It has a vastness and dynamic feel. when I played darksouls and tried to decipher the lore my impression was that the cycle of linking the flame had gone on until the world itself had turned into dust, Unchanging forever.

In elden ring shit changes all the time. It is hinted that the greater will took over this even older source of power known as the crucible in prehistoric times. Things weren't always erd tree and they won't always will be, one day it might be time bending dragons, another it might be the moon(which is technically an outer god for some reason). Everything doesn't revolve around the main cycle either, Radahn learned gravity magic and went to war with the Stars just because he was getting too big to ride his horse and he is a main boss.

Elden ring is vast and things happen due to unrelated stuff not tied to the main demigods. This isn't a complaint because I liked this but in dark souls things that happened were often related to the family of gwyn because that's just all there was to the world. In elden ring cities fall out of the sky because they challenge god and that has nothing to do with Marika or Radagon.