The menus and ATB are obviously basically a straight port over, materia are pretty much an adjustment of the similar re-slottable espers from 6 that taught magic, characters' limit breaks from 7 are sometimes clearly based on the unique abilities from 6 (Tifa's for example basically combining Setzer's slots with references to Sabin's martial arts), limit breaks themselves being an evolution of 6's desperation attacks..., even some really specific stuff like the opera house rafters vs. Aerith's chapel.
And then even items like the Atma Weapon or choices like using some thing like Ragnarok to create a weapon or a spell. Totally up to the players style.
Everyone has a different story on how they got through FF6. FF7 was linear.
And yes the Opera House - quite possibly the peak of 16-bit RPG gaming. Absolutely beautifully done.
The FF7 remake is really good FWIW.
> FF7 took it to the next level graphically but kept everything good about the gameplay
Respectfully disagree. FF7 is not an S-tier JRPG by any means. It was a regression from FF6 in that it was linear, had very 2D characters, inferior story and boss, and the fighting system was really basic and lame. But it turned a generation onto the genre and I played it recently and it has aged well in some ways. The Chocobo stuff was great and Golden Saucer for its time was amazing. So a good game but not a great one. Even in the list above quite a few are better. Xenogears in particular.
FF7 is iconic though and easily the most important game in the fanchise. Cloud is iconic even if he's sort of lame IMO.
> I feel like games haven't been as good since that era, but it's probably mostly me that has changed.
I'd agree that Ocarina of Time was probably the most anticipated game I've ever had. But modern games are amazing. They're just better in every way. I don't play nearly as much as I used to but games are just so refined and built on so many years of knowledge now.