Despite part 1 having the superior set up of trapped int the game die in the game = die in real life, the story does nothing with it and is mostly just filler and waifu crap with very little plot episodes. The few plot episodes we get are terrible too
Part 2 does 3 things I like a lot better
1-
Kirito has to beat the game in a week, so the story doesn't jump around or have filler, it's all plot the whole way though
2-
The villain while his plan is ridiculous is actually a smug ass hole who you want to see taken down. Way better then "I dunno lol"