I find the problems with II are super exaggerated and not nearly the offense they are portrayed as. Minor annoyances at worst, but mostly below notice.

I think people like to have something to shit on relentlessly without fear of any pushback from others, and II has been agreed to be the whipping boy of the 2D FFs. It's clearly the weakest in a solid series, but by no means a bad game itself and wouldn't be looked at so harshly if it wasn't an obscure entry in a 40 year old franchise.