Review of Sword Art Online

So I never been one to go with the crowd. I always prefer to use my own brain and think for myself. I believe everyone should be like that but unfortunately thats not how people are. With that said, no, I do NOT hate the first season of Sword Art Online. I did not hate it when I watched as it aired, and I do not hate it after seeing everyone hating on it. The thing about SAO is that it was a excellent idea that unfortunately ended up being terribly implemented. Theres this anime/game series called Dot Hack, which existed way before SAO and I believeit was the original story about characters being trapped in a online game(unless you consider Digimon, but its not exactly the same).
Dot Hack was really obscure, especially compared to SAO, but it was the first experience I had with that type of story, and its no exaggeration to say that its the type of plot I love the most. Which is kind of the usual isekai plot, but with players going inside a game they play.
Anyway, considering that, I am a bit biased and the fact that SAO had a similar story is partially why I enjoyed it. BUT, I still look at SAO from a objective perspective, and I still dont think it deserves all that hate.
The original plot from season 1 was solid. Players trapped in a mmorpg in which they can actually die in real life if they die in the game? I dont care what anyone says, that was an amazing plot. Especially with how they had to keep exploring the tower full of monsters, and all the crazy players practicing PvP, while others that were too scared to fight would instead be merchants and stuff.
The beginning had potential. It wasnt extremely well written but it was fun.
Then sadly, the author progressively made bad decisions, and in the end they not just finished the first season in a very boring way, but actually made the whole story even worse as the series continued.
And thats the worst part about SAO: the writing. I watched all the other seasons and while I can safely say they are NOT worth watching, I still kept watching for the fight scenes and animation. And I guess I was kinda hopeful that the potential I had seen in the first season would eventually come back and be fully realized, but unfortunately that was not the case.