Dark Souls does have extensive animations, but MH3U even more so. The slow, methodical combat is why most fans of Monster Hunter also like Dark Souls, and vice versa.

I may have missed something then. In MH3U when I pressed attack or dodge it definitely happened quicker. (Not input lag, but animation)

For instance, if I saw a Lagi gesture its head a certain way I would dodge out of the way. In Dark Souls I seemed to need to know what the enemy would do before any real signal was given. I hope that helps. Then again, I could have missed something. I may plug it back in.

Never even bothered to give it a shot because it doesn't look fun or good at all.

Fun isn't the reason you play Dark Souls in the same way it isn't the reason you play TLOU. 'Fun' us such a simplistic, two dimensional concept in regards to an actual 'experience'.

I never thought I’d ever see someone find a way to downplay fun.

Dark Souls difficulty is very well made, in fact I would say they have the best difficulty "setting" of any game out there. The whole game revolves around dying and becoming more and more hollow is actually part of the lore, dying is part of the experience. The problem is that you are looking at dying like you do in other games, as a time waste, unfair, a failure. When you should be looking at it as a learning experience and something that is supposed to happen several times throughout the game.

Did you really think you could beat any of the Souls games with 0 deaths? You were being delusional, dying is part of the game, not dying in a souls game is like spiderman not being able to websling in a spiderman's game. I died hundreds of times on my first demon souls run and it was a crazy and amazing experience.

The losing progress stuff makes it much more intense and the player more cautious of environmental cues so they can't just hack away at enemies and run through the game at a brisk pace. The dragon on the dragon bridge makes a sound to alarm the player and you can see its shadow on the bridge well before it burns everything there which is something you would have seen coming if you had understood anything from playthrough till that time, reading environmental cues.

Dark Souls isn't highly regarded because its hard, its the amazing world designs and interconnectedness of the world, which you didn't experience because you quit the game too early. Its also the weighty and tight combat and the variety of weapons, something you couldn't have experienced so early in the game. The boss fights are amazing though you only fought two of them among twenty six. The games have amazing stories as well which you have to piece together using item descriptions.

-locks thread for blasphemy- jk!

I don't think the series is overrated in relation to its ''fun'' or ''enjoyment''. I think that part of its franchise hype is actually pretty accurate. What part I feel is overrated about the franchise is its actual difficulty. It's really not a franchise thats as hard as its claimed to be due to the fact that a lot of people just try to run and hack and slash and when they die, suddenly deem it hard because they didn't play the game correctly. They're challenging games,sure, but the difficulty of them is exaggerated quite a bit.

Reasons why I feel this franchise is fun for me is the environments we are placed in,every single one, each offer their own unique setting,while also throwing in callbacks to previous games you have played(IE: areas revisited). Game play is made fun to me because its not your normal hack and slash games that were prominent before the first Souls game,Demon Souls,came out. Souls series is all about strategy, picking and choosing when to strike, using a correct item or ranged weapon on an enemy either for strong damage or chipping away by clipping your enemy for minor damage.

I consider the Souls series a lot like the Punch Out series, two different genres,two different styles of play, but ultimate really they're the same concept. Memorize your enemies patterns and react accordingly based off what you learn to beat them. Souls games are strategy games at the end of the day with more emphasis on thinking rather than brute force(unless you over level yourself of course!),

Thats my counter to the OP with my personal experience. As OP said, its all subjective, which I agree and respect. But this is just some of the reasons why I personally like the Souls series(including Bloondborne)

I guess it depends on how broad your definition of fun is. To lean into your movie comparison, I had great fun watching films like Schindler's List and The Babadook, despite the sometimes horrifying depictions of humanity in the former and the unbearable sense of dread in the latter.

Experiencing greatness is fun for me, regardless of the subject matter.

I dont fell overrated, i just sucked and gave up of dying, moved on. Is just not for me.