Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure

At first, the choice of taking Baelin as the main character in a short seem a bit odd and underwhelming, but at the end, it works. Real fans will remember the depth Baelin has in Epic NPC Man, like when he's stuck on a bucket, he almost got me tearing up, or when he shows skills a fisherman shouldn't have. They had to play with the limitations of a NPC for Baelin's route, and they did well. I'm also happy we got to see Aly for the first time in Honey Wood. Ah, god, yeah, it's fan service at it's best, not gonna lie, but they did it so well, and it's so heartwarming. Now it's working for a short, I don't think I would have been that happy if it was a feature-length movie, who knows. I love Rowan, don't get me wrong, but I so missed Alan; let's hope the next one has the original duo as the main characters!! Now if you never seen Epic NPC Man and wonder if you should watch Baelin's route, I'd advise you to go on YouTube and try to enter the VLDL universe ,first, it won't be wasted time, I guarantee!!

Rowan Bettjeman plays Baelin the Fisherman: a character in a video game who is programmed to say only one sentence. Baelin seems to be locked in a path, destined to forever walk his route around the fictional land of Azerim, until he is forced to overcome his designated programming in order to save a teenage girl from an angry adventurer.

Bettjeman gives a wonderful performance as we see Baelin struggling against to break free of his programming when he is confronted with a cruel adventurer, played by Ben van Lier. Even though Bettjeman only has one sentence, he portrays a plethora of emotions when repeating it in different settings. Hodor and Groot: take notes.

Van Lier embodies the rage gamers feel when they struggle with new quests in video games, with such realism that we can relate to, and yet hate, his experience.

The co-star of the film, Phoenix Cross, is perhaps the perfect choice to play the young damsel in distress: Willow. She draws the audience in with her brilliant acting and expressions, giving us the desire to protect her at all costs.

With a minimal budget, raised through Kickstarter, the directors Adam King and Alan Morrison have managed to bring a top notch Hollywood feel to a 35 minute film: The epic scenery of New Zealand, the excellent music score, the gamer names above other players' names and lots of details makes this unique movie an absolute must-see for most audiences.

And, unlike a lot of large Hollywood productions, this brilliant movie is available free for everyone on YouTube.

For the gamers out there, this short film represents a quirky story that's relatable, heartwarming and fun! Fantastic production with breathtaking scenery!

We need more of this in the world.

An annoying NPC (Rowan Bettjeman) is on his daily walk when an adventurer recruits him and he ends up getting (a bit) self-aware and has to rescue a girl played brilliantly by Phoenix Cross. Also, Ben Van Lier deserves praise for his role as the player who really doesn't like this game anymore.

I've always loved epic npc man so having an extra long film version of this world is a real treat, the guys at viva le dirt league are excellent and loved every minute of this adventure, can't wait to see what they do next !