For those who are huge fans of Final Fantasy Tactics, the wait is almost over. I was able to play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance today, and I think it is what people have been asking for. Many of the characteristics from the original have returned, with the Final Fantasy jobs and job points showing once again, and many of the same tactics apply to the new game that worked before.

However, there are a lot of changes too. The Active Time (AT) system is gone, meaning spells go off immediately. There were team members in my party who weren't human, but also weren't pure monster, meaning they still had weapons and armor, and a more typical menu with Fight, Battle Skills, Items. I really didn't see a difference between them and the human characters. I presume they would have different classes, but I didn't get a chance to see.

Another thing that I didn't figure out, but was definitely different was that my characters weren't earning Job Points (JP) on every action. After my character would knock down an enemy, a judge would award them 1 JP for their efforts. I don't really know if this was a special battle, or if that's how the new system will work. If this is truly a new system, this could be a way that the developers have combated a lot of "cheap" tactics used to power up Final Fantasy Tactics characters early in the game. The idea of a judge watching every match doesn't seem like a particularly thought out idea, and is likely either a temporary measure, or perhaps it was only a tutorial lesson. Only time will tell.