the early games require far far to much grinding and are way harder.

Apart from the first game which required a ton of grinding  (and maybe II and III which I didn't play), you can go through all other FFs without any grinding (provided you don't run from fights).

Some of the very early games might have needed some grinding (or it seemed like that because of a lack of direction), but none of the later games needed grinding apart from a few bosses.

I didn't think FF7 was a holy grail when it came out, and I still don't. I find it quite a fun neat story, (with holes like most FF's, and videogames for that matter), with neat characters and the worst aged graphics I've ever seen.

I actually think FF6 has aged the worse despit VGC opinion... I dont' find it fun to play one bit compared to FF5, or Chrono Trigger. Dragon Quests of that era, Or any of the playstation FF's.
The story FF6 is still great for a videogame, but if I play something just for story. I'd rather watch a movie.  Just me though.

The older games look better as they have gotten a reboot on the Nitendo DS and plus old games still look passable on handhelds compared to on a HD counsel.

About grinding, I played the older Final Fantasy and I was dying way more often then in the recent FF games.

Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time.

...The first time I played it was in 2009, the PSN version :P

So if it's not quite like you remembered, imagine what I would have been like if I played it as soon as it had came out.