Taloon's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon is part of the larger Mystery Dungeon franchise, featuring Torneko, the merchant from Dragon Quest IV, and his adventures around the Mystery Dungeon in search of items.
Taloon's Great Adventure is the first spin-off game in the Dragon Quest franchise. After failed attempts on creating a roguelike game in a home console, such as Sega's Fatal Labyrinth and Dragon Crystal, the game was a success with over 800,000 copies sold, which led to Chunsoft turning it into a franchise and worked on both the game's indirect sequel and the company's original series, Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer, in 1995.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to roguelike-style PC games. The main similarity is the heavy use of randomized dungeons and effects. The main character of the game is Torneko, originally localized as Taloon in North America, a merchant and playable character from Dragon Quest IV. The player continues his story from Dragon Quest IV, where he wishes to make his store famous and ventures into mystery dungeons to retrieve items to stock in his store.
While Torneko explores the dungeons, he collects items and fights monsters, similar to ones found in Dragon Quest games. If he leaves the dungeon, he can sell off the items he found. He can also equip certain items. By saving up money, he can improve his home and shop.
Story
Torneko, a weapon merchant for hire, lives in Lakanaba with his wife, Tessie, and son, Tipper. He has one dream: to own his own shop and make it the greatest one. As such, he sets out on a journey, searching for an iron safe and works on other various jobs, and finally opens a store thanks to the help of his wife. Soon after, Torneko hears a rumor that there is an amazing treasure in a mysterious dungeon that no one has ever seen. However, he is worried about the store and his family. Tessie understands him and decides to go alongside him to the "Mystery Dungeon". The family travel across oceans and mountains for years before finally arriving near the dungeon. He sets up store near a single large tree in a new village near it.
Torneko tries to get permission from the King of the land to explore the dungeon, but he refuses to budge, saying it is too dangerous. However, he does not back down, and the King promises to give him permission only if he can retrieve the jewel box from the "Small Mystery Dungeon". Torneko brings back the King's jewelry box and gets permission to explore the "Mystery Dungeon". After successfully obtaining the permission, he ventures into the dungeon, gradually expanding his store with the income he earns from selling the items he brings back from his repeated adventures. Finally, he succeeds in bringing back the "Box of Happiness"; a rumored treasure hidden in the dungeon's innermost depths. When he opens the box, a small melody begins to play, which reveals it functions as a music box. The box, placed in Torneko's house, then plays a beautiful music which makes everyone near the store, including his family happy. Thus, Torneko's goal of obtaining the treasure in the "Mystery Dungeon" was realized. While the story concludes here, he continues to explore a new "More Mysterious Dungeon".
While it is unknown how many years went by between the events of Dragon Quest IV and this game, there is a continuing linear story thereafter; Torneko: The Last Hope happens half a year later, and Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko no Daibōken 3 seven years later.
Development
Taloon's Great Adventure was developed by Chunsoft, the developers for the first five Dragon Quest games. It was the first game in the Mystery Dungeon series of roguelike games, of which over thirty have been produced, including five Dragon Quest spin-offs. Letting players explore a familiar setting was part of lowering the difficulty and trying to broaden the appeal of the genre.
After the launch of the Super Famicom in 1990, and finishing development for Dragon Quest V in 1992, Chunsoft ceased working on the Dragon Quest series and began working on other genres, now known as the Sound Novel and Mystery Dungeon series. The latter series was initially based on the 1980s game Rogue, which has spawned its own genre called roguelike. By the time the company released their first Sound Novel game in 1992, Otogirisō, both Koichi Nakamura, founder of Chunsoft and co-creator of the Dragon Quest series, and Seiichiro Nagahata, one of the executive officer of Spike Chunsoft and corporate planning officer back then, wanted to work on a different genre.