I can give you a rant in discord, but in summary the very beginning part of the game is important.

The game appeals, imo, to players who take an immersive approach to games. Everything around the character is new to them, and you. You are the character. This is your journey. With that thinking in mind, you would probably take more time to pay closer attention to everything around you. In the beginning of the game , plenty of messages are on the ground, and there are some black text boxes that take over the screen and explain some things, more so about gameplay information. Lore comes from exploration, and yes this is controversial in a video game, but reading. The initial people who discovered things, discovered stuff by reading items, souls, weapons, etc. Personal example, when my friends and I played at launch, I found out about the existence of Three Fingers and it existing, not knowing location. 2 days later, my friend found them but I never did.

The approach to the game is really it for me. You dont have to sweat, but its not one of the games you can play if you arent looking for the details. The games are super in depth, and everything done is deliberate, it has gameplay or lore implications most of the time. Just take what you know and put puzzle together and whabam Elden Lord