No, I don't need action to be constantly entertained. I gave stuff like Homunculus (manga) high ratings, and I rated stuff like Mirai Nikki low which had a lot of explosive action. It can help but it's not needed.
> talking is necessary
I'd agree with you half the time (the tags are exaggerated ofc). For example, the convos between Gilgamesh and Kirei. Those were necessary. On the other hand, much of the talking in-between battles – most blatant example I can recall was early on, during the Saber/Lancer fight – wasn't. With that fight in particular, they would often completely stop and give verbose explanations complimenting each other's skills and honor. This was trivial imo and didn't provide us with much like Gilgamesh/Kirei convos did, and it could've easily been condensed and given at a more appropriate time. I wish I could come up with more examples but I'm drawing a blank. Been well over a year since I've seen this thing.
About the pacing, there was a lot of stalling besides just talking. For example, I remember one scene where Saber finds Caster (or the other way around) and threatens him and goes "next time I'll do it for real" and then Caster pussies out. It's a battle royale to the death. If you had him, you had him. Good job. Don't let him get away (or tell him to, for that matter), it kills the point. I don't recall her honor or w/e playing a factor in this particular scene either.
I liked Gilgamesh but I didn't think much of him as a character. He was cool, but otherwise he was mostly there to contrast with the not-so-arrogant-kinda-good guys drive Kirei's development. Plot device. And while his power was cool, throwing weapons out of a portal can only entertain you so long (though the visuals help). His ship or whatever was cool though.
I dunno about you but most MAL users tend to not utilize the full scale. Like, 7 is essentially average, 5 is shit, and ratings below 4 are almost unheard of. I once saw someone call School Days "one of the worst things I've ever seen," and then I looked at his list and it was a 6. Extreme example, but you get the point. I just try to utilize the full scale is all, which is why the mean score is a bit lower. 5 doesn't mean I dislike the show, it was just okay. I get that this is basically shit compared to most people since most people fuggin love it, but it's really not bad. Still fine. Yeah it's different from everything airing these days (I generally don't watch too much per season though so I can't describe it well), but it took a few wrong turns I guess.
edit: oops, talk about being verbose, sorry bout dat
