Went to GameStop for the first time in ages earlier tonight, and they had the playable demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII. I only tinkered with it for a few minutes, but from what I've picked up....I have mixed emotions about the battle system. I've never played an MMORPG before (and have no desire to, either), so I was very confused by how I was supposed to go about the battles. After a few seconds of fighting some fish creature, I got the hang of it....sort of. It's different, I'll give it that. For being different, I give it praise. However, I did find it frustrating to play a Final Fantasy title that I wasn't immediately able to pick up and use without very many problems. So I guess it just takes getting used to. But from what I hear, the battles are identical to most MMORPG's, so if you play those, then feel at home, I guess.