FF7 has the best story by far in my opinion.
No one saw Aeris' death coming, what could really was. Theres twists and turn and really entertaining segments from a bitch slapping contest to a huge meteor beeing droped on the planet and weapons beeing rampant destroying the planet. That game had everything.
I wouldnt include FFX and FFXII in the golden era though. The golden era still had Sakaguchi and uematsu at the helm. That all changes with FFX onwards.