I played and loved the original Demon's Souls to death, although I beat it a year after release when I had a nice detailed wiki to consult for everything. Even with that wiki, I died alot and got to a point of controller throwing frustration on multiple occasions, especially with bosses. 
  
I've spent about 25-30 hours with Dark Souls at this point and I'm loving every second of it but I began to notice something. Maybe I'm just better at the game because I'm familiar with it or maybe I just upgraded my equipment well, but I'm finding it to be a much easier adventure. I'm not saying it's a cake walk as I've died plenty and barely scraped by some encounters, but I haven't gotten furious with it. I've been annoyed, but quickly overcame whatever was on my nerves. I've made it to the large city after Sen's Fortress and in my travels, most bosses only took me one or two tries tops. I beat the Steel Golem without being touched whatsoever. The only boss I had to fight five times was the witch creature guarding the bell in blighttown. I got my ass kicked in the catacombs and decided to avoid it since I've heard you need a divine weapon and I'm still gathering pieces for one, but yeah, is it me, or is Dark Souls a much less punishing experience? 
 
Again, I'm not saying the game is easy by any means, I'm just saying it's not balls to the wall hard. I welcome the change to a consistent challenge over steep curves. What do you guys think?

Maybe you're just using a better playstyle than demon souls. (I found bosses in demon souls to be easy for the most part, just because I was a mage then). 
 
 
I feel like dark souls for the most part is around the same difficulty as demon souls. I think the bosses are a bit harder in dark souls because you can't really cheese them by hiding in a corner like in demons. Also strangely enough the boss you had the most difficulty with was the boss I beat fairly easy.  
 
 
e: have you gone through Anor Londor or the Demon Ruins yet? Those might change your mind about difficulty. 

A lot of it probably has with knowing what you're getting into beforehand this time.

I never played the original Demon's Souls and am not using a guide and am finding the game hard to get my head around. Satisfying, yet hard. Though I'm giving it a lot more leeway than usual cause there have been so many warnings about how hard this was gonna be and people sharing their experiences with Demon's Souls that I don't completely feel thrown into the deep end of the water.

Also, the difficulty has a sense of fairness about it.

This game is weird. I don't envy anyone who would have to review it professionally. But I've enjoyed the 5-6 hours or so I've invested in it so far, frustrating at times as they may be.

No no no no no no no...No

Your expectations are different. Its not easier at all.

The only really difficult change for me are the flasks. Being limited to only 5 heals per "trip" is tough to manage for me at times and often just makes me go back and restart the area. I could kindle the bonfires but since I don't know whats up ahead I never know if it's really worth it and never do so. Being able to get a ton of herbs was slightly better I think. As it is sometimes I'll make a few mistakes in the beginning of an area and I'm down to 1 Flask and I know theres a boss at the end so I just go back to the bonfire and re-do the whole area so I can meet the boss with at least 4 flasks just in case. Thats not "hard" thats just repetitious. At the end of the day you basically have the layout imprinted into your mind but in an area or too you will gain enough levels and gear that the previous stage will be a cakewalk; so that knowledge is really useless.

Thats my only real complaint against Dark Souls - don't like the flask system that much (that and I also consumed the fire soul that makes it better because I thought consuming it will actually strengthen the flask; the description didn't say you had to give it to someone.. oh Dark Souls..)

Would it possibly have something to do that I played as a Knight in Demon's Souls and a Wanderer in Dark Souls? Vinny said the Knight sucks so maybe I just made the last game harder for myself.

Would it possibly have something to do that I played as a Knight in Demon's Souls and a Wanderer in Dark Souls? Vinny said the Knight sucks so maybe I just made the last game harder for myself.

I tend to agree. Playing non-human is really no big deal, most bosses leave too many openings, and I've never once ran out of Estus flasks (always kindle to 10) so that's a non issue. It's still a tough game, just nothing as impenetrable as Demon's Souls felt. If it weren't for that soul farming location in 4-2 giving me opportunity to beef up my characters equipment and stats, I might have never gotten over the hump.

Dark Souls does get hard (nay, cheap) in spots but overall it feels like a much more gradual difficulty spike. It might seem easier to us at the start compared to Demon's Souls since it's a larger game so the difficulty has time to ramps up slower.