Namco on Dark Souls 2 marketing: "treating it as a massive AAA title, would be nice to attract Skyrim players"

[Rafux]

KylieDog said:

Rafux said:
If you want to pause just quit the game to the title screen or stay in a bonfire

Like I said, bad game design. 

It adds stress to the game and it would not work if you are playing online, the souls series have a little bit of survival horror too and not being able to pause enhance the feeling of always being treated.