At the moment I'm reading the novel. Finally. After having watched 5 versions of LOCH, I get to read its source material since the novel has been officially translated into English. LOCH is my number 1 wuxia story so I don't mind that it gets remade many times. I find it interesting that each production has tried a different approach. The 1983 version is undoubtedly my most favorite version and is followed by the 2017.

The 2017 is the 4th version that I've watched. The production is really really good. I can tell that they put a lot of effort into the costumes, locations, visual effects, and so on. This is probably the most gorgeous looking LOCH to date. The costumes and make-up are not over the top but not sloppy, either. Except for costumes worn by Huang Rong, Guo Jing and Mei Chaofeng.. But I'm being nit-picky here. The locales are stunningly beautiful. The cinematography is simply breathtaking. This version is certainly a feast for the eyes! And the music goes well with the visuals. Love it.

I haven't finished reading the novel but I can say that the story line follows pretty closely to the book, which is very nice. It's good that the creative team didn't try to make the story deviate grossly from the book.
The acting is overall decent. Not as brilliant as the cast of 1983 version but it's OK. I personally think that the one that stands out is Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi, Huang Yaoshi is one of my favorite characters in wuxia stories. In the beginning I was a bit worried that he wouldn't do as good as Kenneth Tsang in 1983 version. But I was wrong. Michael exceeded my expectation. He did so well that now as I'm reading the book, it describes Huang Yaoshi and I immediately imagine Michael Miu's Huang Yaoshi. His presence is awe-inspiring and daunting. When I was watching the series, his appearance was the one I was always looking forward to!

After all the praise for the production I mentioned above, I still can't bring myself to give this version 9.0 for some reasons that I think significant. First of all, LOCH is after all a wuxia story which means the combat choreography must be the priority. The combat scenes are not bad, but not great, either. I think it's a shame. They seemed to have focused too much on making the visuals beautiful including the fighting scenes making them look artificial and weird. To much slo-mo makes the combat less visually appealing. Like I'm always curious how each maker interpret 18 Dragon Subduing Palms. I wish they had created something more phenomenal. They should have made the fighting scenes slightly raw. Guo Jing is the main character here but as far as I'm concerned his combat scenes are just OK. Ironically Huang Yaoshi has much better fighting scenes.

A note about the actors who played the main characters. Guo Jing is said to be burly or heavily built in the book. The actor looked thin and more like a pop star rather than a hero. They put on so many layers of costume on him to make him look a bit bulky but the costume makes me think, "How on earth a hero could fight in so many layers of clothes? Wouldn't he trip over at some point?" His acting is OK. I still think Felix Wong is the best Guo Jing. Huang Rong here is also too sweet. She doesn't have enough sassiness and ruthlessness that Barbara Yung's has. Another disappointment is the actor who played Hong Qigong. Hong Qigong is like my number 1 character in all wuxia stories. He looks too young. His make-up wasn't able to make him look older. Lau Dan is still the best Hong Qigong to me. Mei Chaofeng here is not bad actually. I like her portrayal. I wish her kung fu were slightly more badass and her appearance should have been kind of disarray. I think she's the most fashionable Mei Chaofeng of all versions that I've seen, which it's kind of silly. Mei spends most of her life in hiding, how could she afford hair jewelry? Liu Ying looks insanely spotlessly beautiful that her face looks like wax statue! Again I suppose in an attempt to make the drama look gorgeous, the makers focused too much on the visuals.

And one last thing, I feel that 52 episodes is a tad too short. They should have added 2 more episodes. They seemed to rush the last 2 or 3 episodes. I like when Huang Rong played hard to get when she's hiding in Mongolia. They made this part slightly longer in 1983. Here it seems within just a short time Guo Jing managed to figure out who has been helping him in the war. I have read that the makers had to make do with tight budget and time constraints that they had to reduce the use of special effects and hire less well-known actors and actresses. That's quite understandable. It's too bad though. I feel it could have been better. So yeah, to me this version gets a 8.5.