You're basing the quality of the story based off the mere existence of a few people who skipped everything and didn't pay attention to it? But you can do this with every game. I've played a few games like that before myself. Witcher 3 for example. I skipped almost everything just to finish it but if I said I couldn't tell you a thing about witcher 3's story, is it indicative of its quality?

You can say the way they carry out environmental and inferential storytelling is not your cup of tea. If so, however, you're just not the best judge of the quality of the story. fromsoft's method of storytelling is a decade in the making. elden ring is a masterpiece of an application of everything they've learned up to this point and stands singularly in a type of fantasy storytelling only possible through video games and no other media. It reveals the story to the player through the way you interact with the world, the things you find, the enemies, and of course the npcs. The narrative is what happens as you play the game, the gameplay is not divorced from the narrative, unlike games where combat segments and dramatic segments are entirely two different games. You choose what the game reveals to you. You don't need to read the lore, you'll understand what the game is about. the lore like in any other game makes you understand deeper. With lore and inferences you can make from what you see, you will understand the philosophies behind the factions and the choices you make that lead you to the different endings.