re: FF VII, VIII, or IX ?

IMO VIII, IX, VII.

They are all GREAT. Don't get me wrong. And I'm not hating on VII at all by putting it third. I just preferred the other two.

VIII is my favorite FF. I really enjoy the story & combat & junctioning has been my favorite character customization.

IX has a good story. I'm not too fond of the combat but everything else is great, which puts it in front of VII for me.

VII was great aswell. I might even decide to put IX and VII at a tie. I love VII, but I've played it so much that just thinking about playing it again, at least in the near future, makes me cringe. Also, not really a fan of Cloud. He's sort of a whiny bitch.