Not being able to save your Trance annoyed me, but that's only because you could save your Limit Break in VII. If you look at Trance in its own context, it makes sense that you can't save it (build up of extreme feelings etc etc).

A lot of people hate Tetra Master but I enjoyed it, despite its seemingly randomness and bias against the player.

I love IX because after playing VII and VIII, I went backwards and saw where the series had come from. I don't think you can truly appreciate the magic of IX without enjoying the earlier instalments.