I played through FFII on my cousin's SNES. I'd never seen anything like it before. I had completely forgotten about it and never even HEARD about any other FF's (didn't have a TV, didn't have a radio, didn't buy mags, wasn't at all sociable) until FF7 came along and I by pure chance picked up a zine called Tips & Tricks with FF7 Cloud on the cover.
I'd never read a gaming magazine before and I didn't even realize that's what I'd picked up. At the time, I was naive and believed that all magazines talked about the same stuff. Oy. Even when I finished FF7, even after I'd spent months playing it over and over again, I never even remembered FFII.
When FF8 came out is when I found about the whole series thing. I was so brainless, I didn't realize my game was called "Final Fantasy VII" for a reason. I was disappointed that I never had the chance to play all of the other games. Unlike most, I wasn't turned onto the FF series because I picked FF7, though I may have claimed that here somewhere before.
Actually, my parents and I were on food stamps for the longest time, moving from one cheap apartment complex to another that was cheaper. We were rats.
I now own Final Fantasy Origins (FF&FF2), Final Fantasy Chronicles (FF4&Chrono Trigger), and Final Fantasy Anthology (FF5&FF6). They added things like "run" for speedy travel, bestiaries, and I think they made the ATB a little faster.
In MY opinion, FF lacked a plot altogether. Of course, seeing as how it was the first, I can understand that. I can NOT sit through FF2, 5, or 6 longer than fifteen minutes without falling asleep at some point.
It's MY opinion that most people who prefer the old games would also prefer to play the old board RPG's like D&D.
FF7 was a HUGE departure from board-style RPG (with the exception of those SLOTS), the revamped ATB, the Limit Breaks, the hidden characters (actually, haven't played through enough of the old games to see if there were any there; like I said, I fall asleep), actually I would have preferred if Vincent (preferrably) or Yuffie would have had at least one FMV of their own - one you unlock by making them members of your party.