It's the question that comes up every time FromSoftware releases a new action RPG - should Dark Souls come with an easy mode? To answer this question (sort of), we must first figure out why these games are so hard, and whether there are better ways to provide difficulty settings than a choice at the start of the game.

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GDC Vault: "Darkest Dungeon: A Design Postmortem" (Paid)
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023435/Darkest-Dungeon-A-Design

Wired UK: "Dark Souls 3 director: it's about 'accomplishment by overcoming tremendous odds'"
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-03/29/dark-souls-3-hidetaka-miyazaki-interview

Boss Fight Books: "Spelunky by Derek Yu"
https://bossfightbooks.com/products/spelunky-by-derek-yu

Note: The first Fire Emblem game to get a mode without permadeath is actually the Japanese only Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~. I chose to show Awakening as it's the first game released in the West to have the mode.

Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance):

Dark Souls III (From Software, 2016)
Bloodborne (From Software, 2015)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2015)
Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac Games, 2014)
Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios, 2015)
Hitman (iO Interactive, 2016)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios, 2016)
Dark Souls (From Software, 2011)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom Production Studio 4, 2005)
Fire Emblem Awakening (Intelligent Systems, 2012)
Streets of Rage 3 (Sega, 1994)
Battlefield Hardline (Visceral Games, 2015)
Spelunky (Derek Yu, 2012)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions, 2015)
Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo, 2013)

Music used in this episode:

Thoughtful (Lee Rosevere)
This Is The End (Boats, Sunset Overdrive)
Firelink Shrine (Dark Souls)
In a Moment (Lee Rosevere)
Adventure Begins (Spelunky, Eirik Suhrke)
Thoughtful (Lee Rosevere)
Vignette - Panacea (Hyper Light Drifter)

Lee Rosevere - Music for Podcasts
https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-podcasts-2