Torneko: The Last Hope

The game is done with two dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective of the games activities.[4] The main gameplay involves Torneko exploring mazelike dungeons in search of items.[5] When players first start conquering dungeons, Torneko continuously returns to level one strength and loses all his items until he rebuilds his storehouse.[5] Temporary saves are sometimes allowed mid-dungeon, but these are erased as soon as players resume play.[5] Combat against monsters is turn-based, with player and enemies alternating movements and actions.[5] Tornkeo can attack with close range weapons like swords, long range like bow and arrow, or magic spells summoned with a wand or scroll.[5] Torneko also has a hunger meter which causes him to lose health if he does not eat bread.[5] During his exploration, Torneko can discover treasure and magic items.[2]

Torneko returns to his village after the events of Dragon Warrior 4 and is forced to help cure his village of a curse that has been placed upon it.[2]

According to Doug Dinsdale, one of the games editors, Last Hope was only localized in the United States because of the passion of the translation team and their agreement to work for much less than normal.[6] On April 18, 2000, Enix announced its first three games to be made for the original PlayStation, of which Torneko: The Last Hope was one.[2] The game features 130 hand drawn monsters.[2]

The musical score for Torneko: The Last Hope was composed by Dragon Quest series composer, Koichi Sugiyama.[7] The original game soundtrack from the PlayStation version was released by SPE Visual Works on January 21, 2000, in Japan on a single 21-track disc.[7]

Reception
Review scores Publication Score GBA PS EGM N/A 4.5/10[8] Famitsu 36/40[9] 37/40[10] Game Informer N/A 2.75/10[11] GameSpot N/A 6.9/10[5] IGN N/A 6/10[12] Next Generation N/A [13] OPM (US) N/A [14] PSM N/A 1/10[15] Aggregate score Metacritic N/A 66/100[16]

Torneko: The Last Hope was a financial and critical success in Japan. The PlayStation version of the game sold over 578,000 copies in Japan the year of its release.[17] The Game Boy Advance version of the game had sold over 181,000 units in Japan by 2007.[18] Famitsu gave the game a score of 37 out of 40 for the PS version,[10] and all four nines for a total of 36 out of 40 for the GBA version.[9][19][20] Additionally, the game was voted by the publication as number 31 in its top 100 PlayStation games of all time.[21] The game was also nominated for “Game of the Year” by CESA.[12]

The PlayStation version of Torneko: The Last Hope did not sell well in North America[22] and received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[16] RPGFan called the game "frustratingly difficult," but said that its "addictive gameplay elements and top-notch soundtrack" make it a marvelous game.[23] GameSpot said that a lot of role-playing game players would be turned off by its lack of story and randomly generated dungeons, but those who are looking for some lighter fare of role-playing game may like it.[5] Other critics scored the game much lower, however. Game Informer called it "an outdated, ugly piece of crap whose silly antics will charm no one. There are so many better RPGs out there."[11] Eric Bratcher reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for Next Generation, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "A primitive, turn-based dungeon crawler that takes so many cheap shots it could tick off a Buddhist monk."[13] RPGamer rated the game 7 out of 10, and called the game simple but fun, and was mostly for those who already like rogue like games with randomized dungeons.[4] They did, however, find the game to have amusing dialogue and the music for each dungeon matches it “remarkably well”.[4]

• Official Torneko site
• Torneko: The Last Hope at MobyGames