Ughhh =\
FF7 was basically created for mainstream fanboys, and seeing as how it was most of you people's first RPG, I can see why you all like it, but speaking as someone who has beaten just about every RPG there is up until a year or two ago, it's really not that great. For one, it is about as cliche as it gets. Spikey impossible hair, retardedly large weapon that can be swung around with one hand, good looking "omg he's so cool!!11!1!" villian who tries to be deep but fails miserably. The music is composed of glorified midi tracks, it's alright but not nearly the greatest soundtrack ever. Most of the characters are very poorly developed through their actions; instead they just give a few flashback scenes and call the characters established. They have absolutely no motives of their own besides saving the world, which is lame and overdone. It's not a journey at all for any of them, besides Cloud, but for Cloud it's more like a LSD induced drug trip, all because some big bad corporate men pumped some goo into him. Aeris is a joke, you knew she would die from the first scene you saw of her, and I found her death to neither be tragic or compelling. It was a crappy, unnecessary plot device. Contrast this to say, Tellah Sage in FF4 (omg it's not the first time they've killed a character off in FF?!?!). For such a small cast of characters there is very little situational character development, and well the story is somewhat unique, it is full of cliches and downright strange and pointless at times.
The biggest flaw with FF7 is gameplay though. First off it's way too easy, I have heard of people beating it without ever changing their weapon, without using materia, etc. The magic system is AWFUL. Each character is homogenous, they have no variety whatsoever beyond their limit breaks. Worse off, because of the materia system, ANY character can become godly easily, just by socketing a few pieces. Most of the materia is vastly overpowered, it has no prerequsities other than just having the piece, it is easy as hell to accquire, and far far too many pieces are equippable. Not that there is any variety in equipment to begin with. You get a weapon (everyone has one weapon type, boring), and the weapon generally only has a damage modifier. What weapon you use really doesn't matter, just pick the one with the most sockets for materia and you can destroy anything without even leveling. Instead of armor, you get a bracelet! And an accessory. That's it. As if all it takes to save the world is a gigantic sword with shiney rocks studded into it and a Livestrong armband. Items in the game are worthless, no point in ever using them, and since the game has very few sidequests (instead they just said hey, lets make 2 'hard' to kill bosses and that will make people waste their time on it instead of sending them out on a quest), there is little reason to go hunting for the best gear, you can easily beat the game with junk equipped. The final battle is a joke.
But i've wasted enough time with this, can't really argue against fanboys. It's nowhere near a perfect game, especially in terms of gameplay, where it just blows. If you like interactive movies, that's what the final fantasy series has become, and it all started with FF7, a lot of eye candy without a lot of true content. FF7 isn't as bad as the later games, but it's the starting point. And don't even say the graphics were amazing "for the time" because most of you were 8 at the time and didn't play anything else so you don't know. 7 was good, 6 was better, 4 was probably even better, and there are other RPG titles besides FF that are far better. Tales of Phantasia, despite being old and never released except for in Japan, is a great game, as are Chrono Trigger / Cross, Legend of Mana, Saga Frontier (1, not 2), 7th Saga if you like a HUGE challenge.. Breath of Fire 2 and 3, Romancing Saga...
Honestly. Play some other RPGs. There is a LOT out there that FF fanboys never play, some of the best RPGs in existance. If they played more than just FF they might see what i'm talking about, but instead i'm probably just going to get flamed for this. Flame on >_>