I agree with Ergo, FFIX’s story is so smooth, never drags, is always engaging and has just as much replay value as VII. I may be biased towards VII b/c it was the first long-form story I ever got into (besides I dunno Animorphs?) but my love for it is hardly unwarranted. VII’s story is deep in a way that echoed into my real life (environmental sustainability, runaway capitalism leading inevitably to an authoritarian oligarchy, dealing with mortality and grief, owning your memories, flaws, and failures, and letting go of the stories you tell yourself) and no game, book, or film I’ve dived into comes close to executing those themes with such effortlessness.
Disc II is the only real issue, pacing-wise. The huge materia missions feel like forced side content, and they take up about a third of the disc’s playtime, diluting what are otherwise edge-of-your-seat sequences at Junon, Mideel, and Midgar. It doesn’t topple VII from its throne, but it’s worth mentioning.