I've only watched SAO I but honestly it seems as if the first arc is better than anything in the Alfheim arc or the SAO II arcs. But it all seems very rushed, they want to do 2 arcs every season but end up either rushing through the Aincrad arc where they show like 5 floors and little character development for guys like Klein, or just decide to have every single girl fall in love with Kirito.
I hear that SAO II isn't as bad like that, 2 episodes into it and it seems as if we still get the pervy shots of girls like Sinon but hey, I can live with that! xD