Nope. I eagerly awaited FF7 back in 1997. At the time I was a freshman in high school and clearly remember having conversations with non-traditional video game players, who at the time (keep in mind, you were a "loser" on average for playing video games back then) were starting to take notice the game. It was the first RPG to really win over the eyes of non-traditional RPG fans, and I remember thinking that even back in 1997. Strange as it is to look back on them now, the graphics and animated cutscenes were that impressive.
Moreover, I was a large 1994-2000 AOL Chatroom Roleplay person. I actually ran a 40 member guild called Shinra back in 1997 on AOL. My friends and I were well ahead of the pack in anticipation of FF7's release, and had already reserved the AOL screen names Turk Reno, Turk Rude, Rufus Shinra, and a few others. It was great when the massive popularity wave hit the scene after the games US release, as we could wield those those coveted screen names in the AOL RP Scene with great arrogance (albeit mediocre roleplaying, in hindsight). I was pretty heavy into that stuff back then. Even better when we'd invade the headquarters (private chatroom) of our closets rivals; those with the names Rufus FF7, Rude FF7, Shinra FF7, Tseng FF7, Elena FF7, etc. Great times.
It was also in 1997 when Tifa Lockhart also became one of my premiere girlfriends. And still is today, though nowadays she has a lot of meaty competition. Alas, I hear she wasn't wholly faithful to little ole me, and that she frequently got around.