I like videogames. I like them a LOT. The "Final Fantasy" series is one of my favorite series. I played FF7 for the PC back in the summer of '98, and I was hooked. My brother and I bought a Playstation after that, solely in anticipation for "Final Fantasy VIII," which came out September 1999. In the many months between summer of '98 and fall of '99, I did a TON of research on the game, and analyzed every screenshot I could get my grubby paws on.
What struck me as odd were the prerendered screens of the two main characters, dancing in a ballroom. It was odd because it seemed like such a trivial event to have to fully render using CGI. Videogames weren't really like that yet. When the game finally came out that fall, and when I ever saw that scene, I was completely blown away.
Keep in mind, this was 8 years ago. Pre-Shrek, Post-Toy Story. And while you can hardly call it "animation," since it's clearly motion captured, it still absolutely blew my mind. Especially when their previous effort, just two years earlier, looked like this... and people considered that pretty amazing at the time. I'd never seen characters really come to life like this before, and I still can't help but smile whenever I watch it- even 8 years later.
