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Honestly I just want this season to be over. It’s trying to do too many things and landing none of them. The story is about 4 teens taking over this secret agency like Kids Next Door except they fight The Doodler instead of adults. No! The story is about how our world and The Forgotten Realms switched places and now they have to travel to the REAL real world. No! They're actually just going to travel back and forth quite easily. No! Now they have to go to Hell and- NO! Back to Normal's house! There's also the fact that I am an adult man and cannot loving stand teen drama. Four dads searching for their kids resonates with me a lot more than four teens whining and arguing about how adults suck. Squack McQuack fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Apr 18, 2023 |
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Apr 18, 2023 14:52
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Listened to ep30 uncut today, and there's a lot of them discussing "boy this Scary arc is the same thing over and over how do we pull out?" They're certainly aware it's been an issue. So while they seem to have taken their time with it a little, hopefully it's going to be dialled back after ep31 ended like it did, at least for a good while.
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Apr 18, 2023 18:35
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geri_khan posted:Listened to ep30 uncut today, and there's a lot of them discussing "boy this Scary arc is the same thing over and over how do we pull out?" They're certainly aware it's been an issue. That's good to hear. It has never really landed with me.
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Apr 20, 2023 15:49
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Beth mentioned in Talking Dads that she had some anxiety over the same thing.
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Apr 21, 2023 14:43
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If you're going to turn on your team you have to commit to it. Half measures just wind up being, well, what we've been listening to. Beth could have, and should have, gone all in, surrendered Scary to Anthony's control as a new villain, and taken over Hero Oak as a character, especially with the reveal. It was a mistake and I'm glad they've decided to move past it.
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Apr 22, 2023 10:05
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I wonder if part of the problem is that it's a bunch of writers trying to improvise. It feels like they (especially Anthony) have an expectation that they want the story to move along at a scripted pace, except the problem is that half the script is being made up in real time by the characters as they go along, so there's not as much of a coherent, planned path forward as they're all used to. Especially for major plot beats/character conflicts like this one, I guess interpersonal conflict is messier and more complicated to resolve than when you're following a script, I can't blame them too much for having a hard time improvising a way through it. I agree that the plot of the campaign is a bit of a mess, but I'm still enjoying the season. The personalities/talent are all still there and the episodes are all funny and entertaining to listen to. I'm usually listening to these podcasts while I'm doing something else anyway, so even if the plot were a bit tighter I'd probably still be lost tbh, I kind of live in the moment with these shows sometimes, and so far the moments have been good.
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Apr 22, 2023 15:58
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Ainsley McTree posted:I wonder if part of the problem is that it's a bunch of writers trying to improvise. It feels like they (especially Anthony) have an expectation that they want the story to move along at a scripted pace, except the problem is that half the script is being made up in real time by the characters as they go along, so there's not as much of a coherent, planned path forward as they're all used to. Especially for major plot beats/character conflicts like this one, I guess interpersonal conflict is messier and more complicated to resolve than when you're following a script, I can't blame them too much for having a hard time improvising a way through it. I sort of agree this is a tough thing to improv but the problem is all the pre-written parts are equally rough with respect to the character work. Hell was a fully planned arc that Anthony sent the team into and it still had zero direction, momentum, or apparent purpose. The pod's been in a serious rough patch for a while in this respect, I feel; there's obviously lots of stuff that's causing problems but Anthony pretty clearly has no overarching plan or thoughts here (beyond "what if Handsome Jack groomed teens") and it's seriously hampering everyone's ability to engage.
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Apr 22, 2023 18:02
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Trying to only glance at this thread to avoid spoilers, but I checked out about 10 months ago probably 7 episodes into season 2, it just wasnt capturing that magic of the first season and it doesnt seem like it's got any better really, that an accurate conclusion?
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Apr 22, 2023 19:58
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The consensus of the thread at least seems to be that the story is a bit of a mess, but they seem to have found their comedic footing a little better in the past few months worth of episodes. I’m still enjoying the show and look forward to the episode coming out each week, but I’ve always been in it more for the goofs
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Apr 22, 2023 20:45
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I still really enjoy the show on a piece by piece basis, I just have to stop trying to see it as a cohesive whole, because it's not. And the patreon after-show is still consistently hilarious.
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Apr 23, 2023 06:44
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Looks like they hosed up again and put the mbic on the no-ads patreon feed. Pretty fun little 15 minutes of chaos trying to build a rocket to escape a doomed earth. Speaking of the patreon, I joined before they started doing ad breaks and only just realized they have entertaining ads, so I started back from the beginning. Does anyone know if they do that thing where they update old episodes to have new ads? Currently getting a lot of Chime and "Etsy me, Mario! [matt laughs hysterically]" Anyway it is incredible how much faster that season moves, at least early on. By episode eleven you've already got Gartok, Cern, the pyramid, Paedon, Scam Likely, Erin O'Neil, and the Library, and only three of those were thought of ahead of time by Anthony. I'm still enjoying season 2 but wow I forgot how strong it was when it started as a high stakes/low planning adventure.
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Apr 27, 2023 21:47
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honestly as someone who mostly dislikes the podcast i think anthony isn't the worst at improv and moment to moment character work and plot complications. outside of the part where he thinks he's better than having to run D&D and is vocally resentful at the idea of being bound by rules (and then, naturally, regularly introduces homebrewed mechanics that just blow), i think he could dm a pretty entertaining campaign. unfortunately he's way worse at macro concerns like establishing the right tone and pacing a plot in pre-written stuff, which leads to all kinds of issues from the start of season 2 being slow and lacking momentum to the late season 1 extremely tedious dog abandonment and child abuse episode. season 2 has been a struggle between his weaknesses in the macro and his relative strengths in the micro (and between the players' good fun-having drive and their tedious slow burn character development drive) that i've found honestly instructive and interesting
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Apr 27, 2023 22:15
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Friend posted:Looks like they hosed up again and put the mbic The what?
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Apr 27, 2023 23:00
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Snowy posted:The what? Monthly bonus of indeterminable content for the $10 tier, it came up on my rss feed as an mbic but the patreon just says "Bonus" so maybe they thought 15 minutes wasn't enough to justify it 
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Apr 28, 2023 00:53
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Friend posted:Looks like they hosed up again and put the mbic on the no-ads patreon feed. Pretty fun little 15 minutes of chaos trying to build a rocket to escape a doomed earth. I don't know if they swap out the ads, but if you want to listen to them without going through the whole podcast again, they have them all compiled here. It looks like they list the discount codes there (and say when they old ones have expired) so that's not a terrible place to check out if you want some PODCASTER(TM) products.
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Apr 28, 2023 04:00
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Valentin posted:honestly as someone who mostly dislikes the podcast i think anthony isn't the worst at improv and moment to moment character work and plot complications. outside of the part where he thinks he's better than having to run D&D and is vocally resentful at the idea of being bound by rules (and then, naturally, regularly introduces homebrewed mechanics that just blow), i think he could dm a pretty entertaining campaign. Eevryone is better than having to run D&D because it sucks rear end but they made a loving podcast name choice
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Apr 28, 2023 07:13
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goblin week posted:Eevryone is better than having to run D&D because it sucks rear end but they made a loving podcast name choice Proper D&D combat is a joyless slog to listen to. I listen to another actual play podcast and one combat encounter can take a whole episode. My personal taste of course
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Apr 30, 2023 22:13
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ghouldaddy07 posted:Proper D&D combat is a joyless slog to listen to. I listen to another actual play podcast and one combat encounter can take a whole episode. Yeah, that's basically why I can never get into Critical Role. I really want to, and the characters really appeal to me, but the combat is such a slog that I always give up after like 5-10 episodes.
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Apr 30, 2023 22:46
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Soysaucebeast posted:Yeah, that's basically why I can never get into Critical Role. I really want to, and the characters really appeal to me, but the combat is such a slog that I always give up after like 5-10 episodes. Just watch the show, or read the comics. You can get the character stuff without any of the actual play stuff.
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Apr 30, 2023 23:27
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well, im glad the show is no longer the "Scary Betrayal Power Hour" but the trip to goof realm was, uh, not exactly what i hoped for
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May 10, 2023 16:08
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On the one hand, Beth and Freddie were given the easiest characters to imitate, blew it, and seemed hesitant to contribute anything; Matt played it fairly safe but kept things moving as usual, and some of Anthony's stuff sounds good on paper but fell a bit flat. But on the other hand, everything Will did was a high point of this season. His rant about rick and morty fans' reputation and Freddie being terrible ("good job you finally got one") and his desperate and rapid-fire Aristocrats joke were incredible. But I've been going through some stuff this week so maybe the levity just hit me different
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May 10, 2023 20:58
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I think the next episode, with someone from Craigslist judging their stand up routines should be interesting. Not the hugest fan of this particular bit they're doing, seems like they're floundering a bit but it's decently entertaining with Will and Beth.
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May 10, 2023 21:17
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Friend posted:On the one hand, Beth and Freddie were given the easiest characters to imitate, blew it, and seemed hesitant to contribute anything; Matt played it fairly safe but kept things moving as usual, and some of Anthony's stuff sounds good on paper but fell a bit flat. It would have been so much better if Beth could have been Jared Leto's Joker. I don't think it's totally her fault that the Napoleon Dynamite character isn't working as well, the movie's humor doesn't work as well in only audio form. The visuals are what helps sell the deadpan comedy. Freddie has no excuse for flubbing Austin Powers so hard though, and I agree that Will loving NAILED it as Borat and Rick. Full Marks, no notes.
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May 11, 2023 04:13
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This was definitely Will's show.
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May 11, 2023 17:43
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Honestly, Will crushing it is a nice change of pace from Matt owning every funny beat this whole season How Freddy couldn’t pull out a single decent joke is beyond me
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May 14, 2023 23:10
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Speaking of Matt owning scenes, the latest bonus episode is just that.
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May 17, 2023 17:34
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Begging Freddie to dial it back like 15%
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May 17, 2023 18:03
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Freddie is the Travis of DnDads
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May 18, 2023 08:20
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Watch season 2 but drink every time Anthony sets something up but Freddy tries to change it.
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May 18, 2023 12:10
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goblin week posted:Freddie is the Travis of DnDads
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May 18, 2023 14:53
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I didn’t want to say it but I was thinking it I dunno he isn’t quite Travis bad to me, he is capable of being really funny (the improvised “i’m going to kill you” argument he had with Anthony playing normal’s sister was an example of him towards the top of him game imo, but it’s possibly telling that I had to think back a few episodes to remember a good Taylor scene) but I wish he would talk a little less and listen a little more and maybe ask “is this the right time for an anime joke?” before interjecting into an emotional scene
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May 18, 2023 15:04
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Freddie suffers from main character syndrome even when he’s in an ensemble. It was pretty obvious in season 1 but even worse in 2
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May 18, 2023 15:51
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Woahwoahwoahwoahwaitwaitwaitwaityaknowwhatitis?yaknowwhatitis?
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May 18, 2023 16:57
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Beef Jerky Robot posted:Woahwoahwoahwoahwaitwaitwaitwaityaknowwhatitis?yaknowwhatitis? *interrupting* Nononono, no no
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May 18, 2023 17:08
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Freddie just isn't that great at improv and if he's thrown into another lane he doesn't know much about you get him on the last Goofy episode. Him fighting himself really was peak Freddie and that crossed over into hilarious because no one else would drag it out that long. Thinking about it one of the reason Sons and Sonsibilities works so well besides Amanda being a rock star is he's very lost in that time period. So for the most part his main character tendencies don't come up. SunshineDanceParty fucked around with this message at 17:28 on May 18, 2023 |
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May 18, 2023 17:23
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Beef Jerky Robot posted:Woahwoahwoahwoahwaitwaitwaitwaityaknowwhatitis?yaknowwhatitis? Yeah, this is exactly what came to mind. Listening to season 1, it was actually off-putting to not hear the DM or a player set something up without Freddy doing that.
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May 18, 2023 17:44
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eh freddie misses more than he hits but his hits are good and I'd rather listen to 60 episodes of players lobbing jokes with varying success then a single episode of the child abuse show or teen drama hour, so he's good in my book. I do think he's gotten worse as the show has moved away from anything resembling dnd gameplay since it was clearly one of the things that engaged him (like his elaborate oil fire play in s1 or the other various tricks he pulled), but since his most recent attempt at an interesting play got no-sold by "the archdemon is defeated by a single acid spray, also your dad is dead," I don't really blame him for that.
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May 18, 2023 17:44
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Yeah I don't have any particular ill will for Freddy, but I just find the one-upping to be one of the causes of why I'm cold on season 2. I sometimes have trouble setting up scenes in my mind because they keep writer-rooming characters and settings. I also get really confused with the world, but that's likely also just me.
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May 18, 2023 17:56
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Yeah he’s noticeably the weakest link of the show (at least the performance parts; I get the sense he does a lot of behind the scenes stuff, or at least the way he tells it) but not so weak that he makes me want to stop listening, which is more than I can say for Travis
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May 18, 2023 18:20
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Yeah I’d just stop listening if I didn’t like the crew. Instead I’ll just deal with Freddie being a little annoying and Matt being needlessly obstinate and Will being perfect.
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May 18, 2023 18:23
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