I will admit, the combat system is no where near the best, but that is not why I love Final Fantasy. You see, in most games (especially recent games) the combat can be summed up as; hack and slash. Take Halo for example (I love halo btw), human sniper= unbeatable at long range. Shot gun= unbeatable at close range. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! You win, game over. Yes you do get to do things such as run around big maps, jump in cars and tanks and stuff, but it is still just all weapons blazing 24/7. Big woop.
What I really love about Final Fantasy, are two things; Characters and plots. Get into the games a bit, when the characters really start developing, and they almost become real. They are very carefully constructed to appeal to people. (P.S. I think Cloud can go die in a hole, filled with fire) Examples; Irvine, Vincent and Aramarent. From three separate games, but all very close; the silent, cold, calculating, loner.
The bass of most of the plots is very simple; an overcomplicated love story, with magic, a few wars, the end of the world, and monsters. But then each individual plot is so much more; An entire world is dieing, so one man vows to save it, by any means necessary. So he creates three dark children, three angels of death, and sends them to spread war and chaos. But one loses its way, and becomes independent, and thus marches to stop his brother.
A small town boy, always told he was second class, gets caught up with a genetic experiment gone wrong. The being created begins a search for its origins, and is driven mad by what he finds. He finds a way to destroy the world, what he believes he was born for. The boy fights him, but is no match, and defeated. So rallying the support of an odd bunch of troops, he sets out to save the world.
So in short; it is really the characters and plot that do it for me. I want to be one of the characters, I want that to be my story, so I am drawn to it.