I've said this before, but Souls always reminded me of Mario Brothers. You traverse the level, you die and go back to the beginning... you learn, you get a little further, you die again. But you keep getting a little further. You finally make it to the boss, and you die in what seems like an impossible fight. But you learned, and all of a sudden, that level that took an hour to get through now takes all of five minutes (and you can get through without getting hit), and you're right back to the boss. And this time, you get him to half health before dying, and you feel like "yes, I *can* win this". One more time, and you finally beat him.