Putting the "J" in the RPG, Part 3: Playing Final Fantasy VII

I never owned a Sony console. My favorite FF is IV (II), which I played when it was new, and I've just recently started to pick up FF again, starting with FF I on the GBA (emulated), though prior to that I dipped my toes into emulated FF VII (with the better English translation) and got to the Golden Saucer. A little more than midway of CD1... out of 3 CDs... and 10 hours later.

It's way too long. The writing is overall poor. The pacing is poor. The combat isn't fun. The party comp loses out by only allowing 3 party members (this eliminates awesome combinations like warrior + red mage + white mage + black mage). The music is repetitive and uninteresting. The characters have very little depth and/or are predicable archetype.

VII seems like it is good because it was either good for the time where writing was traditionally poor in video games and/or it is simply nostalgia bait.

That said, I plan to complete it.