Played about 5 hours, got through the first two bosses. Have only died 5 times so far (died twice on first boss, one shotted the second one easily). I'm being pretty thorough and taking my time, exploring every nook and cranny. Not really finding it difficult yet. The hardest thing is how crummy the estus heal is, seems like it barely restores 1/3rd of your bar.
Seems they have made the shield slightly less effective than previous DS games. Blocking is still obviously better than getting hit, but just hiding behind your shield seems less good.
Here's a question...