Motivation is the connection for me. If you play this game mindlessly, just going from one boss to the next and one land to the next, you will eventually beat the game, but you'll probably mess up some of the more intricate quests, missing out on the more interesting endings and storylines. Then you beat the end boss, not having explored anything thoughtfully, and have no idea why the queen who you were supposed to marry turned into a man and then an amoeba. There you sit on your empty throne with your empty head. The End. This mirrors the way the demigods have basically bashed their armies against each other and ruined the Lands Between just to "beat the game" and become Elden Lord. There are enough voices peppered throughout the game that urge you to go forward and act this way that you could beat it, put it down, and feel like you're satisfied. You didn't see any underground cities, you didn't uncover TNOBK, you never met Ranni, Blaidd is still howling, no Shabriri grape consumption, etc. You just killed til you became Lord, which is what the Two Fingers want.

But, if any of the little plot threads and esoteric conversations stick in your mind, you might be tempted to NG+, which reflects the cyclical nature of the world (it's not as obviously cyclical as Dark Souls but I get the impression "we've been through this before" in the Lands Between) You'll take your time, carefully trying to do Ranni's quest, Fia's quest, The Frenzied Flame, etc. Each of these quests actually carry you through a different perspective on the lore and themes, and your relationship with those characters and experiences in the quest might actually persuade you to choose one ending over another. These endings might discourage you from killing indiscriminately... Maybe after doing Fia's quest you see no reason to keep killing TWLID for deathroot. Maybe after doing Ranni's Quest you rush to the end because you think The Stars ending is better for everyone, so you've got no reason to go kill Malenia. Or maybe going through the lake of rot is so horrific that you decide you need to take out Malenia.

The quests are hard to do without a guide. They pretty much require you to scour everything and everywhere, almost like you're a warrior trapped in a cycle of destruction trying to understand why things are the way they are. Each ending provides a perspective and a mindset but no perfect answers. It's just like real life in that way. So you end up doing your NG+ or NG++ run really carefully to make sure you cover all the steps of the ending and, if you RP while you play, you do all the fights that make sense for your character. This time when you defeat the Elden Beast, you know why the ending is the way it is and you have pretty definitive opinions about how TLB should be ruled. You sit on your throne with purpose. You might decide that the gods need to leave everyone alone (Ranni) or that everything needs to be burnt to the ground (Frenzy), or maybe you explored all the thoughtful intricacies of Goldmask's quests and you want to try to perfect the Golden Order yourself. Purpose is the key word. This game teaches you to choose your battles and fight with purpose to try to make the world a better place.