I think Elden Ring is excellent for being open world. People often criticize the open world aspect because the crafting system is kinda dumb, the caves are samey and don't offer much in terms of benefits or exciting stuff. It's also hard to find quests and easy to miss them (on top of the bullshit story telling of Souls). And experienced people often just basically do a boss rush where they run from boss to boss. But I actually think it's excellent and brilliant game design.

I absolutely loved the feeling of having an entire world to explore. The world did actually feel alive for me, with people and stuff everywhere. Different biomes and decent enemy variety (even though there are plenty of repeats). Looking for quests, exploring caves and doing it all felt like fun. Even though I didn't engage with the crafting much (I did do a bow and consumables challenge run once, but I stuck to just a few kinds of pots and arrows throughout). I felt for me personally it added to the experience.

But in terms of game design it's a huge step forward. With the older games if you got hard stuck on a boss, that was it. You could go grind the previous level if you were really desperate, but that was about it. Especially for new people, this often meant they didn't finish the game. A lot of them didn't even make it past the tutorial boss. With a community telling them to Git Gud, people would assume the games weren't for them and quit. Which is a shame, because the games are good and worth playing imho. With the open world aspect, there's no rush to beat a boss. You can go explore, level up, find better weapons and better armor. And with the way the world is laid out, you can go pretty far without ever beating a single boss. Then come back later and beat the boss, maybe a bit over leveled, but that's fine. If you want the challenge, it's there, but if you are just a casual gamer looking for a fun time, it's there as well.

It's not all upsides tho, as people can also easily get lost and feel like they don't know where to go. Or miss entire areas because they were following the main quest. So not all rainbow and sunshine, but overall a positive aspect.

The open world also makes for an excellent randomizer, I've been absolutely addicted to Elden Ring Rando. So much fun!