I agree.
This is the problem with modern SE, it’s that the fans have absurd nostalgia glasses on. I mean, I like modern SE better than modern Blizzard (for example) as SE actually still make games and Blizzard just makes loot box games (I actually think Diablo III was fine but Hearthstone was the real downfall of Blizzard). I enjoyed Hearthstone but the game is designed to waste as much of your time as possible (and anything regarding QoL changes or tournament mode or anything improving the game comes with “the technology isn’t there yet” response).
People forget that Cloud is just some regular dude that pretends and thinks he’s Zack, and then all of a sudden he’s a shonen super protagonist that was able to overpower Sephiroth just because his childhood friend got hurt.
I can go on in more depth (I already did for Aerith) but the game’s story has always been more of a theme park of fun characters rather than anything with that much deep themes. In fact, I’ll do a comparison of other characters vs Aerith in a bit later but these are just my thoughts.