The games are hard and can be very cheap despite what fans say. Seems like a lot of people have drunk the cool-aid when it comes to these games as often people sweep any problems they do have under the rug. That being said the games aren't meant for everyone so if people enjoy them then you can't really crticise that.

Ill also note that im a fan of these games.

For today's standards, sure.
Generally speaking, not really.

Dark Souls is not Demon Souls hard, but it is difficult if you're new.

Controls are great in my honest opinion. The games aren't hard. It just happens to heavily punish the impatient. I will say that the final boss of DarkSouls2 is a bit bullshit, though.

It takes a while to get use to.

I thought the same thing a few hours into Dark Souls 2, but then it occured to me that I may have just gotten really comfortable with the games as the franchise went on. Hopefully the lack of defense and increased movement in Bloodborne shakes things up enough.

Dark Souls for a first time player can be a bit daunting if you go into it gung ho. Parts of it can be difficult and some parts harder than they should be (Blight Town for instance due to shoddy performance).

I've been gaming for over 30 years but for me, Dark Souls IS the best game I've ever played.

It's probably not THAT hard because it just seems hard if you compare it to other modern games, but I shouldn't really be able to say this because I haven't even played the game.

No, once you learn the mechanics it really isn't that difficult. The difficulty comes with the learning curve because you'll have to die a lot to learn enemy patterns, traps, etc. But eventually you become a pro, just like in any game you dedicate your time to.

there are lots of harder modern games, DeS/DaS just requires you to respect every enemy, to be patient and observant - qualities needed in very few other games