Overall thoughts on ER are about the same. Game is pretty good but doesn't bring anything really new or fresh to Dark Souls or Souls series in general and because it's so long with so much content it has all the usual Souls ups and downs of good content and occasional shit content.
Story was ok, I need to watch the lore videos now. I read all the item entries and have some general understanding of the lore, but can't say I was ever super into it like Bloodborne/DS1 or even DS2 (DS2's lore is the most redeeming part of DS2, it's a real interesting though incomplete story). I already thought that Sekiro was pretty lite/weak on Lore and it followed DS3 which had the least interesting Lore/story yet in a Souls game, ER is a step in the right direction and better and more interesting lore than those two, but at least for me it was never interesting like Bloodborne/DS1/DS2's worlds and story.
Can't say I really cared about most of the npcs. Alexander maybe. Ranni was moe as fuck. I also dislike how almost every npc just ends up dying.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Legit bummed when Alexander died to give me his living shard.
Was also pretty gross. Those jars are gross ass shit.
Also I gotta disagree with Let's Cyber that the game doesn't have the usual Souls fall off in the last 1/3rd or 1/4th. Yes, Haligtree is excellent and one of the best areas in the game in level design/art. Farum is solid too though a bit repetitive with the same enemies over and over. But everything else after Leyendell is the usual Souls fall off in quality.
Mountaintop of the Giants is boring. It's spread out with very little to do or explore and nothing really new or interesting. Conscerated Snowgrounds is a complete troll fucking area of just lots of bullshit whether it's the blizzard where you can't see shit for 1/3rd of it (including a Red Wolf fight with 12 smaller wolves when you can't see shit), ganks like Sanguine Invader dropping you off your horse right when you aggro a couple of runebears so you deal with them and him at the same time, the magic archer maze, the worst catacombs dungeon, etc...there's like nothing fun in that area. Then the end stuff doesn't have much story or interesting level design or interesting bosses. It's all just kind of ehhhhh, ok after Leyendell imo.
I think ER has lots of great level design but for every great legacy dungeon there's another Souls game that does a similar kind of area but with better level design. I mean it's masterclass level design for sure. Just nothing we haven't seen before from this team.
Otoh, after killing 120 bosses, I think outside like 10 bosses they are very, very average souls boss fights. I definitely think that overall ER has the worst & least interesting/exciting/fun bosses in a Souls game. They're just so bland outside the few that are closer to Bloodborne/Sekiro fights (aka most of the Legendary bosses).
Elden Ring is like 10/10 level design and 7/10 bosses.
I think the 97 metacritic is pretty nuts and to me this feels like an 8.7/10 or something, but lots of games have way higher or lower scores than they deserve. Sekiro was a much better game imo, same great level design, way better bosses, far tighter combat and more original feeling and aesthetic.
My souls ranking is:
S tier: Bloodborne / DS1
A tier: Sekiro / Demons Souls
B tier: Elden Ring
B- tier: Dark Souls 3
C tier: Dark Souls 2