Sprite or texture?

[daemoth]

Hmm, basicly, you need to ask yourself whether the object is considered 3d by the game engine or not. Is it on a model or not. Will the camera move around the object changing the perpectives( which would mean the object is 3d) or does the object change when the camera is moved ( if the camera even moves) , displaying always 1 plane.
Lets take Star Ocean 2 for example



The characters, enemies, hud, and the attack animation are all sprites because they are always displayed flat compared to the camera. The background/skybox, the ground and some of sparkle and hit effects from the attack are texture because they are modified when the camera perpective change.

For the skybox, it really depends if the image is on a models or not. Does it seem curved when the camera moves? Does the perpective of it can be changed when the camera is moved? Is there a 3d lighting effect applied on it? If so that a texture. If it seems to have no curve is simply scrolling when you move, its a sprites.
For visual Novels backgrounds, even if the image represent a 3d scene and is a screenschot of models with texture, its a sprite since its displayed as a sprite.
For the rest, ask yourself the same question as the skybox, is it a models/ can the perpective be changed in some way / can a 3d lighting affect it?
Also, textures often look stretched when you get the original file for them. When they are not on a model, they often look weird