I mainly bought the game for the FF8 demo at the time, but I remember enjoying the game quite a bit. The OST for the game was awesome and I still listen to it to this date. I also remember feeling like the town was alive because of the day-to-night transitions in the game. I never beat the game though. I think I started to get frustrated in some Ice dungeon (can't remember exactly anymore).
I never bothered to buy the new one that came out on PS2 because I was already pretty annoyed with Square's games by then.