I tried to listen to C2.
I’m sorry, I’m not going to listen to a story about characters who I can’t differentiate walking from one town to the next with some combat in between each town for three hours in the first episode. That’s such a boring intro.
I used to defend Critical Role even though my circles are quite anti Critical Role.
Now though I don't think I could. Their style has shifted from the original group of friends streaming their Dungeons and Dragons games to being a scripted performance.
Hell, they've got one of their Dungeon Masters holding literal socialist D&D games for Democratic donors. They are (allegedly) kissing one another in live streams. They're climbing on tables mid game.
Its a far cry from Matt Mercer being a difficult DM to live up to now. Now it doesn't seem to resemble the actual game much at all.