That is the difference between a thinking person's game, and a hiking (casual)
I've read statements like this one a thousand times by now, but I still find them so offensive that I don't really care if you or anybody else around here take offense on what I'm about to write.
Dark Souls is NOT a thinking person's game, it's just a damn hard to beat game. The "catchy" subtitle "prepare to die" says it all. In fact, most RPGs aren't really about thinking, even when everybody screams out loud that they are. Mostly it's about hand-eye coordination and the patience to play, save, load and reload, observe all the details and choose the best course of action. Doesn't differ much from a shooter, except the patience bit, that's more adequate in a RPG, the shooter relies more on the hand-eye coordination bit.
Even the fabulously overrated turn based tactics games (thinking men games "for sure") are no more than patience games. Any dumbass who has a good memory can memorize, after trial and error, the best way to beat something. Any dumbass with a good memory can choke his gamer brain with stats and options and use to choose the best way to beat the game.
Most thinking men games, in fact, are "chick games", good adventure games (not the ones where you have to combine objects with objects 'till you get the right combination). So, mostly, they are thinking women (and ocasionally) thinking men games. Dark Souls is a difficult game. There are many others.
But let's take the thinking out of the equation assuming that "thinking" here equates with intelligence, be it IQ or EQ or whatever form of rating the way you think. Thinking, in it's most "lato sensu" form is always needed, even if you are just clicking a mouse and using a keyboard...
