The NameLess: Slay Dragon from WhisperGames and Nameless Sword Studio is an interesting turn-based RPG now landing on Nintendo Switch. Learn more in our The NameLess: Slay Dragon review!
The NameLess: Slay Dragon from WhisperGames and Nameless Sword Studio is an interesting turn-based RPG now landing on Nintendo Switch. You’ll be taking on the role of a young hero who is seeking revenge. Why is that? When you were seventeen, your homeland was completely ravaged by the dragons. You’re the only survivor of that onslaught, which has led you to follow the path of the legendary Dragon Slayer. You must seek the knowledge needed to unlock the special, hidden techniques required to slay dragons in order to keep people safe.
You’re making your way to LastGuard, the city that stands as humanity’s last hope. Whatever happens next will be up to you and your luck. Actions have consequences, and that’s even truer for The NameLess: Slay Dragon. Every action you take will have an effect on your talents and allow you to learn new skills at a faster pace. Even failure can lead to growth. Failed a skill check when trying to listen carefully to something? Your hearing will at least get a little bit better for next time.
The game can be played in one of three difficulty settings: Fairytale, Hero, and Warrior. The Fairytale is the one that offers the easiest experience. You’ll get a 15% check success rate, enemies will deal 50% less damage, be 50% slower, and you’ll take 50% less environmental damage. The Hero difficulty setting will offer the standard experience, balanced to be challenging without making you feel overwhelmed. As for the Warrior difficulty setting, it will test your abilities since you’ll get -5% for each check success rate, enemies will have +35 HP and will deal 25% extra damage. You’ll also receive 25% more environmental damage.
Your journey will begin as you choose the background for the main character in what will eventually become your party. You’ll need to pick a background between the available options, which will establish your starting class, as well as any stat value bonuses. The Nameless One is a regular resident of a small village and has no exceptional qualities other than physical strength and adventure spirit. This will give you the Adventurer class, along with +5 starting HP, so that you can withstand more damage. Next up is the Child of Darkness, born in disdain and forever shadowed by darkness and death. This will give you the Dark Knight class and +5 starting strength to deal more damage to enemies.
Another option is the Chosen One. The Chosen One was born blessed, with miracles being nothing more than an innate ability. This option will have your starting class as the Oracle, with a boost of +5 starting MP, so that you can cast more spells. Your last choice will be the mighty Dragon Born. The Dragon Born is one who has managed to achieve mastery over all forms of elemental magic. Your starting class will be Magus, which is why you’ll also receive a +5 boost to starting intelligence, making your spells more powerful. The game offers more than 20 different classes, so you’ll certainly be able to find the right combination to match your playing style.
After you’ve taken care of this, you’ll get to distribute some Trait Points in order to further customize your character. Some of the options for this include Fully Focused, which will allow you to press the ZL button up to 3 times a day to boost the success rate for exploration checks by 30%; Infinite Potential, which, when a talent upgrades, selectable Potential Points will increase from 3 to 4; Natural Talent will give a 40% boost to growth rate in combat; Master Crafstman for a 15% boost to crafting success rate; or Brilliant Mind, which will enhance intelligencd growth while reducing strength growth a little.
There are no random battles in this one, so you won’t need to worry about a group of enemies jumping at you while you’re walking around…. Unless, you know, a group of foblins is lurking in the shadows, ready to ambush you if you fail a stat check. When you do find yourself in a fight, you’ll be able to pick from he following actions for each of your party members: attack, ability, soulforce, item, defend, and escape.
An attack will make a character deal damage to an enemy with their equipped weapon. An ability includes actions such as Abyssal Strike, which will deal damage to an opponent while also absorbing some of their power. Soulforce allows you to choose a special ability that will give you an advantage in battle. Take, for example, Determined. This one will give a 100% success rate and critical rate for the next action without consuming an action.
The item command will give you a chance to use something from your inventory to help your party members. Some Medicinal Liquor to help someone recover a small amount of HP can go a long way! Defend will allow you to reduce incoming damage by half for that character while also providing a minor shield. If you choose to escape, then you’ll have a chance to run away from combat. Each of the aforementioned actions will use up an Action Point, except for soulforce, which will only cost willpower.
As you defeat enemies, you’ll be rewarded with experience points and gold. Once a character in your party gains enough experience points, it will get to level up. When this happens, the character that has leveled up will receive some Awakening Points, which can then be used to level up one of the classes for that particular character, which will give you access to new abilities, as well as an extra boost to stat values. On top of that, you can pick a bonus, such as getting 3 healing potions, fully restoring the HP and MP of the party, or getting a 30% experience points bonus for the entire party that will expire after resting or leveling up.
The NameLess: Slay Dragon also uses a system that reminded me of Final Fantasy II on the Famicom – that would be the Japanese counterpart for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This means that attacking enemies with physical strikes gives you a chance to gain some extra strength, and the weapon proficiency with the weapon being used will also improve. Receiving damage can end up boosting that character’s overall HP by a single point. One extra HP might not sound like much, but trust me, every single HP counts, and that point could be the difference between life and death.
Sparks of inspiration can be obtained while in combat, as you explore an area, when cooking… or while you dream! You can infuse the spark into a skill to shape it and improve it. You could, for example, imbue an ability with Execute, which will allow that character to gain 35 willpower upon defeating an enemy. You can then use this willpower for soulforce to pick a special ability and hopefully turn the tide of battle!
Crafting matters. The materials that you collect can be used to create a variety of items and pieces of equipment if you find the right combination. Or, you know, you can end up creating literal garbage. Crafting is split into cooking, alchemy, and smithing. Cooking allows you to create delicious dishes for your party members. Add some clean water and a bit of rice to get some boiled rice, which restores 25% HP. Alchemy will require materials that can be transformed into more useful items that can then be used for crafting or improving equipment. As for smithing, it will require that you follow specific recipes to create weapons, armor, and other accessories you can
equip to your party members.
The NameLess: Slay Dragon is an interesting turn-based RPG now landing on Nintendo Switch. You’ll be taking on the role of a young hero who is seeking revenge. Why is that? When you were seventeen, your homeland was completely ravaged by the dragons. You’re the only survivor of that onslaught, which has led you to follow the path of the legendary Dragon Slayer. You must seek the knowledge needed to unlock the special, hidden techniques required to slay dragons in order to keep people safe. The game can be as forgiving or as challenging as you want it to be, with many options for tailoring your experience, so be sure to give them a try! With multiple endings to reach, there’s certainly some replay value for you to consider. The NameLess: Slay Dragon is out today on Nintendo Switch with a $17.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This The NameLess: Slay Dragon review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by WhisperGames.
