Gave it another shot after 2 years and first attempt with samurai build. This time went with shield field and game was way easier so managed to finish it. Game is realy addictive, I sometimes thought about it another day during work and thats not happen often too me. World is realy impressive and amount of secrets its stunning. Graphics are rather weak (way below demon souls remake) but thx too art direction it can looks awsome. Narration is imo terrible, puting scraps of info in weapons description is cheap approach. Had to watch long youtube videos to briefly understand what happened and why (and its still far from being coherent). I heard Elden Ring show a way of how to develop open world games. Imo its far from being truth, its good because its very obscure with secrets but its far from telling good story and thats why it can have this no direction open structure (I dont remember even one npc that I would get connected with not too mention connecting with mute main character is not easy at all ;d). Also without online guides I would be nowhere near finishing it (it tooks me 70h with guides!) and would pass on it bored/frustrated without them. In summary its very good game 8.5/10 but Im surprised with so many 10/10 scores, imo it shouldnt be reviewed only by souls fans.
I'm not disagreeing with your review, but I would like to provide my insight into the style of storytelling that Elden Ring presents.
I like to think that the story in Elden Ring takes a different approach. Most games go for the character driven story with cinematics. Elden Ring on the other hand presents a unique mythology of fantasy that is left up to the player to explore and piece together. It is much like reading about history or mythology from books or on the internet.
You also gain the feeling and emotion of storytelling from the player's actual journey, instead of watching a cinematic that relays that feeling. Stepping into Caelid for the first time or finding a secret underground zone will convey certain emotions to the player the same way watching a cinematic would.
It's a different approach to storytelling. At the end of the day both apporaches are about conveying feelings to the player.
The FromSoft style of storytelling also lends itself great to multiple playthroughs, because it's so cryptic and non-linear. These games are very re-playable friendly as you can try different weapons/builds, and try to peace together more of the mythos.