Thinking back on it now
I think I wanted to like Elden Ring more than I did. It's why I stuck with it for so long.
Everyone was talking about how it was the best thing ever, and I wanted to find that same magic.
But throughout the experience my feelings on it remained lukewarm. It has some really great stuff, some of the best stuff From Software has ever done, but it also has some of the worst stuff they've ever done, and that weighed heavier on the scale for me.
Not to mention all the boss repetition increasingly got on my nerves, especially when some of the fights didn't feel worth it.
Eventually I hit a point where I didn't want to keep going. I was making my way through an area which was extremely player-hostile, like it didn't seem like it wanted me to enjoy anything about it, not even the challenge, and I gave up partway through.
Which makes it the second FromSoft game I have played, and not finished, after Dark Souls 2. (which is an entirely different beast of complaints)