NWY
New characters did better jobs
First I wanted to commend the new characters. I really thought they all very fitting in their roles. I liked them better than the characters in Season 1. This includes Dylan Wang. I thought Dylan was a better Ning Que than Arthur Chen was. He had better chemistry with Ireine Song. Whereas Arthur Chen had better chemistry with Crystal Yuan.The music was superb. Most of the time I was here for the music. The beginning soundtrack was excellent. It really shows that the composer is classically trained. The chants and choruses are great too. There are some contemporary vocals as well to satisfy people of different musical taste. But the classical style is different, not found in most Chinese dramas which tells me that much thought was placed in the music.
The most unfortunate part about this drama is that it's looks low budget. It could be very beautifully done with proper budget, the story line is great, but much of the episodes are a drag.
Acting is excellent. Every single character filled their roles to the T. As someone mentioned, there are some characters played by the same person from season 1, but felt like the personality has changed. The Emperor, the Sage and Mr. 2 showed the most change in my opinion.
Overall I enjoyed it, but I wanted it to end. I was a bit disappointed that it did not and I have to watch season 3.
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Lack of attention to details makes it hard to immerse in it
The story line is quite good, but not well rounded. The entire thing was written from the same perspective. Heroes are heroes and can do no wrong (even when they do, it's forgivable). Villains are villains and everything they do is wrong (even the good things they do are considered negative). There's also a very obvious good guy/bad guy. Everybody likes the good guy, and hates the bad guys.With that said, it's very hard for viewers to hate the bad guy because of the very one-sided perspective of this drama resulting in very unfair treatment of the said bad guy. We feel that he is very unfairly treated so we root for him and can't hate him.
Acting is good but it's only acting after all. There are dramas where the actors are merely acting and then there are dramas where the actors become the character. This one is the former. Good acting, but not true to life. For example, a woman who does not know love doesn't mean she is childish. And a person who's about to die does not talk very fast and with the same usual energy. But, this could be a problem with the script or director, not actors, because these are reputable actors. And I suspect it's the director because there are scenes that are quite ridiculous. A character takes a leisure walk through a forest (seems quite careless and humming happily). All of a sudden she trips over an arm, she looks down and is shocked to see a forest full of dead bodies. Her acting was very good through the whole thing. But I ask, who in the world would walk through a forest of dead bodies without seeing one until you trip?
Overall the drama is very beautiful. But it's very unfortunate that it misses so many small details. For those who are only into the love story, they'll love it. It's a great love story. But it's a very modern love story that's very selfish. It's does not have any of the ancient values we know about. All that is thrown out of the window.
I gave up 3 times before I decided to come back and finish it. It's quite hard to immerse in it. Sometimes I succeed only to get pulled back to reality by another detail that's not true to real life, and I remember that I'm just watching a drama. Needless to say, has no rewatch value for me. (And I'm the person who watched Pride and Prejudice more than 10 times.)
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The actors at their best
Creative story writing and production. The many twists and turns to make it interesting only grips your heart. While this fall a little short of Ten Miles of Peach Blossom in my opinion, it is a great Xianxia drama above all the others.I still lament that they did not pick a better looking FL, but Zhou Dongyu did not disappoint me. Her acting is very natural and fun to watch. Xu Kai... wow. He surpassed all the previous characters I've seen him in. The two had great chemistry. The supporting act did a wonderful job as well. I did not give it a perfect score because there were places where I thought acting was a bit lacking, like Fengran's reaction when holding the fallen Jinyan. Akin to Ten Miles Peach Blossom's Baiqian holding Yehua's fallen body. Yanmi did a much better job than Zhang Yaqin. Another delight to watch was the boy Yuanqi. I'm looking forward to watching him grow into a great actor.
The music, though too modern for my taste, was quite appropriate as well. I only would like to see more variation. It feels like the composer is only capable of this one style.
Though it is a great Xianxia drama, I probably would not want to rewatch it. There's nothing unclear that I need to go back and figure out, and there's also not a scene that I feel I must watch again.
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The one thing that bothered me most was the choice of main leads. The two are strong actors, but there seems to be a lack of chemistry that's only compensated by their skill. The choice of the male bothered me a little more in a way that he's not best suited for a romantic (comedic) drama. Mark Chao would have been a better choice for this God of War if not for the fact that he was the God of War in TMPB. There are a few romantic scenes between Jiu Chen and Ling Xi, but rather than enjoying the scenes, I find myself fast-forwarding through. The side story between Yun Feng and Qing Yao was more natural and enjoyable than the main one. The remaining cast was wonderful. My favorite are 13 and Si Ming.
Music was rather common. Not bad, just common. Not mesmerizing like TMPB, and not grand like Ever Night. After watching 60 episodes I can't recall how many songs were written for it, or what the melodies were.
Like most people said, the ending felt lacking. The last 5 episodes were rather slow, and lacked action and explanation. I felt that it either can cut about 3 episodes, or it needed one more to give a more complete ending. The final climax to resolution, all of 300 years was delivered in a few minutes.
I would not rewatch it. Though it was very well done, I did not come out of it wanting more. I did not want to go back and watch a certain scene.
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Nice simple story that's easy to follow
My biggest dissatisfaction is the acting. I really liked the story line but the acting kind of took away the nostalgia of the moment. While Li Yifeng's acting is so-so, the character of Su Mo is icy and devoid of feeling on the outside, so Li's portrayal of Su Mo is befitting. Yukke Chen, however is very bad. Her acting is bland, very textbook, and lacks variation. She only has one expression, which is staring with those big eyes (sometime with tears and sometimes without, that's the only variation she's done here.) I really disliked the character of Na Sheng at first, but she grew on me. Kudos to Zheng Ye Chen. He was great here. I don't understand why he is not more famous.Chemistry between the leads is non-existent. Bai Ying acts the same way towards Su Mo, Zhen Lan and Xi Jing. So if you are here for the love story, you will not go away feeling satisfied.
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Good leads makes good drama
I absolutely loved the story. While full of twists, everything comes neatly together. Everything was explained very clearly without leaving any holes. The political struggle that affected the martial arts world was very beautifully intertwined. There were, however, unnecessary deaths.The acting was quite good, except for the two main leads. It feels that they either lack experience or simply are not main lead material. Without picking on the looks, the FL is really lacking. Her acting lacks that show of inner struggle between saving her master and being true to her love. Every time Su Yunluo walks away from Zuo Qingci she always displays hatred rather than the struggle between her love for him and her disappointment in his betrayal. The male lead is really not bad. The problem is that there's no chemistry between the two. As far as display of chemistry, Wen Siyuan and Shen Manqin did the best job. Yin Changge and Jiang Er were not bad either.
Though not my taste, I have to give 10 for music. Well done in all the appropriate places.
Overall, I really enjoyed the whole package. If they had picked two more experienced leads, this would have made it up there in my heart right next to Nirvana in Fire.
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Very typical Zhao Lusi
To give credit to this drama, I really did enjoy it... after I filled in all the holes.It's a good story but has too many things unexplained. Things just happen without reason just to make the story move forward.
The cast and acting was pretty good too. I would have enjoyed Zhao Lusi more if she departed from her typical character. Granted, she is a good actress, but this drama did not call for a silly FL; so it would have been better if she left behind the silliness that characterized her in all her previous dramas. The ML was ok good, not superb.
It was fun, but I would not rewatch it.
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