In an interview with Game Informer, Hidetaka Miyazaki elaborated on the philosophy of difficulty in FromSoftware games that "torment" players.
We get a lot of praise for the fact that our games are difficult, but it's not just about cranking up the difficulty — it's important to do it fairly. When a player dies and understands why it happened, that's what we strive for.
According to Miyazaki, the developers were always aware that players would sometimes be shocked and angry, but this is an integral part of the rhythm of FromSoftware games.
We try to provide a learning curve and a feedback loop so that the player can learn lessons for the next attempt. We believe in challenging games, but not in unfair or dishonest ones.