Saying that the Saturn was ahead of its time is a massive stretch. It didn't have a depth buffer, so even when dithering it has to order the rendering correctly anyway.
And yes we still use transparency today everywhere. You just have to make a choice about whether to switch off the depth buffer or not when the transparency is written to the screen buffer.
Dithering is often only used for transparency for dynamic things like when the camera is too close to an object and would block the player's view.
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Re: "The Sega Saturn Was Truly Ahead Of Its Time" - Here's Why Modern Games Use 'Dithering' Instead Of Transparency
Saying that the Saturn was ahead of its time is a massive stretch. It didn't have a depth buffer, so even when dithering it has to order the rendering correctly anyway.
And yes we still use transparency today everywhere. You just have to make a choice about whether to switch off the depth buffer or not when the transparency is written to the screen buffer.
Dithering is often only used for transparency for dynamic things like when the camera is too close to an object and would block the player's view.