Earlier this month, the highly anticipated film adaptation of Dragon Quest V – Dragon Quest: Your Story finally premiered in Japan.

While fans had initially been quite hopeful about how the film would turn out, the final result proved to be less than satisfactory. According to Japanese movie review site Eiga.com, the film now sits at 2.5 stars out of 5, which is an absolutely dismal score considering how popular Dragon Quest is in Japan.

For most of these diehard Dragon Quest fans, their disappointment can be traced to one specific story beat that happens in the film. Be warned as what follows is an extremely huge spoiler for the film. So please do not read any further if you do not want to be spoiled.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

This specific story moment happens towards the finale of the film, when the hero Lucas is about to confront the final boss Grandmaster Nizmo. Suddenly, Nizmo reveals that the entire movie has been taking place in a highly immersive Dragon Quest V VR game (a la Sword Art Online). The hero Lucas is being controlled by a human player that has been trapped in the game, and Nizmo himself is just a programming bug taking the final boss’ form. Then, the slime that has been following Lucas reveals itself to be an anti-bug program and gives the player Erdrick’s Sword, which he then uses to defeat the Nizmo virus and escape the game world.

While a few moviegoers found the twist clever, many fans of Dragon Quest V were not so enthused. To them, the plot twist not only felt like a cheap cop out, but also a slap in the face to anyone who was expecting a faithful film adaptation of their beloved game. If the movie’s audience ratings are any indication, the people who were disappointed appear to be the majority.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.