Lord knows I'm tired of this debate. I also know that a few people (most likely Bolivar) will chime in after I post.

VII is a game I want to like, but for me, it has too many flaws in its story, characters and gameplay for me to honestly say its the best in the series, let alone the best RPG of all time. It is my second most played FF and part of it is me trying to figure out why people love it so fanatically, and also because deep down its a really good game but a flawed one at that. Its a game I hated for a long time and only in recent years (after I was introduced to a really bad FF game) that I realized I hated the game more for its obnoxious fanbase than because the game itself is bad. Even today, I'm more willing to rip into the game still just to shut up the fanbase.

Now don't get me wrong, VII does get alot of credit I don't feel its due but most of it I let slide cause it comes down to personal opinion. The only one I still argue is that it was innovative in a good way. Its only true innovation was that it was the first fully 3D RPG. Wild ARMS, Persona, and Arc the Lad 3 used 3D polygons in their gameplay and had pre-rendered cutscenes before VII existed. Though I do feel VII did it better than all its predecessors before it. I feel VII's only true accomplishment was that it brought RPGs into the mainstream.

Btw, RPGs were not dying before VII, they were just a niche market outside of Japan. Also, the genre was starting to get more mainstream attention due to CT, Earthbound, and Super Mario RPG.

To me better games existed before it and better games came after it. My gripe with the fanbase is with those who treat it as the Alpha and Omega of the Genre.