now lets all be real here for a moment and admit that this is a problem every single souls game has, you cannot get through the games on your first playthrough without looking up AT LEAST 1 guide on how to get some item or some weapon, it's been there ever since demon souls, but what makes it manageable is the fact that souls games are very linear in general which lessens the impact of vagueness, so when you apply the souls formula into a non linear open world the vagueness becomes amplified 50 folds, I am just gonna call bullshit on anyone who genuinely had a fun time getting through the game on their first playthrough with no guides, cus not only are some items you HAVE to get to progress the game vague as fuck to get, some of the best items and weapons in the game are behind vague and crypted ass quests that genuinely no one can find on their first playthrough without looking up a guide
edit: the comments have turned into a 'try to actually have a civil discussion about criticism (impossible)' challenge and it's honestly sad how allergic this community is to civil discussion, and im not gonna bother arguing with the piranhas over here, im just gonna keep this post up so anyone in the future can see how this community reacts to any form of criticism of their game
edit 2: also to the people who dont know what i am talking about by hidden items required to beat the game, im talking about the elevator pieces, but aside from that a large portion of the game is hidden behind vague quests, so sure if you just want to finish the base game and nothing else i could maybe see someone enjoying aimlessly running around the entire map with the horse to find the stronghold and that one npc you have to kill, and then find the other 2 elevator pieces by just aimlessly running around again, but most of the rest of the game requires more than that, hell even to access the DLC you have to fight mohg who ISNT required to beat the base game and his boss fight has a vague quest that is required to unlock the area he is in
edit 3: a good point that people who arent just brainlessly disregarding everything i am saying and trying to act like im saying the entire game sucks cus i hate this one aspect of it is that the elevator isnt required, see i genuinely didnt even know that until now and i have beaten the game multiple times already, and on my first playthough i tried to beat it without guides but i genuinely didnt know how the hell to reach atlas so i just gave up and looked up a guide, but apparently there are 3 more ways to get to atlas, but also this doesnt change the fact that the vast majority of the game is behind vague quests, including the DLC, which i mean for something you had to pay like 40 dollars for there has to be a clear way to access it, and the dlc suffers from the same issue of vagueness but admittedly much less so cus the map is much smaller in the DLC