Yeah, you're right, from almost any angle this game is brutal. I guess the heart of my point is that it's not good because it's hard*, it's good because it's good. (As silly as that sounds.) For all the time I've been hearing about the series since Demon's Souls was released, the impression I had as an outsider looking in, without a current gen console, is that the games were defined by their difficulty. But here we are, I'm at a spot where I'm having steady and rapid progress, you're at a spot where the game is proving extremely challenging**, and we're clearly both having amazing experiences. So my impression, and perhaps apprehension, for all this time, has been unfounded. And I'm very glad for it.
*: Not that this is a point that anyone in here would be trying to make, it's more of a general impression.
**: I'm fairly confident everything after Blighttown has seemed so easy for me in large part because I struggled in that putrid crevice for so long. If you had asked me if I was having an easy time back then I woulda said no, without reserve. I went back down there for a bit recently to farm Large Titanite Shards off leeches, looked for a moment at all the giants that I had entirely avoided the first time through, and thought "err, yeah, no, maybe next time".