Final Fantasy 9's 25th anniversary may not have come with the remake news that fans of the JRPG were hoping for, but we have been getting a steady stream of random lore that I'm happy to eat up, for now. The latest? Some apes from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey seemingly inspired the somewhat mysterious Trance system.
The story explanation for Final Fantasy 9's limit break mechanic is a surge of emotion that temporarily boosts a character's powers. How it works from a gameplay perspective is that taking damage will fill the Trance gauge up randomly until complete – at that point, you'll get some nifty stat boosts and access to some special moves. It's a tad random, as you can't activate Trance whenever you'd like after filling the gauge; it just happens when it happens.
Speaking to Famitsu, director Hiroyuki Ito is asked how the JRPG's limit break mechanic came to be. The answer? Absolute cinema.
"In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, when the monolith – the black slab – appears, the apes acquire the ability to use tools," Ito says (thanks, Automaton). "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's as if a program already planted in their genome was activated by some kind of stimulus."
Bringing it back to Final Fantasy 9, Ito says: "In terms of game design, the characters’ Trance may represent a moment of their 'evolution,' 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."
Fascinating. As I mentioned earlier, it's not the only lore tidbit we've got lately. Many of us have long thought Vivi's name came from his tragic background, but a new prequel book has a much sillier explanation – he's six feet and six inches, but only if you're including his big ol' hat. And what's that in Roman Numerals? Vi'vi. Remake this game immediately, Square Enix.
