I find my comment completely valid. That “minimal” effort is just entertainment gate keeping. If they don’t have it in them to spend that extra effort it’s their choice and if you want them to change, complaining about it is very backwards.
You could have suggested them to ignore the tree sentinel or Margit, hoever was their first enemy, you could have suggested the to explore the game and ignore hard enemies just like in skyrim we ignored trolls, bears or dragons until we levelled up… Idk, anything but “you didn’t even try how dare you say you don’t like it” wtf.
If someone in their adulthood gets berated for being demotivated by not being as good as their peers at swimming or riding a bike, telling them off will just shut them about the idea of trying.