I just read a great article on Final Fantasy VII that I totally agree with. http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/index.php/Site/FinalFantasyVii. If you think Final Fantasy VII is a great RPG with an awesome story read this article. Because it isn't. As far as I'm concerned the only really good thing in the game was the Materia system.

Sure it pioneered mixing 3D characters with 2D backgrounds in an RPG style setting. And yes, it did introduce a few gloriously rendered cutscenes for the time. But the art was incredibly inconsistent. The story made no sense. The characters were shallow, non-sensical, and horrific stereotypes.

Even the seminal moment in the game was pretty haphazard. If your Cloud wasn't wooing Aeris then her death doesn't mean much to you. Since she was horrible at offense I never used her in the game. In fact I was quite pleased they got rid of her smarmy ass.