I honestly never bought that argument. Yes, "Artists vision" is something that is thrown out when this topic came up but I bet you money no one talking about it gives two shits about it. Its just used to prop up their version of gatekeeping.
This entire argument about difficulty is just gatekeeping. People think they belong to an exclusive club when they complete difficult games. If others are also able to do it, then they arent so special anymore.
"Its actually about the artists vision in the game" is the "its actually about ethics in games journalism" with (slightly) less toxicity.
