Dark Souls' combat is certainly more 'simplistic' though that's not really the right word. The combination chains in Severance certainly require good timing and there were a lot more of them. Dark Souls has some really good stuff here though. The lock on is less than perfect but usually works well. Parry and reposte is very cool, also the ability to kick is a welcome addition to the formula.
There is some very neat stuff here. Breaking blocks by sheer brute force is very cool so even if you don't break the opponent's shield, if you have a heavy enough weapon and hit hard enough to overcome their 'stability' rating while they are blocking it will blow their shield out of the way and stun/knockback.
I also enjoy the encumbrance system where your equipment weight determines how far and fast you can move/dodge/roll and recover.
Anyway, I've not enjoyed any melee oriented combat game this much since Severance and I sure as heck wouldn't want to be forced to choose between the two. Like Severance, I see myself playing this game many, many years from now. Games on PS3 are fun (Darksiders, God of War, etc…) but Dark Souls requires and order of magnitude more skill to play and is right up my ally. Extremely punishing but very satisfying when you accomplish something.
I don't see it translating well to the keyboard and mouse though. If it does come out on PC, I'll probably play it with a controller also.
And, ToddMcF2002, IIRC that snow level problem was caused by the OpenGL raster and could be rectified by using the Direct3D raster. Have you tried that?
And for anybody still playing Severance that doesn't know about Arokh's Lair, do yourself a HUGE favor and visit them:
http://www.arokhslair.net/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=4