Great point. Even a semi casual gamer like me finished Red Dead. That's why Dark Souls 2 should be hard enough to warrant under 1% completion. Instead of prepare to die. It should be you are dead. 

Also from the 21 page long discussion here. (http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=160051&page=1#) It seems Souls enthusiast want that. 

The exact opposite was true in Demon's Souls lol.  You could get black world tendency if you died enough making the enemies much stronger.  Trial and error and learning from mistakes is a core aspect of the game.  Guides can help you through difficult areas if you need them.

Lol, I don't know why you guys think that I would be against this. It would be completely hypocritical of me to want an optional easier mode but get uppity about an optional harder mode.

Believe it or not I want them to do that because I know a lot of people would really like that. I actually want as many people to enjoy a game as possible. Every developer should find out what type of game they want to make, then make it to have the biggest possible audience without taking away those core aspects. I never asked for anything different in the other thread

I pretty much agree with everything you said there. I started into Dark Souls at the beginning of March...and guess what...Its pretty much all I play now lol! Some of my friends get frustrated that I don't play COD BO2 with them much anymore, but honestly I can't help it. I'm sure I will get around to some of my other games at some point, but I take it Im not the only one that got completely sucked in by this dastardly frustrating yet incredibly rewarding game!

I'm on ng+ with first character and doing a Soul Level 20 playthrough with a sorcerer on my other. Im at the final boss finally with that one! It was a pain when one hit from many enemies and almost all bosses would outright kill me. I kept my vitality at 8 and just upgraded int, Attunements, and Endurance.

Anyways about DARK SOULS 2, I completely agree that they need to keep it's core Dark Souls/Demon Souls but for experienced players there needs to be some definite changed Dynamics to keep vets on their toes. I do agree that there needs to be a moderately difficult tutorial area for new players to prepare them with the mechanics of Dark Souls and the tools they will need to survive, but I would still love for them to throw some kind of a wrench at the beginning like they did with the other souls games that can easily kill you...IE the first Asylum Demon encounter. I ran in and got a Demons Greathammer to the face..and soon after a death....welcome to Dark Souls lol.

But a basic tutorial section would help the new comers. But I think a huge majority of the Souls Fanbase are screaming for From Software to keep any easy mode out. I for one feel that it would ruin what Souls is all about. Its traditional gaming...a seriously difficult challenge with no hand holding period. And rewards those that take the time to learn its encounters and obstacles. Thats what traditional gaming used to be. And I love that people can decide to do things that offer even more challenge...such as go through the game at very low level, or no rings, or wearing the calamity ring on ng+, or naked run (no armour).

I know some want an easy mode that would as they say open the door for more sales, but I say fooey. Keep Souls what it is with no difficulty settings. Just plain...here it is. This is what you get...now conquer it, and endure the pain. But it would be great if they included some kind of really nice reward system. Include a challenge system with achievements. Such as going through the game with a certain handicap and if done there is a NPC or a treasure chest with a really unique and bad ass looking armour set/weapon. Now they would probably have to balance it, but still awarding its veteran players with something like that would be very delicious. :)

They need to make the mage characters just as challenging to play as melee when fighting bosses. People moan that Dark Soul's isn't "too hard" but yet they're standing in the far back shooting spells doing massive damage. Go up front and get your brain beat in. It's funner, and more challenging.

The most important aspect for them honestly is marketing. Namco even said that with Demons Souls and Dark souls they did not market it as a massive AAA title. They said recently in an interview that is changing for Dark Souls 2. They said they are going to market this one as a massive AAA title much like Skyrim was. Honestly heavy hitting marketing in todays age can bring in the sales.

The problem I think with the first Souls games is that honestly not many people in the gaming community even knew what it was or barely even remember hearing about it. To be honest a couple guys at work who are really into it had been telling me about it for over a year before I even picked it up. They said how much they loved it and I just thought, eh sounds cool, but I have other games I'm enjoying. It wasn't until I played it and realized how much of a challenge I was missing in games that I got hooked.

Gamers deep down game to have some sort of mental challenge. Its easy to get in a rut and just want a simple game that doesn't take much work, but when you throw someone in a gaming environment as challenging as Dark Souls its almost like it opens something up in the brain that says, "I am SO MAD!!!....yet I can't strop trying to overcome it!" It feeds the challenge that many gamers deep down really want in a game.

So I think honestly the marketing aspect will be the biggest deal for Dark Souls 2.

Japanese gamers are said to enjoy environments more in games whereas Western gamers focus more on the character you play as. Thats why they changed the box art cover on Dark Souls for the Western release. It focused on a bad ass looking character in the image. I think if Namco can advertise like they did with the recent Dark Souls 2 trailer and put it out there on all marketing outlets it will get on the hype train much like Skyrim did.

I completely agree also I want it to get even harder in coop with a lot more enemies and radiant spawning and increase in health and defense.

:) or using the poison arrows trick. Stay far enough away to not aggro the enemy and just spam with arrows, or poison and sit back to watch the mighty foes die with no risk involved. I have been guilty of that before :).

Bosses AI is good in single player but bad when in co op, id like to see improvement here for sure

Instead of making the harder difficulty unlockable, why not make the easier one unlockable?
That sounds much better. Keep dying, offer help, best by advice, eventually unlock easier difficulty.
Instead of blood stains the game could add victory stains after you keep dying. Touch them and see how someone else overcame a particular fight. Usually seeing it can be done is enough to be able to do it yourself.

I agree ng+ should be more difficult, maybe different enemy placements, different traps. ng+ was laughably easy after the first play through.

However the first play through needs better explanation of the game mechanics. Plus I'm for an optional retry system. After you die have a choice to go back to the bonfire or reset to the last safe spot you were before an enemy spotted you. Same for those damn swinging blades in Sen's fortress I just couldn't reliably judge my distance from. And allow retrying a boss fight with the same people.