The subject is an artistic element, and i hope that you dont consider the number of jobs you have as a measure of talent, anyone can get as many jobs as they have hours to work on them and they know how to sign their name on the bottom line.
Also, you should know that the criticisms were not based on the fact that FF7 art is pretty awful, but that the points you chose to emulate were ones that really should be left out for the sake of making something good. 99% of being a game artist is making changes to the client's design while working towards what they desire. the point here that people i believe were trying to make is that you can either do the same thing thats been done a billion times before, or if you must do the character at least make the character look as good as you can, and that involves taking criticisms on things like proportions. As far as not judging your work because it has the same flaws as the thing you are emulating, that is rediculous, a flaw is a flaw. You may write it off as a style point, and you may choose not to act on a single critique, nobody can force you.