Look, I just think that the switch from pre-rendered backgrounds to fully 3D environments where every asset needs to be created(with very limited re-useablity) has resulted in much more sterile videogame environments and it isn't always justified or at all the best way for all games to be made.

Not to be overly nostalgic on main but this shit is breathtaking.

While not always the most technically impressive, the backgrounds in FF7 never failed to convey a strong sense of place.

In modern game design it's not efficient to create an asset that will only be used once unless it's very important. Better by far to create generalities that can be cloned to populate a whole world. And so what if every bottle or fence post or flower is identical??
Idk, it just makes games feel kinda lonely.


But for the cost of 1 very detailed drawing, a game can create an entire map that feels entirely unique to itself.







Even houses! Each place is unique and lived in.




While the backgrounds in FF8 were much prettier, it's a sad fact of the matter that much of this game is spent in small rooms, corridors, and going in and out of doorways.





It gives much of the game an unfortunately cramped feeling, as you're usually running directly towards or away from the camera at close to eye level. Presumably this is the best angle for the more realistically proportioned character designs.





Thankfully, Square did much better with FF9.

















Backgrounds in FF10 are also prerendered, but manage to avoid the cramped tunnel feeling that plagues FF8. Experience, I suppose.
I didn't overly care for this game, not sure why.





Imgur gallery of FF9 backgrounds and the artist names