I just did a quick playthrough of FFVII for the first time in probably 15 years...and it was a lot of fun. enough fun to ignore any deficiencies.

- Midgar is one of the best sections in Final Fantasy history. those first 5-10 hours are perfectly paced, set up a bunch of interesting characters and story motives, and are overall just a blast to play.

- once you hit the world map, it's a mixed bag. the story relies *a lot* on MacGuffins and one-time revelations, so knowing all that makes the journey to get there very clunky. disc 2 is especially all over the place.

- for the complaints about materia homogenization, I think it's a great system in retrospect. most FF games end up being magic-heavy or attack-based, with your party comprised of different types, but materia was basically the jobs system on crack. when you unlock the different combinations it gets really fun -- maybe the most enjoyable FF game to "break."

- I'd say the complaints about "character likeness" stem more from the fact that several cast members aren't well developed. Vincent and Yuffie are both sort of throwaways (each are fan service in their own way). Cait Sith is a cool idea but more time is spent hiding the "secret" then making Reeve an interesting character. Red XIII looks cool but might as well stay in Cosmo Canyon after his bit. that said, the character design was top notch. and best Cid ever, too.

- if you set yourself up right the game has little to no grinding (I ran from every battle until the third disc, when I had to level up to beat Emerald and Ruby) and moves really quickly, which I love. most of the "OMG THIS IS THE BEST EVER" parts don't translate anymore -- remember how amazing it was to move your character against a FMV backdrop as it played? but the whole of its parts is still plenty enjoyable. subtracting the MMO entries, FFVII is easily top five in the series.