Those of you familiar with Dragon Warrior IV on the NES will remember playing a pudgy merchant by the name of Taloon. In this game you once again take over this role, except now his name has been changed to Torneko, his name in Japan. Torneko is still a merchant in this game and thus he must venture out of town to explore the magical dungeons to acquire new items and to unfold the mysterious plot. Unlike previous games in the series, the dungeons are random every time you enter them. In addition, the enemies can be seen on the screen. For every step Torneko takes, the monsters can move one step as well. Once the monster is adjacent to Torneko it can attack him. The battles are still turn-based so once an attack is made, the other side will have an opportunity to attack or move away. This type of battle is easy to learn, but can become difficult when multiple enemies are trying to attack at the same time. Torneko automatically faces an enemy when attacked, but this caused troubles for me on more than one occasion. As any veteran RPG player will know, it's often advantageous to attack one enemy at a time to get rid of it as soon possible. Since Torneko keeps on facing the last monster to attack, you may find yourself needlessly wasting turns by attacking the wrong monster. Even just one wasted turn can spell disaster, especially later in the game.

Since the dungeons are randomly generated, there is a map overlay that can be viewed. This is extremely useful since it shows where treasures, items, and monsters are located as you enter a new room. By walking around you will gradually refill your Hit Points. Fighting the various monsters will yield experience points, which in turn will allow Torneko to raise to the next level (thus increasing his maximum hit points). All of this walking around will make Torneko hungry. Once his tummy is empty he will die, so eating bread will restore his energy when he's approaching empty. Other items, such as herbs, will restore hit points if you find yourself in a pinch while battling. Arrows and magical staves, when found, can be used to attack enemies from afar. Most of this is standard RPG fare, but what really breaks the mold is that whenever you die or leave a dungeon, Torneko is reverted back to level 1. In other words, all of experience you earned and the monsters you fought were for nothing. The next dungeon you enter you will once again have very little attack power and low hit points. This aspect of the game is what hurts it the most. It goes against the very foundation of what an RPG should be. Gaining experience to make your character stronger has always been at the crux of these games. By taking this out of the equation, all of the dungeons seem to suffer from the same boring battles, and finding items becomes more of a scavenger hunt than a quest.

Presentation of the game is mixed. The cinema scenes are wonderfully done in claymation instead of the overused CG FMV that is shoved down our throats at every opportunity. The in-game graphics are on par with those seen in Super NES RPGs. The game relies on sprites instead of rendered backgrounds and polygons. The battles lack any graphical special effects and each dungeon looks strikingly similar to the others. Luckily the enemies are straight from the series and will offer some nostalgic value. The music is very upbeat and is of better quality than the midi approach that so many companies use. Fans of the Dragon Warrior series will instantly recognize some of the sound effects, such as when Torneko misses a hit in battle.

I can't help but feel that this game is just a stopgap measure until the real Dragon Warrior game is finally unleashed sometime next year. Some gamers might find something to like here, but for the most part it's an average game that suffers from mediocre implementation. Torneko: The Last Hope simply isn't very fun to play. There are some rewards to those that play through the entire game, such as finding weapons and selling them, but it probably won't appeal to many. There are so many other quality RPGs to choose from, like Final Fantasy IX, Breath of Fire IV, Lunar 2, or even Enix's own Valkyrie Profile. Do yourself a favor and check those out before settling on Torneko: The Last Hope.