This all may seem very confusing, but rest assured - it's supposed to be that way. We were, or presently are ALL confused by something or another in this game. Sadly, Elden Ring assumes that every single person on Earth is borne knowing the entire souls genre intimately... sadly... we just don't. So I am here to help guide you through the scantly lit passages of Elden Ring's learning curve to better prepare you to recognize, adapt to, and overcome challenges on your own without walk-through guides, or exploits.

The most important thing to remember is that everything in the world wants to kill you aside from the very few things that don't!
What do I mean by this? Well if you see something just standing around, not attacking you, and there is no sudden change of music accompanied by a big labeled health bar - try talking to it first! Or at the very least, just leave it alone. You may be able to talk with it later - so do not just go around murdering every single thing you see! I murdered the first Finger-reading Crone I saw because she looked too ghastly to be friendly... I was wrong. Wait until you see the thing you are working for and why everyone worships fingers. Ugh...

Now that we have your sword-hand chilled out a little, remember to be as social as possible! A chatty adventurer is a successful adventurer! The world of Elden Ring is not without it's wonderfully informative local populace; rich in culture and local lore, listen very carefully to what EVERYONE has to say. Very carefully.

All ready to mingle about the world, you may want to begin doing this - but not everyone is going to be a good encounter. For example - you may want to swallow your pride and just leave the Tree Sentinel alone for a bit. He isn't going anywhere, trust me. He knows you want to fight him, so he's going to walk his path to keep his legs warmed up until YOU are ready, no pressure fam; Bosses get paid by the hour to be there.
The things you do want to focus on, are the people and places that you are being told to go to, and do be diligent in searching the areas; making sure you talk to everyone you can, when you see them, or you may miss out on very critical points of the game... like, oh, you know... like the tutorial - which is down a deep scary looking hole that any souls player would be smart not to go down - you haven't seen a fire, and you don't want to be eaten by a boss that obviously will be at the end of a one-way drop.
If you avoided the tutorial hole, you are smart! Carry those instincts with you through the rest of the game, and they will actually serve you well! The developers have planted *many* practical jokes to kill you for laughs. I'm not joking, but the devs think they are cute.

TLDR: Follow the golden magic effects coming off of the camp fires (grace) to get to the next fire, and talk to everyone you see - don't murder everyone, and take your time - do not rush! This game is a marathon with a wonderful journey to experience without ruining it by worrying all the while about the destination!

This section is going to be all about the nitty-gritty necessities of combat, and will be valuable knowledge for people who are both new and experienced to souls-like games.

You want runes?
You wanna get buff?
You wanna be Elden Lord?
You want a butt like mine?
You better Roll, Tarnished.
Roll, Tarnished.

Try Roll. If that doesn't work, Seek Horseback Battle.
Rolling is even more important in Elden Ring than any other game before it and here is why:

The main and clear difference between this and other titles like the Souls series or even The Surge is how bosses typically behave in their core mechanics of what they are/are not allowed to do as far as game engine type of things go - NOT ABILITIES. let me be very clear that I am talking about how mechanics interact, not ability/skill effects, just operation of mechanics.

-The first and foremost important thing to understand in these game is rolling. You MUST be able to time your rolls, and to keep doing it all through a fight, no matter what build you are. At some point, there will be an attack you cannot block, or a move that you must dodge to avoid a semi-scripted (usually) one-hit-wipe. If you don't roll, you're gonna pay the toll.

In all other games the bosses are not able to pivot around as if on skis/ice skates while in the middle of animations as if they were an an enemy in an MMORPG like World of Warcraft, or Final Fantasy FFXIV with 3/4 of all attacks they might ever throw at you, and you can observe absolutely all "basic" attacks sharing this behavior. This really jacks up the flow of combat, and is going to force you into more hit-and-run tactics making fights tediously - but not really difficult... just time consuming. Or you spec into stamina, spin to win, and keep yourself up the Boss's butt until they fall over for a weak-spot attack. Blocking and parry-counters are nowhere near as effective in this game as they were in Dark Souls or The Surge - especially when BLOCKING DOES NOT CAUSE A NORMAL MOB TO HAVE IT'S ATTACKS COMBO INTERRUPTED! THEY WILL ATTACK YOU FOR A FULL COMBO THROUGH THE BLOCK.
The only thing blocking does is to REDUCE the damage taken, even if you do a perfectly timed parry - which isn't even a thing. You can just hold the block button and you get the exact same result as if you were to time it with skill. Very lackluster combat mechanics at play here.

That's literally all there is to the game, just roll, fam. You will eventually learn the moves the enemies can use. You will die. Don't sweat it.

TLDR: Roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll attack with bleed, poison, roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll attack with bleed, poison, roll roll roll roll roll...
Bleeding/Blood builds are undeniably OP to the point of making boss fights near trivial.
Oh and don't forget to roll, it's a really good move.
Spam roll.

"bu-bu-but..."
-No no no, I didn't ask what build you are.

Roll.

You will die. That is part of the game. You will lose runes. That is part of the game.

Hundreds of them.
Thousands of them.
Hundreds of thousands of them - possibly in one loss. Seriously.
You will start off with cute little 3-4 digit numbers for leveling up.
Those will quickly turn into 5 and 6 digit numbers. Seriously.

So here are three very critical things to remember to avoid fatiguing your Gamer's Soul.

1) Eat and Hydrate; your brain needs food. You will play better if you take care of yourself! Hard to beat any foe at all if you have a migraine from lack of food, and growing dehydration. Stretch, too. Bloodflow is good, especially when sitting for long times.

2) You have INFINITE lives; The Boss only has ONE.
Nnnnnnnnnever give up! Nnnnnnnnever surrender!

3) It is okay to walk away from ANY fight, and come back later - but don't forget your unfinished business! It will feel great when you finally get it, and you are only really beaten if you make the choice to give up. it's even okay, and likely a good idea, to play other games and take breaks to stop yourself from being burnt out on Elden Ring, and possibly becoming resentful of the game, or even your own ability to continue playing.

Again: DON'T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!

TLDR: Take care of yourself; Stinkin-Thinkin leads to defeat.