Awesome soundtrack! One of the best in the NES era. I'm surprised no one has ever tried to hack the game into the original intended Terminator game. Although, I also always thought it would have made a good base for a spin-off Mega Man hack, too.
That and Darkwing Duck would make a good base for a Proto Man game.
Anyways, I finally tried Dark Souls and I'm currently at level 42. Fucking game is super frustrating at time, yet I love the exploration aspect. That is a lot of fun and the adrenalin rush when you accidentally run into a boss encounter is genuinely thrilling at times.
What I don't get are the times I've heard people compare it to Castlevania. Sure the exploration of a huge castle-like structure is superficially similar, but what the game really reminds me of is a brutal 3D Legend of Zelda 1 more than anything. Hell, if you modded in Link, made dying not cost you your souls and Humanity, and made falling into pits only cost some HP then I'd be playing LoZ1 in 3D. Most of the dark aspects of the game are just fluff text and creepy models anyway.