for me personally the game is more on the less difficult side.
durability does not really matter, durability loss on death was nerfed almost into meaningless. in the starting area you find enough repair powder and after opening the door to the blacksmith he repairs your equipment for free until you reach sacrament. and once you reach it, well u get access to upgrades, shops, enchantments etc, which makes the following regions really do-able.
yes starting gear is nothing fancy, but even with a basic sword you can fight all enemies. it has been done countless times.
parrying i partially agree is not where it could be. it is not as satisfying as in dark souls etc, because u do not get a riposte. there are several discussions about that, for example here: "on Parry" enchantment roll frequency on 2-hand weapons and here: Suggestion: More dynamic parrying through different parry types
but you can parry with staffs and 2 hand weapons, which u can not in dark souls (or any other souls like i know). so it is still viable.
the combat honestly feels good to me. hits feel juicy enough and depending on your equip load evasion is as expected. you also slow roll in dark souls when too heavy.
the aiming is busted, i agree there, auto aim/lock on is terrible, it does focus random enemies rather than the closest one and turning it off is even worse, because u lose lock on when u walk too far away or change direction. this also is discussed in countless threads, maybe you could contribute your opinion there: Lock On Completely Broken
this game imo really shines with exploration and map design. finding new shortcuts and searching every inch of the map is super rewarding and imo comparable to great games like the fromsoft games.
and aside from all that we will be getting more and more changes. there is a skill tree in discussion, multiplayer will come and i am sure we will get some sort of rework with crafting and enchanting things.