Thankfully the majority were cool with it, but there was still quite a lot of complaints in various forums and comments sections. It helped that the game itself wasn't a major release and that thanks to 7 years of Super Guide a lot of the people who were so against it had gotten it out of their system and come to grudgingly accept this sort of thing.

Still there was a lot of stuff like:

"I don't know why games should be made that autoplay themselves. Whats the point? Are people really that incapable of any sort of difficulty? So what if a player struggles. It's the only way they'll get good."

"New gamers are getting catered way too much"

Giving every scrub a chance to blast through the game is bad game designing"

"Remember when games (especially Nintendo games) were challenging and didn't hold your hand because they assumed you were either a kid or a complete n00b? Remember when even the simplest of games actually required skill to beat or get good at?

Because things like this kinda make me miss those days. Much like the EXP Share and White Tanooki Suit before it, this "Invincible Arwing" looks like another attempt by Nintendo at casualizing their games to appeal to kids and casuals by removing any sort of skill and holding their hands all the way through. Seriously, with features like these, what's the point of even playing the game in the first place?"

"Urgh, at least turn the Arwing into a toy and have it shoot water instead of lasers, having the bosses call you out on it and just fly away in disgust when encountered with this mode on would also be a nice touch.

You know make it blatantly clear that the player sucks and is having his hand held through it."

"I don't know why games should be made that autoplay themselves. Whats the point? Are people really that incapable of any sort of difficulty? So what if a player struggles. It's the only way they'll get good."

"New gamers are getting catered way too much"

Giving every scrub a chance to blast through the game is bad game designing"

Sooo, some people complain. Some people always complain. Is it major? I don't think so.

There is one example that is especially striking. Zelda Breath of the Wild is probably the most difficult Zelda in years. I die more often in BOTW than Souls. Did people demand an easy mode? No, on the contrary they applauded the introduction of Master Mode, a option with even HIGHER difficulty. So why not as with Souls games people did ask again and again for an easy mode? Because in difference to Souls game everyone knew how to play Zelda, it was a gameplay they expected.

Well, if Nintendo announced tomorrow there would be a new easy mode added to BOTW, I wouldn't have a problem with that. I wouldn't use it myself, but if it helps someone else get into it, I don't see the harm.

I can't help but feel this is very disingenuous, because it isn't in line with the enjoyment of entertainment as a whole. Entertainment by it's very nature is getting something out of something that holds no real objective value. Just because you don't graduate from school for finishing Dark Souls doesn't mean that feeling of accomplishment can't exist. Just because an option doesn't affect certain people doesn't mean it isn't an important part of the game's point. In fact it's not even a good argument when used by your own standards. If games have no real importance, then why even go to the lengths of buying a game you know you probably won't enjoy? And if they aren't important than what's the point of arguing about whether there should be a difficulty mode on an obscure gaming forum? Of course you didn't say that games aren't important - but you did make a comparison to objective benchmarks that somehow trivialize those of video games. Even though that would fly in the face of the point of entertainment as a whole.

Souls games are mostly about learning. And one of those methods of teaching in a Souls game is the difficulty. If you don't want to learn the game, then why play it? Because that's the thing about most easy modes. They are mostly there so that players don't have to learn anything about the game. People act like difficulty isn't a mechanic of a game, but of course it is. It has as much importance as any other - and that is proved by both people who dislike the difficulty in a game or by those who like it. 

I've seen your posts around this forum and honestly I don't think the Souls games are for your demographic. Most people who get into them have a lot of free time on their hands. Most people who get into them like a challenge. That doesn't mean they should change, it just means it isn't for you. And that's fine. 

Anyways, this is my last post in this thread. I don't want to keep repeating what I've repeated a million times before. Other people are free to disagree or talk. It is obnoxious for me to take up most of the thread. Plus I just remembered that I think one of my first moderations had to do with difficulty in games. So yeah ... not going to get trapped into that again  

Yeah, but that is not my point. Why nobody think about masking an easy mode for Zelda in the first place, while it is common for Souls?

Oh, I think of another example. With emulation - you know like Virtual Console and Sega Genesis Collection - games get added save states, which certainly make things easier. But nobody complains about it (yeah, as with Star Fox Zero, probably a few people complain). your whole thread seems to generalize the Souls situation, which isn't at all something usual. And then the thread fails to recognize whats so different about Souls. That it isn't about difficulty at all, but about gameplay.

I answered that I have no problem with an easy mode in Dark Souls, it just doesn't solve your problem.

Say, you play Mario, but you never jump. You constantly fall into the first pit and die. So you demand an easy mode. Nintendo hears you and let's say give Mario invulnerability against enemies or so. You play the patched game with high hopes, but you still don't jump and so you fall into the first pit and die.

People these days have reduced their gaming options of few gameplay variants. I have played games for more than 25 years and seen a lot of gameplay ideas. These days on the typical consoles we have mostly shooters, action games, some action RPGs and Sports. Puzzlers or turn-based RPGs are already awful niche. Now comes the Switch and has a lot of games which are metroidvanias, platformers or strategy. And people accustomed to the other consoles say: Switch has no games. Because they don't even recognize the different gameplays. Same with Dark Souls. People expect it to play like say God of War, Darksiders or Zelda. And going in with that expectation they aren't seeing that the gameplay is actually different. So it is like playing Mario without jumping: they will fail. But instead of recognizing the different gameplay, they think the game is hard and demand an easy mode. Only it will solve nothing. They still won't jump. because they aren't recognizing a different gameplay if they see it. And yeah, all the git gud stuff - it means play the game like it is intended instead of playing a different game, while having the Dark Souls disk inserted.