Glad to hear this and it's not just me. I'm early in and I've been getting my butt completely kicked on normal difficulty. Not that I like easy games mind you, but I've never been in the mindset of give me uber difficult the whole game either, it's just not as fun to me. Good to know it's more of a learning curve and things get better as you get further and upgrade. Sounds very BotW in that respect. 

Definitely stoked every time I get to suck a few hours into this master piece. After you get to the tutorial area and are able to boat around is where this game just got all of the sudden bigger. Even area where these two enemies were purple and level 6 and I hold my own for a bit but then die. Can't wait to go back to those guys and give them a piece of my Axe now.

Kratos: "Boy."

Kratos: "Booooy..."

Kratos: "I do not know."

Kratos: "I DO NOT KNOW!!"

I can only sneak and play it at night. Played for a few hours on launch day and actually started over completely this morning at like 5am. Sometimes being a good husband sucks.

Based on the first few hours, I'd go as far as to say that it is the best first-party software developed by a Sony Studio. They release many games that I enjoy,but I admit that they usually go the safe route on familiar ground. Solid games with excellent presentation. But GOW feels like a masterpiece unfolding. The world is beautifully realized, and the entire thing is just a joy to watch and play. You can tell that a lot of love went into this game.

A few spoiler free thoughts......

I have played this game for about 25+ hours. Not following the story lightly so I am about a third into the story and have probably done about one of almost all the seried side quests. Also playing on hard (big mistake but I stuck with it)

And all I will say is that that souls or any other game for that matter hasn't got anything on this game.

The game reminds me funny enough of Zelda and Castlevania. And bloodborne/souls combat is a joke compared to this game.

And OMG.... fighting a valkyrie....... damn.

I am late game now. And I really feel like a god of war. Early game I had to be very tactical about each enemy encounter, now I roll in balls deep. Yea I still die some because of that, but as I learn how to use all of those skills I have and maximize the kid I feel stronger and stronger.

using the boat is not where the game felt bigger for me. Realizing that they you can travel to other realms opened up limitless opportunities in my mind. 

This is pretty much me.  I started the game on hardest difficulty and I was regretting it a lot.  The Heavy Draugr at the beginning frustrated me alot.  I basically died a lot in the beginning because only a few hits can kill you and I was still learning the controls and how to play.  Coming from the older games and trying to play like those got me killed a lot.  The close camera got me killed a lot.  The combos in the beginning was so basic and I died a lot.  

Once, you get to the point where you can upgrade your stuff and especially Kratos Son, things open up a lot.  Thank goodness I poured most of my exp into him early because he really makes a difference in how you play the game on the harder difficulty.  The story and gameplay has kept me going and pace wise I am enjoying the game much more now.  I am not sure if I will say that this is the best GOD of the series since GOW2 was my favorite but I will say that its right up there.

I hope they patch motion control aiming into this one.