I imagine that those people considered all the dumb and stupid tropes dumb and stupid at the time, but it was probably more endearing at the time due to the novel nature of it all. After all, FFVII was the first FF to hit the home consoles of many, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was their first JRPG too. So after trying out more JRPGs they found the dumb and stupid tropes becoming less endearing because, well, they were always dumb and stupid, and without the shine of something being new and unusual...