Zman
Scrawl Banditta
Ariamis
AP Ottovan
PrinceAlexusFinal Fantasy seven was definitely ahead of it's time in a lot of ways, especially when you look at the games that came out at the same time as it. "Grand Theft Auto" and "Castlevania: Symphony of the night" were the only other blockbuster games I can think of that came out that year. It was the first Playstation game to come out on multiple disks, the story was far more complex than your typical console game, and it was very pretty compared to most 3d games of it's vintage. It's definitely a contender for best game of 1997, and it's probably the best RPG of that year. But it has no right showing up on any "greatest game of all time" lists. It's a generic turn based RPG with a ton of minigames thrown in to distract you from this fact. There have also been better stories, with "Aries dies!" being the only plot twist this bloated, long winded tale has to defend itself with.
I think you make a lot of sound arguments here. But I despite it being 20 years old I can still see why the game belongs on a GOAT list.
It really depends on how you frame the GOAT discussion. First lets look at other games that are in that 'Best Ever' conversation.
Games like: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, Mario Bros 3, Half Life(2?), Street Fighter 2, Pokemon Red & Blue, Resident Evil 4 and Chrono Trigger to name a few.
Damn near all of these games are really old, and a lot of them apart from maybe Chrono Trigger really haven't aged that well (especially goldeneye jesus christ). But why do they make the list? Impact & Influence and widespread enjoy-ability I would have to say. FF7 is a fairly normal turn-based RPG with a cool materia gimmick, but mario 3 is a fairly normal platformer with a few cool item powerups, there is obviously something more to these games then just the surface attributes.