I adore 7. It had just the right balance of memorable party members, but the absolute flexibility of the job system. It is VERY long, and somewhat slower paced than 8 (in the original PSX version anyway), but once it gets rolling it had a sense of wonder and excitement for me that none of the others quite matched.

Having never played the 3ds version, I'm not sure what's different, but I imagine it's closer to the original than the new reimagined is in terms of content. Personally, I'd say emulate the PSX version if you can, but I'd just really rather look at sprites than that era of 3d graphics. If you prefer those graphics, or it's just substantially easier for you to play that version, go ahead. The point is you should definitely play it in some form or another.