I feel that Grian's HermitCraft series (as well as the Life Series, but that's a future post) is nowhere near as entertaining as it used to be.
That being said, I watched Season 6 as a 12-year-old. (I actually started while Season 8 was coming out and caught up quickly because I really liked it.) Since then, I've been watching Grian's videos as they come out for the past three seasons.
I think the content is nowhere near as good, and his charm and brilliant ideas that made him famous have been replaced with cheap bits. What was great about his channel was all the mini-games and fun he started, in things like the Season 6 Civil War. He's always been an amazing builder, but the real draw to his videos was the way he interacted with the other creators.
In Season 6 (just from memory), I know he made Demise, the Civil War, an elytra course, a digging game if I remember correctly, and more. Not to mention his run as Poultry Man, which he played off as a brilliant bit throughout the season that he genuinely put a lot of work and building into, not just for the content.
In Season 7 he had the door thing and some more, and in Season 8 he was the creator of all the fun and ideas in Boatem. He was also always talking to people, allowing a good balance between building and socializing. He had pranks like trapping Mumbo in obsidian and building a base under Keralis's, which all felt like genuine ideas he had that we just got to watch unfold. His conversations with Iskall, Mumbo, and others all felt like watching real conversations.
When I watch now, many bits feel manufactured. Things like the mending book felt like ideas written into a video beforehand just to get people to watch, and it dragged on for multiple episodes. The Permit Office had great moments, like Joel's experience and interactions with other people, but that was only a small part of it. Most of the office was Grian making jokes to himself and the audience, and for all the work he put into it, the social interactions never fully paid off.
Twenty episodes into Season 11, he really only talks to EGG consistently, with many other players making one or zero small appearances. He's only worked on his own base, and I recently watched an entire episode about trying to get a blue axolotl, which:
- Was Ren's idea.
- Felt like a rehash of the mending book.
- Even though it did take him quite a while, it wasn't worth 20 minutes and an entire episode, and I feel like he should know that.
The bits he puts in nowadays aren't as funny and are mostly directed at the audience anyway. Not only has he barely done any pranks in either of the last two seasons—except quick bits like waxing Mumbo's rods for a total of about two minutes of video time—but nobody pranks him either. There are pranks from other players, like the snowman going around or Doc bullying Scar, but nobody does it to Grian. It's almost like he just got fed up with that style of content and that it isn't his thing anymore.
While I'm still watching his videos, I feel their quality has gone down, and his channel just isn't the same anymore.
