Although not the best Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII has an amazing story, interesting characters, and fun gameplay.
The story is one of the most complex stories in Final Fantasy, but, at the same time, one of the most interesting. Without giving too much away, the main character is Cloud Strife, and after a few twists and turn of events, he's on a huge journey to take down an old ally who went crazy. But as the story progresses, there is much more going on than that. It becomes much more interesting and more complex.
Some say that the Final Fantasy characters are the most annoying--the guys being whiny and the girls being ridiculously exposed. In Final Fantasy VII, this isn't the case. All the characters are interesting, engaging, and aren't showing too much (in the girls' cases).
The soundtrack for Final Fantasy VII makes a huge change, going from synthesized to orchestrated tracks. Composer Nobuo Uematsu did a phenomenal job as always, and credit does go out to the orchestra who played the music. It was well done, and the music really conveys the emotion of the story and characters.
The graphics are pretty good for the time, but they weren't the greatest. The pre-rendered cutscenes look nice and the backgrounds are impressive, but the characters themselves don't look so great. They could have looked better, and it was a disappointment to see.
The gameplay is solid, but not perfect. The ATB battle system is back and works roughly the same as it has since Final Fantasy IV, although in this game, only three characters can be used at one time. There are two new aspects to Final Fantasy VII: one that's very good, and the other that takes away a character's originality during battles.
First, the Limit Break. This new feature is just plain awesome in every way. There is another bar right near the ATB bar. This bar increases as a character hits an opponent or gets hit. Getting hit raises the bar more. Once it's completely full, the attack option is taken away and the limit break option is available. This unleashes a powerful attack either on one enemy or all of them.
Two great things about the limit break. One, it can be customized. There are four levels of limit breaks that are unlocked over time. The choice of attack can be changed. And the second thing is that the limit break doesn't have to be used right away. A magic attack can be used instead.
The second new aspect for Final Fantasy VII is the Materia system. This is a system where these little orbs called Materia are equipped to a weapon or piece of armor. This allows control over how each character is customized. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing.
The good thing is that the characters can be how one wants them. One can be good at magic and another can be a strong summoner; all three, though, can have a cure spell or something in case it's needed. Whatever feels right can be done.
What's bad, however, is the fact that the characters can lose their originality if given the same spells and abilities. This system does improve on the one from Final Fantasy VI greatly. With Final Fantasy VI, every character could learn every spell, though each had his/her own special ability. It really made each character lack originality while in battle.
The replay value is quite high. The story is interesting enough to merit another playthrough--if you're willing to go through 40-50 hours of story with no voice acting. Also, there are a ton of side-quests to complete.
One of the best features in Final Fantasy VII is Safer Sephiroth. This boss will actually encourage players to do the side-quests to get stronger weapons because staying around and training your characters up to level 99 won't help much; Safer Sephiroth gets stronger the higher your levels are. It's a neat feature since all RPGs become far too easy if one grinds his/her way to level 99.
To conclude, the most popular Final Fantasy is not the best in terms of Final Fantasy games, but is one of the best RPGs out there. This has changed the way a lot of RPGs run; unfortunately, it was disappointing that it wasn't as grand as the huge hype said it was.