I don't dislike FF7, per se. I do think it is highly overrated, but I don't dislike it. It's a fun game and I still replay it, on occasion. That said, it's far too easy, for an FF. The first time I beat it, I clocked in at something like 60 hours. I was about 16, at the time. Since, then it's gradually taking less and less time, every time I played it. Last time I played, which was something like a year and a half ago, I clocked in somewhere just under 20 hours. While that speaks toward it's replay value, it also speaks volumes on how easy it is to get through it. Plus, as noted above, the characters are interchangeable. Limit breaks and weapons are the only thing that separate the characters in battle, limit breaks being the only difference that actually matters.

As pointed out, the writing can be atrocious at times and the reveal about Cloud was beyond sloppy. This is the mark that hurts it most for me. While the writing tends to be flawed in many FFs, it seems to occur more often in FF7. That said, most of those issues come from a rushed translation. If they had taken more time to translate it better, it might hold up more for me. As it stands, the story doesn't come off as complex at all, to me, just complicated.

Like I said, I like the game and replay in every few years. But, while it's definitely not one of the worst, it's hardly one of the best.