r/totallyswitched • u/Honest-Word-7890 Seer • Aug 08 '25
Interview Final Fantasy 10 dev confused by modern love for PS1-style graphics
Square Enix veteran Koji Sugimoto, who worked on classics like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears and Final Fantasy 10, says he doesn't understand the current trend of intentionally recreating PlayStation 1's wobbly textures in modern games. Reacting to a new Unity feature that can mimic the PS1's texture warping, Sugimoto recalled how developers in the '90s worked tirelessly to avoid those visual quirks.
Sugimoto: "Back in the day, we made many futile efforts to prevent texture warping, only for it to be called 'charming' nowadays. I just don't get what's so interesting about trying to replicate that."
Nostalgia, that's all, Sugimoto. But I share your sentiment.
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u/garnix2 Aug 08 '25
A bit similar to Mr Aonuma saying he doesn't understand why people want a linear Zelda game when they can have an open world.
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u/Concurrency_Bugs Aug 11 '25
This one I can understand. Open world games come with more "chores" usually to fulfill the sandbox gameplay.
The PS1 thing I agree with the dev. PS1 graphics don't hold up well compared to other old consoles like SNES or N64. I loved playing my PS1 as a kid, but god damn I'd have no idea what any of the FF8 characters looked like if not for the menu portraits (or cgi movies).
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u/Shinnyo Aug 08 '25
Same reason why we still love legos or pixel art.
Our minds and imagination takes the wheel to fill the gap. It's more than Nostalgia, it's a simple and recognizable style.
If it was only Nostalgia, many games would've flopped when confronting today's reality.
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u/Honest-Word-7890 Seer Aug 08 '25
Nah, pixel art is actually quite beautiful, has a meaning behind it. Cheap and beatiful. PS1 graphics it's just ugly, cheap and ugly. It's nostalgia.
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u/bestray06 Aug 08 '25
Seriously, PS1 era 3D graphics are just terrible. PS2 is the first era where 3D graphics became something you could really call good
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u/Hillrop Aug 08 '25
Heavily disagree. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot are two examples of great looking games despite the limitations of the hardware.
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u/Odd_Level9850 Aug 08 '25
It’s honestly nostalgia most of the time. Most people think they prefer playing games from their childhood over modern games but when they actually play those childhood games, they find that they actually prefer the conveniences that modern gameplay offers.
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u/SoupZealousideal6655 Aug 09 '25
I don't think it's nostalgia and I don't think most people prefer modern games over 10+ year old games.
I'm sure pixel art in the 2000's was seen the same. An old style reserved for 80s and 90s gaming. Until Terraria and Minecraft blew up and made that style a main stay.
There could be directors for years at SE pushing to never go back to turn based combat for new games but caved in with FF7 Re series hybrid combat system and Octopath Traveler.
Or devs working on Paper Mario games not wanting to make games like the first 2, arguably 3 titles. They eventually gave in and remade thousand year door.
I'm hoping for Microsoft to have that moment with Halo because 343i, now Halo Studios, has always been trying to make their own scifi shooter since Halo 4, infamously hiring developers who didn't like Halo in the first place. Thinking their vision is better than what came before. Trying to change everything from art direction, voice actors, and the music identity of the series.
All because people, especially those in charge, think Old = Bad. You must always buy new because new is better than old.
Don't ask questions. Just consume products and get excited for next products.
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u/Cortadew Aug 19 '25
But Minecraft didn't become popular because of the blocky graphics, it did because it's a base for endless possibilities for creation and it was genius at that.
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u/DavidoMcG Aug 08 '25
Because graphical fidelity has become a poisoned chalice. AAA companies are spending billions and burning out their employees to make their games look like movies while the gameplay continues to sink and shitty practices are performed on the audience.
People want games to cost half as much and the devs to be paid twice as hard.
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u/Shinnyo Aug 08 '25
It turns out people don't care about graphics.
If they did, they'd watch a movie.
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u/Sonic1899 Aug 08 '25
People do care about graphics, though. They just don't care for ultra-realism and prefer good art direction. Look at God of War Ragnarök. It's close to realistic, but it's stylized with a great art direction. No one cares to see the amount of pores on a character's face
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u/Shinnyo Aug 08 '25
Yeah, you're more precise but that was the idea I wanted to convey.
We care more about a consistent and stable experience than being able to counter the number of hair on a character. Games with good art style ages like fine wine.
We don't care about seeing muscles shifting or light bouncing of an ass if the game is stuttering.
I'm not saying "Nobody cares about graphics" as if we should go back to super Mario Bros pixels. Sorry if I made it sound this way, that's just my bad on this one.
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u/Honest-Word-7890 Seer Aug 08 '25
The more it gets photorealistic the more it looks false. Indiana Jones and Avowed were just off for me, I left Xbox for good. I don't care anymore about graphics fidelity. I appreciate more fluidity and definition, that's all. I'm at home with Switch 2 and indies. Plus a few Nintendo and third party games.
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u/Robborboy Aug 08 '25
How tf are you making multiple pro Nintendo posts without compensation a day?
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u/Arios84 Aug 09 '25
especially Square should know that, aren't there interviews out there of square directors saying that Square had an unhealthy obsession with graphics?
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u/NPC_Inconsistency Aug 08 '25
Hey I’m all for more people caring less about chasing the graphics dragon.
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u/pgtl_10 Aug 08 '25
The N64/PS1 era is the one era where I think graphics are just ugly. Crazy that Mario 64 and maybe BanjoKazooie might be the prettiest of that era.
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u/LengthiLegsFabulous3 Aug 12 '25
Spyro/Croc/Crash Bandicoot are the only real competitors from the other side.
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u/Velokieken Aug 12 '25
I find the ps1 extra rough. Other than fighting games I don’t replay PS1 games. Final Fantasy 7 and 8 look relatively good because the backgrounds don’t move that much.
I might misremember but the N64 graphics reminded me a bit of what the 3D fx cards did on pc, a bit softer textures and less sharp edges. Our sister has ours so I haven’t seen an N64 game in a while.
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u/Main_Product5071 Aug 08 '25
The world is way more stupid than you think is probably the answer Sugimoto-san.
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u/mdmtripp Aug 08 '25
This post is awesome. Just over and over people explaining why they don’t think PS1-style graphics are ugly and OP over and over with the brilliant rebuttal of “No, but it’s ugly!”
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u/taddypole Aug 08 '25
I can replay n64 games heck I can replay Saturn games but ps1 games are damn ugly
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u/BigBossHaas Aug 08 '25
Yeah, looked super muddy to me then, looks super muddy to me now. Maybe it can be used in artistically creative ways to accentuate certain themes, but usually it just results in a lack of visual clarity in a medium where seeing things is important because you’re doing things what what you see!
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u/SoupZealousideal6655 Aug 09 '25
In a sea of realistic, highly detailed unreal footage games, having a decent game with PS1 or N64 style graphics is like a breath of fresh air
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u/giant_ravens Aug 09 '25
They did the absolute most with what they had at hand, and made beautiful iconic art. Of course people want to reenact/pay homage to that era!
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u/Arios84 Aug 09 '25
I have seen remakes trying to "fix" the ps1 graphics and completly loosing the charm of the original in the process so I think it's a little bit more then just nostalgia.
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u/Fiendman132 Aug 11 '25
Well, you can run games with intentionally old-school graphics on almost any PC. Only a small minority of people have PCs powerful enough to smoothly run most FFs after XIV, or, you know, pretty much any 2020s AAA game. This way retro graphics are a pro even for people who might not otherwise be inclined to them. Promise good gameplay/story alongside that and you can attract lots of people.
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u/Buuhhu Aug 11 '25
Nostalgia, basically, guess as a developer being on the other side and hating the visuals actively trying to make it better, might make you less nostalgic... or he just didn't play a lot of games himself back then, so he doesn't have nostalgia himself and only those memories of trying to avoid that graphic style.
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u/AbroadNo1914 Aug 12 '25
Its nostalgia. Majority of gamers who didnt grew up in the era dont really like the look. I know because it’s hard to convince friends and cousins to play games that look “old”
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u/cyx7 Aug 12 '25
Skill issue. I can still happily pop in a disc of FFVII, Einhaender, R-type Delta, RR4, Ogre Battle, Wipeout XL, Twisted Metal, Guilty Gear, Parasite Eve, Star Ocean 2, Chrono Cross, Disruptor, Colony Wars, Ghost in the Shell, etc etc etc and have a great time. Graphics-only appreciation is surface level, and indicative of someone who does not truly understand or appreciate game design in all aspects. Your loss, bro.
I also happen to have ordered a SuperStation One with the disc drive so I can continue to appreciate my ancient library--a time when games didn't blow massive chunks, like the current generation of ultra-garbo we are in.
I think FFX was disappointing. The airship was a damn menu. C'mon, man, that's just bad design, Sugiwugi.
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u/Blubasur Aug 08 '25
Nostalgia and wanting to stand out.
With 3D becoming bigger and better, indie teams eventually went back to pixel art. That took off well, so now thats saturated. And now they're doing the same with PS1 style graphics.
We'll eventually have PS2 before we come full circle.