If that's not a rumor from Famitsu having played both deeply but finishing neither to be up front about it I'd put 10 well over 7 too. FF7 is grossly overrated but I understand why too. So many cut their teeth on it as their first console and their first RPG and Sony really lured Square away from Nintendo in full force not just internally with licensing deals and so on and being with a disc, but they ran a full blown long run ad campaign for it touting it up as the game you must own if you consider yourself a game player at all. They ran it up the flag pole so far they basically talked shit about the previous 6 titles as relics and of the past in their tone of things. Far more people were lured into 7 than 10.

By the time 10 finally popped up on the PS2 years later it was just fan service, it wasn't some huge ad blitz all over and something that had to be sold by Sony to feed Square's wallet and Square has always been one then to run some ads but not ever go nuts over it. FF7 got a free pass on so much from the blocky graphics, poor story, and other weirdness involved but it did have some good redeeming qualities that made it middle out as a nice average RPG. FF10 was divisive but the story (despite some boyband looking dork in Tidus) was solid and the set pieces were great, yet as noted you did have the more linear approach. The game also was a tipping point where they took the strategy out of the boss fights of the franchise, just late in the game like the big golem where you needed to use specific sphere system learned skills or it would just fubar the crap out of you (and if you used a faq or bought their guide, it was a cakewalk as was the final boss.)

I think FF10 was the better game as it just had for me a better system (I liked the sphere system), better characters, better story (barely), and just felt more engaging. Personally I put 13 above both and I know that's even more divisive, and over anything the PS family has had I like 9 best.