Well, with pure story only in comparison, I have to agree with the Suikoden thing. All of those games have great stories. Instead of saving the world, you're saving your country or territory. Gives you a more realistic feel. Those games had some kick ass characters too. I played through the first one twice.
FF7 had the technilogical advantage when it was released though. Sure enough, nothing compared to it. The world had never seen anything like it.
-Lasereth