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Notes -
I think the hardest aspect of Dark Souls is "figuring out what to do to make it easy". Rarely is the wise thing to do to mash your head against a wall, at least until you start getting near the end. Early on, there are almost always alternate avenues you can explore that make things a lot easier. I think you could chalk this up to "challenge" as well, knowing where and how to seek out better opportunities. But it also introduces an element of luck. Someone who gets it in their head that they've figured the game out while missing key details about kindling and stats and weapon upgrades will have a really rough time.
In that particular case, this is only another argument against difficulty-setting. The tools are there, you just have to know when to go do other stuff. Sucks if you miss an ember though.
Sekiro, on the other hand, almost never offers these kinds of pathways or any opportunities for confusion, and really is quite challenging no matter what you do.
This seems to be my time to keep recommending Viva La Dirt League videos on the topic 😁
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