I have now played the demo at a convention, and I'm more hyped than ever!
I also made it to and beat the boss in the demo in one run, allowing me a chance to win the collector's edition of Dark Souls 2. I think only one copy was going to be given out, but since only like 12 people had completed the demo in one run at the convention, my chances aren't terrible at least.
"Only 12? I recall seeing the demo
beaten at least 50 times or so."
"Yes, well... it turns out that was all by
the same person, in different disguises. And
that particular person also got disqualified for
using real dark magic to hack the demo right
after beating it, increasing the difficulty further
just to prevent anyone else from completing the
one-run demo challenge."
"...there was no rule against it! They
could at least have put up a sign saying
that manipulating the demo through
alteration of reality wasn't allowed.
Besides, all I did was increase the enemy
damage output to 800%, reduce the
physical protection of the shields to 10%
and add a second Mirror Knight. No big deal."