It looks about on brand with the static renders used in a lot of Final Fantasy games of the PS1 era, albeit with higher pixel density of course, so I can see the resemblance. That said, this is definitely doing it in engine, so while I can see how the GP's memory palace built that memory, you're definitely accurate that no game from that era was doing graphics like this in-engine.
Pre-rendered? Sure. In-game? No.
I think the art direction is half of the problem here. You can place lighting much better and the textures are lacking.
This screenshot is far from current AAA games, but there is no way to render such a scene in a game made for 2000 hardware.