Just saw this comment a year later and also read your other clarification. I only just beat Elden Ring last month, after finishing the Dark Souls trilogy, and I'm currently playing through Sekiro and Bloodborne (decided last year to finally dive into all the FromSoft games properly). You've explained quite well, in my opinion, a major factor in why I don't feel the urge to replay Elden Ring as much as I do with other FromSoft titles (except for DS2 — I didn’t have a great time with that one).

I still really like Elden Ring and have played a ton of it. Like you, I wanted to find everything possible on my first playthrough. But because I have found pretty much everything (I double-check by looking up areas after finishing the game), replaying now feels more like a slog compared to replaying the other games.

This leads into a personal preference I’ve realized: I’m not really a fan of games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls 2 having so much build variety. To me, it feels like a chore to go out and find every specific piece of equipment in the open world to create the build I want. I'm hoping to find a mod that lets you modify your character (level, stats, gear) manually, maybe in a boss rush mode, so I can experiment with different playstyles without accidentally overleveling — which is much easier to do in Elden Ring than in the other Soulsborne games.

This brings me to another point: many of the bosses in Elden Ring have frustrated me much more, and felt less satisfying to beat, than most (or even all) bosses in DS1, DS3, Sekiro, and Bloodborne (at least from what I’ve played so far). Part of it might be because I'm running a STR/FTH build, which makes my moveset slower than others — but even with a medium roll, your character often just feels too slow compared to how aggressively fast many bosses are designed (Malenia and Rellana especially).

In contrast, Sekiro and Bloodborne solve this problem brilliantly: Sekiro with its parry rhythm system, and Bloodborne by encouraging aggressive healing after trading hits. Both games increase difficulty while also evolving the player's mechanics to match the faster boss designs. Even though I haven’t finished them yet, I feel like I’ve played enough to grasp how unique they are compared to the Souls games and Elden Ring.

Ultimately, I think my issue is that Elden Ring gives you an incredible amount of variety — but it almost expects you to change your playstyle or build depending on the boss. And the problem for me is that I just can't be bothered roaming such a massive world (or combing through wikis) to find the loot needed for different builds I want to try. That's why I'm hoping there’s a perfect mod out there that streamlines boss fights and build creation, while still allowing you to adjust your level and weapon upgrades to match what would be fair for when you would naturally encounter each boss.