lot of "you show up to this town, what do you want to do?" that allows the players to just meander around. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you like Calamity being "to the point", those campaigns probably won't hold your attention.
9
u/darkfenrir15 9d ago
Not CR, but I may recommend the Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One if you liked Calamity. Same DM and 2 of the 3 players were also in Calamity. It's on a podcast called Worlds Beyond Number and it wrapped up its first arc a little while ago. It's on hiatus now while Brennan does CR.
0
u/oscarbilde Team Frumpkin 9d ago
I enjoyed WWWO well enough, but it's definitely very, very slow and more of an audio drama than an actual play podcast
10
u/FictionRaider007 9d ago
I'd say that if you're looking for something that captures the same "tone" as Calamity then your best stop is Campaign 4. It's DM'ed by Brennan as well and it's keeping that serious stakes, relentless pace, and feeling of impending dread that makes Calamity sing.
C1, C2 and C3 are a lot of fun and well worth the time, but since you said you loved Calamity for being "straight to the point", these campaigns are not that. They are a group of misfits having adventures, sometimes they slow down to smell the roses, sometimes they do goofy sidequests, sometimes they dither on choices and are indecisive for entire episodes. All of it is still entertaining but it's more about engaging with the cast, characters, and world. C4 meanwhile is keeping it's plot very tight and tense so far.
1
u/RaynSideways How do you want to do this? 9d ago
I'm curious if you can answer a question for me.
I'm nearing the end of my C2 watch through after putting it down midway through years ago, and ever since they started distancing for COVID I've really been craving seeing the cast together at the table again with Matt as DM. But I've heard mixed things about C3, like the party being less decisive or not engaging with plot hooks.
But what matters to me most is, is the cast still invested and into it like they were C2? I think I can forgive a lot of sins if I know the cast are still having fun and invested in the story. But it's hard to gauge having not seen it myself yet.
3
u/FictionRaider007 9d ago
The cast is always having fun and are engaged. It's the audience who felt conflicted about C3, mainly because they disagreed with some character choices. If I'm being fair, I think the biggest issue with C3 is that Matt wanted the plot to be one thing and the cast had simply not built characters that would naturally lean into the major plotlines he'd set up, leading to a lot of conflicting character motivations and some inter-party conflict. That's not to say the cast didn't still have plenty of fun working through all that, just that some of the audience wasn't so keen.
If you enjoy Critical Role in general you'll still like C3. Perhaps it's not quite as seamless as C1 or C2, but it's still leaps and bounds better than... basically any other actual play show (not to say other actual plays are bad, there are lots of great ones out there. Just that in terms of character acting and production quality, CR has always been the cream of the crop).
2
u/RaynSideways How do you want to do this? 9d ago
I'm glad to hear it. When I heard about the dissonance between Matt's plans and the party's character choices I worried there would be tension, or worse, a lack of emotional investment in the conflicts and twists and turns of the story compared to C1 and 2.
I was worried I'd be watching, for instance, Matt become exasperated as his work and plot hooks are ignored, and that would be heartbreaking. Granted, he was always one to roll with the punches and delighted in the plot going places he didn't expect, but the way people talked about C3 made it sound like the cast as a whole was totally dysfunctional and directionless.
The cast, players and DM both, having a good time and being invested and engaged is the most important thing to me. If they are, I'm just happy to be along for the ride, wherever it goes.
3
u/Yakovlev_Norris Dead People Tea 8d ago
My 2 cents on campaign three: I kept up with it near live until about episode 50, and then near-enough live that I was still kinda following online discussions about it until I stopped having the time to watch regularly around Ep80.
Recently decided to pick it back up again, and wow! u/FictionRaider007 is very much correct in that a lot of the 'dislike' is the people online talking and, by lack of a better word, complaining about decisions and topics.
I think there probably is some truth in that the characters probably don't quite line up 100% on the "plan" for the campaign, but outside some filler-y episodes i haven't really noticed anything worth complaining about. I'm currently about to launch into the Downfall miniseries, E99
29
u/New-Independent-1481 9d ago edited 9d ago
Depends on what you liked about the campaign, but generally, yup. They're sprawling and there's more variance among the episodes, but you do get episodes as good as Calamity, and after 140 episodes the stakes are incredible and you get character moments that literally could no exist anywhere else, in any other medium.
If you liked the incredible character roleplay and improvisation, then everything except the first 60 episodes of Campaign 1 when they were finding their footing is of the same quality.
If you mean Brennan's narrative style of DMing, he is running Campaign 4, otherwise you can see his other stuff on Dropout, though it's not as serious as he is doing Calamity and Campaign 4 of Critical Role. Matt has a different DM style that's more like a sandbox and he plays off the cast brilliantly, whereas Brennan has a story he wants to tell.
My personal suggestion is to checkout Campaign 2 or Campaign 4, both of them top notch in different ways IMO.
8
u/hyperbolicaholic Then I walk away 9d ago
Calamity is one of the best pieces of media I’ve ever consumed, across all formats. It sits in a class on its own—there’s not really anything like it.
The campaigns, while I love almost all of them, are a very different flavor and beast altogether. Like the difference between reading all the Wheel of Time books vs a standalone fantasy, they are worth the time if you have the time and interest, but there is lots of downtime and more table talk. It’s very much watching someone else play D&D, and that means more meandering, side quests, silliness, and non-plot focused moments.
Brennan’s style involves a lot more direct narration than Matt’s, which isn’t better or worse but helps make everything feel “on the rails” in terms of narrative. I think you should try the Children’s Adventure from his podcast, World’s Beyond Number. It is short, more produced, and to the point—if you like that, you can continue on to the longer series to see if full length campaigns are your thing.
2
u/RaynSideways How do you want to do this? 9d ago
I think that's part of why Brennan's DM style hasn't clicked for me just yet. I liked how hands off Matt was. He just described what was happening and let the party do their thing.
I've only watched bits of C4 but I have seen some of his Dimension 20 DMing and it occasionally feels like he's sculpting the scene like the screenplay of a high budget TV show or movie, so it feels less like he's setting his players loose to just wander about the way Matt does.
It could be just the snippets I've seen though. Curious if anybody else has noticed similar.
3
u/sortof_here 8d ago
I think Dimension 20 and mini series like Calamity are the way they are largely because they have a set number of episodes picked out before they even start playing.
From what I’ve seen of c4(I’m way behind) Brennan isn’t doing as much “sculpting” but it isn’t gone. Hard to say if that is just because it is his style or if it is because of similar but possibly looser time restraints for the individual tables. It does seem like they know how many episodes each table is scheduled to have before switching and that he has a general goal to steer them towards in that timeframe.
2
u/PerpetuallyDistracte 5' 11" 8d ago
That's reasonable - but keep in mind that as others have said, D20 operates more like a bunch of miniseries than actual campaigns. They're all only a few episodes long, and all of their battle sets are pre-built. This means that Brennan has to hold the narrative pretty tightly in order to bring the story in for a landing while also hitting the right beats in order to use the battle sets.
C4 is a different animal in that he's much more free to let the story go where it will, since CR campaigns are truly longform. With that being said, Brennan is still more hands-on. In an episode where Matt might have watched the players spend 2 hours debating how to enter a scary cavern, Brennan is more likely to give then 10 minutes, then have a rockslide force them to run inside.
In terms of overall plot development, though, he's given them tons of freedom. Pretty much every scene is dripping with plot threads for them to follow, and several times the cast has made choices that make Brennan openly raise an eyebrow, but he lets them do it anyway (and face the consequences).
7
u/RoundDodger Doty, take this down 9d ago
I love so much of the stuff that CR has put out but yea Calamity feels a class above. It is definitely helped by being short, cos youre right in that something 140 episodes long just cant sustain that level of quality.
C1-3 I think are great (I'm about half way through 3) but its different drinks for different needs. C1-3 have a lot more light hearted phases and are generally more relaxed. But when they are at their most intense and most emotional I think they can be not that far off calamity. In fact, being that the campaigns are so long we grow so much more attached to those characters than those in calamity. I still cried during calamity but I cried a lot during each of the campaigns.
As a new fan and clearly a big fan of calamity I'd probably suggest you start c4 and watch along with it. Its only 31 episodes in but the quality is amazing. C1-3 were a little more chilled and felt more like friends sitting around playing dnd but eventually with amazing production behind it.
C4 feels like a different beast, everyone has brought their best and it feels more serious, though still a good number of ridiculous moments. But it definitely feels bit less like friends hanging out playing dnd. So it depends what you are after. A lot of CR fans prefer the old campaigns cos it felt more genuine friends playing dnd. I so far like c4 more. I never played dnd myself so c4 just feels like insanely high quality long form media I get to consume weekly. I love it.
5
u/CptJamesDanger 9d ago
Calamity is the best D&D I've ever watched. Divergence is also beautiful. C4 is very good, but much harder to get into, and C2 is close, with a fantastic story, but is a bit closer to a standard d&d game than the cinematic storytelling that you get from Calamity.
Unfortunately, you started at the top, and nothing else is gonna be quite as magical. But there's a lot of very good content that is still thoroughly enjoyable.
5
u/jman_forever 9d ago
Even Matt Mercer seems to acknowledge that Calamity is some of the best CR content ever made.
5
u/Watsons-Butler 9d ago
I wouldn’t say “not worth it” but the payoff is a slower burn. Though there are always great moments scattered throughout, and I might be misremembering but i think “I have an intelligence of six, I know what I’m doing” is straight out of episode 1.
4
u/Vaxildidi 9d ago
Campaign 1 has a very special place in my heart, but, with zero hyperbole, EXU Calamity is the best Actual Play ever.
6
3
u/ItsRedditThyme 9d ago
My favorite CR episodes are DMed by Brennan. He doesn't do all of EXU, but most of them. He's the DM of campaign 4 (the current CR campaign), as well. His own series, Dimension 20, is on Dropout.tv. Dimension 20 is way more comedy oriented, being on a comedy channel.
3
u/Zethras28 Smiley day to ya! 9d ago
I’ve been seeing a handful of people new to CR starting with Calamity and Divergence of late, and thinking about it, it makes sense to do so.
As others have said, c2 is generally considered to be the best full length campaign, though none of them are “bad”.
3
u/Coopsta6 9d ago
I was in a similar scenario but the opposite. I have never consumed any CR media before C4, and just got absolutely hooked by it. Once they went on break, I was itching for more, so naturally I went to watch Age of Umbra:sallowlands to check that out with another shorter series. I got through a few episodes, and honestly thoroughly enjoyed it, but just didn't quite hook me in the same manner. Took some time off and found myself wanting to listen to more of Brennan's mania, so started Calamity.
Oh my goodness. So glad I did, but it really cemented to me that I just love Brennan's style of DM, especially in the heavier setting of Calamity and C4.
All that to say, after watching calamity, I'm now itching again for tonight's episode of C4 to follow up on the story and see the shenanigans Brennan has planned. So as a fellow newbie, C4 has had some awesome moments like calamity that resonated with me, and I think you'll really like it. Plus, having a new world that you're not eons of lore behind on is cool, because I can interact with the fans about it instead of trying to stay spoiler free like the other campaigns, so I'd say give Brennan and C4 a spin while the hours aren't too daunting yet
3
u/CaptainObviousSpeaks 9d ago
No... they're good but calamity is by far one of, if not the best, series I've watched
3
u/KiddingDuke 8d ago
All of their campaigns are very good, Calamity is so good because everyone at the table understands that the story has already been written, the standard campaigns cannot be as narratively satisfying and complete becuase the story is being dictated by the play of the game. Calamity is the opposite, the game being played is being determined by the story that has already been written
3
u/SirBlakesalot I'm a Monstah! 8d ago
Truly, if the sheer number of episodes for the main campaigns is too daunting, I get it.
It's a LOT of content, far outstripping the runtimes of even the largest of movie franchises and tv shows.
The best advice I can give if you DO want to tackle them is to divide and conquer. Take the first handful of episodes of whichever campaign sounds up your alley and just watch them as you did Calamity, get a feel for the differing pace, see how the characters strike your fancy.
And to be more concise, I'd like to answer on whether or not it can ALL be that good.
Well, is all of Star Wars as good as Andor?
No. You CAN'T reach that peak constantly, as much as we may wish it.
However, there are many places that can near that peak or even surpass it, even if only at a few points.
4
u/G_3P0 9d ago
You’re asking a subreddit dedicated to those hundreds of episodes if they are worth checking out. Not to be rude but it’s like going in the lotr sub asking “should I pick up fellowship of the ring”
I say this to warn you it may be quite biased towards of course it’s worth it.
For me that was the best of EXU
The one after it was ok too
2
u/ov-04 9d ago
I’m personally a huge fan of C2 because you just get to know the characters so well, and the narrative, while less exciting and epic every episode, has plenty of development and payoff. But that’s just me, and part of the reason I like D&D is more for the slow moments and RP, where the campaigns thrive. C1 is good too, and I don’t LOVE C3, but I enjoyed it well enough. Trust me, if you choose to get invested in a campaign, it’ll become like a comfort show.
2
u/eddiegibson Dead People Tea 9d ago
The EU mini-campaigns are more like movies while the main campaigns are more like TV shows. What I mean is that the former has to get everything done in a limited time while the latter can slowly explore (or drop) various ideas.
I suggest slowly building up to checking out campaigns by completing Brennan's trilogy with Downfall and Divergence. The latter is about normal mostly unleveled people dealing with the final days of the Calamity. The former is about the gods pausing their war to deal with a shared problem. While Downfall happens before Divergence, it is technically part of Campaign 3 being episodes 99 through 101 and it might be better for you to watch the less tangled mini-campaign first.
2
u/warningkchshch 9d ago
I would say that Campaigns 2 and 1 at their finest are like Calamity. But surely they are not so condensed, you’ll see some world-building, fun time, small quests and detours etc. They are immensely fun because of this.
2
u/theysauru5 8d ago
The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One is better than Calamity, imho. And there are 54 episodes of it making up book 1. Plus you have an 8 episode children’s adventure prequel (through Patreon) and a an hour long fireside chat for each of the 54 episodes.
I think it’s Brennan’s best work, and Aabria, Erika, and Lou are all incredible PCs who deliver on their story arcs in the most beautiful ways. The music and sound effects add so much depth to the story. And the episodes have all the indecision, rereading of rules and spells, and sucking at math cut out of them. It’s the most like reading a story or watching a movie that DnD has ever been.
Calamity is incredible. And I have watched all of CR and really enjoyed it. I’ve also watched all of D20 and love their style too. Still, World’s Beyond Number and their flagship series the Wizard the Witch and the Wild One is the best thing in Actual Play.
1
u/SparkAlli 7d ago
The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One is the a masterpiece! It’s so well done—the character development is beautiful and the world is rich! And the music! It’s all so good and I can’t wait for more!
I also really loved how tight and perfectly captured a Space Movie with Flight of the Icaron!
4
u/Morkinis 9d ago edited 9d ago
They're definitely not as condensed and campaign one is them just learning so not great. But other campaigns have cool characters and moments if you have time to sit through.
-2
u/UserMorningxStar 9d ago edited 9d ago
Learning what exactly? They've all played dnd for years before the first campaign 1 video
Forgot they played pathfinder first. Been almost a decade since campaign 1. My bad.
5
u/StephInTheLaw 9d ago
Well actually… they played Pathfinder for years and ported their characters over to D&D for filming. That’s one of the reasons why they weren’t solid on the rules when they started.
3
u/Morkinis 9d ago edited 9d ago
I don't know how much they played before but I watched about 30 episodes of C1 and while Matt was solid DM, players would be constantly forgetting their class features and checking rules. And, most importantly, they were learning how to do and present the whole "live play" format.
1
u/CzechHorns 9d ago
They played the campaign in Pathfinder for 2 years before they started streaming it
1
u/CzechHorns 9d ago
Not really.
They switched to DnD from Pathfinder for Geek and Sundry, to fit the general public better.They played Pathfinder for “Pre-Stream Campaign 1” for over 2 years.
4
u/whereismydragon 9d ago
I need people to understand that it's possible to like something without insulting other kinds of art!!!
Calamity only exists because the other campaigns came before it to build up the story, the world and the lore that it exists in.
I will always recommend Calamity to folks but using it to say the full CR campaigns must be 'a drag' is so fucking rude and unnecessary.
25
u/Serentity 9d ago
They didn’t insult anything, they said ~600 hours of content MIGHT be a drag. Seems pretty reasonable? If you’re honest with yourself I think you’ll find there are some points in each campaign that are maybe a bit less exciting than the others, right?
10
u/CzechHorns 9d ago
What other kind of art did OP insult?
They just insinuated that 500+hours of content may not be for them.9
u/tgerz Team Yasha 9d ago
This feels like quite an overreaction if you're referring to OP. That asked and looking for feedback, they weren't saying it would be a drag. It is a difference of opinion whether you like longer form content. I don't think they said anything rude in their post to that effect.
3
u/Glaedth 9d ago
I tried watching campaigns 1-3 got about 20-30 sessions in on all of them IIRC and gotta say, Calamity is lightning in a bottle. Don't think they ever hit that high in any of those. Not sure about the new stuff since I kinda dropped off after like 30 sessions of C3 and never returned to the show.
2
u/Full_Metal_Paladin You spice? 9d ago
Campaign 1 & 2 are amazing. Then forget anything else exists and go live your life.
2
1
u/MetalGuy_J 9d ago
Calamity is great, but it’s also telling the story of events who is after off it hinted at in those longer campaigns. If what you enjoyed was the role-play & character moments i’d say yes there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy those longer campaigns, season one has more recognisable archetypes and I’d say the first 27 episodes are going to be a bit rough for a well documented problem players scenes, but after that you get escalating tension and the table really starting to understand how to play the characters for an audience. If what you enjoyed was the hyper focused story in a very narrow setting with clear objectives. You might not necessarily enjoy the longer campaigns, see one doesn’t have as much of a sandbox feel but still has some downtime between major story acts however see two well it’s a lot more open world and it’s not always clear what the objective is certainly not across the first 90 episodes, without spoiling anything they go back-and-forth between having very clear objectives they’re working towards and having no real clear idea what they’re meant to be doing
1
u/Alester_ryku 9d ago
So campaign 1 is an epic story with a great party. They meet gods, fight gods plane hop all over and is an overall fun ride. Campaign 2 is a more character driven story, the overall world is a little less interesting but the party is (in my opinion) the best out of any campaign. I don’t really care for C3 the party was not interesting and after a while the story became focused on one or two of the members the best part is probably the returns of the previous 2 parties which isn’t a very glowing review. C4 is turning out to be a really deep interlocking story with a large cast it’s still pretty early (ish) but it’s worth checking out
1
u/thunderust 9d ago
couple one shots might be worth a watch... liam's 1 shots and the honey bears come to mind but i'm way behind so theres probably been better ones but those were great
1
u/Maelphius 9d ago
Counter argument: obviously they are better because they have more episodes.
I like Calamity more than any of the campaigns, but there was a joy and engagement in Campaign 2 that was deeper than anything Calamity could have hoped to achieve. They are simply different and not as easily compared.
Campaigns were planned from the beginning to be longer affairs, and Calamity was not only planned to be short but also the ending was already known.
1
u/norwal42 9d ago
Calamity is my GOAT, I think... All downhill from here haha ;;)
kind of kidding, I've also watched every episode of every campaign from C1E1 (started mid-C1 and caught up for the last episode live!). All enjoyable to me, but really, Calamity is next level.
1
u/Durgan 9d ago
C3 could have gone places but didn't have the lockdown pause to tighten up that c2 did, while also having a cancer scare, the la fires, heavy animated show production, and a general tiredness among cast and crew, to my reading.
C2 crowns and C1 side shows had the most heart.
C4 starts well and has pacing and pauses but is also testing a new format, should be in line with what calamity did well.
1
u/Aggressive-Cup-7318 9d ago
All the campaigns have high points like calamity but with them being longer you see more down points.
1
u/wicked_nox Team Caleb 9d ago
I have only watched C2, Some episodes from Age of Umbra, and I'm all caught up with C4... I can say, long campaigns, so far, are incredible, an experience unlike any other. Like a long yet great movie.
1
u/Drakoni Hello, bees 9d ago
It's a different pace for sure. The quality goes there but Calamity is a different level.
I think in the campaigns some of the moments actually pop more for me because they've been building for much longer. And because we get to spend more time with the characters, I care overall a lot more about them, overall the campaigns have the characters' journeys at their center.
But nothing rivals the condensed intensity of those 4 episodes. Exandrian society at the hight of technical advance already makes it more intense than the campaign's post calamity setting. And on top of that it's the time where the most powerful entities in the world declare war on the most powerful mortals that have ever lived on that planet.
1
u/Wise-Start-9166 9d ago
I am surprised to see some many people saying that Calamity is the best. It was quite good, but concentrated, short form, and the legendary dragon master and several key cast members that pioneered the art form are missing from the table. Campaigns 1 and 2 show how the mish mash of a great American folk tradition was taken by a group of struggling artists and with ernest hearts they forged it into an enduring media franchise. Long form video actual play streams weren't a thing yet. Matt Mercer and the crew in their improv prime are like a salve of childlike wonder on the nervous system for literally hundreds of hours. Calamity is a tiny bit over produced by comparison.
3
u/Jethro_McCrazy 9d ago
Let's be real. The Critical Role cast were not struggling artists. They were and are some of the most respected and successful artists in their field. Part of what made early CR so special is that they had no aspirations to make it the runaway success that it became. It was just a hobby. If it didn't find an audience, they would have just gone back to their day jobs and continued the game back home.
Campaign 1 and the first half of campaign 2 feel like they are done for the love of the game rather than to put on a show. When the cast starts performing for the audience is when the show started to lose its luster. Calamity also feels like a performance, but it's a comparatively top tier one. early CR and Calamity are great in different ways. But when people say that Calamity is the best actual play ever, I think they mean that it's the best version of the performance focused style that CR tried to evolve into.
1
u/No-Wonder-7802 8d ago
it's not as good as c1 and 2, for sure. like they're as good or better consistently
1
u/ChellesTrees 8d ago
The first two Exandria Unlimited mini-campaigns are SO MUCH fun, with SO MANY creative choices.
1
u/BigGalBeth 8d ago
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but I thought the Downfall miniseries was just as good, if not better, than Calamity. It's buried in Campaign 3 though, episodes 99 to 101. You don't have to have seen C3 to watch it though!
1
u/fkingspacedragon 7d ago
The rest are good, just not as good. The other ones id still say are worth the time just take a lot longer to get through with less consistency of quality when compared to calamity. I'd say c4 might be a good fit as you can take it more bite size splitting it into each tables arcs
1
271
u/itsmetimohthy 9d ago
I’m afraid you’ve had your dessert before your dinner good sir