I liked II. Not as much as I liked FF I (I played DoS) but I liked it. Pandaemonium was awesome. And Soul of Rebirth was an interesting experience (although I found the ending a bit vague).
It's just that the gameplay, while a good idea, didn't really work out like SE intended, I think. It's a bit like VIII's junctionning, you can abuse the system to power yourself up incredibly right from the beginning.