OK, the game is getting great again. The moment you hit Corel Prison is the moment everything starts clicking. The music, the atmosphere, the gameplay, everything. It's still not without it's glaring flaws, but man is the stretch between leaving Midgar and the Golden Saucer pretty bad.
Keep in mind that I'm blowing through the game cause it's Ramadan and I have nothing else to do. So I've ignored a lot of side content this time around, which is probably why I'm unfairly judging the game's quality. But yeah, it really does get great again thankfully.
the stretch from kalm to corel has always been slow. Then after that you get to cosmo canyon, nibelheim, rocket town, temple of the ancients, and finally bone village, and Forgotten City. Disc 2 keeps the pacing up even more with the icicle inn, the vast frozen snow dungeon, climbing the mountain, northern crater, Junon and the execution of Avalanche, the weapon attack on Junon, Highwind and more. The fact I can still name all of this in order is a testament of its quality I think. It's a very memorable game.
FFVII's pacing is fantastic aside from that short slow bit between Kalm and Gold Saucer, but that was absolutely necessary and it takes two hours to get from Kalm to Costa del Sol anyways. It has wonderful set pieces, great scenarios, great story pacing, and memorable characters and music. I have no clue why anyone hates it. Sure, the story doesn't live up to its potential past Midgar, and the difficulty is terrible, but it's a game with a heart of gold, and charisma and charm up the ass.
