> I think the punishing elements of the games would be a lot better received if the larger enemies and bosses weren’t as tanky

I think you're right. Its one thing to require me to learn to dodge and find an opening a few times, but having to continuously do it for ten minutes straight might be a bit much for most people.

I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on a different alternative, given you probably have better insight into the game's difficulty than I do. I think fans appreciate a sense of "fairness" [1] from Elden Ring and it seems very similar to Celeste in a lot of ways. Part of me wonders if that's a visual communication thing?

Enemies (and especially bosses) in FromSoftware games usually have big, slow, windups. It's visually interesting and a big part of getting to know the openings like you mention. I find I have to empirically learn the cause/effect of those animations though, or I find I can't necessarily know how big Godrick's wind attack is without experiencing it a few times first. I sometimes wonder how the game would play if there was more visual information on the safe zones of attacks that the player could intuit. Or, I've noticed that my friends have gotten frustrated when they've gotten hit and not known why. Thoughts? Maybe it ruins the magic though.

All that said, I think Elden Ring is overall fine as it is.

[1] https://makegames.tumblr.com/post/4949412103/firm-but-fair