We’re definitely different players, I found Artorias and Kalameet far harder than Friede or Malenia.
That’s fair. I’m a massive ER fan, probably my all-time favourite game, I’m actually currently playing it while responding to my inbox. I’ve maxed out playthroughs on PC and deleted some for new runs, plus I have played it several times on PS5, so I’m thinking maybe 15-20 times I’ve beaten the game. I think the DLC is the best content they’ve ever released. But if you were meh on the base game you probably wouldn’t like it as much as I did.
I feel you on the backlog though, mine is quite large and only getting worse. I really need to play some unplayed games but I keep replaying Souls and Elder Scrolls games. Oh well.