I don't recall reading that much about FFVII beforehand, other than everybody saying it was awesome. I think I enjoyed it not very much for the first few hours which is de rigeur for most rpgs, but it just got worse to the point where I simply didn't give a fuck about any of the characters as they were all annoying emo fuckwits spouting cretinous portentous bollocks with millions of random battles thrown in. It was a chore, which is the antithesis of what a game should be really.
And, I actually didn't mind Fable.
I think my main problem with FFVII, as I stated numerous times, was it's assuredness that it was worthwhile you wasting all that time on it, when it was in fact a deeply mediocre bloated piece of pompous hubristic shit. It would have be more tolerable without the bloat. Hell knows there are very few awesome game stories out there, but the fact that there are NO stories out there that can withstand being dragged out over >50 hours seems to have escaped Square. No amount of production values can mask that, IMO.
Don't get me started on Metal Gear though