it is until you get it. then it is masterful. great game. I recommend starting the game as deprived for a few reasons. First of all the level of accomplishment when you finally beat the tutorial with a wooden sheil and a shit sword, no armour and nerfed stats is amazing. Secondly, starting as deprived is going to give you the boost youre going to want in the endgame, especially in NG+, As it gives you the most flexibility to build your own class, and also gives you a huge advantage later on in the game stat wise. Its a hard beggining with deprived, but an easier endgame.