I saw that you mentioned automating exports and turning everything into gifs.
I don't know if you still intend to do it or not, but I thought I'd share when I did it.
I did it back in 2015, but made 2 albums, of every single background in the game, both animated and non-animated, as (largely) seemless gifs.
One or two small hiccups, I just realised I never shared them here in the forums.
Dynamic Backgrounds (Animated)
https://imgur.com/a/ra3OU
Static Backgrounds
https://imgur.com/a/A09TBIf you're able to make the same thing at higher resolutions that'll be really cool.
Also, I can't explain how happy I am to finally see someone not call the PSX renders 'downscales from higher resolution renders', which is what half the internet seems to think was how they made the PS1 renders. It's also pretty cool to see someone notice that some of the 'lost art of FFIX' is concept art, and things rendered just for an artists portfolio and not 'original resolution renders or 'secret files from production'.