Fart, you know I like you bro and while I agree with most of what you said, I still think that Elden ring was way, way, waaay overhyped for what it was - and this comes from a FROM fan (but not a fanboy).
First of all, technically-wise...it was the usual FROM, it didn't run all that well, the assets reuse was up the whazoo both for graphics/textures AND sounds, the dungeons were Uber repetitive and almost copy/paste in their nature and the typical Dark souls formula didn't change nor evolved that much.
In the end, like many other users have been saying for the past few years (jokingly or not), it really was Dark souls 4 but...with a horse and an open world.
It felt like Dark souls title and played like one with no meaningful changes or surprises (unless you consider horse riding being something exceptional/innovative).
In the end, I really disliked.the game and after the first 20 hours I was on auto-pilot just for the sake of finishing the darned thing - at the very least I got my 60 Eurodollars worth during my almost 100hours playthrough but to say that I enjoyed it would be a lie.
Bloodborne and Sekiro still reign supreme IMO out.of.their latest releases since they were shorter, more focused experiences.
It may sound dramatic from my part but...fuck this game , it was bloated, repetitive and so friggin derivative that I just can't grasp how it became so successful, just like Mugatu said , "I think I'm taking crazy pills"
For.me, it was the.most disappointing game FROM released so far (after DS2).
Cheers