I never got far in other Souls games, but with Elden Ring the crucial difference is that if you leave and 'grind levels' before facing a particular boss again,

I never got far in other Souls games, but with Elden Ring the crucial difference is that if you leave and 'grind levels' before facing a particular boss again, it's not really grinding most of the time. There's so much unique/interesting content, that one could just work through that and gain enough levels, weapons, etc. to beat whatever situation you struggled with before. Furthermore, it's only pretty late in the game that a boss truly 'gates' your progress. The first boss and big dungeon, for example, can be bypassed entirely, opening up a region that is as big as the first region(s). I've played this game for about 30 hours now, and until now I avoided dungeons, mini-bosses, the first 'real' boss, and lots of the stronger enemies. And even though I've explored most of the starting areas, I still find new things. It's only now (level 30+ character) that this approach starts to feel grindy, so I've finally been exploring caves and dungeons, and tried beating mini-bosses and occasionally the first main boss. From what I hear, until some of the endgame stuff, I can expect at least as much content and variety from each of the upcoming regions. I've probably encountered less than 10% of all the stuff in this came. The graphical design and mechanics aside (which are excellent), the staggering amount of content is one of the best things about this game.