In research for one of these translations, I found a post on GameFAQs saying that this game’s localization is so terrible it made the story indecipherable. The tagline for this series, The English is accurate and this game is ridiculous, should convey what I think of that. The problem often lies in the writing, not the translation.1 Maybe you took the story seriously because you were a child and this was the first Final Fantasy with lots of cursing and a main party member dying graphically; I know that’s what happened to me. But even the most serious moment in the game, Aerith’s death, is marred by hilarious B-movie level errors. (For example, a question for you: Is Sephiroth wearing gloves in that scene, or not? The answer is yes to both.)
In Dunkey’s review of the first episode of the FF7 remake (opinion not endorsed; I haven’t played the remake yet), he said that the original is a goofy game with serious moments, whereas the remake is a serious game with goofy moments. He believes it gets the tone wrong. Again, no comment from me about the remake, but he’s right about the original game. It’s pure camp and it knows it.
Anyway, now I wanna play it again.
1 Again, I say this as someone who loves this game.