v.dog: Yeah, it's impossible :P

Andy_Panthro: Despite the fact I actually like FF7, I can't understand why people would get attached to Aerith, she always seemed so bland and uninteresting to me, although she does show some personality in Crisis Core, there are many other characters that make more of a lasting impression. The characters in general in FF7 (and possibly most FF games) are usually hard to relate to - especially the main ones.
I never had her in my party anyway, so I never stressed about missing items, as she never had anything I would miss.
I still wonder if any other games have interactions on a level of Baldur's Gate 2 or Jagged Alliance 2, whose characters have actual personalities strong enough to make you chose them on that basis rather than on stats alone.

snarfbucket: That's why I always have Minsc in my party! The fact that he's badass is secondary to how cool he is.
FF7 is a classic for me. It's one of those games I really got into when I was in grade school. I liked some of the characters, mainly Barrett, Cid, and Cloud. I thought Cloud's story was compelling, as I hadn't yet encountered that type of story in a game before FF7, so it became my benchmark. Beyond just the characters, the variety in settings, high quality of background artwork, music, relatively sophisticated story arc, and the materia system I found to be all fantastic elements of the game.

Weclock: that's not a remake of everything though V.dog, they are reusing some hl2 textures and models.