These are some really smart changes that would totally preserve the experience. What I love most about them is that it would be great at teaching a new player how the series works with just lowering the bar a slight amount to make it a bit more forgiving and expressive. Any player could easily jump into the normal mode after that and likely be very successful and have the confidence to experience future games as the designers intended.
I feel like Dark Souls 2 did a decent job in this regard, having mostly turned off invasions on NG and made many of the bosses a lot easier. Plus they double down with the challenge in NG+ and give veterans what they want.
Great thoughts, maybe some ideas like these will make their way into Sekiro. Even though it's Activision, I know From is getting some assistance that might make some of their usual obtuse concepts a bit more clear for new players (which we all be when the game releases).


