Erm...which FFVII ending was the copout? The whole thing or just that last bit?
Anyway, for better or worse, there are few endings that I can really COMPLAIN about to the extent of saying that it ruined the rest of the gameplay experience. If an ending can do that, then the game probably sucked to begin with.
Some leave me unsatisfied, others are intiontally left open for further sequels/clones that it makes you just roll your eyes and make a mental note to pass the next game.
Endings probably fall into two categories:
1) The commercial ending that leaves a game open to sequels and tries to wrap up everything just like you'd expect it to.
Think of a Bond movie. You know there are going to be NO surprises, as you fully expect Bond to live, as well as a little blurb on the credits telling you that he will return in...whatever. They do that because people WANT the same endings over and over again. They want to see good win over evil and that's that.
Most games follow this (assuming you don't completely suck), so Mario will always save Princess Toadstool, Sonic will always defeat Dr. Robotnik, and you will always survive the survival horror.
2) The "this is the story that I want to tell, HOW I want to tell it, and I don't give a rat's ass what you think" ending. The rare breed that almost seems to go out of its way to shock/disgust you, for better or worse.
While I don't think FFVII completely falls into the above category, it does to a certain extent. Sakaguchi (and whoever co-wrote and produced it with him) probably had a pretty good idea of how they wanted to end it, and I doubt they made too many changes for any reasons beyond budgetary ones. They didn't really need to worry about pissing people off since they probably did that to a good number of gamers by slicing Aeris in half.
While I personally would've made a few changes to that ending if it were my production, I can accept it for what it without much of a complaint.
And...I'm going to stop rambling because my dinner is ready.

Hmm. I guess I can't really comment here, since I appear to be one of the few who actually liked VII's ending.

Well.. I havent experienced the ending of FFVII yet for myself, though (thanks to this forum, heh) I pretty much know THEY ALL DIE...
I think thats a great way to end a final fantasy game. I mean, okay... I put my shock all in caps, and it might *seem* I'm angered over the (player-base speculated) ending... but it delivers a great finale to a great game. Right? Right. The "not everyone is happy" endings are fine in the FF series, since they can continue to recreate the characters, plot, and world.
But.. I think the bottom line is that a good ending is one that makes sense for the gameplay and story. If at the end you are shocked and sad or surprised and happy, and are not questioning how the ending coalesces with the rest of the game, its a satisfactory ending. If however you are confused, asking yourself "where the hell did that come from... but this happened.. but that happened... isn't he... wasn't she... how is that possible?" then it was a truly unsatisfactory ending, because it only created confusion instead of answering the questions supplied throughout the story.
Am I making any sense...
I think I've been spoiled with the multi-ending type games, where the choices you make and actions you do throughout a game decide which ending you recieve. Choose your own adventure.
Ehhh.. and dont forget, drama sells just as good, if not better, than happy endings.
Ren, on crack again... this is begining to become a trend...

Yeah, even the original FF for the NES had an ending where [do I really need to mark this spoiler?]your entire party performed a series of time manipulations that somehow erased their own births, yet allowed them to pass into legend[/whatever]
Oh, and sorry, Ren...