Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

I’ve been reading a lot of discussion since the last post about Tribes and Empires running out of money (true!) and who’s to blame. A lot of rumors. It’s hard to say. This is director Cao Dun’s first venture into ancient fantasy series so he is ambitious and has an artistic vision and didn’t realize many costly things. It’s hard to entirely blame him because he’s well-loved by the cast and we were all wow-ed by the first trailer Tribes dished out. Weren’t we? At least now many realize a good drama isn’t just about the directing but a combination of directing, writing, and acting. Whether or not Huang Xuan’s scenes were cut, we can’t verify, but I did watch Zhou Zi Wei’s interview where he admitted that he shot the drama and then was told they could only give him so much and he replied that he didn’t need to be paid because acting out emotional turbulence like Shuo Feng in itself is a mark in his acting career. The opportunity cannot be exchanged for money. So everyone in the cast suffers in one way or another, not just any one actor.

If they are lucky to get funding for another season, let this first season be a good lesson for the production company about budget management (!!).

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  1. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Thanks for consistenly putting up the discussion post for Tribes & Empires, Kappy, despite not watching yourself LOL. (But, seriously). Like I said in my previous comment, those rumors did get to me, though not for long. My obsession doesn’t die down. At this point, I’m kinda ready for any kind of ending, because I enjoy the journey very much — some plot disappointments notwithstanding. Intend to post a longer one after I finish the whole episodes.

    • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

      I will cave in soon enough, if only to see Mr. Sunshine and his dashing smile and action scenes!

  2. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    This was a very ambitious project, impressive feat by most standards. I applaud the director for standing behind his vision, even if it didn’t end with optimal results. China needs more directors like Cao Dun who is ready to take a gamble. While a 2nd season is tentative and possibly not going to be produced, I am still a fan of his work. It’s a shame if it does end here, although it’s not unexpected. American experimental series end at the drop of a hat all the time. Even my favorite American series (Forever) ended without explanation. Nothing is guaranteed.

    As far as the drama is concerned, I am at episode 18 of this current season, but won’t be continuing as I don’t want to invest emotional involvement in a project that’s not going to end properly.

  3. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    I stopped at eps 24, and decided it was not worth the let down by a drama that may not even have a satisfying end… Will there season 2 with same cast. That is debatable too.

  4. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Despite some of the complaints I had with this series, I have to admit that the series kept me engaged and invested into the story line and the world being portrayed. Needless to say, money does not lie and the production quality is superb. What a great place to end things in part 1 and I am really really really hoping they will get enough funding for a season 2.

  5. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    I’ve been watching since the beginning and up until episode 74 but admittedly I haven’t watched the second half with full attention. While the production quality is truly superb, all those comparisons to Game of Thrones are warranted in my opinon, but the awful editing and bad pacing of storyline have been really distracting. Also some of the acting is subpar (not from any of the main leads of course) and then to top it all off there have been several audio problems as in it’s been hard just hearing what some of the actors or actresses are saying.

    Storyline could have been way tighter (some dialogues could have been less cheesy too) but I think the awful editing played a major part in that. I found myself so confused when we hopped from scene to scene, like how did they get there? What on earth happened in between??? In the end I just kinda gave up, it really shouldn’t be so hard to follow the story.

    Still, most chinese dramas have the same horrible editing and even worse storyline so it’s good that the director was ambitious with the production quality at least. I just hope that he’ll try to remedy those other two important aspects too, there needs to be a balance between these 3 very imporant aspects otherwise it’s still hard to fully enjoy the end product.

    Anyway judging from episode 74 I think we’ll get a classic season ending in episode 75, leaving you wanting for more because it’s obviously unfinished. To be honest it all feels like a big prologue for the real stuff to happen. It’s been an interesting ride, that’s for sure.

  6. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Btw, does anyone know how the novel ends? I couldn’t find any information regarding this… Thanks in advance.

    • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

      Quickly skimmed the last few chapters of the book. Noticed that character structures and relationships are different from the novel in places. Examples: 1. Shuofeng Heye is a 2nd prince. 2.Helan Tieyuan is a subordinate and still alive at the end. 3. Princess Jing leads the Snow Wolf Tribe.

      Here it goes:

      SFHY’s army of 60K got to Duan’s capital. Before that, MYS made a deal with The Little People, who then created mechanized weapons which shreded SFHY’s army. He went back to Han Zhou with 2K. But then, all 8 tribes pledged allegiance to him.

      MYD subverted his father’s power with Mr. Mo’s help. MYS personally led an army which made them turn tail and run. Pan Xi fought MYS. He fell into some kind of magical world. An entity told him about the purpose of Pan Xi’s existence. MYS swore that he would do anything, including ending the world(?), to bring her back.

      MRHJ rode into the deserted capital with his army of 3K. Met SYN again. Someone in a previous Tribes and Empires post mentioned what SYN did. To follow up, an entity told MRHJ about purpose of MYS’s existence. 3 magical objects must be found to stop the end of the world. They had at most 7 years to do this.

      The end. Last chapter’s title is “Epilogue, and a Beginning”.

      • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

        MRHJ’s army seemed to be instrumental in defeating MYD’s father’s forces.

      • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

        So basically the book itself isn’t finished?

        • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

          Yup. In the online novel’s comment section, either an extra chapter (which might be in the printed version) or a sequel was mentioned. I haven’t researched into it yet.

        • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

          @keekeepod
          i hope they make a sequel when the story is completed. thanks so much for the information.

      • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

        Omg even the novel ending is a cliffhanger! Thanks so much for the summary though! 🙂

  7. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    A lot of dramas have an open ending. They just don’t spend 75 episodes doing that. T & E doesn’t even offer an open ending. Instead it is just the beginning of a story, or a backstory to whatever story will be told in the future.

    Once upon a time there were prophecies about some children. Everyone reminded them of this as they grew up. The end.

    The viewing experience went progressively downhill but at least it was fun discussing and reading the comments in all the discussion posts. Thanks everyone!

  8. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    What really piss me off about this series is that if it’s an introduction for more to come then edited to 50 eps or something but no, they tortured viewers with unnecessary flashbacks and unnecessary beautiful scenes. I don’t care much for those, make the story line tighter because they do have good material.
    At this point, even if they plan for a 2nd season, viewers will have to wait for a few years and by then I don’t really know if people will still want to tune in.
    Oh well, I guess the good things I get out of this is that I get to know some of the actors that I never watched their series before.

    • 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

      Comments connecting the book to the drama in the e-book discussion section were fairly forgiving about the significant changes because the drama “filled in the blanks”. It was definitely messed up during post production, prevalent of cdramas.

  9. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Just finished watching. The book itself is not finished but the drama only reached like halfway through the book. Definately a waste of 75 episodes. The production quality of this drama is the best I have seen in years but the editing and script let it down. Had the script been written correctly, they could have totally covered the whole book (and maybe even give the story a proper ending).

    However saying this, T&E was probably one of the best dramas of 2017. I loved the costumes, scenery, camera work, acting, props. You could definately tell they put effort into it. But unfortunately whoever did editing should be fired. The flashbacks were unnecessary and the jumping between scenes was horribly done.

    I do hope there is a second season to finish off the story but I highly doubt anyone is going to invest in it and the actors as well may not be able to come back

  10. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    The production value of T&E is above par, but it suffers from the lack of cohesion among the Scriptwriting, Directing and Editing teams. The existing filmed material, if edited sensibly, might have yielded fifty coherent episodes. Originally, wasn’t eighty, the number of episodes floating around? They shaved off five episodes, which was not enough.

    If Novoland decides to make a sequel, they should just make an en epic grandiose battle movie, the length and breadth of Lord of the Rings Return of the King movie, and end the story.

  11. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    More producer backing, somewhere, must realize the magnificent potential of this series and give it the financial backing it requires to do a 2nd season

  12. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    If I had known there is no ending I would not have started watching…no ending leaves bad feeling after following for so many weeks and losing sleep over the show

  13. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Damn. Wish I knew y’all were recapping in English. I’m just reading all your comments now and I was wondering why the editing was so bad now I understand due to the funding. Can’t the director start a kickstarter fund and those billions whose watched this can donate and make this season 2 happen. Arghh I’m so mad. I watched the whole episode and finish finale this morning wondering why the heck it ended like that lol farr out. I’m so depressed. I love Han Jiang. One of the good things about this other then the phenomenal picture and unique storyline is I got to know some new awesome Asian actors. Much love from Sydney🇦🇺

  14. 22 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 7: Episodes 73 – 75 “Finale.”

    Finally finished this and I’m super disappointed. I thought this would be on par with NiF but it’s not even close to that level. I loved the cinematography, costumes, acting, and scenery. Even their CGI is better than the typical Chinese drama production. But the story sucked. It dragged on for so long at such a slow pace. I usually don’t mind slow pace but this was just horrible. By the last 20 episodes, I was skipping scenes because they would just talk non-stop when you as the viewer already get the hint that it’s just the evil characters plotting something again.

    It sucks that throughout these 75 episodes, they’re only halfway through the novel because that meant that the main characters were not developing enough. It took 75 episodes for Han Jiang to go from a happy-go-lucky guy to finally being more serious and filled with angst. Muyun Sheng is still a shitty useless character at the end of these 75 episodes. The only male lead that really got fleshed out was HeYe, but even then, we didn’t see enough of him.

    Some of the other characters lacked the acting chops but I was more forgiving towards them since it seems like they’re also a lot of up and rising actors/actresses. I can’t believed I watched a 75 episode drama that basically went nowhere. I really hope that if a season 2 happens, it’s not a disappointment again.

What do you think?