I'm not overly excited about XIII either since it looks very futuristic/guntoting but I beg to differ. VII wasn't that amazing unless you were a fanboy that had the hots for Aeris in which case you developed an emotional attachment to the game, wept when she died and gained an instant get out of jail free card for any argument about the greatness of Final Fantasy franchise games.
Haha, Yeah I can see that! Although the reasons for my perference for 7 over the others that came after are different :
1. Much less linear. Complete 7 doing just the basic plot and you'll see maybe 60% of the game, any FF that came after you'd probably see 80%. There is simply much more to explore and find.
2. The magic system. While the linking materia isn't that special, the key thing is you have to find the materia - which again means exploring is worthwhile, finding a hidden materia in some off path area is great reward for exploring - also there are far more chests hidden in the world than any FF that came after.
3. The last FF to include Hidden characters, who both add several hours/dialog and content (including a whole continent) to the game.
4. Subjective I know but the best epic storyline, and the best villain.
5. This is more against 10 and 12 - loads of gameplay then you are rewarded with a great cutscene (like escaping the shinra building). In 10 and 12 it's sit though minutes of tedious cutscenes (with cringe inducing voice acting) then you get rewarded with a tiny bit of gameplay then it's another long cutscene. Also 10 and 12 started taking themselves way to serious.
6. The last FF where you can rename all the characters, small thing but makes the game more personal.
7. The graphics still hold up. I like FF6 more than FF9 onwards but it's hard to play thesedays with those graphics.