Phuong

Not as good as expected does not mean it's not good. 5B is good but other ZLY's dramas did gather like 4-5 times that much in a month. Different times, maybe.

Ah, I said it wrong, sorry. I did not mean the ads in the drama but the amount of posts and information and reminders and everything given out by Tencent or others about LoF before it was aired. Back then I kept seeing stuffs about LoF every two or three days, but maybe it was because I was kinda interested in it, hehe. I saw it a lot in my country and just thought Chinese audiences would see it thrice as much. (The way Tencent aired it was really odd though, with all the VIP things).

Hm, what you guys said got me curious though. Why do you think Tencent would hold back on promoting LoF when it is obviously Tencent's highest profile drama this past year? Tencent did push it out as fast as possible with clear money-grabbing intention.

I agree with Nichols that LOF and Douluo should not be compared with each other as they are vastly different. And I don't think there is any competition between them for LOF to be called 'lost'.
About LOF, 5 billion views and counting is not bad at all, just not as good as expected for big names like ZLY and WYB. Of course there wouldn't be a 2nd run on television for LOF because it is only aired on Tencent. I wouldn't say there is no promotion for LOF, though, with WYB and ZLY appeared together and promoted it on multiple shows and events, and Tencent's very enthusiastic ads-running.
LOF has not been doing well in douban ratings because as a wuxia drama, it is not very well-made if you consider Chinese standard for wuxia drama. It has nothing to do with other dramas.

Please, can you just praise the drama without dismissing people with different opinions as haters or immature fans. I adore Xiao Zhan and do find the drama to be decent enough, but as far as I can see, donghua and novel fans have contributed a lot of interesting information and insights on Douluo world and characters.

The first 2 episodes were fun and exciting but from ep 3 to ep 10 something, it was really boring with a lot of repetitive, cheesy, meaningless dialogues. I'm a fan of XZ so I'll continue to watch, but that was a waste of screen time.

I think rating on douban could be trusted to a certain extent. Fans' votes and antis' votes usually balance each other out. There is no way actors' fans alone could hold up douban score. Jade Dynasty with XZ got 4.4. Recently Legend of Fei got 5.6 despite the main leads' huge following.
DC is doing okay-ish on douban, especially with the ongoing attack on XZ (The untamed's score was pulled down from 8 to 7.7). But the drama is not finished yet and score could drop further. I'm doubtful about the possibility of a season 2. The writer should have done a better job if he wants it to happen.

They could not keep Tang San's origin because China ban transmigration in dramas. Censorship really handicaps creative works. Still, I think the writer could handle it better and let Tang San keep some of his original personality. At this point he is just a common good boy that we see everywhere in dramaland.

I've watched up to ep 5 and found the drama to be quite fun and enjoyable. Characters are not very strong personality wise and story seems quite silly up to this point, but it is watchable enough. XZ looks really dreamy here in some scenes and his acting is solid.

Fans of the actors and drama, could you please just let others give their opinions and discuss things as they like? That is why we have a discussion page. Novel and donghua's fans can point out what they find the drama is lacking, and you can gush about how exciting, how fun and how good it is. Let's comment on what makes the drama so good, not on others' opinions.

Many people feel that the drama got better later on, the FL also opened up and became more likable. However, I think if you don't feel it early on, it's not very likely that you change your mind later on, because to me, the writing got much much messier.

I'm at ep 30 something. I've made peace with the fact that LoF would not adhere to the novel and I've been watching it leisurely. XY and ZF's moments when she found him after he left are cute and charming. Ying He Cong is refreshing. Unfortunately, other aspects fell short so the emotional scenes did not hit as hard as it could have.

While he could not fight freely until after he was cured of his poison (which is at the very end), there are several good fight scenes where he showed he got moves (they got WYB, it would be a shame if they dont let him show off his talents in physical activities). XY's inner power is on par with the strongest fighters in this universe. However, since the story's focus is on the strong female lead, and XY's character is that he does not particularly like fighting after all he's been through, you'll see that he prefers to let his girl be in the spotlight.

In the novel, Chuchu is the only survivor of her family after Hua Rong. In the drama, there are a few times they mentioned that her brother was alive, but since he played no part in the original text, I guess the writing team did not know what to do with him and just left it ambiguous (which to me is a failure on their part, if you would not do anything with him, then why not keep it like the novel, which would make more sense). You can assume he is alive somewhere in LoF universe.

I'm afraid there's no audio version. You can search for the Vietnamese translation (Hữu phỉ) on the internet. It is not a very exciting novel, though, and if the romance aspect is what interests you the most then imo the drama did that part well enough (they played up the romance in LOF).

Thanks for understanding and for telling me what's waiting ahead. I dont mind changes which are necessary because of censorship, but some I've seen do not make sense. (My mom who has not read the novel asked me, "Why did DJN die, she was winning two seconds ago?", and "Did XY just make a plan to drag Shen Tianshu back to Hua Rong to reinforce the enemy's fighting power?")
I'll continue watching since the characters are quite likable.
I read the Vietnamese translation of the novel and while I'm not super attached to the original story, I think the drama would be more coherent and more substantial if they add to the material source, not take away from it.

Thank you all for replying. I think I'll take @foreveryoung's suggestion and try to see if I can like the drama on its own merits. I do understand that alterations are necessary for an adaptation and I dont mind countless minor changes in LOF. However, some changes I've seen do not really serve any story-telling purpose beside affecting the logic of the story and messing with the characterizations, and that's what I found problematic with the end of the Hua Rong arc. There are some enjoyable moments in LOF, though, so I'll persist for now.

I've just finished ep 11 and now I dont know if I should continue. I've read the novel while waiting for this drama to come out, and therefore I have certain expectations.
I really want to like this drama for I'm quite fond of the original story and the two leads, but up to now, I've noticed many changes in the story with which I'm not satisfied (I've already tried to ignore the very obvious technical flaws).
The end of ep 11 left me incredibly disappointed at how they handled the conclusion of the Hua Rong arc, especially the death of Duan Jiu Niang. In the novel, her death was much much more meaningful and impactful: The situation was really dire with both Shen Tianshu and Chou Tianjin (who was not killed yet) and their combined force trying to capture our protagonists, yet DJN pushed all of them back with not much of a sweat; she only succumbed when they used dirty tricks (her sister's son and explosives) against her. The actress playing DJN is really likable, but the direction did not do her character justice. (Some other changes bothered me too, like how the direction team threw Xie Yun's careful and masterful plan out the window and turn some characters into careless fools, or how they just needlessly made Bai-xiansheng kill Chen Fei.)
Should I try to not think of the story I've read and continue watching, or should I drop it? Will the drama further deviate from its source material? Could anyone tell me?

I am a fan and am commenting from my understanding of a literary character. I find your perspective different and intriguing, that's why I want to share and hear more.
Is anything different from the path of the sword not righteous? Is the use of resentful energy (dubbed demonic cultivation) inherently evil? The spirit attraction flag, the compass, the talisman, empathy, the transferring of curse are all evil? Is animating those paper men at Yi City evil? Is reanimating and controlling corpses evil? Is it evil if that is the only thing you can do to help?
After he came back, WWX was immediately swept into a flurry of events in almost all of which he had to act quickly to keep others from dying. To my understanding, WWX was someone who, as long as he thought he could do something to help , he would do it right away. After his return, he never controlled corpses to kill people (like he had done in the war), he only controlled resentful energy to help, and he did it no more than necessary. Even when he was surrounded at Koi Towers, he did not use corpses to fight his attackers. He never sought to gain anything for himself with his demonic cultivation.
The novel is told from an unreliable narrator who showed he had really low self-worth. He thought himself evil and bad and a heretic too. But he did not really care to be seen as righteous, as long as he could be useful, he would do it.
To me, he's a morally grey character, not righteous but not greedy, and quite selfless.

Hi, your interpretation of Wei Wuxian's character is interesting, and I'd like to share some of my understandings about him.
Both in the novel and the show, WWX was never greedy or remorseless. After his golden core removal and being thrown into the Burial Mounds, he became, among other things, extremely insecure and distrustful. He acted more proud and arrogant to hide the truth that he could no longer use the sword, because he thought if he showed any vulnerability, people would use it against him and he would fail to protect those he vowed to protect. He acted like he was totally confident in his demonic cultivation to make sure that people could not see that he was not all powerful. He did not really trust Lan Wangji either, believing that the righteous Han Guang-jun hated his path and just wanted to stop him and punish him. He refused to give anyone the amulet because he could not trust anyone and without it, he would not be able to stop the sects from razing his Wen camp to the ground. In the end of his first life, he destroyed half of the amulet (which in the novel resulted in him not being able to stop the sects from attacking BM or control all the corpse, which led to his death). By the end of it all, he buried what remained of the amulet with Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue.
When he came back, Mo Xuanyu's cultivation was extremely low with a not properly formed golden core. It was implied that even with intensive training, he could no longer do much with his sword. In fans' optimistic interpretations, he would be able to use his sword again someday, but even that would be something far in the future, not right after he came back with so many things happening.
Wei Ying was not a saint (the book really did better than the show at showing this), he made some poor judgement and bad decisions, most stemmed from his refusal to show vulnerability. He acted all carefree, and while he showed he had the ability to move on, he was never remorseless. Definitely not hungry for power.

Uhm, I'm pretty sure that Do Bong Soon came out after this drama.

There is a love story but it is not the focus of NIF. However, the love between them is really deep and touching.

The story is nothing new but the execution is so well done. Overall, this is a solid, feel-good drama that has a lot of heart-felt moments.