I feel like this has become a somewhat contentious topic as of recent. Upon release, ER was heralded as a grand new direction for soulslikes, praised for its seamless open world, amazing bosses and freedom of choice. It's regarded as one of the best open world games, being put in the same conversations as games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
However, not everyone seems to resonate with the game equally: repetive mini bosses and dungeons, rather empty open stretches in the overworld, leading to the feeling of just being funneled from one boss to another (at least on repeat playthroughs). Its lack of tight linearity compared to "classic" soulslikes is also brought up as a negative sometimes, with people wishing for more tight and honed experiences.
What's your guys' thoughts on this? I feel like Elden Ring is owed a huge deal since it's the de facto soulslike that's brought in millions of players who would never have touched a soulslike ever. It's debatable whether it's the best entry point, but its impact is undeniable.
I vibe with tighter experiences personally but still like Elden Ring and am coming around to it more and more playing the DLC. I think I might have spoiled the fun out of the game by watching entire playthroughs on YouTube before playing, thus already knowing most of what's in the game.
I feel like Fromsoft sacrificed many classic soulslike things to be open world game with wide variety of battle mechanics. I liked legacy dungeons in ER, but each of them was shallower in exploration perspective than most of DS1 or DS3 locations (DS2 is also quite a big game and i'm not a fan of its locations). Also I'm deeply disappointed by how the plot turned in the DLC. I enjoyed most part of it, but in the end what I considered to be important turned to be useless. And I have a dissonance of how epic our journey in the Shadowland is, yet how unimportant it is for the basegame plot.