Final Fantasy VII was good. Not amazing like everyone else says it is but it's still a really good game. It's also the first RPG I've ever played or at least the first JRPG anyway, if you count The Secret of Monkey Island as an RPG (which I'm guessing most people don't).
Just like a lot of the hate is because it's popular, a lot of the praise is nostalgia though. I was like... 9 or 10 years old when I first played FF VII I think. Back then it was an amazing game in my eyes but as I replayed it as I got older, it kinda lost that magic.