I agree. While they designed the stuff very well for those with knowledge going into it, the game can be a nightmare for beginners. With the starting area you have 3 paths to travel. The path you should go to the Taurus Demon, the 'impossible path' to the ghosts, and the Catacombs. The problem is people and media play up Dark Souls in the wrong way giving new comers the impression 'This is unusually difficult but I guess that is par for the course' and to truck through something that is inevitably a dead end.
As far as the impossible path goes, you have to use curse or a special item to fight the ghost and the game gives you no context (that I know of) to do this. The closest thing is the item you get before the bridge is such an item that gives you the 'curse effect' without the side effects. Again new players will have no idea how important that item is and how to replenish it without some aforementioned knowledge.
The regular path provides a stiff challenge for beginners but is fair and what I tout Dark Souls to be at its best. I kind of wish the tutorial kind of extended through undead berg so new players could get acclimated to the game and learn to keep your defenses up at all times and to play slower. So many play through it like a hack and slash and quickly get their asses handed to them as a result. Especially fighting enemies who also defend and guard the very first vendor you meet.
I really like that about the game, though. You go to the ghosts and you can't harm them, so you go back. During your adventure you end up in the Depths, near the entrance to Blighttown, there an NPC will tell you about the curse, and how it's one of the few ways to fight ghosts.
There is no popup there saying THOSE ENEMIES CAN ONLY DIE AGAINST CURSED PLAYERS
I went into it blind and had no problems at all to find out those things.
EDIT: To be fair I did have some outside knowledge. I was playing at the same time as some friends, and they were also playing it blind, so sharing our experiences and asking around played their roles too. But that's yet another positive aspect of the game.
Not trying to make your problems with it seem unimportant, I just think that when people love and hate a game for the same reasons, that is a good indication that their goal was achieved. You can't please everyone, after all.
Yes, I'll be making an in-depth video review about Dark Souls 2 sometime after launch, for sure. Since going freelance I'm sort of trying to change the way I work at the moment, though - which means I'll likely buy Dark Souls 2 rather than deal with Namco's PR. So yeah, my review will be later than most.
Nice, can't wait for it. I'm waiting for the PC version anyway so the delay doesn't affect me at all.
