I initially didn't buy into the hype. I mean, I knew the hype was there since the launch of the PlayStation and pending launch of the Nintendo 64. I had been reading GamePro and EGM monthly in those days, so obviously the news of then-Squaresoft ending their business ties with Nintendo and jumping ship to the Sony PlayStation did not go unnoticed by me, and the first title announced after the news broke was FF7 (though Tobal No. 1 was released first).
The reason I didn't buy into the FF7 hype back in 96 and 97 was because I had rented an RPG back in 94, and was discouraged by it, so I wanted to stay away from the genre at the time. Well, low and behold, Christmas Day rolls around in 1997, and under the tree with my name on it, I tear the wrapping off and find Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation (I had gotten the console the previous Christmas because of Tekken 2). I waited about a week to finally play it...maybe out of nervousness? Anyway, after finally playing it, I found myself stunned by the fact that my first mission was to blow up a Mako Reactor. This was not the type of setting I expected to see out of an RPG at the time, and before long, I was spending all damn weekend playing it. As I expected, I got lost in the game, underleveled, short on cash and equipment (at the time, I was too damn lazy to actually grind, let alone to the extent I do now), and I found myself unable to beat Lost Number (not realizing that this boss fight was in fact optional), so I erased my save, bought the Brady Games strategy guide, and started over.
Now, it's one of my favorite games of all time. On top of that, I am one of the most broken players in this game that I know of. If anyone's seen my post in the TLS PS4 Community with a Level 99 Aerith screencap (I think Tennyo commented on it), you'll know the extent of it.