Those are not difficulty settings and you know it. This argument is so fucking shit.
Of course they are. They literally allow you to ignore all of the most difficult game mechanics. With a great shield you literally never need to time dodges. As a mage, you can easily do ranged damage, so you don’t need to time your attacks or worry about positioning. Using a summon means the boss doesn’t even attack you half the time, and some of them are so powerful that they can beat many bosses on their own.
It’s actually a far better difficulty system than the standard “the game mechanics are the same, but enemies do less damage and have less health” system that most games use.