Some initial thoughts about Elden Ring's setting so far:
1. The witch who gave me the bell that lets me summon Jojo stands wondered how long it'd take for me to disobey/go against what the Two Fingers want. So far my vague grasp of the story is that the "Two Fingers" are connected with the whole sending Tarnished to collect fragments of the Elden Ring and becoming the Elden Lord thing, probably as the main faction in favour of it. Though I'm skeptical about it, that things are as simple as "invade and pillage the land, Tarnished, and become the new lord by sheer force." Meanwhile, Melina is not even trying to hide that she has an agenda, she will help us as long as we take her to the Erdtree.
It's too early to tell but I'm wondering if this, like the Dark Souls games, will be the main dichotomy at play — be a good boy and do what the Two Fingers want vs. understand what's going on and, possibly, carving out a different way forward.... I sure hope this isn't a rehash of Dark Souls 3 h-haha.
2. Miyazaki in particular has a consistent pattern of inserting the concept of kegare/ritual impurity in his games, specifically as a root cause of evil and as a corrupting agent (which is pretty standard for Japanese culture). This is stuff like Aldrich cannibalising people and becoming what he became, people going crazy over using defiled (old) blood in Bloodborne, etc.
With G R R Martin's participation I was half-expecting this theme to pop up less or be dropped entirely, but while exploring the first areas I already found a ditch full of dead bodies with kegare-slugs (literally reused from Dark Souls 3 and other games) which are weak to fire. (As a rule of thumb, everything that's corrupted in post-Demon Souls FromSoft games is weak to fire, it burns the impurities away.) And these dead bodies are in contact with water, stagnant water, and that's another recurring motif in previous FromSoft games.
I'm wondering just how violent the past of the Lands Between was, even before the shattering of the Elden Ring. The scenery is beautiful for sure, but what was really going on under the surface here?
3. I like Melina's aesthetic. Missing the left eye? Now that's what I call anime!
4. The NPC invasions are pleasing. I don't think everyone will agree with me but my character automatically dismouting Torrent whenever an NPC invasion is about to happen is just so good. In a second I get ready and hyped for it, it's like a little treat as reward for exploring the place more thoroughly. Have you guys found any NPC invasions yet?
5. I recall that back when Elden Ring was announced there were some so-called "leaks" saying that Elden Ring would be all about switching your own character's body parts, that it'd be a major gameplay mechanic... lol lmao.
I'm curious to see whether people were talking out of their asses or if this is some tragic level of cut content.