a little bit confused at the people who say they like critical role (and actual play in general) but complain about how it's too much of a "story" and not a "game".......like is that not the fundamental appeal of actual play? that we're not just watching a game but we're seeing a story unfold? that we're not just witnessing any old group of players but ones that want to put on a show for an audience, weave a tale, and put work into roleplay? not saying that cr is perfect or that this ep was perfect, but the whole "it's focusing too much on storytelling" critique is odd to me, especially for a first episode that, by virtue of being the literal introductory episode to a miniseries, has to have exposition. i guess it may just be a matter of finding the actual play that suits your taste at the end of the day. and maybe what cr is or where it's headed isn't for everyone.
I enjoy Brennan's style. It is more controlled. Because it has to be. He's on a schedule. CR is usually looser. Matt has the time to let the PCs do what they want. They are different. It's OK if you have a preference
@themoviecritic1092 my point is I love the Punisher. My favorite is Dr Doom . Now if Doom was in the group eating people it be a bit much . But of Punisher or Doom are killing people that deserve it to better their country or world tjays ok . But if Marisha eats someone's soul that's a bit much . And yes I get your point . The group is trying to save a bunch of warlords that call themselves gods from a monster wich will rat them . And they will be villains for saving them or for not saving them . One true hero lawfull good or chaotic good on the team is needed . But they are all bad
Spoiler for the characters we know of so far in downfall: Prime Deities: Noshir Dalal: Edam/The Emissary = The Lawbearer/Erathis Taliesin Jaffe: Ash/Asha = The Wildmother/Melora Nick Marini: Aru/Ayden = The Dawnfather/Pelor Abubakar Salim: Coru/S.I.L.A.H.A = The Archheart/Corellon Laura Bailey: Nahal/Emhira = Previous God of Death/The Matron of Ravens/The Ravenqueen Ashley Johnson: Luz/Trist = The Everlight/Raei Arcadia Cerenvetorix = The Knowing Mentor/Ioun Betrayer Gods: Imri/Milo Cowst = Asmodeus/Lord of the Hells Shosti/Tishar = The Ruiner/Gruumsh Zaharzht = The Crawling King/Torog Umleta = Lolth/The Spider Queen
@@willnelson9906 I was also on the fence. The reason I said Grumsh is because he has many barbaric followers and is more rage than controlled purpose. But it's still to be seen
As a massive fan of Brennan someone who loves CR lore but has a hard time watching the full sessions I'm glad I feel I have just enough context of CR to fully enjoy this. With that said I do appreciate this video, it feels like I'm checking my notes with someone who's an expert on something I'm studying lol
Haven't watched the video yet, just wanted to say I really liked it. The beginning was confusing, and I didn't know what was going on at first, but as I was falling have asleep, I suddenly understood and shot awake. It was one of the most pleasant surprises I've had from the show in a while!
I’m hooked on campaign 3, but this is my first campaign I’ve watched so yea the lore goes over my head a little… but honestly recap vids like this help me understand the little things I missed, and now I’m stoked for episode 2 of Downfall tonight!!
Good vid and breakdown! Small suggestion for future videos, be careful with your mic etiquette because there's a few times while you're moving your head where you face your mic directly and the volume peaks pretty bad. Definitely a little jarring as a headphone user
Has it been confirmed that Umleta is Lolth? I’m thinking she is actually Zehir, who also falls into the trickery domain, but is also the god of poison and assassins, which fits with the sly, sneaky rogue persona.
I wouldn’t call this “the best”. I would give that to calamity. It was slow paced and the epitome of “this meeting could have been an email”. I did like the interactions between the gods avatars but it didn’t feel like dnd. It was a performance which is what critical role has turned into. Not mad about it but I’m not pulled into campaign 3 like I was for 1 and 2.
This is in no way the best episode of cr ever. I'd put the ExU calamity episodes up there. This one, not Brennans best. Any episode that has me tapping out before break due to pure boredom (most of c3 for example) is low energy episodes. Hope this series gets better.
No, the Matron killed the previous god of death and assumed control, Predathos ate Ethedok the Endless, God of darkness and winter and Vordo the Fateshaper, God of fate and order.
@@vgexpert20001(this is pure speculation on my part) Given that the god of Fate was eaten, I think their domain of Fate was split into the Matron and nana Mori. Given the power vacuum it created. Again, take that with a huge grain of salt.
@@robertabugelis3962 Nana Mori technically doesn’t have fate as a domain because she’s not a god, just a very powerful hag. she does have a lot of influence over fate because she’s so powerful but unlike the raven queen she doesn’t rule over it, if that makes sense.
@@robertabugelis3962There have been three gods of death. The first was eaten by Predathos, the second was erased when the Matron took his place and the third is the Matron of Ravens herself. We don't even know how old Morrigan is exactly. But she uses backdoors and tricks. She can't match the Matron for power as she's not a god.
i couldnt watch it , the introductions being dragged more than 1hr got me bored , and no im not a tik toker, if you drag stuff too long on theatrics it dilutes the effect !
It was literally the first episode ofcourse it's gonna be more of world building and character introductions.... What do y'all want ? Final boss fights right off the bat ?
I have a question about Laura's character in the prologue. Does she playing the first god of death? Because she can't be the Raven Queen at this moment.
It's fine if you dont like his storytelling but saying he's not a good storyteller like it's an objective thing is wild. Like he made Dimension20 the wildly popular dnd show that it is specifically because of his powerful storytelling. And Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is like praised as one of the best things Critical Role has produced
@@plants_before_people5329 Yeah i know he is so freakin popular, some say way better then Matt, and i dont se it ^Im so sry Bren i really am! But for me to get engage in his storys he is failing enurmus
Man I know this is not popular at all but I find Brennan Lee mulligan impossible to listen to and watch as a DM. I know he’s beloved and I am happy for him. But I always feel like no one loves the sound of Brennan Lee mulligans voice quite like Brennan Lee mulligan. But even through my dislike I see he has massive value and potential to CR as a whole.
People sometimes criticized Brennan on his interview show for talking about as much, or more than some of the guests. For a lot of neurodivergent people doing that kind of thing accidentally is very common so it seems relatable/endearing. But if you are coming for the personality of the performers I can totally understand the criticism. For his CR appearances a lot of it might also come down to the limited amount of episodes and stuff to get to. On D20’s last main cast season he let the players spin and plan stuff a lot more before taking action (without much input from Brennan - unless prompted).
Same. It's just 4 hours of scripted exposition that could've just been told to the party by Ludinus himself in a much more concise manner. There was no need for this, and absolutely not three entire episodes of it. CR's creativity is seriously starting to run away with them and certainly not for the better.
@@mattturner5750 It's not even close. The premise was interesting, it was its own show that didn't intrude on anything else, it had A LOT more agency, dice rolling, and it was clearly D&D. This isn't D&D. This is theater.
"A D&D game that doesn't feel like I'm watching D&D" is the whole issue. It's supposed to be D&D, not The Exposition Story Hour. They know this stuff is boring. Otherwise they would've released it as their own thing, but they've proven that audio drama stuff (Midst) just doesn't sell, and their other content only gets a fraction of the views compared to the main campaign. That's why they're trying to shoehorn this weird fluff and filler into the main campaign. They desperately need people to watch it. There's nothing interesting about a bunch of people sitting at a table telling scripted lore for over 4 hours straight in a session that's supposed to be D&D. And yes, it's clearly scripted. The entire point of this whole episode is that what we're hearing is a recording of past events. A script is the only way to ensure that these people tell the story Matt wants them to tell and don't get off track at some point during these 4 gruelling hours of exposition; exposition that could've easily been told to the party by Ludinus himself in a clear, concise, and condensed manner while still getting the point across instead of dragging it out for three entire sessions.
I think that at this point, if you want to watch people playing the game, there are many other live play you can watch. Stop pissing into everyone else plate. You don't like watching a story unfold ? good for you, just don't watch it. nobody strapped you to your chair, put tape on your eyes and forced you to watch it. Stop complaining about thing not being made for you. You can close the window, you can stop watching it. You are free. I personally enjoy the lore and story the most. That's what i like about that show, i enjoy seeing them being their character and weaving a story. I don't give a shit if it's scripted or not. Once more : if you don't like it, stop being an ass and stop watching it. nobody will miss you here.
I'll be honest, I love Brennan, I love CR, but this was my least favorite episode ever. I hate existential stuff so just hearing the ending of the previous episode bored me so badly and this episode didn't get interesting until they got to their actual characters for me. This is just personal taste, but I hate the way gods are treated as children and trying to claim that we only see things because our minds force us to visualize is just boring. I know it is similar to Cthulhu as a creature that doesn't really have a real shape, but that shit isn't scary or intriguing to me, it just bores me. Again, this is my personal taste and I'm happy for others who do like it.
"A D&D game that doesn't feel like I'm watching D&D" .....There's the problem right there. It's not a play. It's not a movie and improv melodrama "acting" is rather painful to watch. Never mind the annoying intro where half the folks thought their computers were acting up. You could see the number of folks watching drop off by literally THOUSANDS as the "game" progressed. Not a good sign, really.
I've only learned about Brennan a few months ago and I'm absolutely obsessed with this dude.
Welcome I discovered him about two years ago through dimension 20, and I’m still obsessed 😅
a little bit confused at the people who say they like critical role (and actual play in general) but complain about how it's too much of a "story" and not a "game".......like is that not the fundamental appeal of actual play? that we're not just watching a game but we're seeing a story unfold? that we're not just witnessing any old group of players but ones that want to put on a show for an audience, weave a tale, and put work into roleplay?
not saying that cr is perfect or that this ep was perfect, but the whole "it's focusing too much on storytelling" critique is odd to me, especially for a first episode that, by virtue of being the literal introductory episode to a miniseries, has to have exposition.
i guess it may just be a matter of finding the actual play that suits your taste at the end of the day. and maybe what cr is or where it's headed isn't for everyone.
I enjoy Brennan's style. It is more controlled. Because it has to be. He's on a schedule.
CR is usually looser. Matt has the time to let the PCs do what they want.
They are different.
It's OK if you have a preference
Idk why ither had an issue with the muted names at the beginning. It was a cool esthetic and i loved it!
I absolutely loved the effect!
It was cool the first time. But then it kept going. And going. And going. And goooooiiing. Thats why people are annoyed.
@@lordhawkeyeI mean, I guess but you get why they're doing it
Yeah they aren’t just going to stop after the first couple of times 😂
@themoviecritic1092 my point is I love the Punisher. My favorite is Dr Doom . Now if Doom was in the group eating people it be a bit much . But of Punisher or Doom are killing people that deserve it to better their country or world tjays ok . But if Marisha eats someone's soul that's a bit much . And yes I get your point . The group is trying to save a bunch of warlords that call themselves gods from a monster wich will rat them . And they will be villains for saving them or for not saving them . One true hero lawfull good or chaotic good on the team is needed . But they are all bad
Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a slow start. I'm still super hyped, and I've watched the episode 3 times so far, not including the live stream.
The celestial also could have been summoned and bound like the demons we've seen in the city.
I feel like Ioun and Asmodeus both might have worked together to push the gods into completely destroying Aeor by sending the celestial.
Thanx for the summary. Very helpful!
It was good, but a slow burn start. I don't think it matched up to Calamity, but I think it'll get better as it goes.
Hard to beat the cast of Calamity.
@@mattturner5750 Of course, but this cast is golden as well, just a more chill start.
@@conflictdiamonds yet to be seen.
To be fair, we are comparing a series we have 4 episodes and hindsight/bias on to a singular episode.
They also begin in completely different ways. It’s almost an apples to oranges comparison.
Spoiler for the characters we know of so far in downfall:
Prime Deities:
Noshir Dalal: Edam/The Emissary = The Lawbearer/Erathis
Taliesin Jaffe: Ash/Asha = The Wildmother/Melora
Nick Marini: Aru/Ayden = The Dawnfather/Pelor
Abubakar Salim: Coru/S.I.L.A.H.A = The Archheart/Corellon
Laura Bailey: Nahal/Emhira = Previous God of Death/The Matron of Ravens/The Ravenqueen
Ashley Johnson: Luz/Trist = The Everlight/Raei
Arcadia Cerenvetorix = The Knowing Mentor/Ioun
Betrayer Gods:
Imri/Milo Cowst = Asmodeus/Lord of the Hells
Shosti/Tishar = The Ruiner/Gruumsh
Zaharzht = The Crawling King/Torog
Umleta = Lolth/The Spider Queen
I personally believe instead of Gruumsh, it's Bane, The Strife Emperor,
@@willnelson9906 I was also on the fence. The reason I said Grumsh is because he has many barbaric followers and is more rage than controlled purpose. But it's still to be seen
As a massive fan of Brennan someone who loves CR lore but has a hard time watching the full sessions I'm glad I feel I have just enough context of CR to fully enjoy this. With that said I do appreciate this video, it feels like I'm checking my notes with someone who's an expert on something I'm studying lol
Haven't watched the video yet, just wanted to say I really liked it. The beginning was confusing, and I didn't know what was going on at first, but as I was falling have asleep, I suddenly understood and shot awake. It was one of the most pleasant surprises I've had from the show in a while!
I can't wait till next episode, it was soo good, everyone did so good.
I’m hooked on campaign 3, but this is my first campaign I’ve watched so yea the lore goes over my head a little… but honestly recap vids like this help me understand the little things I missed, and now I’m stoked for episode 2 of Downfall tonight!!
A classic story of "doomed by the narrative". I love this kind of story.
the emissary is the luxon (citation needed)
I will return at the end of july to check the avalanche of likes this comment will eventually get. I got shivers reading It, Mon ami
Good vid and breakdown! Small suggestion for future videos, be careful with your mic etiquette because there's a few times while you're moving your head where you face your mic directly and the volume peaks pretty bad. Definitely a little jarring as a headphone user
Is the background music down by the river in BG3
Yes.
It didnt have the Gravitas of Calamity.
Calamity will never be surpassed. It's peak table top RPG.
WHAT DO YOU THINK AFTER EPISODE 100 FINN ??
Slow burn for me and only three episodes to tell this entire story. The judgment is out until I can reflect on the entirety of the series.
Has it been confirmed that Umleta is Lolth? I’m thinking she is actually Zehir, who also falls into the trickery domain, but is also the god of poison and assassins, which fits with the sly, sneaky rogue persona.
Good job- hard to put all that in 20 some minutes!
I wouldn’t call this “the best”. I would give that to calamity. It was slow paced and the epitome of “this meeting could have been an email”. I did like the interactions between the gods avatars but it didn’t feel like dnd. It was a performance which is what critical role has turned into. Not mad about it but I’m not pulled into campaign 3 like I was for 1 and 2.
I still don’t trust the Raven Queen something about her ascension and the way she has been acting is sus
I missed the PedoBear??
Did they not make it clear that Ashley's character is a mortal as well?
It wasn't clear
@mattturner5750 Oh, thanks. I'll put a question mark after that one in my head canon for now.
@@DamonKirry Did you think she was playing a mortal?
@mattturner5750 To me, it sounded like she's playing a paladin, representing serenrae. But I may be confused. Just looking for clarification.
guys,
[DOWNFALL SPOILERS]: they are the Gods. Ashley is Serenrae in mortal form.
This is in no way the best episode of cr ever. I'd put the ExU calamity episodes up there. This one, not Brennans best. Any episode that has me tapping out before break due to pure boredom (most of c3 for example) is low energy episodes. Hope this series gets better.
No Sam. No Lou. No Travis. ... the bar was set high with Calamity.
Wait... MM himself, said in C3, that Predatos ate the previous god of death. Matron didnt kill him, she tok free spot.
No, the Matron killed the previous god of death and assumed control, Predathos ate Ethedok the Endless, God of darkness and winter and Vordo the Fateshaper, God of fate and order.
What he said ^
@@vgexpert20001(this is pure speculation on my part) Given that the god of Fate was eaten, I think their domain of Fate was split into the Matron and nana Mori. Given the power vacuum it created. Again, take that with a huge grain of salt.
@@robertabugelis3962 Nana Mori technically doesn’t have fate as a domain because she’s not a god, just a very powerful hag. she does have a lot of influence over fate because she’s so powerful but unlike the raven queen she doesn’t rule over it, if that makes sense.
@@robertabugelis3962There have been three gods of death. The first was eaten by Predathos, the second was erased when the Matron took his place and the third is the Matron of Ravens herself.
We don't even know how old Morrigan is exactly. But she uses backdoors and tricks. She can't match the Matron for power as she's not a god.
i couldnt watch it , the introductions being dragged more than 1hr got me bored , and no im not a tik toker, if you drag stuff too long on theatrics it dilutes the effect !
That’s cool. I really would advise watching it but if you don’t like the pacing, maybe watching in chunks is an option for you.
Or the condensed version of eps that have been coming out. That might b easier
it much more interesting after getting on the ship
It was literally the first episode ofcourse it's gonna be more of world building and character introductions.... What do y'all want ? Final boss fights right off the bat ?
I have a question about Laura's character in the prologue. Does she playing the first god of death? Because she can't be the Raven Queen at this moment.
Yes Brennan confirmed in the critical role cooldown on Beacon that Laura and Noshir got to play two characters technically
@@kurt6536 thank you
Also in EXU Calamity Asmodeus mentioned that one of his siblings were killed by the humans and couldn't even recall the name
I believe she plays both the Raven Queen but also her avatar and champion. It is in this second role I suspect will be the majority of RP.
I love evil characters but there should be one good guy in the group. And I found this episode boring
Am i the only one that really dont like Bren, hes not a really good storyteller :/
@hyph3n404 that would be a minority opinion I'm guessing.
@@mattturner5750 i don't hate him at all, and he's not a bad dm. Ha just don't tick my box
It's fine if you dont like his storytelling but saying he's not a good storyteller like it's an objective thing is wild.
Like he made Dimension20 the wildly popular dnd show that it is specifically because of his powerful storytelling. And Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is like praised as one of the best things Critical Role has produced
@@plants_before_people5329 Yeah i know he is so freakin popular, some say way better then Matt, and i dont se it ^Im so sry Bren i really am! But for me to get engage in his storys he is failing enurmus
Man I know this is not popular at all but I find Brennan Lee mulligan impossible to listen to and watch as a DM. I know he’s beloved and I am happy for him. But I always feel like no one loves the sound of Brennan Lee mulligans voice quite like Brennan Lee mulligan. But even through my dislike I see he has massive value and potential to CR as a whole.
Well, you're not alone, the man just rubs me the wrong way, too.
People sometimes criticized Brennan on his interview show for talking about as much, or more than some of the guests. For a lot of neurodivergent people doing that kind of thing accidentally is very common so it seems relatable/endearing. But if you are coming for the personality of the performers I can totally understand the criticism.
For his CR appearances a lot of it might also come down to the limited amount of episodes and stuff to get to. On D20’s last main cast season he let the players spin and plan stuff a lot more before taking action (without much input from Brennan - unless prompted).
One of the worst episodes for me. Boring, too slow , the episode could fit into 10 mins. I hope it picks up.
Same. It's just 4 hours of scripted exposition that could've just been told to the party by Ludinus himself in a much more concise manner. There was no need for this, and absolutely not three entire episodes of it. CR's creativity is seriously starting to run away with them and certainly not for the better.
@WolfHeathen same could be said of Calamity yeah? Set length. Known outcome. Not a ton of true agency. Lots of Brennan talking.
@@mattturner5750 It's not even close. The premise was interesting, it was its own show that didn't intrude on anything else, it had A LOT more agency, dice rolling, and it was clearly D&D.
This isn't D&D. This is theater.
@WolfHeathen I agree Calamity was better. But they are basically the same.
@@WolfHeathen
Calamity was theater as is this.vjust because you don't like it doesn't change what it is
"A D&D game that doesn't feel like I'm watching D&D" is the whole issue. It's supposed to be D&D, not The Exposition Story Hour. They know this stuff is boring. Otherwise they would've released it as their own thing, but they've proven that audio drama stuff (Midst) just doesn't sell, and their other content only gets a fraction of the views compared to the main campaign. That's why they're trying to shoehorn this weird fluff and filler into the main campaign. They desperately need people to watch it.
There's nothing interesting about a bunch of people sitting at a table telling scripted lore for over 4 hours straight in a session that's supposed to be D&D. And yes, it's clearly scripted. The entire point of this whole episode is that what we're hearing is a recording of past events. A script is the only way to ensure that these people tell the story Matt wants them to tell and don't get off track at some point during these 4 gruelling hours of exposition; exposition that could've easily been told to the party by Ludinus himself in a clear, concise, and condensed manner while still getting the point across instead of dragging it out for three entire sessions.
Personally. I think the problem is the cast.
Calamity was an event. This felt small.
I think that at this point, if you want to watch people playing the game, there are many other live play you can watch. Stop pissing into everyone else plate. You don't like watching a story unfold ? good for you, just don't watch it. nobody strapped you to your chair, put tape on your eyes and forced you to watch it.
Stop complaining about thing not being made for you. You can close the window, you can stop watching it. You are free.
I personally enjoy the lore and story the most. That's what i like about that show, i enjoy seeing them being their character and weaving a story. I don't give a shit if it's scripted or not.
Once more : if you don't like it, stop being an ass and stop watching it. nobody will miss you here.
I'll be honest, I love Brennan, I love CR, but this was my least favorite episode ever. I hate existential stuff so just hearing the ending of the previous episode bored me so badly and this episode didn't get interesting until they got to their actual characters for me. This is just personal taste, but I hate the way gods are treated as children and trying to claim that we only see things because our minds force us to visualize is just boring. I know it is similar to Cthulhu as a creature that doesn't really have a real shape, but that shit isn't scary or intriguing to me, it just bores me.
Again, this is my personal taste and I'm happy for others who do like it.
Lmao "Critical Role lore" is mostly reskinned D&D lore.
Not at all lmao. Other then names of the gods they are barely similar.
And wait until you see where dnd got all its “original” lore
I don't know about that, most of the pantheon is the Dawn War from 4e, but the actual history of the world is unique to Critical Role.
Isn't that the whole point of a homebrew campaign ? Why are so many of you hellbent on hating on anything CR does
@@tromar5758 you are ruining your own argument with this tacit admission.
"A D&D game that doesn't feel like I'm watching D&D" .....There's the problem right there. It's not a play. It's not a movie and improv melodrama "acting" is rather painful to watch. Never mind the annoying intro where half the folks thought their computers were acting up. You could see the number of folks watching drop off by literally THOUSANDS as the "game" progressed. Not a good sign, really.
L take
I loved it. Guess some people can't enjoy something different lol. But that's fine less people in chat just means less time for chat cool down ❤🎉😎😁
womp womp
Too big of a text brother, try to be more annoying... 2/10 bait
Viewers having a lack of media literacy is not the fault of the creators