The Legend Of Vox Machina - General Discussion

[Spaceman Spiff]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:41 PM, Chyromaniac said:

And Reddick almost certainly has to be one of the Chromas- if not Thordak himself.

[Chyromaniac]

On 1/21/2023 at 7:13 AM, Spaceman Spiff said:

Thanks!  To be fair, Cree as Raishan should’ve been another gimme.

 I went to the theater event on Thursday, and it was really fun.  Although, it was kind of odd having to just leave after the end of episode 3- it’s like, Vex dies, credits roll, and then we all shuffle out as the lights come up.  I would have ended the show with a preview for the rest of the season- but it was kind of a bare bones presentation anyway, as they basically just played the episodes.  Although for $10 a seat and essentially free snacks, I can’t complain too much.

Of course, I coulda been at this screening though…

 

[AnimeMania]

The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2    January 27, 2023    Prime Video  

Episodes 4-6    Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E04: Those Who Walk Away

In a desperate bid to save a team member’s life, Vax strikes a fateful deal with the Matron of Ravens, offering his life in exchange. As Vox Machina battles their way out of the sunken temple, Vax wonders what he’s just signed up for.

S01.E05: Pass Through Fire

While traveling to find the next Vestige of Divergence, Vox Machina passes by Pyrah, home to the Fire Ashari people. Discovering that the village is in distress, Vox Machina must help them, battling fire creatures that are spilling out into the world through a portal to another dimension. As they try to close the portal, Keyleth learns more about the power that lies within her.

S01.E06: Into Rimecleft

Upon arriving at the location of the next Vestige of Divergence, Vox Machina must face the challenges of the mysterious sphinx, Kamaljiori – the mate of Osysa. But even if they can succeed, a new, unexpected threat lies waiting for them.

[PurpleTentacle]

I forgot last time and think I have to mention it now: They really improved the dragon animation this season. Last season it looked very jank and the CGI didn't fit the other animation at all. This season it blends seamlessly. Very well done.

I'm sad that we didn't get the beholder but instead generic petrifying monster. Beholders are just awesome. But because of insane copyright laws, this monster from 1975 is still copyrighted by wizards of the coast and will be for like 50 more years, despite the game consisting of 90% public domain legends. It's Disney all over again. In season one I just assumed Critical Role wanted to distance themselves from D&D a bit, when they created this show, and thus didn't even try to clear the brand names, but considering recent news, I wonder if they tried and what wizards of the coast asked for was just completely unreasonable.

Also a big change of how the Pokéball came to be in Vex's posession and what was inside it before. I'm a bit sad about that one. It never had a massive role, but I liked that it was still out there, after all this time.

-

Kiki at the vulcano: "We can certainly try!" Guys she said the catchphrase! :D

Kiki went very dark phoenix there.

Now I want a full version of "the outhouse at the edge of the world".

-

Scanlin between Grog's man-titties was a sight to behold. Maybe we could see a bit more between those two. I also really liked how he wounded the Sphinx. Very clever.

Considering the Sphinx had never been wounded in his millennia long life, he went down pretty fast. Never fought anything but small mortals before, I take it? I'm pretty sure in the campaign he was still alive at the end. What if Bell's Hells meet him and then we eventually get an animated version of that? What then, Mercer?! 😜 Yeah, probably not going to happen.

But speaking of other campaigns getting animated, everybody caught the recent announcement, that the Mighty Nein are getting their animated show? How cool is that? I love campaign 2 so much more than campaign 1. This is going to be awesome!  Now I just need EXU: Calamity to get a movie and I'm in heaven.

I guess that also means that season 3 will be the last of the Legend of Vox Machina. That makes sense, considering where we are in the story and that this season has still 6 episodes left. Glad they are not draging it out.

[jcbrown]

It so happened that the first episodes of season 2 dropped on the weekend when we had 4/5 of our Sunday D&D group in the same house on the same coast (we are spread between NYC and Northern California and Indiana) for the first in-person meeting ever of two members and the first time the four of us had gotten to play in person. Absolutely perfect timing. So far, I'm really enjoying the season.

[Dandesun]

I love seeing how much love Keyleth is getting in this series. Marisha was getting shit on so hard by viewers at the time. Twitch-chat was fucking AWFUL and it carried over into Campaign 2 with a lot of rage directed at Beau. There were just a lot of people out there who settled on a 'hate this lady for reasons' and really made that part of their personality.

So I really love seeing people respond to Keyleth the way they have. Great stuff.

 

Also... have we all seen that they're doing a Mighty Nein series, too?

I'm just so happy.

 

I really like the way they've done the dragons. How different they all are. And, MAN, Umbrasyl... acid breath is serious shit. To be fair, all of their breath weapons are serious shit and the show has done amazing at showing how destructive ancient dragons can be. Hard core.

[AnimeMania]

The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2      February 3, 2023       Prime Video  

Episodes 7-9       Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E07: The Fey Realm

After escaping from the black dragon Umbrasyl, Vox Machina is split up. Half of the party find themselves lost in another dimension, the mysterious Fey Realm. They encounter strange dangers as they seek to recover the next Vestige of Divergence. Meanwhile, the other half of the party searches for a way to heal their cursed teammate.

S01.E08: Echo Tree

In the Fey Realm, Vox Machina unexpectedly discovers the city of Syngorn and meets Vax and Vex’s father. After the emotional encounter, Vox Machina journeys deeper into the Fey Realm, searching for the next Vestige of Divergence – the Fenthras Bow. To acquire it, they must confront an ancient and powerful archfey. Meanwhile back in Tal’dorei, Scanlan and Pike attempt to nurse Grog back to health.

S01.E09: A Test of Pride

Knowing that the Titanstone Knuckles are in the city of Westruun, Pike and Scanlan come up with a plan to get them from their current owner, Grog’s uncle, Kevdak. But Grog, weakened by Craven Edge’s curse and haunted by his last encounter with his uncle, questions whether he is strong enough of mind, or body, to confront Kevdak.

[PurpleTentacle]

"Garmelie was merely the traveler on this journey." Ah, I see we are going with foreshadowing by sledgehammer on this one. :D

Do I remember that wrong or did Vex's and Vax's father have some redeeming qualities in the campaign? I got the feeling that he was not suited to being a father and overwhelmed with the task, which expressed itself in some dickishness, but that he generally meant well. Here it seems they decided to just make him a full on dick.

On 1/31/2023 at 9:14 PM, Dandesun said:

I love seeing how much love Keyleth is getting in this series. Marisha was getting shit on so hard by viewers at the time.

I watched years after the campaign was done, so I didn't get it live, but even years later I couldn't escape reading about it and glancing some of these comments. Never understood it. I really liked Kiki. She was very insecure, but who wouldn't be in her situation with her backstory? Do most people really just except a straight up power fanatasy? Weird.

Now, her relationship with Vax was vomit inducing and I always cheered when Percy and Vex were making fun of them, but that was just a very minor part of her character's journey.

On 1/31/2023 at 9:14 PM, Dandesun said:

Also... have we all seen that they're doing a Mighty Nein series, too?

Yep, commented about it above. Like I said before, now I only need an EXU: Calamity movie to be in CR heaven. Calamity might be the best D&D play I've ever seen.

[Chyromaniac]

I think a lot of bad dad Syldor is down to the backstory created by Liam & Laura, as well as the comics and books.  That seems to be where you see the neglect and disdain come into play (I haven’t read them myself, but it’s what the wiki suggests).  In the game he was formal and aloof, but not overtly antagonistic.

This was a good set of episodes, and they continue to do a great job of adapting the gameplay- they’re really bringing in elements and characters that I never expected to see, like Dr. D and (tbh) Garmelie.  As for changes from the game, I’m really enjoying Ripley and Umbrasyl- I think it makes a ton of sense for them to be teaming up.  I also liked Grog just breaking Craven Edge, as well as the fallout- although I feel like they milked the joke of him crying over being weak a bit too much.  The Scanlan/Pike duet was amazing- I hope they make the track available.  Very much looking forward to seeing how they do the Grog vs Kevdak fight.

5 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I watched years after the campaign was done, so I didn't get it live, but even years later I couldn't escape reading about it and glancing some of these comments. Never understood it. I really liked Kiki. She was very insecure, but who wouldn't be in her situation with her backstory? Do most people really just except a straight up power fanatasy? Weird.

Sadly, I think it was a lot of (male) viewers who brought a bunch of their own baggage and assumptions about Marisha to the early discourse.  First, there’s the general misogyny that seems to just come with being on the internet.  Plus, there is the false narrative that girls don’t play d&d, and can’t possibly know what they’re doing- especially if they’re dating the DM.  Beyond that, yeah- Johnny Optimizer in the comments is gonna tell you how you’re playing your character wrong.  This is why I generally watch the streams with the chat window closed.

[dwmarch]

14 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

"Garmelie was merely the traveler on this journey." Ah, I see we are going with foreshadowing by sledgehammer on this one. :D

I was confused by this but I haven't watched the Critical Role episodes so perhaps it would be obvious if I had seen those. Garmelie turned into someone else at the end and I felt like I was supposed to recognize who it was. Please feel free to spoiler code it if it hasn't come up in the show yet.

Grog is finally finding his purpose and I like the direction it has gone in but I don't think he could have passed that first test on where his strength came from. It was a one on one battle with another big dude. How was his "protect the little people" ethos supposed to influence that fight? I guess he was supposed to say "I don't have time for this, I've got to go help my friends"? I imagine we'll come back to it later.

[Dandesun]

21 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I watched years after the campaign was done, so I didn't get it live, but even years later I couldn't escape reading about it and glancing some of these comments. Never understood it. I really liked Kiki. She was very insecure, but who wouldn't be in her situation with her backstory? Do most people really just except a straight up power fanatasy? Weird.

15 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

Sadly, I think it was a lot of (male) viewers who brought a bunch of their own baggage and assumptions about Marisha to the early discourse.  First, there’s the general misogyny that seems to just come with being on the internet.  Plus, there is the false narrative that girls don’t play d&d, and can’t possibly know what they’re doing- especially if they’re dating the DM.  Beyond that, yeah- Johnny Optimizer in the comments is gonna tell you how you’re playing your character wrong.  This is why I generally watch the streams with the chat window closed.

Yeah, it was D&D Gatekeeper misogyny directed at the GM's girlfriend because 'girls can't play' combined with Marisha playing a class that is really a lot... especially considering they had transitioned from Pathfinder to D&D so she got a few things wrong from time to time. She also got accused of metagaming a lot which, whatever, we all sometimes have problems with that. Plus, considering Orion during the same time period was metagaming like crazy and full on messing with his sorcerer points in game and didn't get a fraction of the rage that Marisha got. It was a whole bunch of horseshit.

Plus, combined with Beau, you could see that Marisha likes playing seriously awkward characters that need to go on a journey. She really seems to like that trope and there is NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. Hell, Laudna (C3) falls under that category, too. The frustrating thing is that you still see some of that shit. It gets shouted down by others because, at this point, the majority of the fanbase is sick to death of that crap. It was all so over the top in those early days that I don't think a legitimate gripe is even something people want to hear anymore. By 'legitimate gripe' I mean things like 'well, I just don't like the kind of characters she plays.' No one cares to hear it, you know? That's how bad it was.

6 hours ago, dwmarch said:

I was confused by this but I haven't watched the Critical Role episodes so perhaps it would be obvious if I had seen those. Garmelie turned into someone else at the end and I felt like I was supposed to recognize who it was. Please feel free to spoiler code it if it hasn't come up in the show yet.

It's not something that's too likely to come up in THIS show but...

Spoiler

Garmelie turned into The Traveller (Artagan) who is an Archfey and is a major NPC in Campaign 2. He is closely tied to Jester and there's just a LOT of storyline there. He was introduced in Campaign 1 but I think it's interesting how major he wound up being thanks to Laura's character.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Dandesun

[Chyromaniac]

Yeah, I don’t get why they felt the need to do the Garmelie reveal now.  It  certainly doesn’t mean anything to the story at this point.  At best, it’s a moment for stream fans who already know to do the Leo pointing at the screen thing- at worst it’s confusing for casuals.  Still, a rare miss in an otherwise solid show.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:22 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Now, her relationship with Vax was vomit inducing

I agree. It always seemed, to me, the Vax/Kiki romance felt forced, whereas Percy/Vex seemed more natural. In later games during C1 when Liam would say things like "I fly (this way) past my girlfriend and kiss her on the cheek" ....it was like...are you 12? His way of expressing his "love" always came across as childish and forced. Like he was trying to tell the watchers this was an "epic" love story or something.

 

On 1/31/2023 at 2:14 PM, Dandesun said:

So I really love seeing people respond to Keyleth the way they have. Great stuff.

I never had a problem with Keyleth and her power up moments in the series are some of the scenes where I always get choked up a bit, like the end of S1 when she summons sunlight and in this season when she becomes the fire elemental. The character I always had an issue with in C1 (besides Tiberius for obvious reasons) was Vax. I like Liam, I've like other characters he's played in one shots and such. Loved Caleb C2, find Orym to be extremely bland and one note in C3 though.

 

On 1/27/2023 at 7:55 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

But speaking of other campaigns getting animated, everybody caught the recent announcement, that the Mighty Nein are getting their animated show?

I started watching CR with C2, when the pandemic hit and they had to go on hiatus is when I watched C1, so I have more of a fondness for C2 and was excited that they will get an animated series as well.

[Chyromaniac]

Well $#!t… Like Mica Burton, I too just learned that Scanlan is basically Eminem.  So much makes sense now.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Chyromaniac

[PurpleTentacle]

On 2/4/2023 at 6:20 PM, dwmarch said:

Garmelie turned into someone else at the end and I felt like I was supposed to recognize who it was.

Don't worry about it for now.

It is probably worth mentioning though that in the campaign he was bound to the Feywild and only Vox Machina gave him access back to Exandria, in exchange for his help. Here he seems to have had access to Exandria all along. That change could have interesting consequences.

On 2/5/2023 at 1:14 AM, Dandesun said:

Yeah, it was D&D Gatekeeper misogyny directed at the GM's girlfriend because 'girls can't play' combined with Marisha playing a class that is really a lot...

I think if it was meta reasons it probably had more to do with "the GM's girlfriend" than "girls can't play D&D". I'm not aware that Laura and Ashley, or Holly and Anna of DCA fame, ever got this kind of hate.

But if I had to guess it would be my guess from above, that people really tune into these shows for the power fantasy and don't like being reminded of their own weaknesses. At least back then. I think that has changed a bit as the state of play has evolved and the character exploration is much deeper now.

On 2/5/2023 at 1:14 AM, Dandesun said:

especially considering they had transitioned from Pathfinder to D&D so she got a few things wrong from time to time.

Everybody got things wrong all the time. And not just rules. Their math was wrong constantly. That one drove me bonkers. A few times they even did the math right and then were like "No, that's wrong." and mis-corrected it. I damn near had an aneurysm.

On 2/5/2023 at 1:14 AM, Dandesun said:

Plus, considering Orion during the same time period was metagaming like crazy and full on messing with his sorcerer points in game and didn't get a fraction of the rage that Marisha got. It was a whole bunch of horseshit.

They had some weird house rules around the sorcerer points and Matt was constantly tweaking them. Maybe a lot of fans just didn't quite get when Orion was bullshitting again, when the druid rules are much more clear cut. Also he wasn't around for that long, before he got fired. Could be that the hate for him would have gotten just as bad. But yeah, in general his meta gaming ass deserved more hate than Marisha (who didn't deserve any).

On 2/5/2023 at 1:14 AM, Dandesun said:

Plus, combined with Beau, you could see that Marisha likes playing seriously awkward characters that need to go on a journey.

Now she likes playing seriously awkward characters who are fine with who they are. :D

On 2/5/2023 at 1:14 AM, Dandesun said:

Hell, Laudna (C3) falls under that category, too.

No real spoilers, just to be safe:

Spoiler

Eh, I wouldn't say so. I think she's fine with who she is. Or at least won't change. Her challange was to find good people who would accept her for who she is. Which she now has.

On 2/5/2023 at 6:18 PM, Chyromaniac said:

Yeah, I don’t get why they felt the need to do the Garmelie reveal now.  It  certainly doesn’t mean anything to the story at this point.  At best, it’s a moment for stream fans who already know to do the Leo pointing at the screen thing- at worst it’s confusing for casuals.  Still, a rare miss in an otherwise solid show.

I'm pretty sure he also changed his shape in the campaign. So that's in keeping with the original story. It's just now in hindsight that we know what it means. It fell a bit flat for anybody who doesn't know "the future", because he wasn't bound to the feywild here and so him changing shape didn't really mean anything, unlike in the campaign where Vox Machine had just freed him from that binding. There it was a lot more ominous. Like maybe they just unleashed an ancient evil on Exandria or something. I guess that part was cut for time or simplicity, but yeah with that missing they also missed the mark and it just seemed pointless.

The line about the traveler was a lot more sledgehammery though and people will immediatly know what it meant, long before the actual reveal. Which is a bit of a shame because the original reveal was awesome.

On 2/6/2023 at 2:16 PM, Spaceman Spiff said:

Loved Caleb C2, find Orym to be extremely bland and one note in C3 though.

Caleb is great, though Liam really needs to work on his pronounciation of "Scheiße". That's a hard s in there, not a soft one. It's like saying "shid" instead of "shit". It needs that oomph. Got a bit better towards the end of the campaign though. I guess somebody told him.

Orym is very bland, that is true. I think Liam wanted to play a more even-keeled character (but still couldn't help himself with the tragic backstory). On the other hand, the rest of the party is a hand full and maybe it's a good thing that there is one bland character, so things don't spin completely out of control. I mean man, is every single one of those people cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

On 2/6/2023 at 2:16 PM, Spaceman Spiff said:

I started watching CR with C2, when the pandemic hit and they had to go on hiatus is when I watched C1, so I have more of a fondness for C2 and was excited that they will get an animated series as well.

I started with C1, because I'm weird like that, also when the pandemic hit. Tried a few times before, but couldn't get through all the technical and other issues in early episodes. But then suddenly there was nothing much else to do and so I powered through. I originally come from watching / listening to D&D content way back in the days of the Acq. Inc. Podcast (now almost 15 years ago) and then made my way through all of that plus DCA, since they have crossovers, so I guess I was used to a bit better audio quality.

I still love C2 sooooo much more than C1. So I don't think it matters much where you started. I think it comes down to the characters being much better. The ones in C1 are just very standard fantasy tropes, which is understandable considering it was a lot of these guys first time playing D&D. In C2 they stepped up their game about 10 notches and made unique characters who would form the basis for a very unique story.

Spoiler

Also man were we lucky that Molly died. Caduceus pulled that whole team together, when he joined.

Molly was a fun character in theory, but he really didn't add anything and while Taliesin seems to like playing these chaotic characters, they don't seem to be where his strengths lie. Not super thrilled with Ashton either.

[AnimeMania]

The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2    February 9, 2023    Prime Video  

Episodes 10-12    Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E10: The Killbox

Despite his weakened state, Grog confronts his uncle, Kevdak, in a fight to the death. The battle is intense, with Grog taking a beating at the hands of his uncle’s Titanstone Knuckles, another Vestige of Divergence. As Grog is about to fall, the rest of Vox Machina arrives, just in time to join the fray.

S01.E11: Belly of the Beast

While Scanlan makes a fateful and shocking discovery about his past, Vax confronts the Matron of Ravens to uncover the truth about the mysterious pact he made with her. At the same time, Vox Machina teams up with Grog’s Herd and sets their sights on Umbrasyl, preparing an ambush to take down the dreaded black dragon.

S01.E12: The Hope Devourer
(Season Finale)

As the black dragon Umbrasyl escapes their attempted ambush, Vox Machina pursues him to Gatshadow Mountain. In the fearsome acid-filled tunnels of Umbrasyl’s lair, Vox Machina must make a final stand against the evil dragon.

[Spaceman Spiff]

@PurpleTentacle

I didn't know how to quote just a spoiler/hidden content, but I wholeheartedly agree with the last spoiler one in your latest post.

 

Spoiler

I loved Percy and Cad. Could not stand Molly, and yes we were lucky he died. It was good it brought the rest of the group together, made them closer, but it bugged so much that they put Molly on a pedestal with the constant "he was the best of us". To me Molly was nothing more than a conman, a used car salesman with an attitude.  It even ruined the end of C2 for me when he became the BBEG and Matt really leaned into his asshole nature. Ashton to me is Tal just taking Molly's personality and ramping it up a notch, by saying Fuck a lot when he talks. I guess he has a penchant for Punk characters, which meh, so yea I can't stand Ashton either.

 

[PurpleTentacle]

11 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

I didn't know how to quote just a spoiler/hidden content, but I wholeheartedly agree with the last spoiler one in your latest post.

Quote it, select the text in the editor, hit the spoiler button on the editor. Done.

11 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

Spoiler

I loved Percy and Cad. Could not stand Molly, and yes we were lucky he died. It was good it brought the rest of the group together, made them closer, but it bugged so much that they put Molly on a pedestal with the constant "he was the best of us". To me Molly was nothing more than a conman, a used car salesman with an attitude.  It even ruined the end of C2 for me when he became the BBEG and Matt really leaned into his asshole nature. Ashton to me is Tal just taking Molly's personality and ramping it up a notch, by saying Fuck a lot when he talks. I guess he has a penchant for Punk characters, which meh, so yea I can't stand Ashton either.

Spoiler

I don't particularly hate Molly or Ashton. They just don't do anything for me. They leave me more "meh" than even Orym. I do see where you are coming from though.

I guess because of that I didn't much mind all the stuff you hated, like them putting him on a pedastel, because of course they did. We tend to overlook the many, many, flaws in people once they are dead. And I thought he worked rather well as a villain, precisely because of the things that didn't make him work as a PC. As long as I didn't have him in the party and instead had Cad, I was very good with that.

Also from what Matt said it was always planed that Molly's original personality was going to be a big bad, Matt just originally thought it would inhabit different bodies throughout the campaign, but then its original body was suddenly free again, so it took that one. So it could have been worse, you could have had two Mollys fighting over that body. ;D

That reminds me. Taliesin actually does play a very good punk character in L.A. by Night. So it might not be him, it might just be the setting and rest of the party where such a character doesn't fit. I hope he figures that out at some point.

[Spaceman Spiff]

These last 3 episodes were pretty damn good. Lots of characters getting their big hero moment. Grog during the Kevdak fight, Vax getting his wings, Scanlan killing the dragon. I was also really impressed with the transition of Gina/Cree voice for the Raishan reveal.

A lot that happened at the table come across really well animated.

[Chyromaniac]

Oh man, this week had a lot to live up to.  I feel like the Kevdak fight is kind of a turning point for the Thursday show - like, this is the moment that really demonstrated the dramatic potential for this kind of entertainment.  Just everything - from player choices, to DM storytelling, to the game elements, and just the straight up luck of the dice - it all came together to create the story of this battle.  It’s tense, dramatic, fun… and what an ending.

 I think “The Kill Box” captures all of that very well.  The animators have been very good at choreographing the action overall- there were a lot of moving pieces, but I don’t think anyone got lost.  And again- Grog coming out of the necklace to land the final hit on Kevdak was amazingly realized in animation.

The Umbrasyl episodes were fun as well, and a great way to wrap up S2.  I like that they made him the dragon that most “gets” what VM is doing by collecting the vestiges, and tries to take them for himself.  As I’ve mentioned before, I think teaming him with Ripley was also a great idea- she just feeds into his greed and ambition.  The other big change was making the fight about Scanlan- it makes sense, since he was the last one left to get any kind of character development or backstory.  It’s also a tidy way pay off some of the Kaylie storyline here.  Finally, I love how they ended the season with the Raishan reveal, and the tease of what Thordak is up to.  I think this sets things up nicely for S3- can’t wait for my next annual month of Prime in 2024!

[AnimeMania]

‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ Brings Spontaneity to Its Epic Animated D&D Fantasy

The team behind the series breaks down the process of adapting Dungeons & Dragons gaming sessions for TV.

[AnimeMania]

Liam O'Brien Teases How Vax Changes In The Legend Of Vox Machina Season 3

[ICantDoThatDave]

Just watched seasons 1 & 2, back-to-back.  I liked the show, but didn't love it.  Probably a B- overall, IMO.  I have no background on the show in regard to the stuff talked about upthread.

I've played D&D, both table top & CRPG, so I appreciated the characters & the world building.  The interactions were great, the supporting characters were great, the whole party was great.

But the plot, the story, the encounters... were just terrible & ridiculous.  The massive Plot Armor of the the party was a constant distraction.  Outrunning constant Dragon Breath was simply eye-roll inducing.  The Crouching Tiger leaps & bounds characters pulled off while fighting even mundane enemies was insane.  Several of the super high-level enemies they faced should have destroyed this party multiple times over.  In the opening to the first episode, we're shown the (later revealed) Blue Dragon just wiping an experienced party, to establish the threat.  And I'm supposed to believe these main characters not only survived it, but later beat it (cause "hit it in the throat" I guess)?

And they have now survived an attack by not just one Dragon, but several Old/Ancient Dragons (not to mention a Vampire Lord)? What freakin' level are these people? This is the type of campaign me & my friends used to run when we were 13-14 & didn't know any better - a "Monty Haul" campaign where we beat Dragons/Beholders/Chimeras/Mind Flayers/Death Knights... just 'cause it was fun & we kinda ignored the rules.

Also, the number of times a character "died", but then not really, was ridiculous.  Vex I guess was at least a plot point, but "OMG this character died! we all are sad! OMG they're fine now!" just happened waaaay too much.

Still... I like the characters (Keyleth, Grog, & Pike are my favorites), & will watch season 3 when it comes out just for their interactions.  But the plot is... waaay dumb & waaay over-the-top, & just ignores all the rules.  The characters are the only thing that makes this worthwhile, IMO.