What are the objective merits of games though? On a technical and visual level, yeah, FFVII isn't a looker at all. When it comes to gameplay, its pretty damn simple, but so is every Final Fantasy before it (and after it really). The soundtrack, writing, character cast, those still hold up. FFVII has a very distinct identity.
Final Fantasy 8 reminds me of The Backstreet Boys and Nsync, in fact every teenage girl nerd fucking loves FF8 (and FFX). FF8 is on the same level as FFXIII, except XIII actually has excellent combat.