I actually think of FF VII as one of the PS1 games that have aged the most, and far more to my eye then MGS. The 3d battle models are fantastic, but the overworld models are, like, laughably bad. It wasn't a hardware limitation either, because FF VIII and IX both fixed this with character models that actually look like the character, but VII looks like polygons are in short supply. They just didnt know how to fully utilize the system yet.
How much things have aged is all subjective, but think FF7 is charming with it's absurd hair spikes and fingerless cube hands. Other games that tried harder to look realistic don't feel like that.
I think this was an art choice rather than technical inexperience.
The proportions of the field models are more similar to the chibi sprites of the SNES games, so we’re seeing the gradual evolution of FF’s style with VII the first transition from 2D to 3D.
That VIII and IX used more realistic proportions is just a later stage of that stylistic transition.
Personally, I find them quite charming. There’s a fair bit of slapstick in the game that IMO works better with the low poly models.
