I think they could fix Elden Ring with a few changes:

• Make items and bosses randomized or semi-randomized in the overworld dungeons
• Make maybe 6 more starting classes with more starting gift options
• Cut out most of the overworld boss repeats
• Make the bosses slightly easier and more diverse by making their AI and movesets less aggressive and attack-spammy, especially in regards to making them more vulnerable for longer periods of time after their more powerful attacks -Make respeccing possible earlier but maybe slightly more resource intensive to do
• Have regions scale to your player character level in some way so exploring is more enjoyable because right now it’s basically you could go to a difficult area but you’ll get curb stomped and mostly do it to grab later-game items and early-game regions are easy to miss so coming back to them makes them too easy

I really, really like the idea of Elden Ring being an open-world RPG that rewards build experimentation and problem solving, using whatever tools you have available to you like crafting items, talisman/magic/ash of war combos/spirit ashes, etc. etc. But I find in actuality the bosses serve as hard gates to player creativity and I always end up giving in to use mimics tear, spellsword-style build, etc.