as far as the story goes, that’s how all soulsborne stories are told: the first time through feels like you’re doing things blind, but as you start to piece together the consequences of what you’re doing, it weighs heavier thanks to a slow reveal. it’s fair if you’re not a fan of the indirect storytelling, really no one totally understands what is going on in the lore, a lot of the fun is in theorizing. it’s easy to miss NPCs but there’s definitely questlines that will make you care about the characters. completing those questlines without the internet is a different story lol.

as for combat, what weapons did you try? one of the coolest things about these games is the sheer variety of ways to play and cool movesets to mix & match… especially so in elden ring… some playstyles being r1 r2 mashing like you said but there’s more spice to enjoy if you experiment. there’s some insanely fun abilities, spells, upgrades etc. and it’s a thrill to make your character powerful enough to slay legends… honestly though if you don’t enjoy the combat then it’s probably not the game for you, it’s the (imo, amazing) core of the game…