My experience with learning photobashing was that it was already a makeshift tool used to accommodate the extremely unimaginative stakeholders in a project who refused to engage with sketches (in my very specific design field.) So framing AI as an improvement on that is

I think Pax Deorum, Tempus Vernum, and Cursum Perficio are how the LOTR soundtrack -> Enya -> metal thing happened to me when I was a teenager

The BoF artbook is really interesting for comparing styles across the series

Breath of Fire IV is a favorite of mine and my sister’s. The wind city music still gets stuck in my head out of nowhere

Seconded

The other week I said to my partner, entirely sincerely, 'they didn't let her chew on any scenery :(' I want more of this so bad

This is what Promise Mascot Agency trained me for

What a fun rabbit hole! I remember seeing some cool ones a few years ago near Point Pinole, I think?