"A fun game that is totally misunderstood by most reviewers."

Torneko for the PS1 is a spinoff game from the popular Dragon Warrior/Quest RPG series. Torneko is the merchant from Dragon Warrior IV - He was named Taloon in the US NES version. Anyone who completed that game probably remembers him fondly, as he could become one of the most useful characters. This game really has nothing to do with Dragon Warrior IV, but the character is supposed to be the same, the monsters are from the Dragon Warrior series, and the music is similar.

I'll begin the review by saying that I don't understand why people feel the need to use the same categories to judge all games. Does Torneko have an uninspired story? Yes it does. Does Torneko have uninspired characters? Yes it does. However, this game is clearly not to be played for the story. Would you say that Monopoly is a bad game because it has a bad story? Would you say that Super Mario Brothers shouldn't be a classic game because it has a lame story? Like those games, this game, and even this genre does not live or die on its story. You're supposed to play it to have fun with the dungeons and see how far you can get. How many RPGs have high score lists? Torneko does. If you're an RPG fan who wants a good story, this isn't for you. If you're a person looking for a fun and challenging dungeon based game, then you've come to the right place. Now, would it be possible to have a game with this kind of gameplay and have a decent story? Perhaps, but the whole random dungeon/limited items thing does not lend itself well to that. There's a reason that almost every game like this has the setup of one town and a ''mysterious dungeon''. They save the epic storylines for games that do not have such serious constraints on how the dungeons work. Anyway, that being said, on with the review, which will focus almost entirely on the gameplay:

Gameplay: 8/10

The game is, as stated, a dungeon based game. The dungeons are randomly generated, and each has its own theme and item tendencies. Each progressive dungeon has you going farther in, and thus finding harder monsters and increasing the difficulty. Every time you enter a dungeon, you begin at level 1. That means that you have to explore and build up your levels every time. The goal of this is to preserve the challenge. A game based solely on dungeon exploring in which you could simply power up like a normal RPG would ruin it. Often you must make a choice of whether to move on to the next floor or hang around and build up levels and find items. If you spend too much time wandering around, your hunger meter decreases, so you have to base your decisions on the items you've been finding. It really makes for a suspenseful experience sometimes. Early on in the game, you must enter the dungeons with no equipment, but later on you may bring in a few things to a few of the dungeons depending on the dungeon. It's not a huge help usually because the dungeons keep getting harder anyway! Enemies and traps will rust your equipment, you could be put to sleep, you could end up surrounded because of a monster calling trap. If you're not always being as careful as possible, you're putting yourself at risk. This is a necessary and great part of the gameplay because you will almost never feel totally safe and therefore you won't be bored. Granted, later on you may power up your weapons which could make a few dungeons easy, but the time you have to take to get really powerful weapons and armor is tremendous. Not only that, but two of the bonus dungeons won't allow you any items inside, so even if you ended up with maxed out equipment, it wouldn't ever help you get through those. Not to mention that the very hardest dungeon, into which you can take 20 items, almost requires you to have maxed out everything and all the best items. The regular enemies inside are boss monsters from other Dragon Warrior games! One way or another, Torneko will find ways to challenge you.

The fighting system works well and it's a lot like Azure Dreams, for anyone familiar with that game. There are no random battles. Every step you take, the monsters take a step (unless it's a fast monster which might take 2 steps). Every time you attack, the monsters get to move or attack. You may move in 8 directions. Inside the dungeons, there are items lying around, and sometimes shops. There are all kinds of items: Weapons, shields, herbs, magic wands, food, money, and magic scrolls. Special obstacles you may encounter are traps and monster houses. A monster house is when you get to a floor and it's a wide open room with tons of monsters who come right for you. These can be very deadly, especially if there is a monster who can shoot at you from across the room. Sometimes you'll get to one of these and the monsters can cause you confusion, rendering you almost helpless. Luckily, by the time you encounter such a place, you will have items that may help you counter it. A haven scroll, for example, can be placed on the ground and make you immune to all normal attacks. An agility herb can make you move twice as fast.

You probably get the gist of how it works now. Why did I take off two points? Because sometimes the game can be a little unfair. You'll probably find yourself on more than one occasion dying from something that you could not have avoided. On the one hand, I like this because at least it adds suspense to the game. Still, I think it could have been refined a bit. Also, the dungeon layout, as is the case with a lot of random dungeon games, can be boring. It's Just a bunch of rooms linked by corridors in a random way. I wish it had a more interesting way of generating the maps. Another thing is that unlike Azure Dreams, you can reset the game if you die and keep your items. This is a little bit bad because it allows you to just go carelessly getting yourself killed with no worries. I liked the suspense of not knowing if you'd make it out... STILL the game is SERIOUSLY challenging and this is not that bad of a thing!

Graphics: 7

Some of the prerendered stuff looks odd, but overall the characters are well drawn and colorful, though a bit silly at times... And the monsters are spot on. They look just like they should. The graphical style fits the Dragon Warrior theme well.

Sound: 9

The sound is really great, actually! The Torneko theme song redone a bunch of ways mixed in with classic Dragon Warrior tracks makes for some good listening. The music definitely hits the mood of the game and fits the Dragon Warrior universe. Couldn't have been done much better for what it is.

Overall: 8

Great game if you like this genre. BAD game if you are looking for an epic RPG. This is not an RPG lover's kind of game! It deserves a high score for doing what it does well. The strategy and challenge will keep those who give it a chance a reason to keep coming back.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/03, Updated 02/07/03