Episode VII is a better movie but a worse Star Wars.
I voted II because it is the worst movie. The pacing is off, having the story split Anakin and Obi-Wan really hurt the story overall as we never really see them properly bond. But having read what you said... That's actually a good point. The galaxy just didn't feel alive no matter how hard JJ tried. It wasn't a Star Wars movie.
It's funny really especially when you put the film next to Rogue One, which really managed to make it feel like Star Wars while going for new tones and vibes. Garreth Edwards is a great director who has shown that he can manage to maintain the original feel while trying something new. This was shown already in his Godzilla film. Godzilla as a movie series has always put a heavy focus on the humans caught in-between these monster fights and the new film definitely managed to land this storyline. Godzilla was not out to kill humans, he was simply there to put the monsters in their place, because he's the fucking king of the monsters.
Episode 7 had a nice pacing and the story was well told, but there weren't many moments where it felt Star Wars. The new lead actors gave convincing performances and I really enjoyed the character of Kylo Ren as he really felt like a decendant of Anakin Skywalker. The universe that JJ presented didn't feel like it was living and breathing. It felt like they were really trying hard to make it feel like it was alive by creating all these random background characters that were often bloating scenes, but they just didn't seem to be leading their own lives. Instead they were there as props.
That being said, I am looking forward to Episode 8. Rian Johnson showed with Looper that he can do what Garreth can do and maybe even better. The universe should feel very alive and tangible at the least.