Here are 3 things that people have critisized Elden Ring for but made the game more enjoyable for me.
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Spirit Summons
More specifically there are certain bosses like the Godskin Duo that almost seem to require the use of Spirit Summons because of how difficult it is to reliably punish openings. This is probably due to the fact that having to fight two bosses at the same time means that as soon as there’s an opening for one boss, the other one has them covered and will punish you instead!
Using the right spirit summon and fighting alongside them is a great mechanic and I don’t believe anyone has criticism for this feature in and of itself. However, players may find it frustrating to be almost required to use Spirit Summons. In my experience game developers often direct the player to use a variety of features and tools that have been made available to them and if done well - it makes playing the game much more rewarding.
If you are a player who doesn’t like using spirit summons as much as the classic 1v1 fights there are many boss fights that can be much more easily beaten without resorting to summons. In the particular case of the Godskin Duo, the two bosses that make up the duo are fought individually in previous encounters so you can enjoy the experience of fighting them 1v1 in classic Dark Souls style. This leads onto the next major criticism of Elden Ring…
Repeated Bosses
When I finally beat Isshin Sword Saint at the end of Sekiro and I finished cleaning up my sweat from multiple hours of fighting… my first though was that I wanted to fight him again! This was really helpful in my understanding of why I didn’t mind fighting repeat bosses in Elden Ring.
As well as being a practical time/space saving hack for expanding the world of the Lands Between, I believe it made Elden Ring more fun to play. Fighting the same boss 2 or more times gave me the chance to make use of the strategies and skills I gained in fighting that boss the first time - even gradaully developing my strategy and showing me how much I have grown as a player!
Though I was as confused as everyone to see Astel turn up twice from a story perspective - I was excited that I got to fight him again. In Dark Souls and Bloodborne, you can’t reload a save file or fight a boss a second time once you’ve defeated them.
Difficulty Scaling
Many Elden Ring players had the experience of finding themselves in Caelid for the first time and becoming overwhelmed by the difficulty spike. Or perhaps you didn’t get the hint from the Margit fight that you had to go out for a level up safari in Limgrave or the Weeping Peninsula before being able to fight him. For me, the first place I explored was Liurnia of the Lakes after discovering the “hidden” path around Stormveil Castle and I soon realised I was out of my depth.
Though trying to work out where you’re “meant” to go first I think all adventures are valid. There’s a lot of satisfaction in finally overcoming a challenge you were underleveled for so if you have the willpower you can steer Torrent straight for the Altus Plateau! Alternatively I also get a lot of enjoyment from massacring enemies in an area that I’m OVER-levelled for but it’s a different sort of enjoyment. Maybe it’s not to everyone’s taste but to be able to enjoy both of these approaches to difficulty in the one game was a huge contributor to my appreciation of Elden Ring
Wrap Up
I’m excited for the DLC!