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| Front Row L to R: Liam O'Brien (Vax'ildan), Matthew Mercer (The Dungeon Master), Laura Bailey (Vex'ahlia) Back Row L to R: Marisha Ray (Keyleth) Talesin Jaffe (Percy) Travis Willingham (Grog) Sam Riegel (Scanlan) Orion Acaba (Tiberius), and Ashley Johnson (Pike) |
You can watch Critical Role every Thursday night at 10PM Eastern/7PM Pacific, as the show is based in California. You can watch it here. http://www.twitch.tv/geekandsundry You can watch any missed episodes at http://geekandsundry.com/shows/critical-role/
So, what is Critical Role? Ooh... boy, that's a loaded question, but the simplest answer would be. "Nine voice actors playing Dungeons and Dragons." So far there has been 16 episodes, about a group of adventurers called Vox Machina, formerly known as the S.H.I.Ts (Super High-Intensity Team). The show begins, Just over 2 years since the beginning of their first game, when it was a Pathfinder Campaign. Matthew Mercer explains that they changed over from Pathfinder to D&D 5th edition because D&D is a little easier to follow, since Pathfinder has a knack of having too many floating modifiers to keep up with, which is find in the privacy of the group but doesn't translate well on screen.
There are several things about Critical Role that's exceptionally appealing to a fan like me. The first thing is, is that these are all nerdy voice actors, who really look like they're having fun. And not just the sort of fun that people have to keep up appearances, but they are having fun, because it is fun! And that really appeals to me. As someone who plays D&D, and has aspirations of being an actor or voice actor, I can usually tell when someone is phoning it in, and when one is really experiencing what they are experiencing, so that's awesome.
The second thing that appeals to me, is that this show breaks a few notable stereotypes. The first being that people who play D&D only fits a certain type of person. But we have a muscular, strong looking guy like Travis Willingham just having just as much if not more fun than the others. You don't see many guys who look like Travis play D&D. (Of course, Vin Diesel plays too, but these type of people aren't the norm.) In the same vein, there's still the stereotype that women don't play D&D. But on Critical Role, there are not one, not two, but three, THREE females who play on this show. So, okay, there are six males, and three females, but still! In most games that I've been involved in, there might be one female. I think that this is a great thing that this show breaks down those two stereotypes. These things are important to me as a gamer, and as a human.
Another thing that really draws me, is the quality of the narrative. And while the voices that a lot of the players do are simply amazing (especially the many voices of Mercer), the story isn't dependent of the voices. The story stands on its own! Take away the crazy voices, take away the fact that they're voice actors. The narrative that Matt Mercer himself weaves with the players is fantastic. OH! And that's another thing. He weaves a story WITH the players, not "here's my sandbox, play in it." The storytelling done by Mercer is fantastic, but the reactions and storytelling from the players is equally important, and equally awesome.
Something else that draws me to the show is the time and effort that those involved. There's no phoning in, and calling it a day. Everyone from the cast, to the crew, to the fanbase (myself included) is so very invested in this show. It's clear to see why this is the Juggernaut of the Geek and Sundry Twitch channel, often times getting 5,000+ members watching it every day. Those of us who are part of the fanbase are known as the Critters, and while I can't speak for everyone, this Critter is very proud to be one. So far as even doing some Critical Role Song Parodies, contributing to the Critical Role TV Tropes Page, being a member of the Critical Role Forum Page, and creating my Twitter mostly just for this.
Critical Role is simply awesome, and it's something that anyone whether a lover of Role-Playing Games or not should see. It has very tense moments, but it also has a lot of humor, and tear jerking moments. It feels a lot like old-time radio, or like a voice read for your favorite cartoons. Hell, I'm willing to bet that if you have watched any cartoon, or played any video game in the last ten years or so, chances are at LEAST one of them has been in it. The players and the dungeon master are all very quick-witted, and there's very little time lost between any of them. I highly recommend this show to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Now, having said all of this, I do have a few nitpicks about the show. But most of these nitpicks are things that are unavoidable, but things you might want to know, if you are new to the show. The first being, the first episode or two does unfortunately suffer from audio issues. They were using new equipment, and they weren't one hundred percent proficient with it. Thus, they sound like garbled robots for a little bit of the time. And there is some audio popping, which is a little annoying, but nothing that lowers the quality of the show. By about the third episode, these audio issues in studio are completely fixed.
The second nitpick I have is that sometimes, scheduling can come into play, where the actors are off doing something else, which means that most weeks, you don't have all the cast there in the same place. Sometimes they are able to Skype in, or video call in, which gives us a modicum of a full cast, but then sometimes the video call interferes or interrupts and they spend time trying to fix that issue. Sometimes it is off-putting, but not enough to lose interest in the narrative. Again, scheduling is something that really can't be avoided, and it doesn't lower the quality of the show. If anything, it makes those moments when the full cast is there somehow all the more special.
The last little nitpick that can't really be avoided is the Twitch platform itself. Don't get me wrong, ever since finding Twitch, I thought it was an awesome thing. You can type comments on the chat in somewhat real time (though they opt to do slow mode because of the thousands of people who are typing at the same time). Sometimes when the Twitch channel is not showing in fullscreen mode, the scrolling text can be distracting when you're trying to watch the actual players. But then sometimes I contribute to the chat, so part of this nitpick is more on me, than on the platform itself, but still when I have nothing to contribute then it is a little distracting. But since it's something I can toggle myself, this nitpick is marginalized.
These three things are, as said before nitpicks and doesn't hurt the show, in my opinion, and if these are all the things I can find wrong with it, then you've got a very solid show. It probably helps that the things that are done right, are done so very right. Those things that are wrong, are underwhelming and negligible.
From a scale of one to Super Ultra Awesome, I am going to give this show a Super Ultra Awesome! Yes, it is exactly that!
You can form your own opinions, but this is my spoiler-free review of Critical Role, the first of many... I'm sure. Until next time!
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