I'm with you on your FF preference Kwaad, I don't like the direction that 8, 10, 11 and 12 go anyway, unfortunately it's hella popular with heaps of FF fans and that is why the games sell so well.
The characters in FF9 were so much more fun, I like 'chibi' it makes me feel like a game is less realistic and not trying to be so serious... you can still make impacting events happen in not so serious games (like when the dude was frozen in stone).
FF7 rocks cause it is in between the two I think for me, and Sephiroth was seriously the coolest bad dude ever created.
I have personally enjoyed Grandia, Skies of Arcadia, Dragon Quest etc more than a lot of the more serious RPG's these days... FF has dropped the ball for me, but FFXIII might just bring it back for me if it looks good enough, and I think only the PS3 can do it justice.
KEEP it there.
As i've said a million times before Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata and Lost Odyssey are where it's at now.
