I'd actually like to see it defended, that sounds hilarious. Besides that, Final Fantasy VII is above Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger on the list. CHRONO TRIGGER. Are you kidding me?
Well this is slighty a derail, but lets get this show on the road. Allow us to start with artistic form...
Graphics: Kicked ass. Take a look at GTAIII, another popular title, released same year, same consol. While the game did look nice in a gritter mannor thta was befitting, it lacked the detail and flair that FFX strived on. It had futuristic citys, beautiful islands and amazing jungles in the first chapters of gameplay. This was a game where somebody decided 'We are going to see just how well the PS2 can preform!', and I mean that literly. Lulu's dress is made of belts, and this design choice was made to make it as hard as possible for the graphics team, but they
still pulled it off. The game looks a treat all round, and is visualy the most pleasing PS2 game I have ever played.
Music: Do I need to go into this? Nobuo Uematsu rocked on this one. The track
'To Zanarkand' is the most welcome change from the stock standard 'prelude theme' that a final fantasy has ever had, and a stunning intro theme to any game, and it only continues to get better from then on. I personaly realy like 'Auron's theme'.
Charictorisation: It's good! Darn good! For a change we arn't meant to like look up to the protagonist like a super hero, but rather see him as a cry baby. When he is first given a sword, rather then the typical hero thing, he can't even stand with it,
and they don't make a big deal of it later. Even what would normaly be the most shallow and annoying brat of the group, Rikku, is shown to have more depth when she dosn't just match on into the far plane.
Story: Once again, great! I love an RPG where instead of 'The only ones who can save the world!' they are a single party of many out to achive a common goal. Just for once, the world isn't 100% dependant on you, and still does not know of your existance, it known who you are and what you are trying to do, and knows there are others trying to do the same thing. Yes, I'm trying to do this without spoilers.
Combat: For once I didn't have to grind once to beat a boss, and they were not overly easy. The sphere grid was also a nice change of pace from the normal RPG level system.
And the first consol I had has a NES. Playing old games does not mean you have to hate the new ones.