Literally never played any other Souls game and found Elden Ring incredibly enjoyable. Idk how you think you need to experience the prior games when Elden Ring is a standalone title.

the "tutorial" pop ups lie

If you mean the messages you find throughout the game, almost all of those are written by other players. You can leave them behind too.

The story is impenetrable

actually thought the story was much more clear than in any of the souls games.

largely boils down to a bunch of cosmic forces trying to do their own thing or gain their own gains. we understand everything from the abandonment of metyr and her fingers, to the classic nobility/mythology relationship between the gods, lords, and extended family.

we know that gods can have two bodies, and that they can act against each-other. we see how the finger's influence has affected all of this, and how ranni the witch is actually in a state of escaping that whole situation by killing the important half of her older brother, and less-important half of herself in order to escape the two fingers.

there's way too much to even summarize succinctly, but i always find it baffling when people say the story is more vague than their other titles. lots of meat, and it all makes sense in the larger world they built, even if some questions are still left open.

also everything around radahn. what a tragic badass.

really love how scadu DLC resolved the family conflicts around 'kindly' miqella creating a sycophantic bubble that justifies his usurpation of other people's autonomy, etc. actions of mohg and malenia making a lot more sense when you realize that, just like everyone else, are just tools for the cause.

the cause being fucking his really cool older brother who doesn't seem interested.

i don't remember a whole lot in the souls-verses resolving anywhere near as clearly as a lot of the stuff in elden ring.

also i think it's much less "you're supposed to suffer," due to the RPG grow-as-you-explore vibe they went for, and many people complain about how you can make the game too easy, but i think it's a good balance that makes sense with the world you're exploring and how you explore it. except for the scadu DLC. the scadu DLC wants you to suffer.

There was an incredibly steep learning curve with Elden Ring. But once I got to the Midgame, I was having a good time.

I didn't actually ever finish it, because I kept fucking off for 20 hours at a time just looking at all the pretty buildings and exploring dungeons. And I absolutely agree, it's really hard to pick up on what even constitutes as "Quest" in the traditional RPG sense. You just kinda find stuff and talk to people and hope you're moving in the right direction.

But I kinda consider that its charm. I feel like FromSoft can keep moving in this direction, shedding more and more of the interface, and eventually end up with a game where you're just a fucking person in a world who gets to do things. And maybe one of those things is to save the world. Or maybe you're just in this incredibly rich and deep sandbox, full of wonder and beauty, and you have a good time until you're done.

FWIW, I hated my first souls game, and now they're my favorite games. I have heard this repeatedly from others, too. I can't explain it, but at some point something clicks into place and they suddenly become enjoyable.

Totally get not putting in that time though.

You're telling me you went through all of Elden Ring without having any moments like 'Wow, that's a fucking gorgeous view' or 'Holy fuck that boss is cool'?

Granted, I actually think Elden Ring is hot buttcheeks outside of the first playthrough - but at the very least the first playthrough has those moments.

I tried it and didn't like it. Maybe I was expecting it to be more like Elder Scrolls games and it's not; I haven't played other games in the genre either. The combat felt clunky to me, though I've heard that it's better to think of it as a rhythm game. I like dark fantasy, but didn't quite connect with the worldbuilding either, maybe because it felt like a zombie game dressed up as fantasy. It's also a minor thing, but was also obviously made for console and ported to PC so felt a little weird.

You're making me question how much I missed haha. That was my first FromSoft game. I finished it with the extension and had fun.

I quit after the literal first enemy encounter you have in the game with I think a spider monster that is supposed to kill you?

That was really my bad, should have realized this is gonna be one of those games where you have to enemies with attack patterns that you waste time learning to overcome. Unfun gameplay imo

I just want to learn the lore which apparently grrm helped write. But then I suppose that's just a YouTube video to watch