From my experiences, I would have to say that Final Fantasy VII has an outstanding storyline. I will claim Final Fantasy VII as "one of the best RPGs ever made!!!"
A lack of the qualities that made the prequel good? Yeah, I've seen a lot of games like that (the Mario Party series comes to mind) but some sequels build on what made the prequels good, like the Super Smash Brothers series. I don't think the Final Fantasy series of games fits here, though, since none of the games are in any way related to each other, except for the presence of a character named Cid and some other minor bits.
I didn't literally mean "prequels" either, I just couldn't think of the right word. I dunno, I just had more fun playing FF4 than, say, FF9. And I couldn't get into FF7 at all. (Mind you, I've played it for half an hour, tops.)
"Not particularly urban or witty" was a phrase used to describe a character's urban wit in a webcomic I once read. Look, my point was that I found the older FF games more enjoyable. The point doesn't need to be justified, because it's just a matter of personal preference. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry, okay?