It's actually my second least favorite Final Fantasy (not including FFI - FFVI, as I don't like to compare those to FFVII and on) only ahead of FFX-2. (does that count?) I'd rank my Final Fantasy's like this.
FFX
FFVIII
FFVII
FFXII
FFIX
.
.
.
FFX-2 (decent game, but only relevant to complete story)
That said, other then FFX-2, I love them all and have beaten each of them (except FFXII) multiple times. I've only beaten FFXII once because I did absolutely every quest/hunt/rare monster in the game, so it took a long time. When I do play FFXII again, I'm just gonna stick to the main quest, hunts and important side quests.
But yeah, FFIX has an awesome ending and the games visuals blew me away when I first played the game 9 years ago. (they're still nice even today) Melodies of Life is also such a great song. The biggest disappointment for me was the card game, which just paled in comparison to Triple Triad. But it's a good sign when that's the biggest disappointment. I also liked how Leveling/Skill Learning worked, which is great fun for people like me who love powering guys up.
