The fact that the VAs are the actual players of these characters, I think, is one of the reasons why this works. They know these characters backwards and forwards, they know how they feel during certain scenes and moments. And to have them know them on such an intimate and deep level, theyre able to give their characters a soul. Even when watching the campaign on twitch or youtube, you dont hear a role player at the table. The characters come to life and its like theyre the ones at the table
_The Legend of Vox Machina_ is the best illustration I've seen for the difference between _plot_ and _story._ They're adjusting the _plot_ for a smoother narrative flow, and to fit better into a different medium, for the purpose of telling the same _story._ It doesn't matter so much if they shuffle around specific details like where and when _exactly_ something happened, if the changes are in service of allowing the same characters to experience the same emotional journey, and it incidentally smooths out some of the bumpy character arcs that inevitably resulted from the unplanned, cooperatively improvised storytelling.
There were small moments from Vox Machina that I thought were handled "better" in the campaign, but that is not to say the way they handled it in the show were bad by any means. It is 100% a personal thing, it doesn't change the story, it doesn't change the overall experience in any way.
@@PlayYourRole Something I think that is really cool and is very representative of the TTRPG dynamic of The Legend of Vox Machina is that it is *slightly* different and more "connected", like you said in the video. I personally like to believe that the reason this version of the story is a bit different than how it "actually" played out is because this is Scanlan's retelling of their story. In the wrap-up episode of the campaign, Sam Riegal said himself that Scalan would have eventually settled and put their legend in writing for bards to sing of their journey - the good and the bad - for years to come. I like to think that "The Legend of Vox Machina" is our *animated* recreation of the story he wrote... which of course is going to fluff up some things to make them 'cooler' for the taverns and cut other things that 'were not as important'.
As much as I loved the Kevdak fight, I wish they would have kept the "Do you also squat when you piss now?" line from the campaign. I have never laughed that hard at CR up until that moment
What I love about the reception to LoVM is that not only were people generally not complaining about faithfulness to the source material, but some fans actually said that they should deviate a little for the sake of story. The best part is that it seems like they listened! A lot of people wanted more Pike in season 1 as the same scheduling conflicts that prohibited Ashley from attending sessions of critical role didn’t apply anymore. And wouldn’t you know it, she’s a pretty big part of season 2.
The ability to sift through hundreds of hours of gameplay and reorder the events, take things that were spur of the moment and litter them through earlier scenes as foreshadowing, it has so much impact. The campaigns become huge first drafts primed for refinement.
You made some excellent points regarding the emotions being the important part of the story. So far I think my favorite example has to be with Scanlan. I won't spoil the storyline, but it's possibly the best adaptation I've seen for a character with so much to struggle with. I remember having to watch C1 3 or 4 times before really understanding Scanlan's story, and the LOVM so far has done an amazing job of getting the audience to care about him.
I personally thought that Scanlan arc was the least likable part of the 2 seasons. But that was because I have an interpretation of C1 Scanlan that is not in-line with LOVM's version. I saw him as a competent and intelligent gnome that always play the role of the fool. A classic "What you are in the dark trope". The second he is out of everyone's sight, he surgically executes Scanbo. Not to mention, he did the legendary move in the final battle. He was already competent and his arc was more about how he self-sabotages due to having no sense of self worth LOVM decides to make him an ACTUAL incompetent fool. This is shown by making him fumble through Scanbo scene surviving mostly because of luck. It's clear that they are going to make his arc about starting as a loser and gradually becoming a badass. Well, to me he was already a badass. It does not feel like the C1 Scanlan. I am aware that what I say next is pedantic as f*ck: This is not an adaptation of his C1 arc. To me, it's instead a complete reinvention of his arc. The new framing is great and I love it. It's just that the C1 version felt more nuanced and interesting to me. So I do feel a bit mixed about this comparatively simpler direction.
@@yiklongtay6029 What killed me was how they nerfed his meeting with his daughter. That speech Sam gave, it was so good, they could have just cut and pasted it into the show. The one they gave us however was just so blah. Its what it would have been without Sam's silver tongue.
@@kitkami It's a good point. Both Scan and Sam have been really consistent with their persuasion checks. But all he get in LOVM is insults for saying crude things.... EDIT: I kind of changed my mind. If we are streamlining the characters to make their main appealing arc be more pronounced and comprehensive, perhaps making him less capable of persuading people with his silver tongue can help magnify the ramifications of his bad choices. At the expense of some of the character nuance... This is kind of a reasonable change. It is at least functional
Scanlan is my favorite character in C1 and even though I'm really enjoying how he's being treated in the show I think that changing where he meets Kaylie to Westruun was what most undermined this part of the story, the amount of reflection he had to make between meeting her and then being worried for her after the conclave's attack to then making the promise that lead to A Bard's Lament. There's a good amount of nuance and introspection lost with that simple change in my opinion
One thing about adaptations - seems the better ones tend to have the original creators involved in some ways. I think LoVM benefits not only from having all the cast involved in the writing, but that fact that animators and crew get schooled on about the characters. Its basically not just Matt telling everything about the characters, but they're getting Liam's thoughts on Vax, Travis's thoughts on Grog, etc. Then throw in the fact that these are VOICE ACTORS who have spent their careers behind the mic, mostly with dubbing, so many of them also WROTE scripts as well. This isn't just some wildly popular Twitch show/game that just happened to get made into a tv show, with randos trying to give their version of it (say the Witcher TV show), its literally being made by people who were apart of it and by a crew that loves the source material.
Also, they've all adapted across medium before. And successfully, I might add. They're, literally, all successful Actors, Directors, and Writers across mediums. The know what they're doing. They also, unlike the vast majority of Entertainment today, value the story above all else. They are all storytellers of the highest order.
I hold the belief that between the original podcast, the comics, the show - with all the changes that had to occur over the years; Legends is a separate timeline from the original podcast. Because certain events - certain changes were made, that changed the course of events.
I think you nailed it on its head on why tlovm is so successful and a good translation from ttrpg to animated show. That being said I'm so fucking excited how they'll tackle m9 bc how much their story and each member's storylines really resonated with people on such a deep emotional level.
honestly, even with adaptations like books to movies and such, I think the same applies. So many people get caught up in thinking being a word for word translation is what it means to be faithful to the original work, but its not! Capturing the spirit, the emotion, the ideas and themes, that's what it means to make a faithful adaptation. Those notable failures aren't failures 'cause they don't do everything the exact same, they're failures because they fail to capture the spirit of the original. Things always have to change, that's just the nature of moving a story from one medium to another, its why they're called adaptations!
I definitely found myself appreciating some changes more than others. I felt like reducing Scanlan, the most versatile spellcaster in the group, to a guy who uses the same spell 9 times out of 10 and rarely succeeds at anything he tries with it was a bad call but that's just me. I also much preferred the game's version of Kraven Edge, it didn't control Grog at all, just tempted him to make bad decisions. And the fact that it ended by literally killing him was such a great, impactful moment to me.
One change that I thought worked extremely well involved Percy and Vex. --SPOILERS-- In the original campaign, Percy dropping the title on Vex in front of her father was this awesome moment. Everyone cheered, Syldor gave him a look of respect, and Percy got to drop the mic. Which is why I wondered why they decided to change Syldor's reaction in the show. Then, last night, during my own D&D game, I had a similar moment. One of my players had made the decision to keep his mother (a ruthless power-hungry elf) dead rather than resurrect her, for the good of the family. His father, understandably, was pissed off as hell and secretly stole the ring finger and wedding ring of said mother to resurrect her. This led to a confrontation between the character and the father that culminated in some very hurtful things being said by the father. . . and I couldn't do it. I've had my own issues with my own Dad, and in the middle of this scene, I had to switch from first-person acting as Lord Aegolar to narrating his actions as the Dungeon Master, or else I would just have a breakdown at the table. All love to Matt Mercer, he's a fantastic dungeon master, but I have noticed that he often has trouble playing as unrelenting bastards. Maybe it's because he himself is pretty empathetic, but when Syldor was pushed by Vex and Vax in the campaign, he folded and admitted to his faults. This was probably the right way to play it in a tabletop game, where everyone is friends and things are very personal, but with the added distance that the show provides, it feels like the creators felt like they could make Syldor just the WORST and keep it professional. Campaign Syldor would apologize for his own prejudices or give Percy grudging respect for his actions: Show Syldor will double down and hold to his own prejudices even further and think he's right. That Syldor wouldn't give Percy grudging respect for showing him up: that Syldor would lash out even harder because he feels he's being mocked or made a fool of. Which led to the scene having a very different impact: rather than it being Percy's badass moment, it feels more like Percy imagined a "And then everyone clapped" moment tumblr-style, and it didn't land. . . and then just as Percy is feeling humiliated and defeated, Vex steps in and defends him. I do miss the original moment, but I'm looking forward to a scene in a later season where we double down on the "No, she really is Baroness of Whitestone, fucker!" and Percy and Vex tango away giving Syldor the middle finger.
I think it had less to do with Matt not being able to play a cold-hearted bastard to his friends and more the difference in the narrative. In the Campaign, that scene wasn't roleplayed during Vex and Vax's first visit to Syngorn since they ran away. They had been back, at least, once before. So Syldor realizing how much of a bastard he had been to his children made sense in the Campaign. Having Syldor be more receptive to the actual Lord of Whitestone bequeathing an Official Noble Title to Vex in the Campaign made a lot of sense because by that time, he had already begun his self-reflection and begun to foster actual love for the twins. In the Animated Series, when Vox Machina go to Syngorn in the Fey Realm, that's the first time that Vex and Vax had returned to Syngorn since they ran in the flashbacks. It wouldn't have made sense for Syldor to be less of a bastard with that set up. If anything, since it had been far longer in the Animated Series since Syldor last saw his children and the last time he saw them, Vax was reading him the riot act and basically told him to fuck off, it makes complete sense that he would still see them as disappointments and that he wouldn't believe a word anyone associated with them would say about them, regardless of their Social Status. So Syldor seeing right through Percy's intent behind the legit bequeathing of a Noble Title to Vex makes a whole lot of sense. "I don't care that you ARE an actual Lord and that you have, legitimately, given my daughter a Noble Title. You aren't giving her that title because she's earned it. You are giving it to her to grandstand and shove it in my face. Fuck Off You Little Pissant! I've been around a LOT longer than you and I see right through you!" I've seen, and been in, discussions where people believe that the Campaign version of the scene gave Percy's proclamation more bite. I disagree. I think both versions had the same amount of bite. The difference was in the purpose of Percy's actions. In the Campaign, it was Percy giving the middle finger to Syldor. Nothing more. Nothing less. And it worked because he said those words to a Father who was ready to admit he was wrong and who was looking for a reason to admit it. Percy gave him that reason. In the Animated Series, it served two purposes. The first was the ongoing saga of "Percy the Ineffectual Lord of Whitestone," that sometimes his status isn't enough. The second was giving Vex the necessary impetus to tell her Father to fuck off. And, I believe, to add more bite to Percy's proclamation, since Syldor was going to immediately tell him to piss off, was for Percy to add the word "noble" at the end of it. It was a very subtle change to the line, but one that, I think, made all the difference. In the Campaign, the end of Percy's line is, "despite your relationship, do watch you behavior." In the Animated Series, they changed it to, "despite your relationship, do watch your behavior... around a noble." That last "around a noble" was the dagger to Syldor's throat that, in my opinion, gave the actual line more bite than it did in the Campaign which makes up for the lack of impact in the payoff, balancing out the entire scene. The minute he said, "around a noble," I was like, "oh damn, Percy just took a shot across the bow of Syldor's ego." Basically, with that one addition, Percy is now telling Syldor that, not only does Vex have a title of high status, but that she is, in fact, a noble, which places her at a higher Social Status than Syldor. Percy is basically, outright, telling Syldor, "Vex is better than you. Suck It!" Which adds to why Syldor refused to capitulate. Not only did Syldor see through Percy's intent, but his ego (especially the Animated Series Syldor) would never allow him to admit that he is of lesser social status than his half-breed daughter. Now don't get me wrong, the mic drop moment in the Campaign was glorious, but honestly, I think having Vex, literally, telling Syldor to fuck off was far more satisfying and had far more bite than Percy doing the mic drop.
@@ForeverDegenerate I kinda agree, but... ;) You see, that little addition of "towards a noble" is a change that I didn't like as much, because formerly, Percy was telling Syldor that he's a bastard without manners, period. So the campaign version had more zing to it for me, personally. Regardless, it's a cool scene, and of course Velora's innocent "What does 'fuck you' mean?" is just the cherry on top XD Poor Devana...
@@ForeverDegenerate That's definitely part of it as well. We see that super clearly in the romantic subplots, where the characters' relationships are progressing at different speeds than they did in the campaign so it wouldn't make sense for a scene to hit the exact same emotional beat that it did in the original. I'll add yet another difference, which is that the show is better at setting up an idea in one scene and paying it off in a different one. That's really difficult to do in the campaign. When Vox Machina leaves Syldor in the campaign, Matt doesn't know if they'll ever bump into him again. Or if they do, it will be dozens of hours down the line, which makes it super hard to start a storyline that won't resolve until the next time they see each other. So Matt is much more likely to cash out the emotional payoff right away to give the players the catharsis and make sure there isn't a thread left dangling. In the show, they don't have to do this because there isn't the uncertainty about when, if ever, this topic will come up again. They can make sure it comes up by writing it into a future episode. Both the campaign and the show introduce the idea that Syldor disrespects Vex, who craves his approval, in this scene, but the campaign gives a (partial) resolution right away with Syldor giving respect, while the show delays gratification all the way until after the Saundor fight, where Vex can have the realization that she shouldn't be chasing Syldor's approval at all. Or, a much more impactful example, in the campaign Earthbreaker Groon asking Grog, "Where do you find your strength" happens in the same scene that Grog eventually gives the answer. It's completely self-contained. But in the show the scene ends with no resolution, which makes it far less impactful in the moment, but it's used to define Grog's character journey for the entire rest of the season.
@@johnclikeman5041 You make a very good point. I hadn't even considered the whole "they may not see this NPC again" aspect of TTRPGs. Especially when it comes to non-central NPCs like Syldor. And Matt has said, more than once, that he, as the DM, is there for his players. The stories he weaves and tells and the arcs he sends his players' characters on are all for his players' benefit. So you are absolutely right in that if he felt Syldor might not show up again, Matt would give some sort of resolution by the end of that encounter, if nothing else, for Laura (and, to a lesser extent, Liam). Despite not agreeing with all of their narrative choices for the Animated Series, I've said it before and I'll keeping saying it: Critical Role are all Masters of Storytelling. They've said themselves on multiple occasions: story is everything to them. And it is this love of storytelling that has propelled them into its mastery and has led to all of them having great success in adaptation across mediums in all aspects: Acting, Directing, and Writing. The fact that LoVM didn't win any awards for 2022 is blasphemous. If Season 2 doesn't when any awards for 2023, that will be a travesty.
@@johnclikeman5041 You mentioning this payoff aspect reminded me of another relationship that ended relatively well in the show but was rocky in the series: Scanlan and his daughter. In the campaign they are on amicable terms and even see each other a couple more times after that story beat, but on the animation she is still mad at him by the time they separate.
The Last of Us's episode 3 is a master class example of this. Effectively using the new medium to tell a radically different version of the story, which wouldn't have worked in the original medium, that still manages to convey the same lessons and achieve the same impact on the characters in a way that doesn't just work.. but actually compliments and enriches the original. Honestly there were really only two things I thought could have been tweaked in the season 2; First being shifting Zhara away from being an antagonist with Vex's death/resurrection and just having the Onlooker be a monster found naturally in the temple the same way the Beholder was in the original stream. Zhara effectively attacking VM using the beast as an ambush was just kind of silly idea with really muddled logic and reasoning behind it. The other being making Vex's episode with Saundor and her father it's own full episode story the way episode 9 focused purely on Grogs. The show actually did Saundor better than the campaign I think, but dedicating the full episode to it without a B plot would have let them dig a little more into the interesting ways Saundor could needle her father issues.
I think that the key difference between Legends of Vox Machina and other adaptations that get lambasted is the fact that it keeps the spirit of the source material. Like you said, Vox Machina makes changes to the events that occurred in the campaign but it keeps the emotions behind the events the same. Unlike the Percy Jackson movie which can rot in Tartarus.
I was nervous before the first season came out because I feel like VM is the most difficult piece of media that anyone has tried to adapt. Like, it's one thing to adapt a book or video game to film or a series but TTRPG's are a whole other beast. Now, I'm pretty sure that VM is the best adaptation I've seen. I think everyone expected them to change things but I've been so impressed with how faithful it feels despite all the necessary changes. This is what everyone hopes for when their favorite book, etc is adapted to a movie, but so rarely get.
It helps a lot that, as I understand it, all the actors of Critical Roll are involved in the scriptwriting process to some degree. They know what the real emotional beats are and what's important. I remember a Q&A sort of thing the group did where they talked about how for season 1 they found it a bit difficult to deviate and change how the story went for the Briarwood Arc, but after that success and going through the process once, they were more at ease with making changes for season two, knowing what emotional and plot beats to keep the same, and how to adjust the rest to support those moments with the tighter narrative the show format demanded. The Critical Roll team and the animation team behind the show seem to have an amazing working relationship in translating the tabletop to the screen, which is helping a lot with that feeling of "faithfulness"; it's not solely an outside perspective rendering their interpretation (often recolored/recontextualized with how they would have done it instead), but the original creators are facilitating the translation. They understand what's important, what fans expect, and by extension what things the fans will accept being changed to support the more important beats that shouldn't be changed.
Obviously any adaptation of a story from one medium to another is going to require changes to be made as each medium has different expectation and limitation, they each tell different kinds of stories. But it definitely helps when the original creators are the one adapting their own stories. They understand the emotional beats. And I think that is what sometimes goes wrong with adaptation - not understsnding how to translate the emotional beats from one nedium to the next. I am finding the various adaptation of Critical Roll, from live play to comic to animation to novelization, just so facintating. And it's been kind of fun to watch the show with my friends and explain to her how each emotional beat went originally. While I spent all those hours watching every moment of ever live play, my friend doesn't have the fortitude (or insanity, lol) to do the same. She's been listening for years about the story progresses and I've played her clips of highlights of the show, but the animated series was the first time she could really experience the story for herself. She does find it interesting knowing what happened originally, but I know she'll never sit and watch it all. But ultimately, she's still getting the same story I did, only more condensed and streamlined. The Vox Machina I knew is still the same one she's getting to see. And that's pretty amazing.
Many bad adaptations have moments that are trying to show the exact same thing that happened in the original, but without the proper set up or understanding of why it's important those scenes don't land. Even worse, they may show the opposite of what the original intended. On the other hand, good adaptations are those that understand what the story is trying to convey, and are willing to make some changes to what happens to properly deliver that message. That's why you need people who understand and are passionate about the original story.
And any of the changes that did feel strange honestly don't irk me because the crew always have such rationale behind them. Stuff like Dr Dranzel not catching up with Scanlan because they wanted the scene to focus on Scanlan and Kaylie meeting instead. It's all so intentional and with the intent of making it the best CR show they could. I have no complaints.
One tangentially related thing I noticed when watching this video, was how much more I felt pike's wound in the original show. The slow buildup as the players realize what has happened is really something unique to the table, and being able to see their reactions as their suspisions are confirmed is something imposible to translate to film. That being said, having pike's action recontextuallised as a hail mary really helped to sell the emotion of the scene, and I really appreciate the animators taking their time to let the audience sit with the reactions. Sure, the show might not be able to afford to stretch out the litteral minutes of buildup those six in-game secconds contained, but I'm pretty sure this is the next best thing. (Although it does make me wonder if VM's story might have worked better as a series of (audio) books)
Emotion. It's why I play TTRPG's (Speaking of one that has tons of emotion, I suggest everyone play Alice Is Missing. It's so good.) Emotion is why I also play video games, or watch movies and tv shows. Whether the emotion is one of laughter, fear, happiness, and even sadness, it's what drives a story forward. It's what captures you and reels you in. It's the heart of every existing well thought out story. Your videos themselves Jay, give me emotion. Thank you for every single video, whether short or long, that you put out. You are a beacon of light in this sometimes dark world. Another fantastic video!
1:30 Good point. We have some shows where changes are bad, some shows where there is no changes, and finally the show where the changes were made well.
Just need a good team to adapt anything. Jurassic Park is vastly different from the book, but is still one of the most iconic blockbusters of all time. I think The Last of Us did a similarly good job. Not a perfect shot for shot, but they adapt what mattered, the moments and messages from the source
For me, I see it as similar as adapting a real-life event. Real life doesn't have themes, but a story does, so if you immortalise an event and people using a story and the characters based on them, you have to make a few changes.
While they did adapt the story nicely in terms of changes made. I do feel Legend of Vox ends up feeling more rushed and flat when it comes to pacing and honestly think they could have taken things slower. S2 is much better at it's pacing but while the change with stabbing Pike is better, the entire craven edge story kinda just happens and then is quickly resolved. This can be said for most plot points in the show imo. The size of the cast doesn't help in this regard either. To enjoy the show I feel I need to just stop caring about the story and enjoy the smaller moments. I can still remember my feelings and how strong it hit emotionally seeing the stream live. I have only been mildly entertained so far in both seasons and none of that was from the plot
Yeah the big difference from Vox Machina and other adaptions is it's being adapted mostly if not completely by the same people as the original, who have way more control and can thus keep things to the story's main beats. I think there's also less "they did it better in the original" because, let's be honest, the original was much more laid back and game-like than a book or video game that goes through many edits. That's just the nature of impromptu storytelling via a dice game. The other players could even tell what was going on as Matt started narrating. Just like Matt, they knew the Cleric would get stabbed somehow, just not exactly. When writing for an animated series, you aren't waiting for a goodish moment to drop that kind of bombshell, you KNOW when it's happening because you're dictacting ALL of the lead up. As such, you can choose to do so at the most optimal time for the drama to take hold of the audience.
I do wonder if they'll get into Vax's and Vex's mom being connected to Thordak. I remember in the show that being a huge deal, in many ways on par to Keyleth's hatred for Raishan. However, it worries me they haven't alluded to her death at all or even mentioned some sort of city disaster that took her life. I just don't want the fight with Thordak to come up and they go "Oh yeah, by the way-" Or worse, they don't mention it at all.
The thing i found a bit odd, is how they changed the timeline of the group going to the Feywild, cause they went there AFTER fighting Umbrasyl, and we dont get to see that wonderfull moment when Percy and Grog dont remember anything that happened in the Feywild, but beyond that i agree with everything they did :V
My biggest disappointment was....(spoilers) When Scanlan found out about his daughter. They cut out the speech Sam gave about her being a part of him. I'm ok with them changing the fact it happened at a totally different time and place but that speech was just so good, so full of emotion. I don't know why they would not have put it in there. Their meeting was just so blah without it.
It’s possible they’re saving that for later. It would certainly be better to do so from a narrative standpoint, since it lets him digest what he learned and arrive at that conclusion after some time. But I could be wrong, of course.
My Dm have never seen CR but he did watch LOVM and he could tell , some times , what kind of rools they had .he feel in love with LOVM not becose of his understanding of what hapend in game But becuse of the story ! Which i agree with CR are giving us storis yes ther are roles some bad some good how ever its as if they spin the storis of ther charecters acordingly respecting the dice the rols and at the same time respecting ther charecters. Think of this if Sam would have used the wish as he wonted to we would not have the amazing wish at vex weading , and to go forther (no spoilers )what has happend in c3 eps 51 😉
I definitely think the story of critical roll was way better. A lot of times I will wonder why they cut something or moved up the feywild. But I understand different mediums need different adaptions.
Watching S2 of LoVM, about halfway through. Played TTRPG's for years, but I *really* dislike watching CR, so I never went back and saw S1. I immensely enjoyed S1 of LoVM, but thus far I've found S2 underwhelming (I've gotten to the volcano episode.) You can just *feel* the DnDness of it all... meh, hope it isn't just me.
peoppe have no ground toncomplain on if they do complain. the people who made critical role are directly involved with the entire created of legends of vox machina. you cant get mad about it not being faithful when the people who wrote (or in this case, played) it are the ones making the adaptations.
The pacing of the first episode was bad for me. They turned what was a tragedy and a horror into a spectacle and action indulgence. It felt like really immature story telling rather than what we usually see with Matt
The thousand yard stare players get when they realize their backstories are connected is something special to TTRPGs
The fact that the VAs are the actual players of these characters, I think, is one of the reasons why this works. They know these characters backwards and forwards, they know how they feel during certain scenes and moments. And to have them know them on such an intimate and deep level, theyre able to give their characters a soul. Even when watching the campaign on twitch or youtube, you dont hear a role player at the table. The characters come to life and its like theyre the ones at the table
_The Legend of Vox Machina_ is the best illustration I've seen for the difference between _plot_ and _story._ They're adjusting the _plot_ for a smoother narrative flow, and to fit better into a different medium, for the purpose of telling the same _story._ It doesn't matter so much if they shuffle around specific details like where and when _exactly_ something happened, if the changes are in service of allowing the same characters to experience the same emotional journey, and it incidentally smooths out some of the bumpy character arcs that inevitably resulted from the unplanned, cooperatively improvised storytelling.
There were small moments from Vox Machina that I thought were handled "better" in the campaign, but that is not to say the way they handled it in the show were bad by any means. It is 100% a personal thing, it doesn't change the story, it doesn't change the overall experience in any way.
If anything, it's kind of cool to have so many different kinds of ways to experience the same story
@@PlayYourRole Something I think that is really cool and is very representative of the TTRPG dynamic of The Legend of Vox Machina is that it is *slightly* different and more "connected", like you said in the video. I personally like to believe that the reason this version of the story is a bit different than how it "actually" played out is because this is Scanlan's retelling of their story. In the wrap-up episode of the campaign, Sam Riegal said himself that Scalan would have eventually settled and put their legend in writing for bards to sing of their journey - the good and the bad - for years to come. I like to think that "The Legend of Vox Machina" is our *animated* recreation of the story he wrote... which of course is going to fluff up some things to make them 'cooler' for the taverns and cut other things that 'were not as important'.
I feel this. The Infamous Scanbo scene was amazing in both versions, but I have to admit that I enjoyed the campaign version a little more.
As much as I loved the Kevdak fight, I wish they would have kept the "Do you also squat when you piss now?" line from the campaign. I have never laughed that hard at CR up until that moment
What I love about the reception to LoVM is that not only were people generally not complaining about faithfulness to the source material, but some fans actually said that they should deviate a little for the sake of story. The best part is that it seems like they listened! A lot of people wanted more Pike in season 1 as the same scheduling conflicts that prohibited Ashley from attending sessions of critical role didn’t apply anymore. And wouldn’t you know it, she’s a pretty big part of season 2.
The ability to sift through hundreds of hours of gameplay and reorder the events, take things that were spur of the moment and litter them through earlier scenes as foreshadowing, it has so much impact. The campaigns become huge first drafts primed for refinement.
You made some excellent points regarding the emotions being the important part of the story. So far I think my favorite example has to be with Scanlan. I won't spoil the storyline, but it's possibly the best adaptation I've seen for a character with so much to struggle with. I remember having to watch C1 3 or 4 times before really understanding Scanlan's story, and the LOVM so far has done an amazing job of getting the audience to care about him.
Agreed! They really smoothed out the portions where Scanlan chose to grow and I think they're incredible
I personally thought that Scanlan arc was the least likable part of the 2 seasons. But that was because I have an interpretation of C1 Scanlan that is not in-line with LOVM's version.
I saw him as a competent and intelligent gnome that always play the role of the fool. A classic "What you are in the dark trope". The second he is out of everyone's sight, he surgically executes Scanbo. Not to mention, he did the legendary move in the final battle. He was already competent and his arc was more about how he self-sabotages due to having no sense of self worth
LOVM decides to make him an ACTUAL incompetent fool. This is shown by making him fumble through Scanbo scene surviving mostly because of luck. It's clear that they are going to make his arc about starting as a loser and gradually becoming a badass. Well, to me he was already a badass.
It does not feel like the C1 Scanlan. I am aware that what I say next is pedantic as f*ck:
This is not an adaptation of his C1 arc. To me, it's instead a complete reinvention of his arc. The new framing is great and I love it. It's just that the C1 version felt more nuanced and interesting to me. So I do feel a bit mixed about this comparatively simpler direction.
@@yiklongtay6029 What killed me was how they nerfed his meeting with his daughter. That speech Sam gave, it was so good, they could have just cut and pasted it into the show. The one they gave us however was just so blah. Its what it would have been without Sam's silver tongue.
@@kitkami It's a good point. Both Scan and Sam have been really consistent with their persuasion checks. But all he get in LOVM is insults for saying crude things....
EDIT: I kind of changed my mind. If we are streamlining the characters to make their main appealing arc be more pronounced and comprehensive, perhaps making him less capable of persuading people with his silver tongue can help magnify the ramifications of his bad choices. At the expense of some of the character nuance... This is kind of a reasonable change. It is at least functional
Scanlan is my favorite character in C1 and even though I'm really enjoying how he's being treated in the show I think that changing where he meets Kaylie to Westruun was what most undermined this part of the story, the amount of reflection he had to make between meeting her and then being worried for her after the conclave's attack to then making the promise that lead to A Bard's Lament.
There's a good amount of nuance and introspection lost with that simple change in my opinion
One thing about adaptations - seems the better ones tend to have the original creators involved in some ways. I think LoVM benefits not only from having all the cast involved in the writing, but that fact that animators and crew get schooled on about the characters. Its basically not just Matt telling everything about the characters, but they're getting Liam's thoughts on Vax, Travis's thoughts on Grog, etc. Then throw in the fact that these are VOICE ACTORS who have spent their careers behind the mic, mostly with dubbing, so many of them also WROTE scripts as well. This isn't just some wildly popular Twitch show/game that just happened to get made into a tv show, with randos trying to give their version of it (say the Witcher TV show), its literally being made by people who were apart of it and by a crew that loves the source material.
Also, they've all adapted across medium before. And successfully, I might add. They're, literally, all successful Actors, Directors, and Writers across mediums. The know what they're doing. They also, unlike the vast majority of Entertainment today, value the story above all else. They are all storytellers of the highest order.
I hold the belief that between the original podcast, the comics, the show - with all the changes that had to occur over the years; Legends is a separate timeline from the original podcast. Because certain events - certain changes were made, that changed the course of events.
As long as the core emotions in the story are the same, I don't mind any changes.
It's almost like it's a bard's retelling of their journey, or something. That's what I like to believe at least ;)
They've actually confirmed that TLoVM is a separate continuity from the main campaign
I think you nailed it on its head on why tlovm is so successful and a good translation from ttrpg to animated show. That being said I'm so fucking excited how they'll tackle m9 bc how much their story and each member's storylines really resonated with people on such a deep emotional level.
honestly, even with adaptations like books to movies and such, I think the same applies. So many people get caught up in thinking being a word for word translation is what it means to be faithful to the original work, but its not! Capturing the spirit, the emotion, the ideas and themes, that's what it means to make a faithful adaptation. Those notable failures aren't failures 'cause they don't do everything the exact same, they're failures because they fail to capture the spirit of the original. Things always have to change, that's just the nature of moving a story from one medium to another, its why they're called adaptations!
I definitely found myself appreciating some changes more than others. I felt like reducing Scanlan, the most versatile spellcaster in the group, to a guy who uses the same spell 9 times out of 10 and rarely succeeds at anything he tries with it was a bad call but that's just me.
I also much preferred the game's version of Kraven Edge, it didn't control Grog at all, just tempted him to make bad decisions. And the fact that it ended by literally killing him was such a great, impactful moment to me.
The only thing i missed was Grog getting smarter as a giant eagle.
One change that I thought worked extremely well involved Percy and Vex.
--SPOILERS--
In the original campaign, Percy dropping the title on Vex in front of her father was this awesome moment. Everyone cheered, Syldor gave him a look of respect, and Percy got to drop the mic.
Which is why I wondered why they decided to change Syldor's reaction in the show. Then, last night, during my own D&D game, I had a similar moment. One of my players had made the decision to keep his mother (a ruthless power-hungry elf) dead rather than resurrect her, for the good of the family. His father, understandably, was pissed off as hell and secretly stole the ring finger and wedding ring of said mother to resurrect her. This led to a confrontation between the character and the father that culminated in some very hurtful things being said by the father. . . and I couldn't do it. I've had my own issues with my own Dad, and in the middle of this scene, I had to switch from first-person acting as Lord Aegolar to narrating his actions as the Dungeon Master, or else I would just have a breakdown at the table.
All love to Matt Mercer, he's a fantastic dungeon master, but I have noticed that he often has trouble playing as unrelenting bastards. Maybe it's because he himself is pretty empathetic, but when Syldor was pushed by Vex and Vax in the campaign, he folded and admitted to his faults. This was probably the right way to play it in a tabletop game, where everyone is friends and things are very personal, but with the added distance that the show provides, it feels like the creators felt like they could make Syldor just the WORST and keep it professional. Campaign Syldor would apologize for his own prejudices or give Percy grudging respect for his actions: Show Syldor will double down and hold to his own prejudices even further and think he's right. That Syldor wouldn't give Percy grudging respect for showing him up: that Syldor would lash out even harder because he feels he's being mocked or made a fool of.
Which led to the scene having a very different impact: rather than it being Percy's badass moment, it feels more like Percy imagined a "And then everyone clapped" moment tumblr-style, and it didn't land. . . and then just as Percy is feeling humiliated and defeated, Vex steps in and defends him.
I do miss the original moment, but I'm looking forward to a scene in a later season where we double down on the "No, she really is Baroness of Whitestone, fucker!" and Percy and Vex tango away giving Syldor the middle finger.
I think it had less to do with Matt not being able to play a cold-hearted bastard to his friends and more the difference in the narrative. In the Campaign, that scene wasn't roleplayed during Vex and Vax's first visit to Syngorn since they ran away. They had been back, at least, once before. So Syldor realizing how much of a bastard he had been to his children made sense in the Campaign. Having Syldor be more receptive to the actual Lord of Whitestone bequeathing an Official Noble Title to Vex in the Campaign made a lot of sense because by that time, he had already begun his self-reflection and begun to foster actual love for the twins.
In the Animated Series, when Vox Machina go to Syngorn in the Fey Realm, that's the first time that Vex and Vax had returned to Syngorn since they ran in the flashbacks. It wouldn't have made sense for Syldor to be less of a bastard with that set up. If anything, since it had been far longer in the Animated Series since Syldor last saw his children and the last time he saw them, Vax was reading him the riot act and basically told him to fuck off, it makes complete sense that he would still see them as disappointments and that he wouldn't believe a word anyone associated with them would say about them, regardless of their Social Status. So Syldor seeing right through Percy's intent behind the legit bequeathing of a Noble Title to Vex makes a whole lot of sense. "I don't care that you ARE an actual Lord and that you have, legitimately, given my daughter a Noble Title. You aren't giving her that title because she's earned it. You are giving it to her to grandstand and shove it in my face. Fuck Off You Little Pissant! I've been around a LOT longer than you and I see right through you!"
I've seen, and been in, discussions where people believe that the Campaign version of the scene gave Percy's proclamation more bite. I disagree. I think both versions had the same amount of bite. The difference was in the purpose of Percy's actions. In the Campaign, it was Percy giving the middle finger to Syldor. Nothing more. Nothing less. And it worked because he said those words to a Father who was ready to admit he was wrong and who was looking for a reason to admit it. Percy gave him that reason. In the Animated Series, it served two purposes. The first was the ongoing saga of "Percy the Ineffectual Lord of Whitestone," that sometimes his status isn't enough. The second was giving Vex the necessary impetus to tell her Father to fuck off. And, I believe, to add more bite to Percy's proclamation, since Syldor was going to immediately tell him to piss off, was for Percy to add the word "noble" at the end of it. It was a very subtle change to the line, but one that, I think, made all the difference. In the Campaign, the end of Percy's line is, "despite your relationship, do watch you behavior." In the Animated Series, they changed it to, "despite your relationship, do watch your behavior... around a noble." That last "around a noble" was the dagger to Syldor's throat that, in my opinion, gave the actual line more bite than it did in the Campaign which makes up for the lack of impact in the payoff, balancing out the entire scene. The minute he said, "around a noble," I was like, "oh damn, Percy just took a shot across the bow of Syldor's ego." Basically, with that one addition, Percy is now telling Syldor that, not only does Vex have a title of high status, but that she is, in fact, a noble, which places her at a higher Social Status than Syldor. Percy is basically, outright, telling Syldor, "Vex is better than you. Suck It!" Which adds to why Syldor refused to capitulate. Not only did Syldor see through Percy's intent, but his ego (especially the Animated Series Syldor) would never allow him to admit that he is of lesser social status than his half-breed daughter. Now don't get me wrong, the mic drop moment in the Campaign was glorious, but honestly, I think having Vex, literally, telling Syldor to fuck off was far more satisfying and had far more bite than Percy doing the mic drop.
@@ForeverDegenerate I kinda agree, but... ;) You see, that little addition of "towards a noble" is a change that I didn't like as much, because formerly, Percy was telling Syldor that he's a bastard without manners, period. So the campaign version had more zing to it for me, personally.
Regardless, it's a cool scene, and of course Velora's innocent "What does 'fuck you' mean?" is just the cherry on top XD Poor Devana...
@@ForeverDegenerate That's definitely part of it as well. We see that super clearly in the romantic subplots, where the characters' relationships are progressing at different speeds than they did in the campaign so it wouldn't make sense for a scene to hit the exact same emotional beat that it did in the original.
I'll add yet another difference, which is that the show is better at setting up an idea in one scene and paying it off in a different one. That's really difficult to do in the campaign. When Vox Machina leaves Syldor in the campaign, Matt doesn't know if they'll ever bump into him again. Or if they do, it will be dozens of hours down the line, which makes it super hard to start a storyline that won't resolve until the next time they see each other. So Matt is much more likely to cash out the emotional payoff right away to give the players the catharsis and make sure there isn't a thread left dangling.
In the show, they don't have to do this because there isn't the uncertainty about when, if ever, this topic will come up again. They can make sure it comes up by writing it into a future episode. Both the campaign and the show introduce the idea that Syldor disrespects Vex, who craves his approval, in this scene, but the campaign gives a (partial) resolution right away with Syldor giving respect, while the show delays gratification all the way until after the Saundor fight, where Vex can have the realization that she shouldn't be chasing Syldor's approval at all.
Or, a much more impactful example, in the campaign Earthbreaker Groon asking Grog, "Where do you find your strength" happens in the same scene that Grog eventually gives the answer. It's completely self-contained. But in the show the scene ends with no resolution, which makes it far less impactful in the moment, but it's used to define Grog's character journey for the entire rest of the season.
@@johnclikeman5041 You make a very good point. I hadn't even considered the whole "they may not see this NPC again" aspect of TTRPGs. Especially when it comes to non-central NPCs like Syldor. And Matt has said, more than once, that he, as the DM, is there for his players. The stories he weaves and tells and the arcs he sends his players' characters on are all for his players' benefit. So you are absolutely right in that if he felt Syldor might not show up again, Matt would give some sort of resolution by the end of that encounter, if nothing else, for Laura (and, to a lesser extent, Liam).
Despite not agreeing with all of their narrative choices for the Animated Series, I've said it before and I'll keeping saying it: Critical Role are all Masters of Storytelling. They've said themselves on multiple occasions: story is everything to them. And it is this love of storytelling that has propelled them into its mastery and has led to all of them having great success in adaptation across mediums in all aspects: Acting, Directing, and Writing.
The fact that LoVM didn't win any awards for 2022 is blasphemous. If Season 2 doesn't when any awards for 2023, that will be a travesty.
@@johnclikeman5041 You mentioning this payoff aspect reminded me of another relationship that ended relatively well in the show but was rocky in the series: Scanlan and his daughter. In the campaign they are on amicable terms and even see each other a couple more times after that story beat, but on the animation she is still mad at him by the time they separate.
The Last of Us's episode 3 is a master class example of this. Effectively using the new medium to tell a radically different version of the story, which wouldn't have worked in the original medium, that still manages to convey the same lessons and achieve the same impact on the characters in a way that doesn't just work.. but actually compliments and enriches the original.
Honestly there were really only two things I thought could have been tweaked in the season 2; First being shifting Zhara away from being an antagonist with Vex's death/resurrection and just having the Onlooker be a monster found naturally in the temple the same way the Beholder was in the original stream. Zhara effectively attacking VM using the beast as an ambush was just kind of silly idea with really muddled logic and reasoning behind it. The other being making Vex's episode with Saundor and her father it's own full episode story the way episode 9 focused purely on Grogs. The show actually did Saundor better than the campaign I think, but dedicating the full episode to it without a B plot would have let them dig a little more into the interesting ways Saundor could needle her father issues.
I think the changes worked pretty well. I prefer the long form, for sure, but the changes made better more concise Tv.
Agreed, they made it work for TV but my heart will always remain with the original
I think that the key difference between Legends of Vox Machina and other adaptations that get lambasted is the fact that it keeps the spirit of the source material. Like you said, Vox Machina makes changes to the events that occurred in the campaign but it keeps the emotions behind the events the same. Unlike the Percy Jackson movie which can rot in Tartarus.
I was nervous before the first season came out because I feel like VM is the most difficult piece of media that anyone has tried to adapt. Like, it's one thing to adapt a book or video game to film or a series but TTRPG's are a whole other beast. Now, I'm pretty sure that VM is the best adaptation I've seen. I think everyone expected them to change things but I've been so impressed with how faithful it feels despite all the necessary changes. This is what everyone hopes for when their favorite book, etc is adapted to a movie, but so rarely get.
Some old anime series and light novels were based on RPG games that the authors played. The world of Lodoss is one such franchise.
I’ll never recover from the Percy Jackson movies being the flop they were
It helps a lot that, as I understand it, all the actors of Critical Roll are involved in the scriptwriting process to some degree. They know what the real emotional beats are and what's important. I remember a Q&A sort of thing the group did where they talked about how for season 1 they found it a bit difficult to deviate and change how the story went for the Briarwood Arc, but after that success and going through the process once, they were more at ease with making changes for season two, knowing what emotional and plot beats to keep the same, and how to adjust the rest to support those moments with the tighter narrative the show format demanded. The Critical Roll team and the animation team behind the show seem to have an amazing working relationship in translating the tabletop to the screen, which is helping a lot with that feeling of "faithfulness"; it's not solely an outside perspective rendering their interpretation (often recolored/recontextualized with how they would have done it instead), but the original creators are facilitating the translation. They understand what's important, what fans expect, and by extension what things the fans will accept being changed to support the more important beats that shouldn't be changed.
My only complaint is that the "Cows scene" was reduced to a brief offhand remark from scanlon, and a banner on a wall at their keep.
I would have loved to see that scene animated...
Honestly as long as the show creates a good abd fun story idc what they change
Obviously any adaptation of a story from one medium to another is going to require changes to be made as each medium has different expectation and limitation, they each tell different kinds of stories. But it definitely helps when the original creators are the one adapting their own stories. They understand the emotional beats. And I think that is what sometimes goes wrong with adaptation - not understsnding how to translate the emotional beats from one nedium to the next. I am finding the various adaptation of Critical Roll, from live play to comic to animation to novelization, just so facintating. And it's been kind of fun to watch the show with my friends and explain to her how each emotional beat went originally. While I spent all those hours watching every moment of ever live play, my friend doesn't have the fortitude (or insanity, lol) to do the same. She's been listening for years about the story progresses and I've played her clips of highlights of the show, but the animated series was the first time she could really experience the story for herself. She does find it interesting knowing what happened originally, but I know she'll never sit and watch it all. But ultimately, she's still getting the same story I did, only more condensed and streamlined. The Vox Machina I knew is still the same one she's getting to see. And that's pretty amazing.
The Pike scene is exactly how it would have played out if it happened in real time
we all have seen this one edit with shrek's "Holding out for a hero" lol
Many bad adaptations have moments that are trying to show the exact same thing that happened in the original, but without the proper set up or understanding of why it's important those scenes don't land. Even worse, they may show the opposite of what the original intended. On the other hand, good adaptations are those that understand what the story is trying to convey, and are willing to make some changes to what happens to properly deliver that message. That's why you need people who understand and are passionate about the original story.
And any of the changes that did feel strange honestly don't irk me because the crew always have such rationale behind them. Stuff like Dr Dranzel not catching up with Scanlan because they wanted the scene to focus on Scanlan and Kaylie meeting instead. It's all so intentional and with the intent of making it the best CR show they could. I have no complaints.
so thankful I found your channel, your content is so good and well done.
Comments like these mean so much to me, thank you for the kind words 😭😭
One tangentially related thing I noticed when watching this video, was how much more I felt pike's wound in the original show. The slow buildup as the players realize what has happened is really something unique to the table, and being able to see their reactions as their suspisions are confirmed is something imposible to translate to film.
That being said, having pike's action recontextuallised as a hail mary really helped to sell the emotion of the scene, and I really appreciate the animators taking their time to let the audience sit with the reactions.
Sure, the show might not be able to afford to stretch out the litteral minutes of buildup those six in-game secconds contained, but I'm pretty sure this is the next best thing. (Although it does make me wonder if VM's story might have worked better as a series of (audio) books)
Emotion. It's why I play TTRPG's (Speaking of one that has tons of emotion, I suggest everyone play Alice Is Missing. It's so good.) Emotion is why I also play video games, or watch movies and tv shows. Whether the emotion is one of laughter, fear, happiness, and even sadness, it's what drives a story forward. It's what captures you and reels you in. It's the heart of every existing well thought out story. Your videos themselves Jay, give me emotion. Thank you for every single video, whether short or long, that you put out. You are a beacon of light in this sometimes dark world. Another fantastic video!
i think the keylith vax moment under the sun tree is the only one i was sad about, that i havent lied line is iconic as hell
1:30 Good point. We have some shows where changes are bad, some shows where there is no changes, and finally the show where the changes were made well.
Just need a good team to adapt anything. Jurassic Park is vastly different from the book, but is still one of the most iconic blockbusters of all time.
I think The Last of Us did a similarly good job. Not a perfect shot for shot, but they adapt what mattered, the moments and messages from the source
For me, I see it as similar as adapting a real-life event. Real life doesn't have themes, but a story does, so if you immortalise an event and people using a story and the characters based on them, you have to make a few changes.
While they did adapt the story nicely in terms of changes made. I do feel Legend of Vox ends up feeling more rushed and flat when it comes to pacing and honestly think they could have taken things slower. S2 is much better at it's pacing but while the change with stabbing Pike is better, the entire craven edge story kinda just happens and then is quickly resolved. This can be said for most plot points in the show imo. The size of the cast doesn't help in this regard either. To enjoy the show I feel I need to just stop caring about the story and enjoy the smaller moments. I can still remember my feelings and how strong it hit emotionally seeing the stream live. I have only been mildly entertained so far in both seasons and none of that was from the plot
Yeah the big difference from Vox Machina and other adaptions is it's being adapted mostly if not completely by the same people as the original, who have way more control and can thus keep things to the story's main beats. I think there's also less "they did it better in the original" because, let's be honest, the original was much more laid back and game-like than a book or video game that goes through many edits. That's just the nature of impromptu storytelling via a dice game. The other players could even tell what was going on as Matt started narrating. Just like Matt, they knew the Cleric would get stabbed somehow, just not exactly. When writing for an animated series, you aren't waiting for a goodish moment to drop that kind of bombshell, you KNOW when it's happening because you're dictacting ALL of the lead up. As such, you can choose to do so at the most optimal time for the drama to take hold of the audience.
All great points here, no notes. The original cast being the main writers was HUGE in bringing this to life
I do wonder if they'll get into Vax's and Vex's mom being connected to Thordak.
I remember in the show that being a huge deal, in many ways on par to Keyleth's hatred for Raishan. However, it worries me they haven't alluded to her death at all or even mentioned some sort of city disaster that took her life.
I just don't want the fight with Thordak to come up and they go "Oh yeah, by the way-"
Or worse, they don't mention it at all.
The thing i found a bit odd, is how they changed the timeline of the group going to the Feywild, cause they went there AFTER fighting Umbrasyl, and we dont get to see that wonderfull moment when Percy and Grog dont remember anything that happened in the Feywild, but beyond that i agree with everything they did :V
Its*
"It's" is a contraction of "it" and "is".
"Its" is possessive.
My biggest disappointment was....(spoilers)
When Scanlan found out about his daughter. They cut out the speech Sam gave about her being a part of him. I'm ok with them changing the fact it happened at a totally different time and place but that speech was just so good, so full of emotion. I don't know why they would not have put it in there. Their meeting was just so blah without it.
It’s possible they’re saving that for later. It would certainly be better to do so from a narrative standpoint, since it lets him digest what he learned and arrive at that conclusion after some time. But I could be wrong, of course.
My Dm have never seen CR but he did watch LOVM and he could tell , some times , what kind of rools they had .he feel in love with LOVM not becose of his understanding of what hapend in game But becuse of the story ! Which i agree with CR are giving us storis yes ther are roles some bad some good how ever its as if they spin the storis of ther charecters acordingly respecting the dice the rols and at the same time respecting ther charecters. Think of this if Sam would have used the wish as he wonted to we would not have the amazing wish at vex weading , and to go forther (no spoilers )what has happend in c3 eps 51 😉
both of the good examples have Ashley Johnson in them, coincidence, i think not.
I definitely think the story of critical roll was way better. A lot of times I will wonder why they cut something or moved up the feywild. But I understand different mediums need different adaptions.
How does one get into dnd?
Love it!
Ever considered a video inspired by Disco Elysium?
I miss gurn blandsten
Watching S2 of LoVM, about halfway through. Played TTRPG's for years, but I *really* dislike watching CR, so I never went back and saw S1.
I immensely enjoyed S1 of LoVM, but thus far I've found S2 underwhelming (I've gotten to the volcano episode.) You can just *feel* the DnDness of it all... meh, hope it isn't just me.
The title has a typo. You're supposed to use "its", not "it's".
peoppe have no ground toncomplain on if they do complain. the people who made critical role are directly involved with the entire created of legends of vox machina. you cant get mad about it not being faithful when the people who wrote (or in this case, played) it are the ones making the adaptations.
The pacing of the first episode was bad for me. They turned what was a tragedy and a horror into a spectacle and action indulgence.
It felt like really immature story telling rather than what we usually see with Matt
First
You beat me by like 2 seconds
mfs almost got ehre too
i guess yalls notifications are working
Potatoes
29th!
Last Of Us was designed as something to be watched first, and adapted into a videogame later.
With that logic, you can justify ruining any story.
300xp
Why do you care?