Mar 16, 2015
Last Saturday, March 14, was the Philippine premiere for Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn at SM Megamall, and we at Otakultura were lucky to have been invited to watch it!
Upon arriving at the cinema, large posters of the movie greeted us, as well as a Liya and a Velskud cosplayer. We also got a poster of the latest raid nest in Dragon Nest SEA, the Black Dragon Nest. We came to see the premiere expecting to see an animated film, but then they gave us 3D glasses before entering the cinema — whoa! That really revved up our expectations for the fight scenes in this movie.
Before the movie started we were given a brief introduction of the plot, and opening remarks by none other than Addison Kang, Vice President of Shanda Games International and Executive Producer for Dragon Nest SEA. He thanked us all for watching this premiere and then revealed that this is just the first movie of a trilogy. The hosts also raffled off five Crazy Duck and five Hound plushies. Sadly, it seems that the Goddess Altea didn’t bless us to win any of these rare merch.
The movie starts off giving a brief introduction of the Altera, a land inhabited by elves, humans, and beasts, and the impending danger in the land of Altera. Lambert, a young warrior, warns his village of an incoming attack, and through a series of events suddenly finds himself in the company of the mercenary Varnak and the hero Gerrant. Together they travel to Saint’s Haven, where Lambert meets the elf Liya, and embark on a journey with the heroes to stop the Black Dragon’s awakening. The ending also makes it clear that the heroes’ adventures are not yet over, and this is just the beginning.
As we expected, the battle scenes are well executed for all the characters of the movie, and some even perform signature moves found in the game. For the players of the MMORPG, the reimagining of some the game’s locations, NPCs, and monsters really give a sense of familiarity: several times we found ourselves nodding at the attention given to make them look as close to the game as possible. They may also notice that some of the names don’t match their in-game counterparts; the movie uses the names from the Dragon Nest North American localization: for example, Lagendia is Altera, Geraint is Gerrant, Terramai is Terram, Karacule is Kasarana, and so on. The plot is not directly faithful to the main quest of the game, but keeps the main essence of the storyline. The players of the game may see this as a minor problem but the movie remains enjoyable for players and non-players alike.
Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn will premiere in SM Cinemas on March 18, 2015.
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