Technically speaking, FF7 could've been a whole lot better than it was, but whether the game is a technical success or not is besides the point. The story is the best & most important aspect of the game, which the designers clearly made it the emphasis of the whole game. I was not playing the game because it was fun. In fact, I didn't really find continued random encounters to my weak characters any fun at all. I also hated the stupid 3 fighters limit to the party. There is absolutely no good reason to enforce such an incapacity other than to make it a more difficult process to fight & train your characters & materia. What drove me on was the story, as well as the responsibility I have for my characters to train them & their materia. I was playing to carry on the story, to continually improve my characters' levels & limit breaks, and to achieve master materia status.

You see, what FF7 did nicely was to make you care for your characters. These people that form your group are not merely there to make up the paladin, fighter, spell-caster or mage of your party. The designers have succeeded in bringing your characters to life. It is not like Diablo where although you can improve your character & equip all those cool weapons & items.....but finally - emotionless with no personality. I think of the FF7characters as they are - plain human (even in Nanaki's case), with feelings & emotions. Each has his or her background story, which is also interwined into the game story beautifully. With their histories revealed, you'll understand the reasons that prompted their current mindsets & motivations, and will sympathise deeply with them. While they are strong, they are also weak. Just like any of us. Even though the translated English doesn't go beyond secondary school levels, the story has no doubt made me feel closer to the characters more than novels or movies can.