Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

Definitely drama of the year

Starting from the first episode to the last, a lot happened. From a novel that get criticised to something completely different. Miao Miao and Zi Qi definitely had the best character development, especially Zi Qi. From a cold-hearted person to someone who cares about his family and friends. Every moment in this drama was filled with emotions, laughs, tears, love, everything was completely perfect. The story about Zi Qi’s mother was really beautiful and heartbreaking, but teaching that no matter what happens, the love will never lost. Truly a 10/10 drama with satisfying ending. The fact that Miao Miao sacrifices her memories from the real world just to save the novel characters had a great impact on the plot and rewrite the ending perfectly. Zi Qi realising he was Fu Zhou in the ending really got me and bring me to tears. The idea about the 100% was really good, something I’ve never seen and didn’t expect, but truly satisfying.

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The Ultimate Cdrama Comeback ?

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy is officially the drama that brought me back to C-dramas! I truly don’t understand the hate Esther Yu gets for this role; people call her acting "childish," but in this world, her energy is perfect for Ling Miaomiao’s character. In Love Game, everything is high-quality: the storyline is gripping, the costumes are gorgeous, and the OST is absolutely top-tier. I also love that the cast has such a genuine, strong friendship off-screen—you can really feel that bond in their performances.

However, we need to talk about that ending! It was low-key traumatizing to have the series end right when the Male Lead calls her name in the modern world. After all that emotional investment, a cliffhanger like that makes you want to pull your hair out! Despite the frustrating finale, the journey was incredible, and the chemistry between the leads is unmatched. ✨🎬

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The Best Drama in 2024 Yet

What a wonderful sweet love story. If you're looking for a light romantice and comedic love story, this one is for you. Remember those wuxia drama back in the day with Hu Ge? I got A LOT of the same vibes from that series here.

The camaraderie, found family, fighting demons, discovering the secrets about each main characters was executed quite well.

What drew me into the story is definitely the main leads. They have really good chemistry. Miao Miao played by Esther is such a ball of sunshine. But the greatest actor of all time goes to the male lead played by Ding Yu Xi who played a black lotus. From the microexpressions to the quick timed wittiness of the character, DYX manages to bring out the best of what a black lotus could be in real life.

Storyline is lighthearted but there are some very wonderful messages spread throughout the show that made it even better such as only being able to love others at 100% when you love yourself.

This is definitely one of my top 10 cdramas of all time!

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Why I’m Glad I Watched This Series!

I was hesitant to watch this series with Esther Yu because it seemed similar to her past works like Love Between Fairy and Devil and Sword and Fairy 6. However, after enjoying her role in Journey to You, I decided to give it a try, even though I wasn't sure if I'd be in the right mood. The story didn’t catch my attention at first because it reminded me of other shows with a similar plot, like The Romance of Tiger and Rose with Zhao Lusi. In both, the female lead gets pulled into a story where she ends up in the role of the antagonist. Because of that, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I’m glad I watched it.

The series took a fresh approach, and I actually found it more fun than Tiger and Rose, even though they share a similar storyline. I really enjoyed how Ling Miao Miao tried to make Ziqi fall for her, with the fun idea of a “favorability percentage” going from -200% to 100%. It was a creative twist. The main leads definitely had great chemistry. I’ve seen them together in Moonlight, so I knew their dynamic would be good.

I didn’t pay much attention to the second couple’s story and ended up skipping their parts. But the actors still did a great job, especially Ding Yuxi in the emotional scenes. The music and post-production were good too. While the cinematography and effects sometimes looked cheap, they got better as the series went on.

I liked how the modern world and the game world were connected. However, some things were unclear, like when Miao Miao is under the bracelet’s spell. The system didn’t seem to interact with her, even though she’s a player, not an NPC. That was a little confusing. Despite these small issues, the show is definitely worth watching again!

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Applaud to the Structure of the drama and how it ties into its Core message

I finished the last 3 episodes yesterday and I admit I cried a little and a lot of wows and surprises. There were something’s that were a little rushed (ex. Retrying the ending fight scene with the demon queen) but it’s not bad at all. It’s still fine the way it was executed and the message they are trying to convey to us. I think they wanted to focus on using one full episode to explain how the whole drama happened, the backstory that ties everything together. The techniques they used to tell the story is interesting and creative (even if it’s not new). They applied a frame story narrative structure on top of using metatheatre. I don’t know about you but that’s some sick techniques to use. It’s paying homage to literary writing (one of the oldest forms of narrative/literary techniques) and it’s intertwine very nicely to the core message of the story: who said things that happened in a story are illusions/fake. Reality mirrors tales and vise versa. It tells a tale of a person’s journey of learning to love himself first before he knows how to love someone else. Even if the journey might be questionable to you the audience it was real on every level to them. Who said stories are fake? (The literary part of me is screaming at how amazing this drama tied up. I screamed and wowed at everything else of course). Don’t get me wrong the message and techniques they used in the story isn’t new but because I made so many guesses in my head what they had in store was not what I expecting. That’s why this worked. It’s definitely a story better watching for yourself without spoilers (man I tried so hard dodging spoilers). My sister didn’t watch it and I would summarize the drama to her all the time. I was disappointed when she said it was cliched. Honestly you need to watch this drama without spoilers 🙂‍↕️The way the events unfold and the watching experience is what made this one special.

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Big love for my bamboo sprouts!!

What a wonderful show this was🥹💗 I had such a good time watching this drama over the last couple of weeks. Visually, it was incredible, and I just loved the styling and little details here and there. Such as when Zi Qi was invisible, and we could see Miao Miao’s hair ribbon being played with; or when they were sitting on the stairs, and all we could see were the marks their butts had left🤭🤣

I just loved Esther and Yu Xi together, I cannot believe their chemistry was even better than in “Moonlight” (which says a lot because I LOVED them in “Moonlight”). They were both so fun on screen, and I loved seeing Zi Qi yearn and long for Miao Miao throughout the show😭💞 I also loved our little Bamboo gang in general, and the friendship that they had! 🎍🎋

Acting wise, this was great! Yu Xi has such great expressions, and his eyes can convey so much; truly, such a good actor!! And Esther was wonderful as well, she can act cute so naturally I love it so much! I also enjoyed the rest of the cast, I just wish the second male lead could have had more room to show his talents, I feel like he was a little underutilized to be honest. Regardless, I loved the cast, everyone had great chemistry and worked well with each other!🌟

The OST, cinematography and visual effects were also so, so good – this drama was such a feast for my eyes and ears, I loved it!! Although I have to say that it lost me a little bit after episode 23/24, but episode 28-32 were great again, so it’s fine. I will miss this drama now that I’m done with it … 🥹💞

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Fantasy Game or Book?

I’ve actually been putting this drama off since it came out on Netflix. The trailer wasn’t pulling me in. Every time the trailer comes by, I kept saying NOPE, not right now. Plus, Esther Yu’s baby voice just irritates me. No hate to her. She is really cute with her acting. I did watch her in Love Between Fairy and Devil and enjoyed it. I never read anything about this drama, so one day in the beginning of May 2025, I decided to dive into it without high expectations as always. I’m glad I gave it a chance. I surprisingly enjoyed it. We follow the story of the FL, Ling Miaomiao, who lives in the modern world and one day gets sucked in the book she was reading. A female voice starts talking to her and gives her missions of what to do. I was kind of confused, because the title says it’s a game, but it’s actually someone’s novel? I didn’t know who the ML was going to be. First time watching a full drama with Ding Yuxi in it. He did a great job here. Now I’m officially a fan and can watch all his other dramas now. I love the storyline, the twists and turns, the characters, and how they were all intertwined. The CG effects were great, too. Love the little dust demons that looked like tiny white mushrooms. I loved everything about this drama. It made me laugh and cry so much. There’s a lot to learn in this story, like not giving up on hope, friendships, love, family, and coexisting peacefully with everyone. Music was so good, too. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. It was a little meh, to be honest. They could’ve made it better. Why do writers do this? The dramas starts out so good and when it comes to the end, and it’s as if they lost their momentum on delivering a good ending. My heart hurts at the end. I just wanted a better one. *sigh*

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Cute and interesting storyline .

I was not planning to watch this drama but since I didn’t have anything to watch and i had already caught up on my already on going dramas , i decided to give it a go and to my surprise, i ended up loving it so much that i binge watched all the 9 episodes today .
The storyline is so cute and funny yet so interesting.
Esther yu is killing this role . I love her character so much . Ryan is doing so well too as always .
I hope they show us the modern world too after she completes the ancient game . And i‘m guessing mu sheng is the author of this poorly written story .

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The Moonlight Trio reunite!

This has been one of the series I was dying for since more than half a year, and I have to say my waiting period was really worth it. I watched Moonlight for this show, and since I loved Moonlight, I knew I was gonna love this one as much!

Moreover, I really loved the storyline, and the kind of video game theme it has with the pixelated illustrations and really colorful and vibrant costumes for the characters. Yellow and black really suits Mu Sheng, Ding Yuxi rocked him exactly like in the manhua! Like always, anything cute suits Esther and especially the fact she could play her role as Lin Yu totally opposite to her original evil character as in the novel was really amazing! I was also looking forward to Yang Shize’s role here because I really loved his relationship with Ding Yuxi in Moonlight, and his role and character as Liu Fuyi is just as great!

The OST here was really one of my favorites. The song by the main casts, Esther Yu, Ding Yuxi, Yang Shize, Zhu Xudan, Fei Qiming, Li Yizhen and Lu Yuhao was really a great OST by the casts I’d heard in while. The MV: https://youtu.be/4w0JbGUNg8w
The cast SLAYED the dance and they were even better than the original girl group who did this song before!

Overall, the cast, the layout, Special FXS, the colors and the natural acting makes this drama one of the greatest fantasy dramas I’ve watched in a while. Totally recommendable to people who loved Moonlight and those who like a good novel+video-game theme！

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