While I agree with most of the criticism mentioned in more sceptical reviews, I was still able to enjoy watching this drama, mainly because I didn't expect much. So here's a heads-up on what to expect before you get disappointed:
- E-sports will play a big role and the tournament games will create a lot of the excitement other drama series create differently. I am not knowledgeable enough to determine how realistic everything shown is. To me as an uninformed viewer, it did not feel false, unrealistic or exaggerated.
- There's only little explanation on terminology, so for anyone who doesn't know anything about e-sports, this might not be something you watch easily in-between because following might need focus. I recommend especially looking out for the scenes where they show who plays which character in order to be able to follow the animated scenes.
- From what I've read, it will be different than the novel it's adapting.

Due to the focus on e-sports, I, like many others apparently, felt the emotional side of the story to fall a bit flat. I liked that emotions didn't bubble up constantly, creating a lot of tension and drama and hasty decisions (which I usually find unrealistic and over the top anyways). On the other hand, that also made character and relationship development as well as reactions a bit hard to follow since as a viewer, we do not get a lot of insight into the character's way of thinking and feeling (not saying there is none, it's simply not the focus of the story).

Furthermore, I loved the fact that even the side characters fit well into the story and actually had various and complex relationships with one another instead of fulfilling one designated purpose . The team's dynamics for all the e-sports teams were so nice to see as they each differed and had their own "personality". Each team's dynamics was great and heart-warming to watch.
Speaking of chemistry, the comedic chemistry between all the characters felt great. Xu Kai did a great job of making his character seem interesting and complex despite not showing a lot of emotions openly. The character's dynamics allowed for a lot of comic scenes. The romantic chemistry, on the other hand, could not develop fully as the viewer didn't get enough insight into the characters. It was the romantic relationship issues that I disliked the most as they felt so constructed and weren't resolved well.

What is also playing a role for the story is the public opinion/ fan's influences, which some mentioned to feel exaggerated. I did not feel as it was too much, but rather realistic, especially in regard to the different reactions each character had. (And I say that as a person who doesn't use social media outside of their work because I don't like them and think they are playing a way too important role in our daily life.) I didn't like how certain characters dealt (or didn't deal) with this, though. Here, too, I agree with some of the negative reviews.

Towards the end, and that's where I deducted most points, we did get more of the typical drama moments that felt unneccessary to me as with the fan's and family's reactions, the e-sports games, the (side) characters' stories and the development of the romantic relationships the series had more than enough to create suspension with, which would've been a lot more inventive than the classic tropes it relied on.

Overall, we have a lot to enjoy on the plus side. It is up to you whether you feel like this series wasted its potential, as it didn't execute its positive aspects to the end, or if you are simply glad this series even has those points where other series fall flat immediately. I, personally, think the series would have had to be longer to be able to really follow through with all the different aspects it tried to show, while furthermore not accentuating the focus to where viewers would have preferred to have it. Rationally speaking after having given it some thought, I would rate this series 8/10, but from how much I felt entertained personally while watching, I'll give it a 9/10.