I came down a similar way. Though after years of hearing about the greatness of the genre, especially from FromSoftware games with their masterful design, I could no longer deny my interest, considering I try to be a curious and unbiased person. So I went with Elden Ring. I've dropped it several times, because I was bored and it felt like I was wasting time. I still did 100% out of spite, then buried it with no intent to touch it ever again. Still, I appreciate the game design, especially the enemies and the variety of viable builds. However I personally don't care for these things at all in games, so it wasn't really something that was meant for me to be enjoyed. I think it's similar to many of the more popular games of the genre, so I usually skip them. I don't mind the occasional rougelite to pick up and drop after a few hours though.

PS. I feel bad for FromSoftware. People praise their stuff to the heavens. I've seen a handful of people giving constructive criticism only to be met with hate. I'm pretty sure FromSoftware would prefer to receive the criticism to improve instead of being praised from all sides. But then again, I'm not deep enough in their rabbit hole, so that's just what I see.