Oh you can get
a story by paying attention, but rich and detailed?
I wish I could talk to you about this in person, if I made you name 5 npcs in that game you wouldn't be able to
-Literally every tarnished in the Roundtable hold has a backstory and narrative closure towards the end of the game. Nephili, Coryhn, D, Rogier, Fia, DungEater, and Gideon all have their own questlines
-Same with all the demi-god bosses
-Other NPC's in the world like the crew at Volcano Manor (multiple NPC questlines), Yura & Bloody Finger Elenora is a story spread across multiple areas and quests, Boc The Seamster, Millicent has large Questline that ties in with Melania, etc.
-Several of the optional bosses and mini-bosses have very rich lore behind them and every enemy is placed in very specific areas for specific reasons which you can learn about all in game
-The battle between all the outer gods like the Golden Order, 3 fingers, and the cosmic gods all vying for power in the Lands Between
-How areas like Caelid came to be what they are, how entire civilizations got pushed underground and the reason why (trying to create a god with silver alchemy, which ties into other races/species found throughout the game like the different Albinuarics and silver tears)
It's easy to play the game and overlook a lot of these things but to act like there's no meaningful stories being told throughout Elden Ring is totally false. There's hours upon hours of people breaking all this shyt down on YouTube. If people play the game thinking it's purely gameplay with no narrative, they're watering down their own experience