http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=557734

http://www.oxm.co.uk/53991/namco-talks-dark-souls-2-marketing-were-treating-this-as-a-massive-massive-triple-a-title/

Namco talks Dark Souls 2 marketing: "we're treating this as a massive, massive triple-A title"
Would like to attract Skyrim players, but series fans are the focus

Namco played it safe with the original Dark Souls marketing budget, and with good reason - this, after all, is the game that takes pride in being inaccessible. According to PR director Lee Kirton, however, the publisher has no qualms about blowing the bank on Dark Souls 2.

"The good thing this time round is we're investing more in it from a marketing perspective," Kirton told OXM at a preview event in London today. "With Dark Souls and [PS3-exclusive spiritual predecessor] Demon Souls it was very focused, small-scale. We're treating this as a massive, massive triple-A title."

"We're going to go balls-deep and guns-blazing with it, and hope to God that it works," he continued. "We're going after people who love and adore Dark Souls, while hopefully widening the net a little. I'm not saying that every Skyrim player's going to be jumping on Dark Souls, but it would be nice if some of them did. It's a different game, sure."

Good for them, but it would be super-nice if they could, you know, treat their other RPGs like this

Like Demon Souls & Dark Souls, this game will get my money on day one. I hope they don't screw it up, but If they do, they will not get my money or the complete amount come around the next time.

If they add different difficulty levels, have a more standardized save system, and allow for pausing the game whilst in single player, then I will give this series another chance.

Demons Souls and Dark Souls had so much potential but the lack of the above made the games quite simply unplayable for me.

If they added the things you mentioned then i will abandon the series. 

Really weird that an old school nintendo fan would say this an less there was a difficulty setting in old nintendo games i didn't know about.

Adding easy mode or something like that would just ruin the point of the game. If DS had a easier difficulty I and many other people prob would have had it on...But because it didn't we kept playing  and trying despite failing alot, and  got good,most victories felt extremely rewarding. its not a game for everyone and prob never will be since I think its confirmed to not have an easy mode/multiple difficulty levels and apparently even harder than Dark souls.

Honestly, that's one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard of. Since when did options become such a sin in gaming?

For masochistic people like you (which I am assuming that you are since you are a fan of the absurd difficulty from the game :P ), the game would be just as hard as before.

Whining about these options is just as pointless as whining about all of the optional assists in the recent Forza games. Having them there does not affect you in any way whatsoever. It's actually quite a selfish notion to have the mindset that only you (and others like you, obviously) are allowed to have fun with the game.

And I have played both game and I know what Dark Souls players want. A fairly balanced, but challenging and rewarding game. 

All the things you had listed, you list them as an negative of the series. When in retro spec they help made what made this game great to me and fans of this series. This game appeal is not the difficulty, but the feeling of accomplishment when beating through a stage. And so what if its selfish of me and the fans. We brought the games and we actually played though them.