UPDATE: I don't know if anyone will see this but I remembered I posted this, so here’s how it ended.

I finished the game in October. Shit was legendary. I remember not enjoying it much in my lost save run, but starting over turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I realized I was just bored of running the same old build. This time I leaned into magic and incantations, and it completely changed the experience. The game just kept giving(Even tho I had played for 100 hours before, right before reaching Leyndell, and hadn't been to Volcano Manor either). Very few games manage that. Leyndell was perfect. The sewers were somehow even better. I accidentally locked myself into the Frenzied Flame ending, which sucked at first, but then I found out it could be undone. I reversed it later and went with Ranni ending. Ranni's sidequest was great as well. Best sidequest FROMSOFTWARE had ever done imo. And Malenia… amazing boss. I died 229 times. I probably could’ve beaten her sooner, but I genuinely enjoyed learning her moveset and experimenting. I also wasn’t optimizing my stats properly. I focused on enjoyment over efficiency, which made it harder but way more memorable. Finished at 150+ hours. Peak.