In the context of gaming in it's entirety, Elden Ring is a 10 out of 10 masterpiece. However, this is a FromSoft game. Thus, Elden Ring left me unsatisfied (outside of a couple notable bosses). In short, the game's difficulty is made trivially easy by naturally progressing through it and utilising the new tools. This game lacks a natural balance in combat that others previously had, and 95% of bosses feel less like a challenge to learn and overcome but an easy 1 and done, even on first playthroughs with little knowledge. Even with putting myself at a disadvantage by deciding to not use summons and stay true to my starting uchigatana because it was my favourite DS3 weapon, I felt OP as I reached end game. When I transitioned to pure endgame, no boss presented any real difficulty.
My friends (who have never played a soulsborne game before) have been enjoying its accessibility, which is great and I'm glad they can enjoy it, but they have received a far lesser experience than I did with my first Souls game. They do not understand what it's like to go head to head with a behemoth of a boss for 3 hours and rise victorious and more experienced. They do not understand the fear of the unknown as they attempt to find the closest bonfire.
You can make any game harder by setting parameters on how you play, regardless of how easy the game is. It is just slightly disappointing as a 'veteran' that I have to so actively avoid endgame builds to enjoy this game and receive the same satisfaction as previous games.
This game is a masterpiece and will be enjoyed by many. This is likely the equivalent of Modern Warfare 2, at it's peak but nearing the beginning of a long and slow decline from what made these games great to begin with.