Same here, VII was my first and true RPG game and VIII being the second.
Post-VII release, I was so exicted for VIII to come out. I had even bought a couple of magazines that have info about the development of VIII.
So when VIII came out, I was pretty disappointed in my first playthrough. At that time, I was reminiscing about how VII was better and how it was the best game ever.
But all of that changed when I forced myself to finish VIII and played my 2nd playthrough to pay better attention. I now consider VIII a better storyline than VII. It's the VIII storyline and backstories of characters that have influenced me so greatly. I.e. the R=U theory and the other luminous mysteries. The atmosphere of VIII felt so true.