I'm m enjoying this game, but I have to complain a little. Why are there such easy cheap shots in combat? Fighting enemies even half my level can still kill me with two lucky shots in a row. It happens with regularity. People say these games are super hard, but that's not difficulty, it's just flaw.

One of the bigger changes to the game is the removal of Endurance as a stat you can put points into. From what I remember the only way to increase your defense is through buff spells or gear that increases your hp. Really its only a problem toward the beginning of the game when you have relatively few options for dealing with demons.

The game is like Demon's Souls in the sense that it starts off extremely difficult, demanding your attention, and then as the game goes on, you become better at managing your stuff and the game becomes easier and easier as a result. Give it time.

The beginning is probably the hardest part of the game honestly. Enemies hit real hard and you have few options. Eventually you should have enough useful demons and skills that you can generally avoid those cheap shots.

Make sure you're utilizing every option at your disposal though. If an enemy is causing you particular trouble you can always use negotiation to get rid of them. If I recall, if you happen to have the demon in your party or stock then they always leave the fight when you talk to them.

Fighting isn't always the ideal tactic.

The first five hours of SMTIV are unfairly difficult. The rest of the game's difficulty is pretty good. Medusa is the last fight that I felt was really unfair. Well, unfair in the boss's favor. The last few hours of the game are also really easy.

Buffs are important! Sukukaja is an easy spell to look at and go "meh, looks useless", but casting Sukukaja a few times causes most enemy attacks, especially physical ones (they have a lower chance to hit anyway) to miss you.

Talk to demons. You can often get something out of talking to them, or you can recruit them and fuse 'em up. In any case, it's a good way to avoid a lot of fighting. EDIT: As @zeik said, if you have a demon in your party or stock, you can avoid fighting that demon completely by talking to it. You could have a collection of the general area's demons hanging around in your stock and just breeze through.

Finally, you can save anywhere in SMTIV. Take advantage of this.

I remember this game being brutal for the first 10-20 hours, and then actually really easy towards the end. I did grind a ton, though.

This is mainly true if you've played a lot of other JRPG series, where buffs/debuffs/status effects are typically not very effective or useful and it's always better to just throw huge damage at the enemy. SMT bucks that trend quite a bit.