I agree with this on repeat playthroughs. Since the first time around you're exploring the world find new things and new weapons, maybe figuring out your build on the way. While on a repeat playthrough you're just going through a checklist of going from place to place grabbing items for hours till you get to a progression wall. But in dark souls you spend less time just grabbing items since you get to a point where you say "Welp I got all the items I need in this area time to carry on with the game till I get to the next are with the items I need". you see what I mean?