I honestly can play FF7 without even looking at the TV. When I want to level up, I hold down the right flapper button + right d-pad, to run in a circle till I get into a battle. Then I hold down O until the monsters die.

That's no way a game should be. Every battle should be hard to the point where you need to pay attention just to survive. The game should put you in a state of outright fear of death at any second, with no silly illusions that you can breeze through random encounters. That's how FF1 is. Go through the Ice Cave and then see where a strategy of "hold down the button" gets you. It gets you torn to little tiny bits by sorcerers, that's where.

Back in The Day, when you played an RPG, it wasn't to "enjoy the storyline", or to "get to know the characters". Oh no. The first five or ten minutes might've been for "fun", but after that, you realize that fun doesn't even enter into it any longer. You realize that this game was not designed to give you enjoyment, but rather is intent only on murdering your party at unexpected times. You go from a map of happy, weak Imps, to a forest with Ogres who can kill you in one hit. You watch as the game toys with you, letting you get with steps of the dungeon exit, only to throw a party of Frost Dragons at you, letting them strike first and killing you before you even get a chance to run. From that point forward, you play the game to show that NES cart who's boss. Beating FF1 for the first time is less enjoyment than it is sweet sweet revenge. And that's the way I likes it.