Final Fantasy's Pre-Rendered Backgrounds Still Feel Like The Future
thegamer
Fri, Jan 10, 2025
Atop that list is Final Fantasy 8, a game I promised to play last year thanks to the voice actor Ben Starr’s undying love for the game and then shamefully ignored. I’m sorry it took this long, but I am finally committing to giving this underrated classic the respect it deserves. I’m learning to appreciate its unique battle system, getting to know its characters, and appreciating the utter beauty of its pre-rendered backgrounds. When the original PlayStation arrived in 1994, we were still in the infancy of 3D graphics. It wasn’t uncommon to see textures warping and falling apart at the seams as developers put their first truly 3D experiments out into the world, while the majority of characters were stilted and unrealistic. Back then, however, we had never seen anything like it before, with so many games pushing boundaries and showcasing exactly what the new console (and gaming as a whole) was capable of. When Final Fantasy 7 broke cover in 1997, Squaresoft had a lot to prove.
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