Torneko: The Last Hope (Sony PlayStation 1, 2000)

I am a Dragon Quest fanatic. When I made my purchase of Torneko: The Last Hope, I owned all the NES Dragon Warrior games, Dragon Warrior Monsters, Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara’s Adventure, Dragon Warrior VII, and Dragon Quest VIII. That is nearly every game made for the U.S. For me, my collection was nearly complete, except that I missed Torneko. I now have that game, as well as Rocket Slime for Nintendo DS, which completes my collection.

I love the fact that the hero in this game is a favorite character of mine from Dragon Warrior IV. Torneko is known as Taloon in Dragon Warrior IV. Mystery Dungeon games offer plentiful exploration, as well. Each time I enter one, the layout of each floor changes. It is fun completing a map of each floor before progressing to the next. Gameplay is fairly linear, which means that new areas open up once I complete a dungeon, but I could always explore past dungeons in order to acquire more items and gold.

Something that I don’t like about this game is the sudden jump in challenge between the graveyard dungeon and the volcano dungeon. When before I could complete dungeons in a single try, I now had to make several repeat attempts in order to complete a dungeon. I learned that I needed to have good weapons equipped before starting a dungeon. There is a risk with doing that, though. If I die or exit a dungeon without visiting a cleric or using a wing of wyvern, I lose all the items I was carrying. This compels me to complete each dungeon without saving at the various save points scattered throughout them, because I don’t want to lose whatever I bring with me when starting them. It would be nice to keep whatever I carry if I die. Then I may be more inclined to save more often. Saving does seem important, because the dungeons become longer as the game progresses. They take a huge chunk of time to complete each one.

In spite of its faults, I still like Torneko: The Last Hope. It is a very unique game. It feels like a mix between an action game and an RPG. It is like an action game because enemies move on screen at the same time as me, and I attack enemies by targeting and pressing an attack button. RPGs generally involve menus for attacking. However, it is like an RPG because nearly all actions are turn based. Whenever I move, swing a weapon, use an item, or cast a spell, the enemies take a turn to either move, attack, or cast a spell. They don’t do anything until after I complete my turn.

The graphics in this game look attractive and cute. Many areas look like photographs of clay images. The music is different from most Dragon Quest music I hear. Usually, Dragon Quest music sounds classical, but the music in Torneko sounds more like jazz. The different music style is interesting, however some of the melodies get annoying, after a while. When completing dungeons, I begin to miss the change up of random battles, because the music in typical Dragon Quest games change when battles begin, but Torneko doesn’t have random battles, so same music in dungeons plays non-stop.

The loading that occurs in Torneko is minimal and hardly bothersome at all. A loading screen opens when moving from one region in town to another, or when beginning or ending a mystery dungeon. The loading screen shows a spinning slime that moves across the screen, which is very cute to watch.

Torneko: The Last Hope is a spin-off of Dragon Warrior, and follows merchant Torneko as he explores the magic dungeons.

Story/Presentation: 3/5
The opening video is interesting to say the least. It's a claymation sequence that I actually found to be pretty entertaining. The story isn't too bad, but it definitely is not nearly as good as some other RPGs of the time like Final Fantasy 7.

Graphics: 3/5
As far as the Playstation goes, there are far better looking games, even among the ones that are in 2-D like this one. The pre-rendered backgrounds in some places do look pretty good, but other than that, the SNES could probably handle the games's graphics just fine.

Controls: 5/5
The controls are simple, responsive, and the game teaches you what you need to do.

Music and sound: 4/5
Sound effects are pretty average for an RPG on the PS1. The music IMHO is really good in some places and not as good in others.

Gameplay: 4/5
I personally like the conventions of this game, but I'll say right now that it is not for everybody. Basically, you explore dungeons that are randomly generated and collect items on your way to the bottom level. Battle is done in a turn-based manner in real-time. Basically, every time you take a step, attack, or use an item, it counts as a turn. After each turn you take, all the monsters on the floor take one. Also, every turn you take counts against your "belly" (hunger) rating, which you have to replenish with food every so often. When you find weapons and shields you can equip them to increase your attack power, and you can find arrows so you can attack enemies from a distance as well. In town, you can sell the items you find for money or keep them to bring into later dungeons. The big gripe people have about this type of game is that you return to level 1 every time you leave a dungeon. However, this game helps make that easier to take by letting you take items in with you and you can buy "levels" after making some progress through the game.

Conclusion: 4/5
This game is definitely not for everybody, but honestly I found it to be quite enjoyable when I gave it a try. Though I would most say that fans of Dragon Warrior and older style RPGs will probably like this the most.

Torneko is a simple dungeon crawler where you control a tubby merchant and fight hordes of monsters in dungeons. This may not sound so exciting, but everything is very well done. The game has a high level of difficulty and always keeps you on your toes, and the simple hack'n'slash combat can be very addictive. The save system is terrible, though, and this game will take all your items and spit you back from a dungeon if you die. But what makes this game fun is that there are tons of cool items with various effects that you can use in a dungeon, and there's also a weapon upgrade system that's very satisfying and easy to learn. Plus, the clay art style is unique, the 2D animations are smooth, and the musical score is a modern twist on Dragon Quest tunes.Excellent if you like really simple gameplay and can take the difficulty. Length:20-30 hours.

it is a fun game but the items you take in are limited and the enemies always seem to be tougher than you