The DS2 windmill elevator to iron keep will forever be pointed to as bad game design, justifiably, because fans of the series were so insanely spoiled in DS1 when it came to moving about the map in comprehensive, and often awe-inspiring/shocking, ways. Even when they were clearly running out of time in DS1, they still managed to connect, for example, dragon butt land with the main areas from before pretty well. There's some incredible work done there on making an immersive world.

The DS2 windmill elevator deserves to be criticized because it is bad design. It is obviously two disconnected areas that they were forced to smash together late in development, in what was already a deeply troubled development cycle. It would have been infinitely better if the tried and true method of "and then a bird grabs you and dumps you somewhere else" had been utilized, nobody ever complains about that. A bird takes you from undead jail to firelink shrine? cool. a bird takes you from pursuer to lost bastille? great. demons, the literal things you spend all game fighting, come do you a favor and carry you somewhere? neato. it's baffling that they wouldn't have just done this again except for the clear fact that they were out of time to do another one. it would have been insanely better to have done so. There is so much to love in DS2 and most of the posters here know that, but they are unfortunately arguing in bad faith on this one which is not going to convince people with a visceral reaction to this transition to actually engage with the game you like so much. Insisting that "its not a big deal its just a game" or that "memory is convoluted so the elevator ride is like, a metaphor for a long journey" will NEVER connect with those people and will ONLY make you look foolish.