We've all been drooling over Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for quite some time now, so let us forgo the introductions and hop right to the game.

From the beginning of the demo, we follow Marche, who is a new kid at school. Obviously he gets picked on, but is able to make a couple friends. His friends meet him at his house after school to check out a mysterous book that seems to teach about the ancient art of magic. That night, Marche is transported to some kind of alternate reality, where he becomes a great soldier, and after angering a local is forced into battle.

Unfortunately, I did that one too many times. I forgot to check the rules of this battle, so upon my mage frying his third bad guy in this battle, he was taken from the battlefield and placed in jail. I don't know exactly how to get someone out of jail, but I imagine it requires some kind of fee you pay. You have to be quite careful not to take advantage of an overpowerful character that can dominate gameplay. I didn't try it, but the judge likely wouldn't like you beating up your own party as well.

This battle introduced the most radical change with the introduction of the Judge character who ended up being my favorite. The judge sets rules at the beginning of battle, in my case, banning the use of items. Thus, if my men used an item, the Judge would call a violation and immediately send them to jail. After battle you must pay dearly to bail them out. Dispatching foes resulted in the award of Judge Points, which were said to be used for combo attacks with other party members. I didn't get to see anything like that but consider me impressed. Square-Enix has a great game in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and I hope to purchase the game at launch.