Dark Souls should NOT have a difficulty setting
This video perfectly summarizes it. I had watched it before playing DS and thought this opinion was kinda stingy but after finishing it, I cannot agree more. The feeling of achievement you get after killing a very difficult boss or seeing a bonfire after walking through hell is unimaginably satisfying. I had broken the cardinal rule and used a guide in the early game and decided against it once I got to the Depths and the feeling I had getting to lower Blighttown and finding a bonfire was refreshing. The difficulty is fined tuned and lowering it because it's challenging demolishes the whole point of the game, battling through adversities and hardships just as we do in real life. He also makes a fair point of how would lowering the difficulty work ingame. Do you make some bosses attack slowly and reduce the number of attacks they have? Do you remove the poison swamp in Blighttown? Changing the difficulty ruins the whole game and I can understand that a lot better now. Yes there are some tough areas and bosses but we all conquered them and so can you. The game is difficult but fair. Every boss has a weakness and it's up to you to either use it against them or toughen your way through. There are various equipment to help you on your journey, making the experience less difficult. Even with that, you can summon others to help out in an area and/or with a boss, there's no shame in asking for help. Everyone faced the same bosses with the same amount of health and attacks but we all had different ways we beat them and for the most part, felt good after all was said and done
Edit: Thank you to everyone who shared their opinions. Although I still think DS should have only one set difficulty, I do understand why people ask for it now. Accessibility and difficulty shouldn't be as interchangeable as it, because DS most definitely is not accessible(gameplay) to everyone and that's fine. It should, however, be more accessible (actual accessibility) to those who want to experience and not be fucked by the poor customisation. The idea of an easier mod also sounds good to me but I have no idea if that can be created and if it can, how it'll be made easier other than reducing enemy health and damage as there are more mechanics to DS than that.