I think one of the main ways this game stands above other installments/rpgs is the battles. This game was ATB at its finest. In almost every other one, except for V, you sit around waiting for animations to end before inputting a command. In IX, it's not uncommon to wait a full minute before one of your actions goes through. In FFVII, you pick a command, your character executes it, battle goes on.

In addition to having the best flow of battle, the use of camera in them as well has yet to be seen again in the series. the following games (except for XI and XII of course) had mostly fixed cameras, the amount that the camera moves in battle in FFVII was amazing.

add in soundtrack, plot, characters, you have all the main aspects of RPGs done really well. Don't let the name get in the way of liking it.