VII was my first Final Fantasy and my first RPG. I think I was only 10 and the game was still pretty new (VIII was a little while off yet). My big bro was playing a copy he had borrowed from a friend, I thought it looked cool, but complex so I wouldn't play it at first, only watch my bro play it. My brother assured me it wasn't hard at all and with that encouragment I started my own save and he was right of course
It was easy to pick up and it remained my favorite game until I was about 18 (so almost eight years!)
Since then I've brought every FF as soon as it came out and RPGs have since been my favorite type of game.