Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure

It would help to be a fan of Viva La Dirt League on Youtube to truly enjoy this mini movie. However, if you are an MMORPG fan that would be enough I suppose.

VLDL create short funny videos related to video games of all types. This is their first attempt at creating a video that is longer than a couple minutes. It's a mini movie really, about 30 minutes long.

Everything about this production was amazing. The gorgeous scenery, the sound, the characters, the costumes.

Some people may have a problem with Baelin (main character) as he can only say one phrase, as he is a non-player character in a video game, but he says these words with various emotional tones, much like R2D2 or groot.

I would love to see these people create a real movie. A game-related movie with real characters that aren't suck saying in-game phases only. This mini movie was big budget quality and so well done.

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.

Not really a reviewer, but i had to give my two cents about this movie. I watch VLDL very randomly at YouTube, but more often than not i like their content and Im specially fond of Epic NPC Man. So, when the video popped on my main page and I pressed play thinking it was just another short skit. Man was i wrong.

The acting is great, the production value far above the overall content of the channel, but man, the writing and directing... So well polished, so focused on telling that exactly story, no more, no less. There isnt much to the plot, and the movie dont need it. The movie shine in the small moments where the characters run the edge between free will and whats scripted to then in the game program. You have to bear in mind this is still the VLDL's Epic NPC man's world. If you don't have some background for the world of characters, much will make no sense.

A very pleasant surprise, more from the team than the movie itself. Now I wonder what else they could create with such precise vision.

Half an hour long, cliché story which feels more interesting than half the things Hollywood produces to be honest. And Rowan Bettjeman brings the character to Baelin to life while uttering only one line of dialogue.

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.