For anyone who is confused, shoving Greg normally doesn't do anything when he's a vendor. However, because of an oversight it's possible to trick the game into thinking Greg is a companion for a two frame window by what we call "double-dialog-skip", where you use mouse and keyboard shortcuts simultaneously to skip dialog. Once Greg has been pushed, you need to enter the space he was stood in. This is technically out of bounds so the game will then try to push the player into a valid space, and here we take advantage of Bucket Launch. The bucket in Honeywood is coded to only have collision on the inside, so by placing a bucket on your head you create unintended collision and the game can't put you back into play. It will keep trying until you eventually build up a crazy speed value that eventually hurls you a considerable distance. Being hurled into the sky wouldn't normally be useful so this exploit went ignored for years, but in September 2022 we discovered Comet Skip, and that changed everything...
Rowan saying that's his fastest time makes me realize the characters live through an endless loop. A loop that continuously explodes their minds each time it is done.
Could you imagine being a self aware NPC. The whole purpose of your creation is to deliver one line. You practice it to yourself over and over. You wait hours, days, maybe even months if the player takes their time. Finally you see the player coming. This is the moment you practiced for. This is the whole reason for your existence. You are about to fulfill your purpose in life. Then they skip your conversation and loot your house.
From taking 18 hours to solve the honeywood murders and missing a core mechanic, into finishing the entire frickin’ game in 16 minutes and mastering forbidden top secret techniques. Rowan has gone a long way with ben’s tutoring… Truly a legend that one, but the credit also goes to his master!
.. roughly comparable with my own speeds of character developement between vanilla WoW and Classic WoW... Man, I miss the clueless blunderer I used to be.
I didnt know you could keep the bucket to execute the exploit were ever you want, i keep fast traveling to Riverwood to do do it at the garlic farm. Smh
@@scottrauch1261 yeah man, if you manage to keep the bucket at the beginning, it easily shaves off 2-3 minutes on your entire run (depending on whether you can successfully do the mossy-stone-border glitch on the Lost Weary Traveler mission)
That was because of time dilation, as you approach infinite speed off if the bucket launch glitch updating your physics takes more and more processing power, also approaching infinite, and the result is that the clock speed in the game is reduced. Since we're watching from the perspective of the npcs we don't notice the clock rate slowing because we get slowed too, as a result the player's real world time and the in universe time become disjointed.
@@pokejinwwi Depending on how you look at it, the speed of light is infinite speed. Since nothing can be faster than light, and numerically the only thing without anything bigger than it is infinity, (you can always add one if it's not a conceptual value), that checks out. You'd be surprised at how many games have relativity coded into them; any game with physics frames (the actual game slows down when the framerate drops) and dynamic loading will have relativity, because as your player speeds up you are forcing the game to load more things more quickly, which causes the engine to slow down as a result.
@@The_Forge_Master It would appear I commented on the wrong comment. The thing I didn't notice was that "you can tell how far he's progressing by seeing how his equipment gets better"
That's why in this route we sing with him, tell him that we'll never forget him and he's like a brother to us, to build just enough relationship with him to prevent the first level of hostility. It used to be faster not to do it, but it was inconsistent as the loss of reputation is not a fixed value and a bad roll would ruin the run. Consistency was chosen over a negligible time save.
@@michaelsong5555 Depends on the game. Some games might have item requirements or whatever - like a gear level to enter a certain place - or some games might have inevitable incoming damage you need to be able to take to continue. But yeah if it's a possibility for the game, a speedrunner will absolutely go full-dodge.
@@michaelsong5555 Depends if there's any armor/gear that the time acquiring it is less than the time it saves. Which is certainly the case for some things.
I like the two different reactions to the unknown: Greg put aside differences with baradun to find comfort in the shared discomfort, while baradun sought comfort in the familiarity of pattern in their normal dysfunctional relationship.
0:07 Speedrun Begin 0:10 Accept First Story Quest 0:17 Acquire the Sealing Stone 0:23 Exchange Sealing Stone for Dark Knight armor (required for buckrocket exploit) 0:28 Buy Horseshoe for duplication glitch 0:32 Buckrocket 0:35 Defeat Deephell Flame Beast, Activate Armageddon 0:41 Use Icecurse Sigil, activate Hel on Earth 0:43 Defeat Cerberus, deactivate Hel on Earth 0:46 Duplicate Bloodhound Fang 0:49 Acquire Ring of Heaven and Earth 0:59 Accept Brotherhood quest 1:00 Use Celestial Hellkey, activate End of the Universe 1:06 Travel to Darklands for 0.78 sec timesave (new tech, impressive 👍) 1:15 Defeat Lord of the Realms, deactivate End of the Universe 1:17 Bond with Greg for faster ending 1:22 Defeat Zeus 1:24 Rescue Baradun 1:28 Run complete
This is incredibly well made, both the script and the editing. Edit: I also just realized that all the dialogue and mission scenes we see here actually have correlation to things we have seen in other videos.
@@HiddenWindshield By all means, but isn't Epic NPC Man pretty much always internally consistent? I realize I probably sounded snarkier than intended, but if it's supposed to be the "best part" I figured there should be somehing more to it.
He means the entirely fake story and quests within epic npc man that the VLDL team have kept consistent throughout the entire series even tough they don’t have to
I laughed maniacally throughout the entire video. The total confusion on Greg's face the entire time as random crap is happening, and then Baradun flying him the bird. That was fantastic!
Well, if it's the player's fastest time, then presumably he's finished it at least once before. Probably Greg's memory is wiped by event triggers (sort of like when he snapped from being skipped too much, threatened to kill the player character, and then forgot right after). Actually, I think when Greg snapped before it was Rowan as the player too. Maybe Greg snapping is why getting a successful speedrun is so hard.
Rowan is the ultimate gamer. It was only last week when he learned about the detective mode and now when he has this final piece of the puzzle, he can fully use all the game mechanics to do a glorious speedrun. He did try before, but got stuck for hours trying to solve the Honeywood murder.
@@agaxent6200 yeah because that's a fun weekend activity lmfao. Not like that requires a shitton of money and skills for what would be a 5 minutes parody
@@kaboomsihal1164 they arent big enough for gaming industry to be willing to invest in MMO based on them yet, but they might be eventually. decent MMO takes quite a bit of time and money investment so it's not happening any time soon if ever
I love how Greg only has a spare moment to get offended by this player before he's brought into utter confusion. Therefore the run is never ruined by him threatening a rude adventurer.
Whoever does your CGI killed it in this one. Seeing Rowan zooming across the sky like that was amazing. I love that he did the bucket on head as a hack to make that happen.
The intro music with Greg's "welcome to Honeywood" seriously hit me with big time nostalgia for Epic NPC man skits. I absolutely ADORE literally EVERY piece of content you guy are putting out and I always have - but I've been a fan since the very beginning and so Epic NPC man skits just always makes me feel like I'm coming home, and please never ever stop making them. I think I have a need for a new skit with the epic and legendary Eugene cry and poor Hamish trying to sell something
This video actually has some really good eye tracking work. The way the editor created a believable tracking sight line for Alan is, genuinely, top notch. There are Hollywood level editors who can't pull that off.
I’m so happy to see Greg and Baradun again… feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen the OG crew. This episode felt like the old days of NPC man and I absolutely love it EDIT: I’m already aware of the DND channel. Seen it since day one. But it doesn’t have the same feel as the OG NPC man days, like this episode did.
0:56 love that moment... It was such a good presentation of dialogue choices when speed running. Speed Runner just said what needed to be said but didn't bother listening to the responses.
The bit where he selectively allowed himself 2.4 seconds of non-speed-related fun ("draaagons...") was so real. That's how it be, optimization be damned
Actually, he emoted there so that the game could flush its memory in a way that enables wrong warping into the boss arena at the Altar of Shmargenrog. The strat was only discovered days before Rowan used it here, so it was fairly new at the time.
With this kind of run, I could imagine there would be an hour long or so historical video about this one villager strat that literally cut hours of time and helped the speedrunning community of this game out there -- just to be discovered by the masses or algorithm.
to be fair some crazy skips / glitches are used in many speedruns another fun thing i would have liked to see is the player jumping around / walking backwards / sliding around
The most unrealistic part of this was Rowan simply running like normal in the beginning. Don't know if I've ever seen a speedrunner simply run normal like that, usually it's some kind of diagonal strafe bunnyhop or some other ridiculous thing that makes you technically move faster than normal.
That depends on the game, if the game does not have basic movement exploits u can abuse, you quite literally do something else that's ridiculous as hell to travel to each objective in a game. Let me take rain world for example, a game where there's ALOT of movement options (though they aren't exploits or anything, just intended game design) where you can roll, backflip, pounce after a roll, jump, pouncing (without roll) and other stuff. All I'm saying is that it depends on the game, the game has some sort of shit you can exploit to travel god knows where? Do it. Even GTA San Andreas has borderline ridiculously mind boggling strats.
I'm not hard of hearing but I do regularly watch stuff with CC on so I can keep the volume low and I have to say I really appreciate when a UA-cam channel goes the extra mile and creates subtitles. UA-cam's subtitles are alright but having written out sentences is nice. You guys are legends.
I'm so glad it wasn't just Rowan running around and you guys actually included a nod to some of the ridiculous exploits speedrunners use to fly around all over the place
I'd love to see a skit about Passionate Players who find almost everything and every character endearing that it seems weird to other players who skip the dialogue!
There's one almost like this (Roleplayer vs. Veteran, and I think that should be a continued segment like Ben v. Rowan), but not that exactly. Could even have the other character start jaded by the profound knowledge of lore from the Passionate player, then amazed, then become jaded again by the end (but with space to grow impressed once more)
They form a party, and you need all players to skip for the skip to happen, but there's that one player who doesn't skip ever. So all the other player breath on his neck waiting for him to skip, which never happen.
I think the attitude is important. When Greg snapped, he was clearly being rude and dismissive. This time he was in a hurry. Also, this time he took the quest.
@@hakimdiwan5101 Athletes run to reach the finish line as soon as possible, according to the rules of a specific competition, competing in the championship with others. Speedrunners run to reach the finals as soon as possible, according to the rules depending on the category, while competing with others. It's easy to see the similarities. Well, like I said, it's fun, so a lot of viewers can also watch speedrunners in real time on streams. Just like watching sports on television, only here you are also given the opportunity to see how a person trains.
@@carloshbello Yeah, I did, but only AFTER having seen the one above! That puppies quest was SICK! I'm more of a cat person, but I was still horrified at the thought of smashing those cuties...
Dear Lord I was in stiches by the end; one of your absolute best from the Epic NPC Man, hands down. And the editing, damn! Congrats! PS: Never change, Baradun; never change...
Alan is the master of the confused face lol. And his reaction Balderan(sp?) Flipping him off at the end was the cherry on top. Also, love your endings. Especially this one with Rowan skipping the plugs lol
I wonder how this speedrun would work for Greg if he had to do the "teleportation" stuff as it was shown in detail in another skit. Awesome work as always.
Hahaha, I think my favorite part of this whole video is when he keeps saying "skip!" over the "like and subscribe" spiel. What a great cherry on top. Lol.
@@keycadearcadecontrollers467 It's a general reference to some of the ridiculous nonsense speedrunners can achieve if they go fully abusive on game exploits and glitches for maximal time efficiency. EDIT: Although the part with the bucket might be a reference to Skyrim Flying Bucket.
I think it would have been even funnier if he was angry at his latest time for being 2 seconds more than his previous record, and just kill the two guys in rage before starting again.
@@justmonika6529 I don't see the upside to speedrunning. You play the game for such an absurd amount of time it becomes boring so that you can finish it quickly to... Impress who exactly? All it shows is they have too much time on their hands and don't know how to spend it.
@@Vaquix000 You could say that about anything. Sport, drawing, film making, etc. "All it shows is they have too much time on their hands and don't know how to spend it." And yes, there are fans of the speedrunning (i'm not a fan, but sometimes I watch speedruns)
Wow, this was really a throwback. This really felt like it really could be one of the old npc man videos, while still being edited incredibly. I believe that mace is a ds3 reference as that looks like it comes from Vordt of the Boreal Valley. Overall, I love what all of the team and you guys are doing, so keep it up and I think everyone is looking forward to see what else you have in store for us in the coming months and years!
Never before has speed running been explained as perfectly as this! Personally I prefer the 'no glitch' speed runs as those tend to show a lot more skill...but it's no surprise to see Rowan blasting through a game as fast as he can (you should see him as the killer on Dead by Daylight...fucking hillarious at times!)
I still love the GDQ glitchless Mirror's Edge run, just some good friends with a "Ok so here's a glitch that helps us so it doesn't count" attitude have a poke at speedrunning culture
Both types of speed run have their place. I agree the no glitch runs feel like the bigger accomplishment, but thats more because there is that much more that can go wrong and affect your run time while glitches let you skip the majority of the game and remove a lot of that randomness.
The no glitch speed runs have lot of extraneous factors. For example, random events like a bear appearing, being confronted by local thugs, dragons spotting you etc can cause delays
I love how even though Baradun is just as confused as Greg is he never skips any chance he can get to give him the middle finger.
It´s just tradition now
True dedication to the grudge,
666 likes
Skip
@@----Jay---- is greg not also sentient?
For anyone who is confused, shoving Greg normally doesn't do anything when he's a vendor. However, because of an oversight it's possible to trick the game into thinking Greg is a companion for a two frame window by what we call "double-dialog-skip", where you use mouse and keyboard shortcuts simultaneously to skip dialog.
Once Greg has been pushed, you need to enter the space he was stood in. This is technically out of bounds so the game will then try to push the player into a valid space, and here we take advantage of Bucket Launch.
The bucket in Honeywood is coded to only have collision on the inside, so by placing a bucket on your head you create unintended collision and the game can't put you back into play. It will keep trying until you eventually build up a crazy speed value that eventually hurls you a considerable distance.
Being hurled into the sky wouldn't normally be useful so this exploit went ignored for years, but in September 2022 we discovered Comet Skip, and that changed everything...
This may be the best comment I have ever read in my life...
Thanks for the explanation, I've always wondered how people can cross the map so fast...
lovely
Wait.. is this a real game or was that just the most creative comment ever..?
@@Me-vr9ms Its a creative comment, alltough thats the way speedrunners look at games, of course slightly exaggerated
Rowan saying that's his fastest time makes me realize the characters live through an endless loop. A loop that continuously explodes their minds each time it is done.
ehm rowan is the player character speedrunning. so ofcourse he replays the game over and over....
Pretty sure they consider this game an MMO, so its most likely players that Speedrun those than the singleplayer variety.
Skip
it depends if their memory is wiped out at the end of ech playthrough or not
Not all npc there is one that knows
Could you imagine being a self aware NPC. The whole purpose of your creation is to deliver one line. You practice it to yourself over and over. You wait hours, days, maybe even months if the player takes their time. Finally you see the player coming. This is the moment you practiced for. This is the whole reason for your existence. You are about to fulfill your purpose in life. Then they skip your conversation and loot your house.
My friend, you’ve been a self-aware NPC this whole time. As a matter of fact, all of us are. Nothing is real, everything is meaningless.
SKIP
I guess that's why they are such assholes in selling you gear at 100x the price they buy it for.
@@2nd-place SKIP
Nothing is real, Everything is permitted
Still can’t skip the end credits.
Totally relatable.
it only matters when the start/stop timer points are
or skip the fixed longass intro scene
If its a record breaking run,they usually leave the pc. :]
Just like in MGS2 😅
Credits usually aren't part of the run since the last input is where the run ends. That's why you don't see runners skip credits.
From taking 18 hours to solve the honeywood murders and missing a core mechanic, into finishing the entire frickin’ game in 16 minutes and mastering forbidden top secret techniques. Rowan has gone a long way with ben’s tutoring… Truly a legend that one, but the credit also goes to his master!
.. roughly comparable with my own speeds of character developement between vanilla WoW and Classic WoW...
Man, I miss the clueless blunderer I used to be.
Quite a progress!
The key is compassion for your fellow man. You need to have absolutely none of it.
I guess he figured out the "horse pocket" too
Once you memorized the locations you don't need detective mode.
This is legendary. I've never seen anyone execute the bucket thrust exploit so flawlessly.
I didnt know you could keep the bucket to execute the exploit were ever you want, i keep fast traveling to Riverwood to do do it at the garlic farm. Smh
TIL about the Skyrim Flying Bucket
@@scottrauch1261 yeah man, if you manage to keep the bucket at the beginning, it easily shaves off 2-3 minutes on your entire run (depending on whether you can successfully do the mossy-stone-border glitch on the Lost Weary Traveler mission)
I like how greg is a garlic farmer yet he has the most powerfull everything in the game
They clearly derive their power from garlic
They skipped the explanation
@@legendsofmichael4315 i see what you did there
I love how Greg is a garlic farmer, yet he does no farming
@@limiv5272 Garlic farms itself
This man finished 16 minutes in little over 2 minutes. legend status
Skip
It's timed with the in game timer.
*absolute* legend status, even.
@@Epaminaidos skip
He speed ran the speed run
That man was so fast he was able to pass 16 minutes in just a minute and a half. Legend.
But he showed how the Greg bucket skip works.
That was because of time dilation, as you approach infinite speed off if the bucket launch glitch updating your physics takes more and more processing power, also approaching infinite, and the result is that the clock speed in the game is reduced. Since we're watching from the perspective of the npcs we don't notice the clock rate slowing because we get slowed too, as a result the player's real world time and the in universe time become disjointed.
Minute and a half? A real legend would do Honeywood Streets in 1:12
The beauties of dialogue skipping
@@pokejinwwi Depending on how you look at it, the speed of light is infinite speed. Since nothing can be faster than light, and numerically the only thing without anything bigger than it is infinity, (you can always add one if it's not a conceptual value), that checks out. You'd be surprised at how many games have relativity coded into them; any game with physics frames (the actual game slows down when the framerate drops) and dynamic loading will have relativity, because as your player speeds up you are forcing the game to load more things more quickly, which causes the engine to slow down as a result.
The fact that his programming makes him do stuff without having any clue why is genius.
Somehow I totally missed that :v
@@ZerotZallander Not sure how you missed _suddenly: singing._
@@The_Forge_Master It would appear I commented on the wrong comment. The thing I didn't notice was that "you can tell how far he's progressing by seeing how his equipment gets better"
Kind of like all of us.
happens in real life as well.
Lol imagine being an NPC in ocarina of time, watching Link back flipping through the entire village
Then doing strange maneuvers and holding an invisible rock and then suddenly disappearing
Given that "normal" Link invades homes, smashes things and takes whatever's not nailed down without saying a word, speedrun Link is a step up
Legend of A**hole is one way of doing that.
@Paulunatr you sir deserve a medal. Take a like, friend
*HYAH*
The hardest part of the speed run is avoiding Greg pulling a knife on you for too many skips.
It may involve save reloads this time
Ah yes, pre-angry-Greg patch, good times
That's why in this route we sing with him, tell him that we'll never forget him and he's like a brother to us, to build just enough relationship with him to prevent the first level of hostility. It used to be faster not to do it, but it was inconsistent as the loss of reputation is not a fixed value and a bad roll would ruin the run. Consistency was chosen over a negligible time save.
Ah, right 10% chance was it? Devs put a rare event if you skipped the dialog too much
I like how you can tell how far he's progressing by seeing how his equipment gets better
Real speedrunners never both with armors, because they never get hit (unless it's gonna save them a few seconds). They're basically naked barbarians.
@@michaelsong5555 Depends on the game. Some games might have item requirements or whatever - like a gear level to enter a certain place - or some games might have inevitable incoming damage you need to be able to take to continue.
But yeah if it's a possibility for the game, a speedrunner will absolutely go full-dodge.
@@michaelsong5555 true, speedrunners dont bother with high end gear because it takes too long to acquire them.
@@michaelsong5555 Depends if there's any armor/gear that the time acquiring it is less than the time it saves. Which is certainly the case for some things.
@@SleepyStreak That's usually the case for weapons, but not armors.
I like the two different reactions to the unknown: Greg put aside differences with baradun to find comfort in the shared discomfort, while baradun sought comfort in the familiarity of pattern in their normal dysfunctional relationship.
0:07 Speedrun Begin 0:10 Accept First Story Quest 0:17 Acquire the Sealing Stone 0:23 Exchange Sealing Stone for Dark Knight armor (required for buckrocket exploit) 0:28 Buy Horseshoe for duplication glitch 0:32 Buckrocket 0:35 Defeat Deephell Flame Beast, Activate Armageddon 0:41 Use Icecurse Sigil, activate Hel on Earth 0:43 Defeat Cerberus, deactivate Hel on Earth 0:46 Duplicate Bloodhound Fang 0:49 Acquire Ring of Heaven and Earth 0:59 Accept Brotherhood quest 1:00 Use Celestial Hellkey, activate End of the Universe 1:06 Travel to Darklands for 0.78 sec timesave (new tech, impressive 👍) 1:15 Defeat Lord of the Realms, deactivate End of the Universe 1:17 Bond with Greg for faster ending 1:22 Defeat Zeus 1:24 Rescue Baradun 1:28 Run complete
damn really underrated bro
Now I understand story of the game.
Not to mention how he got a gold split on the Lord of the Realms section. It’s no wonder it was his fastest time.
16 minutes How long was the game in general jeez.
I was waiting for Niftski to pop out at the end with a faster time.
This is incredibly well made, both the script and the editing.
Edit: I also just realized that all the dialogue and mission scenes we see here actually have correlation to things we have seen in other videos.
SKIP
So true :D
Yeah, look at the comet ☄️
And credits too.
Damm right
The best part of this is that it actually adheres to the continuity that you yourself have created with your own skits.
Is this just a fancy way of saying "You made another video in a series" or does it actually mean something?
@@perlundgren7797 It's possible to "make another video in a series" without having continuity with previous videos in the series.
@@HiddenWindshield By all means, but isn't Epic NPC Man pretty much always internally consistent? I realize I probably sounded snarkier than intended, but if it's supposed to be the "best part" I figured there should be somehing more to it.
He means the entirely fake story and quests within epic npc man that the VLDL team have kept consistent throughout the entire series even tough they don’t have to
@@pypeapple yep, the appearance of the bucket, the Dragons of Schamenrog, Baradun, the Dark Lands... all quests from this "game" we've seen before.
I laughed maniacally throughout the entire video. The total confusion on Greg's face the entire time as random crap is happening, and then Baradun flying him the bird. That was fantastic!
oh man I was too.. soooo funny and so true.
This is why an npc should never take drugs or in another term "stimulants".
Skip
Putting the video on slow playback and reading the job titles of the people in the credits is worth it.
@@bradwoodard8289😆 'global localisation manager' sounds like a difficult job
I love that Greg is confused because no one has ever finished the game before
still wondering how the hell do you finish an MMORPG...
finished the story, not the game itself
@@Dewani90 well one guy once.
got everything in world of Warcraft, and the devs declared he beat the game.
Probably how Witcher 3 NPCs feel. 😂
Well, if it's the player's fastest time, then presumably he's finished it at least once before. Probably Greg's memory is wiped by event triggers (sort of like when he snapped from being skipped too much, threatened to kill the player character, and then forgot right after).
Actually, I think when Greg snapped before it was Rowan as the player too. Maybe Greg snapping is why getting a successful speedrun is so hard.
Rowan is the ultimate gamer. It was only last week when he learned about the detective mode and now when he has this final piece of the puzzle, he can fully use all the game mechanics to do a glorious speedrun. He did try before, but got stuck for hours trying to solve the Honeywood murder.
Wait, there's a feature that let's you finish that quest faster?!
You're reading too much into it. He found this on GameFAQs.
Don't forget way before that he was able to pet a dog that wasn't coded to be pet.
@@TylerZeta He'zh becoming too powerful.... He musht be shtopped at all coshts.
I would 100% buy a game based on this series
Yes
why not develop their own pc game in like this im gonna buy it also.. and support them.
I DEMAND THEY MAKE IT
@@agaxent6200 yeah because that's a fun weekend activity lmfao. Not like that requires a shitton of money and skills for what would be a 5 minutes parody
@@kaboomsihal1164 they arent big enough for gaming industry to be willing to invest in MMO based on them yet, but they might be eventually. decent MMO takes quite a bit of time and money investment so it's not happening any time soon if ever
Greg always kills me with some unexpected funny reaction! The credits flying by "Who are all these people!?!"
Spoiler - they’re all our patrons 😜
@@VivaLaDirtLeague bravo. That was brilliant. 😊
@@VivaLaDirtLeague
Never Cease Epic NPC Man !
@@VivaLaDirtLeague I assumed as much.
Did you read any of it, they had some funny job titles in there.
I can't believe you didn't mention voluntary deaths to respawn in a specific checkpoint, that would have been cool!
He may have done that seeing how fast Rowan popped next to Greg, but we can't see it as it was all from Gregs point of view.
i was going to say that he did at 1:03, maybe
No no no, this was the deathless run. The next challenge is the no hit run!
fast travel my suicide? is there any other way??
I lost it at Rowan abusing the physics engine and becoming a rocket 🤣.
Yeah lol
Yep. I almost spit my coffee when that happened.
BUT, you have to admit, in many any% runs it is exactly like that 😂
He's probably doing the horse tilt glitch from Skyrim...
Rowan's speed travel 😄
I love how genuinely confused allan looks
that's how an NPC feels with all these speed runners in games.
they probably didn't give him the script .. and he's like .. "what's going on, isn't anyone going to yell *cut* ?" O.o
Best line right there: "MOVE! I need your exploit" and the swap from being upset to genuinely terrified got me XD
I love how Greg only has a spare moment to get offended by this player before he's brought into utter confusion. Therefore the run is never ruined by him threatening a rude adventurer.
I nearly burst my sides laughing at this. Almost as much as Rowan designing his own character.
SKIP
Imagine you do this in borderlands and dark souls games that would be crazy
I never thought we'd get an epic npc man speed run, this was awesome
Rowan saying Greg's lines and skipping them is next level!
When you played the game countless times you know every line 😂
Could have saved himself some seconds by skipping sooner.
@@austinlee5391, the game soft locks if you don't wait for the line to finish.
Due to a coding oversight, that particular line has no skip promt so you need to finish the line then skipping the rest of the dialouge
This must be the most important npc for a speedrunner to keep talking to him.
He's like. The only quest giver the game has.
He's like a brother to him...
@@brandonpetersen5710The only major one iirc, every other quest giver has like half a dozen at best..
@@tfywmnftiadphe'll never forget him
he has a majority of the needed story quests and is needed for the fastest ending
This is hands down one of your best skits, I absolutely lost it at Rowan turning into a rocket. Very well made.
One of your best skips, surely?
I was hoping we would see him wiggle into a wall, too.
Speed rocket Rowan 😎
Whoever does your CGI killed it in this one. Seeing Rowan zooming across the sky like that was amazing. I love that he did the bucket on head as a hack to make that happen.
yes!
The intro music with Greg's "welcome to Honeywood" seriously hit me with big time nostalgia for Epic NPC man skits. I absolutely ADORE literally EVERY piece of content you guy are putting out and I always have - but I've been a fan since the very beginning and so Epic NPC man skits just always makes me feel like I'm coming home, and please never ever stop making them. I think I have a need for a new skit with the epic and legendary Eugene cry and poor Hamish trying to sell something
This. Never has anyone else expressed my own thoughts so accurately.
I want my "Epic NPC Man" jingle back.
Epic NPC man is comedy gold. I love the old sketches, they are so real. Well, they realistically show unreal virual world, but you know what I mean.
Same here.
skip
This video actually has some really good eye tracking work. The way the editor created a believable tracking sight line for Alan is, genuinely, top notch. There are Hollywood level editors who can't pull that off.
This is pure genius, literally exactly how speed runners act. "SKIP!"
I think you -
They can’t do that with God of War III. Forced to watch all cutscenes.
@@赤ゲキ in darksouls they would restart to open doors faster
@@artyhedgehog SKIP!
I’m so happy to see Greg and Baradun again… feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen the OG crew. This episode felt like the old days of NPC man and I absolutely love it
EDIT: I’m already aware of the DND channel. Seen it since day one. But it doesn’t have the same feel as the OG NPC man days, like this episode did.
Exactly 🥺
Yea. I'm most invested in NPC man. It's my favorite.
If you want more azerim can check the DND campaign using all their npcs as pcs (ironically) and batman (bob)
They have over 100 episodes of DND with those characters on the other channel.
and the little music in the beggining, just missing the outro 😁😁😁
This is exactly what speed runners look like from my perspective.
coach is here...ah internet is a small place
Thanks!
You know it's a real speedrun cause he purchases a single horseshoe for a bizarre interaction that completely unmakes the laws of physics
0:56 love that moment... It was such a good presentation of dialogue choices when speed running. Speed Runner just said what needed to be said but didn't bother listening to the responses.
Really didn't expect Rowan to turn into a human fireball, laughed pretty hard at that one.
End game content. You will get there one day.
You mean living ballistic warhead
He cheated Radahn abilities
They did it that it looks very professionally.
Best part of it! Especially that this is only achieved by standing where Greg normally stands lol
The bit where he selectively allowed himself 2.4 seconds of non-speed-related fun ("draaagons...") was so real. That's how it be, optimization be damned
Actually, he emoted there so that the game could flush its memory in a way that enables wrong warping into the boss arena at the Altar of Shmargenrog. The strat was only discovered days before Rowan used it here, so it was fairly new at the time.
easy WR
Oh my god the production value has SKYROCKETED, this is so damn good!
Get it - skyrocketed 😂
The fact he had enough time to sing a little and still get a new best time just says how good of a speedrunner he is
I think it was a part of a quest.
@@Bleihagel Yup. The unskipable part of the cut scene.
The last line of that song is unskippable.
@@wwjnz9263 Ah, I didn't know that. I enjoy the singing cutscene so much that I've never tried to skip it in game
game isn't worth playing if you can't have a little fun while playing it
1:41 "-thank you for the sub" a nice little cherry on top
With this kind of run, I could imagine there would be an hour long or so historical video about this one villager strat that literally cut hours of time and helped the speedrunning community of this game out there -- just to be discovered by the masses or algorithm.
Rowan blasting into the sky like a rocket absolutely destroyed me. Was NOT expecting that. 🤣
That was great
Skip
to be fair some crazy skips / glitches are used in many speedruns
another fun thing i would have liked to see is the player jumping around / walking backwards / sliding around
The most unrealistic part of this was Rowan simply running like normal in the beginning. Don't know if I've ever seen a speedrunner simply run normal like that, usually it's some kind of diagonal strafe bunnyhop or some other ridiculous thing that makes you technically move faster than normal.
That depends on the game, if the game does not have basic movement exploits u can abuse, you quite literally do something else that's ridiculous as hell to travel to each objective in a game.
Let me take rain world for example, a game where there's ALOT of movement options (though they aren't exploits or anything, just intended game design) where you can roll, backflip, pounce after a roll, jump, pouncing (without roll) and other stuff.
All I'm saying is that it depends on the game, the game has some sort of shit you can exploit to travel god knows where? Do it.
Even GTA San Andreas has borderline ridiculously mind boggling strats.
And yes, I know this is a joke, and I'm indeed taking it seriously
I was totally hoping for this, like the diagonal running in Goldeneye or back-stepping in Symphony of the Night
Imagine he would do the backroll like link in ocarina of time 😁
@@WorlWyrm :O rain world mentioned
Baradun flipping Greg off was so wholesome. I hadn't even realized how much I had missed this. Thank you for making my day! ♥️
Thats how he says hello! LOL
I get my regular dose of Greg abuse at the VLDL DnD channel, but its nice seeing it on the main channel again after a long time.
Wait, when did their beef start?
fits perfectly as i got my mug yesterday... Did i show you this? XD
I'm not hard of hearing but I do regularly watch stuff with CC on so I can keep the volume low and I have to say I really appreciate when a UA-cam channel goes the extra mile and creates subtitles. UA-cam's subtitles are alright but having written out sentences is nice. You guys are legends.
I like that you ended with everyone still in character.
Perfect end
@@FBCGodfather They usually break character at the end, laughing or something.
I'm so glad it wasn't just Rowan running around and you guys actually included a nod to some of the ridiculous exploits speedrunners use to fly around all over the place
Gotta love a good prop fly or abh
My mind is still blown over the fact that Parallel Universes exist in Super Mario 64... and I found that out 6 years ago.
I'm more amazed that Greg, in all his sentience, was still able to keep up with which stage/mission Rowan's in.
1:17 THE DRAGONS OF SHMARGENROOOOOOGGGGG
Love how he looked confused as to why he was compelled to sing that lol.
Skip!
What?
The vast level of quality in these videos is evident more and more, great stuff guys
And Baradun remains consistent towards Greg 😂
SKIP
I swear Alan had to look away to avoid laughing!
Rules: Run ends when Baradun flips off Greg
Baradun is very boring like that. Calls himself smart, bored and unimaginative.
Love the reference to their dnd campaign
The little absurd details like them singing “The Dragons of Smargenrahg” together are the added spice to these feasts.
i love how they took a tiny bit of time to sing a part of the song
I'd love to see a skit about Passionate Players who find almost everything and every character endearing that it seems weird to other players who skip the dialogue!
Oh man I feel personally attacked
There's one almost like this (Roleplayer vs. Veteran, and I think that should be a continued segment like Ben v. Rowan), but not that exactly.
Could even have the other character start jaded by the profound knowledge of lore from the Passionate player, then amazed, then become jaded again by the end (but with space to grow impressed once more)
@@BreakofDawn Hey don't be! I'm that kinda of player too who is so enthusiatic about getting to know characters no matter how quirky they are!
@@nairocamilo That would be so nice too see!
They form a party, and you need all players to skip for the skip to happen, but there's that one player who doesn't skip ever. So all the other player breath on his neck waiting for him to skip, which never happen.
Almost 7 years of gameplay in the matter of 16 minutes. Congrat Rowan.
Wow, the cast list for the Dev series looks immense! Can't wait to meet all of them. ALL of them! :-)
Man I love Gregg and Baradun's relationship, can we have more with them. Also so funny how disappointed Baradun was that he got skipped!!
One of your best sketches ever! You need to make more speedrunning sketches, because everything just goes bonkers, and it's awesome to watch!
So true
Rowan is lucky that Greg didn't snap by the constant skipping or that would have been the end of his speed run.
I think the attitude is important. When Greg snapped, he was clearly being rude and dismissive. This time he was in a hurry. Also, this time he took the quest.
You guys are absolute legends! I just know that poor Eugene was shrieking in terror in one of those awesome meteors for an escort mission
@@----Jay---- I have not seen Karl Jobst videos, so it would be a coincidence.
I love how somebody in the credits is literally called "A Somebody" 🤣🤣🤣
Omg mom I'm in the credits
@@asomebody6120 lol
also saw a jiggle physics tester
@@asomebody6120 lol
@@Marcus_405 that's hilarious lol
This is the very best of Greg. Love Alan's acting.
As a speedrunner myself, I can say this is pretty accurate lol
As an NPC I can confirm this too.
Why??? 😂
@@hakimdiwan5101 Why do athletes run?
It's fun)
After all, this is a competitive sport.
No
@@hakimdiwan5101 Athletes run to reach the finish line as soon as possible, according to the rules of a specific competition, competing in the championship with others.
Speedrunners run to reach the finals as soon as possible, according to the rules depending on the category, while competing with others.
It's easy to see the similarities.
Well, like I said, it's fun, so a lot of viewers can also watch speedrunners in real time on streams.
Just like watching sports on television, only here you are also given the opportunity to see how a person trains.
This is the most hilarious thing to date that I've seen from you guys... Brilliant!
Then you haven’t watched the one about the puppy “infestation” 😂 look it up
@@carloshbello Yeah, I did, but only AFTER having seen the one above! That puppies quest was SICK! I'm more of a cat person, but I was still horrified at the thought of smashing those cuties...
The amount of information this video gave in 2 minutes made it feel like it was much longer.
What are you talking about? It was more than 16 minutes!
@@cloud5buster hahahahahahaha
The feeling when I understood that I actually watched this video at 1.5x. I accidentally speedran the speedrun video :D
And how many people will watch the video again by increasing the speed on purpose, thanks to you?!
Congratulations to Traci Gondek for getting credit for being the Jiggles Physics Tester and Susan for being a somebody .
I like how Greg went from “How rude!” to “What the heck is going on here???” 😂😂😂😂
The skip skip, only seen it performed once. Truly a masterclass in Speedrunning. You should be proud.
Dear Lord I was in stiches by the end; one of your absolute best from the Epic NPC Man, hands down.
And the editing, damn! Congrats!
PS: Never change, Baradun; never change...
Baradun giving Greg the middle finger after saying “Hi Greg” was the icing on the cake I didn’t know I needed🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Just found you guys yesterday. I am now completely caught up on Epic NPC Man. Great content fellas! You've come along way in a few years.
@Collin Gerberding lol damn thanks
Can't wait until someone can achieve a sub 15minute run.
SKIP
Then Alan says NOD IF YOU UNDERSTAND
Zeromaster has entered the chat.
Those poor NPCs! I'd be confused too if someone just began to teleport and run around like an eldritch being.
I'd be terrified if they started clipping, glitching, and launching themselves into the sky.
See what makes this even more hilarious is that they didn’t even exaggerate it. Speed running is crazy.
Man, when he masters running backwards, his times are going to be *insane*.
WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-HOOOOOO
WHAT
Alan is the master of the confused face lol. And his reaction Balderan(sp?) Flipping him off at the end was the cherry on top. Also, love your endings. Especially this one with Rowan skipping the plugs lol
Baradun **
@@belalabusultan5911 ah yes, Bardomalom! Ty.
@@shawns4354
you activated my (pathetic cry.wav) file 🥺
I wonder how this speedrun would work for Greg if he had to do the "teleportation" stuff as it was shown in detail in another skit. Awesome work as always.
Love love LOVE this episode! Much love to the team of editors and Rowan for running all day long lol
SKIP
@@bobsponge1877 Skep!
Hahaha, I think my favorite part of this whole video is when he keeps saying "skip!" over the "like and subscribe" spiel. What a great cherry on top. Lol.
I've been wanting you guys to do a sketch in this concept for so long and you absolutely delivered 💕
SKIP
SKIP
I never get tired of these. Speed runners and exploiters crack me up.
That exploit bit is pure genius. Hardest I've laughed in awhile
Which games does this exploit come from? I’m having a hard time seeing the reference!
@@keycadearcadecontrollers467 It's a general reference to some of the ridiculous nonsense speedrunners can achieve if they go fully abusive on game exploits and glitches for maximal time efficiency.
EDIT: Although the part with the bucket might be a reference to Skyrim Flying Bucket.
@@keycadearcadecontrollers467 If you look how they speed run the new doom game for example its kinda like that
/watch?v=PH2-oM7IWpY
I think it would have been even funnier if he was angry at his latest time for being 2 seconds more than his previous record, and just kill the two guys in rage before starting again.
this js very real. Speedrunning makes you angry
@@justmonika6529 I don't see the upside to speedrunning. You play the game for such an absurd amount of time it becomes boring so that you can finish it quickly to... Impress who exactly? All it shows is they have too much time on their hands and don't know how to spend it.
@@Vaquix000 You could say that about anything. Sport, drawing, film making, etc. "All it shows is they have too much time on their hands and don't know how to spend it." And yes, there are fans of the speedrunning (i'm not a fan, but sometimes I watch speedruns)
@@Vaquix000 To impress the fans and show that you're the best. Permanent legend status.
@@iPuls3 “permanent” until someone else beats your record by 1.021 seconds, then so begins your descent into irrelevance…
It amazing to see how far they have come; the quality of these skits keeps getting better and better...love it!
Rowan needs to be careful, the last time he skipped Greg, he nearly got shived with a steak knife
Wow, this was really a throwback. This really felt like it really could be one of the old npc man videos, while still being edited incredibly. I believe that mace is a ds3 reference as that looks like it comes from Vordt of the Boreal Valley. Overall, I love what all of the team and you guys are doing, so keep it up and I think everyone is looking forward to see what else you have in store for us in the coming months and years!
skip
Vordt's Hammer = based
We need this speed run with the perspective of the other npcs
"My friend never listens to me. Whenever I talk, he just --"
*SKIP!*
"-- oh no, not you too!"
- Some NPC somewhere
Or a normally tough boss who the speedrunner easily kills with a glitch that makes the fight easy.
Never before has speed running been explained as perfectly as this! Personally I prefer the 'no glitch' speed runs as those tend to show a lot more skill...but it's no surprise to see Rowan blasting through a game as fast as he can (you should see him as the killer on Dead by Daylight...fucking hillarious at times!)
I still love the GDQ glitchless Mirror's Edge run, just some good friends with a "Ok so here's a glitch that helps us so it doesn't count" attitude have a poke at speedrunning culture
SKIP
Both types of speed run have their place. I agree the no glitch runs feel like the bigger accomplishment, but thats more because there is that much more that can go wrong and affect your run time while glitches let you skip the majority of the game and remove a lot of that randomness.
Just because run is longer it doesn't mean it takes more skill
The no glitch speed runs have lot of extraneous factors. For example, random events like a bear appearing, being confronted by local thugs, dragons spotting you etc can cause delays
The whole skit was 1:22 from him spawning in to completing the run...does that mean he spent 15 minutes and 1 second customizing the character?
Lol
Sweet mother of God, I thought he was going to break the game for a second there.
he already did... multiple times as you could observe.
madique
You like a brother to me, SKIP!
Probably one of the best sketches you guys have ever done, love it