Ah, I loved this game verry much. Really i cant quite understand some of your opinions.
I dunno who said it, But you think FF( didnt have verry deep characters? Your jokeing right? ff9 had some of the best, most developed, and strongest personalaties in a final fantasy game yet. That is one of the most dominate features of the game. So i think your way off base saying that was it's main problem. I love ff7 but look at it's characters? You have this shadey character vincent. You dont learn ANYTHING about him other then a few minor points. Then you have the shadey character vivi. Who you learn alot about. And who has a strong personalaty and is great to play with. You learn all sorts of things about him and his people. Then cloud and squall? they are bland. They just think in their heads alot. And have no feelings or expressions. Cid? oh yeah, hes some guy who likes airships and space and the highwind. VERRY in depth? -.- On ff9 if somebody is a loner and quiet and boring like amarant they have reasons for it. And its expressed why in their personalaties and characters.

And some other things to the topic starter:
You thought the battle system wasnt so well done? and you liked materia and draw? I enjoyed the materia system yes. But compared to ff9 its crap.
Final fantasy 9 actuly allows you to customize a party in order to beat certain monsters and bosses. With ff7 all you get is some blank slates. Wich you can do whatever you want to. They dont learn any spells. They arnt unique in any way shape or forum. Every character is the same as the next in battle. They can all just equip some certain materias and be exactly like the guy next to him. It's just plain and boring. ff9 allows you to customize an entire party. Making you use a wider variety of the playable characters. Useing each of their own specific atributes to better yourself in battle. The battle system is way more in depth than any other final fantasy ive seen.
Also. May i ask, have you even played the entire game through? You might have read some scrip but thats nonsense. If you played the other ff games all the way through and then read their scripts you apreciate them. And you see all the different places and watch the story unfold as a story in your head. But if you didnt take the time to even finish ff9 all the way through you cant judge its story. It was verry compelling and well thought out. Maby you should play all the way through the game instead of just reading some script.

all in all i think this was the best final fantasy ever made. And ive beten the other ones several times too (ff7 28 times through and through)
And i think in order to say something bad about the game. You must have played it from start to finish. And played it with an open mind (not sitting there with a bad look on your face perposly trying to trash every single thing in your head since you dont do that with the other ff's) dont judge a book by its cover. Or in this case, the first part of disc 1. for alot of the story is slowly unfolding until the third and fourth discs where it explodes.