Jaden

Really strange how this is so popular with the international audience, cuz nationally, this is supposed to be worse/less popular than Lady & Liar, which is a drama with similar story (fyi both are bad).

To me this just seems like a typical action-romance flick, Lady & Liar at least has the stolen/switched identities going for it.

I didn't watch this yet, but judging by the trailer, it looks really boring, which is a feeling I didn't get watching the Lady & Liar trailer, can someone let me know how these 2 compare so I can decide if this is worth watching?

That's because nothing really happened after episode 15, like Hu Ge was literally just drifting through life with his new company.

The first 15 episodes had some really exciting possibilities that were never realized:

The first and probably the best one is Hu Ge managing to pull off his fake identity and using that to rise up in the financial world but he got caught way too soon and all the excitement died. There is so much potential lost here it's insane, I'm sure we were all waiting to see how far he can go with the fake identity.

The second is when he started his own company and here we are waiting for him to make a big comeback to the business world but nop, the story became more focused around friendship and romance.

If one of those 2 things occured, this could've been a lot better and more thrilling. I thought the whole point was to experience the corruption of the financial/business world at the highest level, instead Hu Ge was just not ambitious enough to make anything happen later on.

They don't make them like this anymore.

https://kisskh.at/discussions/chinese-drama-movies/30266-historical-chinese-drama-with-less-fantasy-elements

No, is there sub? Harder to watch without it.

Which drama are you referring to? Of course there are a lot of them with magic, but I'm talking about the top chinese drama from a critical perspective, as far as I know, those are: Nirvana In Fire, Battle of Changsha, one has very little magic, the other has none. And this is not just an MDL opinion, the chinese community also believes them to be their top drama.

That said, my magic excuse is pretty stupid now that I think about, it's just that I think it's really hard to pull off a drama that try to be serious and realistic, but also has magic elements to it, because the writers need to handle "magic" in a rational way, and not give into temptation to use magic to solve any problems with the story.

Nevertheless, almost all chinese drama with a lot of magic were not good from a critical standpoint, even if they were enjoyable to watch.

Sounds like Ef: A Tale of Memories.

Only Muyun Sheng seems like a very natural progression to his older self. Han Jiang is okay and looks very similar, but seems more bright/cheerful/talkative compared to young version, obviously people change but still feels a bit off. I have no problem with Han Jiang.

Su Yuning is where it all went wrong for me, first of all the vibe feels completely different compared to the younger version, but I really don't think actress fits that role, she seems more the manipulative/naggy type, just doesn't feel right as the female lead for this specific role. Can't really explain it, maybe it's stereotyping, but wonder if anyone feels this way.

Disclaimer this is just initial judgement, maybe will take time to get used to.

no doubt about that

I like politics in drama but not when it's almost the only thing. From the comments and judging by the fact that both male leads are old/portrayed as old, it seems like this is one of those drama where wise men move around chess pieces and try to outsmart each other. Now I'm not saying that's boring but would prefer something like Nirvana In Fire, which has a bit of everything.

I don't want to watch a drama where the only thing I get are these "aha" moments, I prefer them to be emotional and pull on your heartstrings.

I couldn't watch Three Kingdoms (2010) or even Six Flying Dragons for similar reasons.

Sometimes when a drama is too rational/mature, it's not enjoyable, even though those are generally good things.

Can someone let me know if I would enjoy this? Thanks.

I think this has too much magic to be a top chinese drama, fyi Eternal Love is not a top chinese drama. I can already sense some cliches, but if handled well it should be fine.

I thought Tang Dynasty was peaceful.

How does this compare to Boss & Me and Love O2O?

Yes and those are also bad scifis to me, not necessarily bad movies, that's what I mean here. I guess this technically is a good drama, just a bad scifi, so I'm wrong for assuming people are liking this for the scifi. The scifi here did not expand my imagination, nor was it compelling or mindblowing, and that's something that's generally expected from a great scifi.

I'm looking for something different when watching scifi which is clearly different from most people here.

Alright at this point I sense another Nirvana In Fire in the making.

Didn't like the style of the drama but can't deny this has a lot of substance.

I've been too busy with other dramas, but do plan to start this eventually.

For some reason, I have a feeling It will be better than I expect, but the time travel would have nothing to do with why it's good.

Would be great if you can watch it first and let me know :P

They pulled off Nirvana In Fire, which is 54 episodes, so let's hope for the best.

All the great historical dramas are like this

Now it just needs a good story.