As someone who has seen S1 S2 and watched the ordinal scale movie when it showed on the 9th of march, I can honestly say being one of the first great anime's i was introduced to, SAO has remained my #1 favorite. The Aincrad arc was indeed too short and it hopped around quite a bit. In the Alfiem arc, I felt that the absence of the threat of death only put more focus on the race against time to stop the baddies plan (trying my best not to spoil lol). The key factor in this series, to me anyways, was the emotion. As a hopeless romantic who has read a crap ton of romance novels (and manga) the emotion that the voice actors put into the show (mainly referring to the subbed version) really made this anime shine. When Asuna screamed his name, it sent chills down my spine, it was that well acted.
S2 as a continuation of the series, brings back the threat of death and expands on the "Death Game" idea in the first arc known as Gun Gale Online. It has great action sequences (all seasons...not just S2) and in S2 the acrobatics really add effect to the sheer bada** that is kirito-kun. Now then for the main dish... For those of you that didn't get the chance to see the Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale movie, you will be in for a treat. It's coming out this fall and, personally, I will be buying the movie when it comes out on dvd. I don't know if you've watched anime in a movie theater before, but it is chilling. The soundtrack they bring back gives you feelings of nostalgia from S1. Paired with even better animations as it is a movie (on par with UFOtable's eyegasmic animations from any of the Fate series'), there truly is no better way to watch it other than a surround sound system with the bass pumped to max. Along with these two features, Kirito, while still being more bada** than Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee (lol), isn't the redonculously overpowered god that he was in S1. He feels more human to me in the movie. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved the god he was in S1. However, not everyone felt that way and it gave rise to conflict and disagreements that are still ongoing today. I give the entire series a solid 9/10 from a critic standpoint and a perfect 20/10 from an entertainment POV. After watching many critics on youtube (MothersBasement majorly) I found myself defending SAO's S1 with pride, while yet, understanding the points he was making. Without spoiling anything for you, I recall MB stating that Kirito was a hollow character that broke the series with his "plot convenient Hacking Skillz". I, while being an avid fan of the series, actually agree with his point he made. Kirito is never really given much of a background. However I, unlike MB, don't believe this takes away from the story at all. When viewed from an entertainment POV, his shallow character build actually leaves the viewer to be able to imagine themself as Kirito (assuming you're good with computers and programming. Overall, it's a great series to watch and I would recommend it to everyone as a top contender in the Action/Progressing Romance genre (not many anime's actually progress the amount you want them to, SAO on the other hand does). Thank you for following me with this, and please, let me know you're thoughts. I love discussing anime as it opens up new viewpoints to me.