It's sad really, but the more I think about it the more I see Miyazaki really wants to make his own version of Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. Expecting him to somehow go back to Souls roots and refine/improve from there is crazy. This bird already flew (or whatever the saying is).
The difference is in NG and DMC Ryu, Dante and Nero are playing by the same rules than the enemies. In Elden Ring are playing a different game than them.
In NGB the difficulty came from tight and nasty encounter design. Ryu is very strong from the start and has everything he needs to cope with all the bullshit thown at him in his basic moveset, with the dragon sword and shurykens. Just need to purchase counter attacks and level 2 DS for Izuna Drop to beat Master Ninja. You can optimize to some specific situations with other movements and weapons, and use Ninpo for easen some encounters, to have fun with a wider repertoire. But basically you only need to improve your instincts, tactical positioning, movement and target selection, use of enviroment (wall jump attacks) and a bit of reflexes to succeed even on Master Ninja. In fact is a more tactical game than mechanical skill one.
Sekiro is similar to NGB in this sense. That's the reason I like Sekiro so much, it has a perfectly tuned combat. Almost every boss is a pleasure to fight even they are very hard, their attack spam is countered efectively with precise timing parrying to break their posture. Of course if you try to play it like a souls game you are for a bad time. You can dislike Sekiro because you want From making ARPGs, and dislike action games, fair enough. But if you say the game is bad, you are wrong, that´s it.
NG2 Mentor MN starts very well, maybe a bit too much projectile spam, but you are ultra powerful with lots of very satisfying i-frames from OTs and Guillotine throws, so I only complain on this because you can use only a limited set of movements, I don´t agree with the sentiment that is artificial difficulty, just constraining one. I dislike later chapters where the encounter design gets very lazy and boring just throwing lots of high HP enemies without rime or reason. Chapter 11 (return to Hayabusa vilage) is one of the best levels in action gaming, though. Probably the most intense and visceral level ever, and a must to experiment for any action aficionado. Ninjas are a pleasure to fight because they don´t have so much HP, so the vast hordes can be dispatched in efficient and fun ways.
In DMC series you have tons of i-frames and 1000 tools and tricks, so they can throw you whatever and you will get S Rank if you are skilled. It's not as tight design as NGB but it works, and the boss fights are indeed carefully and tightfuly crafted. Just remember satisfying fights like Nero in DMC3, Angelo Credo in DMC4 and a good pack in DMC5.
Elden Ring has enemies that don't belong there, and even them, the retardation of the delayed attacks and extended combos I would argue don't belong anywhere.
PD: I would add Metal Gear Rising to carefully tuned action systems and bosses.
