As a weird side-effect of technological anxiety and the transition from 2D to 3D games, pre-rendered graphics had their place. In some cases, that was a very, very bad place, like where Big Bird said strangers couldn't touch you; basically, any game with pre-rendered, animated sprites. Though in the 32-bit era, it's reasonable to say that some pre-rendered graphics were necessary--if a circa 1997 Square programming team tried to make a real-time Midgar, the result would be an abominable pile of warping polygons and broken dreams.
But so many years later, you'd think that we, as a people, could unite against pre-rendered graphics and say "No more." In what can only be considered an affront to the eyes and good taste of gamers everywhere, developers are still using pre-rendered graphics. And it's high time they stopped.
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