I was trying more for identification than summarization there, since you seemed slightly unsure about the chronology. Best to make sure were referencing the same games, after all.
I wouldn't claim that the Playstation era games were after the PC RPG era. A few of the classic series were still going just fine at that point, and there was a great wave of them just beginning. Baldur's Gate and Might and Magic VI were both released a full year after FFVII, and Fallout was released the same year VII was. It could be argued that these represent a seperate generation from the earlier games, but anything else is going too far.
It's nice to find someone else that understands the main plot failing of VIII, as most people look at the surface and think that the masks the characters wear are their true selves. THis is a large part of the game's bad reputation, I think.
Kefka works, as a character, in an opera. Which is essentially what VI is. From what I know of DIssidia (my PSP broke the same day I bought that, and I haven't bothered replacing it), it doesn't really retain the spirits of the original games.
As for IV being about the Power of Friendship, I can see it, if I look reeeaaallly hard, but I still think that Cecil's conflict with Cecil is the meat of the story.
More importantly, I suggest moving this to a new thread if you want to continue this discussion.