Brilliant game! not for those who need to be spoon fed and/or have limited patience.
This is not a game for those who are slaves to their emotions and are prone to tantrums when things don't go your way; if you throw your controller, this is not the game for you. You are not godly powerful, you cannot kill everything you come across straight off the bat, you do have to pick your battles, you have to try different strategies and you have to die.
There is suspense; nothing ramps up the experience like sitting on a large amount of souls (but not enough to level) and pacing yourself through a new area, trying to get it all right so as to reach the next unknown bonfire; die and it ramps up even more as you try to carefully make your way back to recover your humanity and souls.
The feeling of discovery in this game is greater than anything I've played; npc's only give a vague idea of what you're to accomplish, it's all left up to you and so the reward of progression is a joy on its own. This game will teach you patience and self control, it will teach you to let go, hell, it will make you a better person if you are able to learn.
Do not gimp your experience by reading up to much on the wiki, progression and discovering it all by yourself is part of the reward. Hats off to the developers for making something that does not cater to the larger audience of players who need to feel overpowered and god like in a game, for in this game, you are only as good as you play.