in my OPINION, FVII was much better firstly the battle system, characters and world was more immersive

The battle style was Good-Old-TB which in my opinion is the way all RPGs should be :P

Plus the junction system was right @#&$ing gay along with the fact that i beat the game entirely upon the use of my summons in FFVIII

Story wise again its for FFVII athough i do say that minus the whole dimension warp thing and the messed up romance in the story FVIII was one of the best for story

FFVII has become mainstream because of all these traits, some reject it simply becuase of its popularity, however for most RPG gamers who can get past the fan base of this game....it is by far the best

FFVII side quests and extras like WOW so many...

Don't all Final Fantasies bring characters into different games

Biggs and Wedge....they are in like almost every god damn game :P

They are secondary characters

BTW If anyone played FF Tactics Advance they would not find the story/game so complex in FFXII

RPGs outside of Final Fantasy, i play a few, but none can compare to FF

Xenosaga

Unlimited Saga

and the only other RPG series i place on equal grounds .Hack

SILENT HILL!!! any of the sequels

Mayb Resident Evil