I believe the main reason is that From Software is not trying to create a co-op experience with Dark Souls, at least not in the traditional sense.  Despite the multi-player features, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are still primarily single-player games.  From the difficulty, to the atmosphere, to even the sound and music, From Software wants the player to feel a sense of helplessness and solitude in a world that is constantly trying to kill you.  Grouping up with friends, using cross-chat, and so on, reduces the experience that From Software wants to create.

I think that it is better to think of Dark Souls as a single-player game that you experience with others online, with your paths only intersecting occasionally.  The comment system and the summon system are there to let you know that you're not completely alone in your struggles.

aahhh i should have Xxplained myself better. i meant why some people cant see the soul sign of each other and stuff (Which
 may also be preventing people to coop with strangers if needed, which IS part of the game), not why it isnt primarily possible to coop with a definitive friend.

so yeah, i am very aware of how those games work (*shows proudly his Demons Souls Platnum trophy*), i just did fail in trying to write what i intended to (again). ^^ sorry for the confusion.

And Sorry @ Xxain, but i HAD to do this at least Once.. hope you can forgive me lol. :D

I think this has to do with the way the servers were set up and not a deliberate choice by the developers. For me personally it doesn't really matter since I don't really play with anyone regularly but I can see it being annoying to some people and I would prefer they fix it.

just a quick question, @topicstarter, one of you were hollow, and one human, aye? and if yes, do you belong to different covenants?

Actually I do know about Demon's Souls because I have it....Haven't beaten the first world yet but that's because I am not very patient with overly hard games.

From Software are jerks and you know it

*Sneaks into the conversation* .. yeah, From Software is a bunch of sadistic Pooholes. And thats why they are so awesome. ^_^

At this point, the game will have hundreds of thousands of people playing online. Supposedly, the game chooses a random selection of people with a low ping to your console to display (no sources for this, just rumours).

Planned PvE and PvP will probably work when the servers get less busy, but it's important to remember that neither is part of the game design, nor was it part of the design in DeS.

I'm entirely convinced that 60% of all Demon's Souls/Dark Souls players are masochists

And the other 40% just don'e have a clue when they start playing :D

I'm in the same boat, I would like to play this game just as Demon's souls but I have kids and without being able to pause or save whenever I like it's not worth the frustration. I know all too well from playing mmorpgs how that goes.

I just had to replay the end of Ico all over again since there are no save points beyond a certain point and I didn't have the the time to finish the 60 to 90 minutes needed from the last save point. Sure I can leave the console running all night or for days until I have time again but consoles aren't up to that this gen.

No save anywhere feature should stay in the past. If you don't want people abusing it make it save and quit with only one resume allowed for mid level save games.

Well, technically DS has the opposite problem. It saves for you constantly, which means you have no room for errors.

I'm ok with that because there's always a (sometimes very painful) way to ammend errors.

But I agree the no-pause feature was annoying, that's the only complaint I have about the game's 'difficulty'.