I've never played a "Souls" game before in my life because I always heard they were just tough boss fights which didn't interest me. I ended up buying Elden Ring because of the hype to be honest. At first without knowing anything or looking at 1 Youtube video, I didn't like it. I thought it was too vague, not a lot of direct clues telling you where to go and I felt weak. Fast forward to present and I think it's one of the best video games I've ever played in recent memory! It kind of re-invigorated my love for immersive, challenging single player focused games.
I have no shame in admitting I use Youtube as a guide. I find the locations of specific armor pieces, spells, incantations, summons, ashes of war, bell bearings, stones, boss fights, talisman, tears for physicks, etc. Then I plan an entire gaming session going on the adventure for (insert goal here).
There's so much to this game it's impossible to fit into one post. For example I recently discovered how useful Margit's Shackle can be. It does random things like showing you any secret door in your nearby area, disabling certain dungeon traps, opening random pits in caves, use multiple times outside certain boss fogs before going in to make them stand still so you can cast things like poison mist and slowly kill them in cheese fashion, etc.
I love this game! 9.5/10 because I just wish the story was a little deeper and stronger. I also don't like how you can't bring back certain NPCs (which then can cancel you out of certain quests & access to certain items).