For Mr. Optimistic, I can offer my own experience at hand-flying the A320, A333, A343 & A345 up to, at, and down from cruise altitude is that they are easy and "normal" to fly. In Normal Law the aircraft is not unstable. I suspect that it is the same in Alternate and Direct Laws but with degraded "damping", one must be very gentle with the aircraft. It's hard work as one is making small corrections all the time, but it is not difficult to fly in the sense that it is unstable. I've only flown Alternate and Direct Laws at cruise altitude in the sim.
I recall a post in the previous thread from someone who had hand-flown one of the above AB models in alternate law, and who reported the actual a/c was significantly more sensitive than the simulator.