{"id":49840,"date":"2025-07-09T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=49840"},"modified":"2025-07-08T17:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T08:12:17","slug":"final-fantasy-9-director-hints-at-connection-between-2001-a-space-odyssey-and-the-games-trance-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/final-fantasy-9-director-hints-at-connection-between-2001-a-space-odyssey-and-the-games-trance-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy 9 director hints at connection between 2001: A Space Odyssey and the game’s Trance system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Square Enix\u2019s Final Fantasy IX <\/strong>recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. While fans are anxiously waiting for any signs of a remake being announced, FFIX\u2019s director Hiroyuki Ito\u00a0commemorated the anniversary by reminiscing about the original game\u2019s development in an interview with Famitsu<\/a>. Among other insights, Ito talked about the origin of FFIX\u2019s Trance system.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trance system is Final Fantasy IX\u2019s limit break mechanic. Story-wise, it represents a powerful surge of emotions that temporarily enhances an individual\u2019s inner capabilities. Gameplay-wise, it\u2019s a state that grants your characters heightened stats and special character-specific abilities. It\u2019s activated when your character\u2019s Trance gauge fills up, but the workings of the system are a bit unpredictable and hard to control \u2013 the gauge increases by random increments with each enemy attack, and it activates automatically without letting you \u201csave it up\u201d for when you think you need it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of this system is even more mysterious \u2013 when asked by Famitsu<\/a> how the Trance mechanic came to be, Ito unexpectedly brings up Stanley Kubrick\u2019s 2001: A Space Odyssey. He comments, \u201cIn the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, when the monolith \u2013 the black slab \u2013 appears, the apes acquire the ability to use tools. Although it depends on interpretation, I felt that this was not a depiction of the apes being given a new ability, but rather a depiction of an ability they had always possessed being awakened. It\u2019s as if a program already planted in their genome was activated by some kind of stimulus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for how this connects to Final Fantasy IX, Ito explains, \u201cIn terms of game design, the characters\u2019 Trance may represent a moment of their \u201cevolution,\u201d guided by the time, place, and their destiny. In this sense, from a development standpoint, you could say that the [Trance] system was something that was meant to be born.\u201d Although his words are (likely intentionally) ambiguous, Ito seems to be implying both a conceptual connection between FFIX\u2019s Trance system and 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as a \u201ccoincidental\u201d side to it \u2013 with the mechanic being something that emerged naturally amidst the time, place and conditions of the game’s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Fantasy IX is available for PC (Steam<\/a>), PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Final Fantasy 9 director shares a mysterious bit of trivia regarding the origin of the game’s unique Trance system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":49843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,17],"class_list":["post-49840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-final-fantasy","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nFinal Fantasy 9 director hints at connection between 2001: A Space Odyssey and the game's Trance system - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Final Fantasy 9 director shares a mysterious bit of trivia regarding the origin of the game's unique Trance system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/final-fantasy-9-director-hints-at-connection-between-2001-a-space-odyssey-and-the-games-trance-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Final Fantasy 9 director hints at connection between 2001: A Space Odyssey and the game's Trance system - 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