The games here are
Final Fantasy VII (1997) vs Final Fantasy VIII (1999)
Parasite Eve (1998) vs Parasite Eve 2 (1999)
Resident Evil 2 (1998) vs Resident Evil 3 (1999)
(You could place Parasite Eve between FFVII and FFVIII since it came out between the two and was used to prototype some of the tech for FFVIII)
The leap in quality with the human character models is especially impressive. Look at Sephiroth's beautiful visage here and just think that Square went from that to feeling like their animation was convincing enough to carry an entire sci-fi drama movie with a realistic human cast in less than 5 years
spoiler
Then of course you had Oddworld Inhabitants who came right out the gate with movie quality CGI. Their characters all being fish-faced aliens instead of humans probably helped
Look at Sephiroth's model. He has a visible neck joint and his eyes are just textures on his head
i'd have to see the others in motion but i'd think they also don't have real circular eyes modelled just lumps and rigged eyelids if they have some blinking effects
Here you go if you want to compare:
FFVII cutscenes
FFVIII cutscenes
Parasite Eve cutscenes
Parasite Eve 2 cutscenes
RE2 cutscenes
RE3 cutscenes
I think the first thing you'll notice is just how primitive FFVII's cutscenes are compared to the three other Square games. Like the animation is super wonky too- check out the scene where the gang gets into the pick-up truck preceeding the motor cycle chase and look at how they walk, lol
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
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