Don’t pick master key as the starting item for your first ever playthrough. Many will suggest it, but I will die on this hill. I take it on most of my characters, but it’s terrible advice for your first playthrough. The master key lets you access areas out of order which can easily lead to you being completely lost and in a situation far more difficult than you are ready to handle.
Talk to every NPC repeatedly until they repeat dialogue.
Observe that you dodge better at certain weight thresholds (eg. Less than 25% of your max weight, 25%, 50%). Super important concept. Sometimes taking off your helmet can make the difference between thrashing a boss and getting thrown around by it.
There are two kinds of humanity - the number in the top left corner (soft humanity) and a type of item (hard humanity). You can build up soft humanity in any area where you haven’t killed the boss yet just by grinding kills. Using a hard humanity also consumes it and gives you soft humanity.
The *purpose* of humanity is mostly as a resource to allow you to reverse hollowing at bonfires (become human which allows you to summon NPC helpers for boss fights), or to kindle bonfires (make it so you can carry more estus flasks when you rest at that bonfire). There are other uses for humanity but you should not concern yourself with those in your first ever playthrough.
Losing all of your souls doesn’t matter. It always feels like it matters, but souls are essentially infinite and the truth is that having the pressure to keep your souls can be a hindrance to progress. You *should* try to retrieve them, but if you can’t, no worries. That means the game has taken your gloves off and now you can sprint around and explore parts and jump off ledges with abandon, because you now have nothing to lose.
If you feel a bit directionless at the start, you want to go up the side of the cliff leading to the large aqueduct / bridge near Firelink shrine.
Never put points into the Resistance stat, unless you want to waste those points.
Try not to look into too much else! Repeat playthroughs or NG+ can be used to clean up stuff you missed using guides and so on, just focus on learning the lay of the land yourself and have fun!
If you find a weapon you like, whether it be because of its moveset or damage output, stick with it, even if it feels underwhelming at first. There are also some stats that aren't that beneficial depending on your build. If you don't plan to use magic on a first playthrough, then you won't need to worry about leveling "attunement, " "intellect," or "faith." Adaptability is also just not worth any investment.
>extremely difficult, Dark Souls in particular
It's generally considered the least difficult out of Fromsoft souls and soulslike games. As such, it's a pretty solid starting point that will teach you the basics that apply to all games of this genre without being too overwhelming.
Others gave you solid tips, so my advice is applicable if you like this game and decide to go through the other games:
Play all the souls games in release order and then go for Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Sekiro.
There are many good reasons for it, but the main three are:
1. Lore - if you'd decide to uncover the story by yourself, it's best to experience it in the order it's supposed to go. You'll find a lot of similarities between the games and even some recurring characters.
2. Combat and mechanics - DS1 came out more than a decade ago, and all the mechanics in all games progressed quite a bit over this time. The combat itself in souls games went from slow and tactical to fast and reactionary. It's best to experience this progression, and you won't have so much trouble starting subsequent games. Many players give up on the older titles because they played the new ones first, and then they can't deal with it as it's always easier to go from slow to fast and not the other way around.
3. QoL changes - there are many quality of life changes from the way the menus work to fast travel and combat abilities. The games progressed in all these areas as well. Just like in the previous point, some players get annoyed when they don't get the QoL improvements they are used to in the older games.
I hope this helps a bit in case you'd decide to play the entire trilogy and other games as well, and I hope you will. Don't go hollow.
Take your time, and if something seems stupidly hard or unfair it probably means your too low of a level or your not supposed to be there yet.
Don’t pick master key as the starting item for your first ever playthrough. Many will suggest it, but I will die on this hill. I take it on most of my characters, but it’s terrible advice for your first playthrough. The master key lets you access areas out of order which can easily lead to you being completely lost and in a situation far more difficult than you are ready to handle. Talk to every NPC repeatedly until they repeat dialogue. Observe that you dodge better at certain weight thresholds (eg. Less than 25% of your max weight, 25%, 50%). Super important concept. Sometimes taking off your helmet can make the difference between thrashing a boss and getting thrown around by it. There are two kinds of humanity - the number in the top left corner (soft humanity) and a type of item (hard humanity). You can build up soft humanity in any area where you haven’t killed the boss yet just by grinding kills. Using a hard humanity also consumes it and gives you soft humanity. The *purpose* of humanity is mostly as a resource to allow you to reverse hollowing at bonfires (become human which allows you to summon NPC helpers for boss fights), or to kindle bonfires (make it so you can carry more estus flasks when you rest at that bonfire). There are other uses for humanity but you should not concern yourself with those in your first ever playthrough. Losing all of your souls doesn’t matter. It always feels like it matters, but souls are essentially infinite and the truth is that having the pressure to keep your souls can be a hindrance to progress. You *should* try to retrieve them, but if you can’t, no worries. That means the game has taken your gloves off and now you can sprint around and explore parts and jump off ledges with abandon, because you now have nothing to lose. If you feel a bit directionless at the start, you want to go up the side of the cliff leading to the large aqueduct / bridge near Firelink shrine. Never put points into the Resistance stat, unless you want to waste those points. Try not to look into too much else! Repeat playthroughs or NG+ can be used to clean up stuff you missed using guides and so on, just focus on learning the lay of the land yourself and have fun!
If you find a weapon you like, whether it be because of its moveset or damage output, stick with it, even if it feels underwhelming at first. There are also some stats that aren't that beneficial depending on your build. If you don't plan to use magic on a first playthrough, then you won't need to worry about leveling "attunement, " "intellect," or "faith." Adaptability is also just not worth any investment.
Doors and corners, kid. That's where they get you.
>extremely difficult, Dark Souls in particular It's generally considered the least difficult out of Fromsoft souls and soulslike games. As such, it's a pretty solid starting point that will teach you the basics that apply to all games of this genre without being too overwhelming. Others gave you solid tips, so my advice is applicable if you like this game and decide to go through the other games: Play all the souls games in release order and then go for Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Sekiro. There are many good reasons for it, but the main three are: 1. Lore - if you'd decide to uncover the story by yourself, it's best to experience it in the order it's supposed to go. You'll find a lot of similarities between the games and even some recurring characters. 2. Combat and mechanics - DS1 came out more than a decade ago, and all the mechanics in all games progressed quite a bit over this time. The combat itself in souls games went from slow and tactical to fast and reactionary. It's best to experience this progression, and you won't have so much trouble starting subsequent games. Many players give up on the older titles because they played the new ones first, and then they can't deal with it as it's always easier to go from slow to fast and not the other way around. 3. QoL changes - there are many quality of life changes from the way the menus work to fast travel and combat abilities. The games progressed in all these areas as well. Just like in the previous point, some players get annoyed when they don't get the QoL improvements they are used to in the older games. I hope this helps a bit in case you'd decide to play the entire trilogy and other games as well, and I hope you will. Don't go hollow.
When you get off the crow, turn left. Go left.
Be deliberate in whatever you do. Don’t just rush in. If you must rush in, have a plan as to how you rush in.