After so many years, I'm finally giving into the meme. What should I know before I start for the first time?

After so many years, I'm finally giving into the meme. What should I know before I start for the first time?

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Online is dead.
Don't invest in resistance. Ever.
Don't use bows/crossbows, ranged is shit.

That you should drop it and play Demon's Souls instead

Sounds good
Not worried about online anyways

It's unfair, artificial difficulty, people who "beat it" without using a trainer are fucking liars

Pump vitality and endurance up to~20-30 before focusing on any other stats. It'll save you a few headaches in the early game.

Listen to

Start with Demon Souls, the real first game in the series. Dark Souls is a legally distinct sequel that is inferior and is just made to get a wide release instead of just PS3.

lmao

Fucking faggots who don't play a series through from the beginning really triggers my autism. Yeah man, play the fucking spiritual SUCCESSOR first.

don't listen to him, best build for first time is high resistance and crossbow, start with thief class, use about half of your souls to stock up on bolts, level up resistance to drastically minimize those pesky poison and fire effects.

also always go for parry, even on small enemies

I'm eating up as many tips as possible. Probably going to start with a knight for that high HP.

Lol

The only good Souls games are Demons, Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3.
1 is only praised because it's the first game that most people got to play but in reality the game turns really bland halfway through.
2 is already agreed to be shit by everyone.

Also remember to start with Master key, it's far more useful than the other items.
Don't pick the HP ring, it only boosts hp slightly, the description is wrong.

Rolling or parrying is better than using a shield

Not using a shield lets you 2 hand weapons for more damage as well

Don't pick up the master key for the first run. Other than that just have fun.

After you finish it, either play 3 or bloodborne, avoid 2 like the plague

Use your common sense. Seriously the legion of morons who claim they entered the graveyard first and kept trying for ours are liars.

If you see a location you can and will eventually go there, if said place is too hard try a different path.

Also Miyazaki loves traps, take your time and again apply your common sense

DaSII (with DLC) > Bloodboon > Demons > DaS1 > DaSIII

Resistance is useless
Master Key is OP
Drakesword is only good until Capra Demon
Rolling>Blocking

Play something else instead. The dark souls games are putrid garbage.

Pick the Master Key
Get the claymore on the drake bridge
gg ez

Don't start with the master key it ruins the progression. Go up after getting past the tutorial. You don't need to do the graveyard until later.

So, masterkey or not?

Fuck this guy

Start with Kings Field, the first real game in the series. Demon Souls is a legally distinct sequel that is inferior and just made to get a wide graphical increase instead of PS2

An add-on section of DaSII doesn't fix the rest of the game user

Demons also only gets praised by the contrarians and people who want to look cool

They're both good but you MUST suck on that teet for attention otherwise no one will give you your well earned gamer cred

master key

put some points into STR and DEX, don't worry about your build the first time around. Just try to get a feel for the different weapons and find out which ones you like.

Don't pick it up. You don't need it to break progression, but if you don't know what you're doing you probably will skip areas. That's my advice anyway

Nah, it's more fun to wait for loot and find things for yourself

Take the master key

Ignore all the people saying otherwise and go to the graveyard after you get to firelink, there's good shit in there.

you should know that you're late as fuck loser

Don't do this. Demon's Souls is fucking awful. It has some cool and unique bosses, but that's all there is to it. It's just fucking awful.

It's good for 2nd playthroughs since you can sequence break, but you also can buy it later in the game so if you want a vanilla experience and aren't going to be using guides then take something else. Also you keep the key once you buy it in new game plus.

It's the same debate were people want you to play malkavian first in VTM:B when all you're really doing is being told by vets who have played the game 20+ times to play the game their way.

Don't pick the locket if anything since that has no purpose what so ever. People will lie to you and say it does but it's one of those jokes Miyazaki threw in as a false flag

Don't use master key on your first playthrough
You don't need to play Demon Souls first, it's like a slightly worse Dark Souls, you can play it whenever
Don't go to the graveyard right away
Upgrading weapon is more important than leveling up
If you have less than 25% equip burden you can roll fast
Bows aren't completely useless but don't use them as your primary
Don't ignore VIT and END, it might make end game harder than it should be

>Demon's is worse

More like way better. more original. Better levels. Easier. Much faster combat and running speed. More video gamey. More fun.

DS is a bit of a slog. III and Bllodborn are bettter.

>don't use master key

I really disagree with this one. I picked it on my first playthrough and it makes the game seem less linear. There's nothing wrong with opening up and a place and finding out that the enemies are too strong.

Don't pick it. Black Firebomb is sort of useful for the first two bosses and Old Witch's Ring unlocks some new story content so one of those is probably the way to go.

WHO GIVES A SHIT

Seriously no one should say demons is bad I agree but OP is asking about the other one. Why does that trigger you people into oblivion?

Listen to this user. I fucked up and wound up in Blighttown before I ever even saw the Capra Demon or anything in the Depths.

When you meet Solaire, get the white soapstone then kill him.

If he's alive he's summonable for like 2 bosses and you'll usually be hollow. But killing him gets you some great gear early on.

>using guides

??
Don't kill Solaire. Don't kill any of the NPCs

DS online is more alive than DS2 on PC.

>he never got good
You can beat the game at level one, console players did it long before you even got a port pcuck

Demon's is a way better introduction. Faster, better levels, more fun, and easier. Dark is kind of harder and slower and can turn people off.

Endurance is your favorite stat. It is what allows you to sprint, to roll, to block with a shield, to attack. If you have to choose between vitality and endurance, choose endurance.

Learn to parry! You will get a ton more damage once you get a parry and riposte going on humanoid enemies of similar size to you. It's significantly more than backstabbing, too, and it's incredibly satisfying to land.

Explore. Explore, explore, explore. Pay attention! You will die, and many times, but pay attention to how and where you die. Too many quick deaths in one area indicates you should try elsewhere.

Don't try to blast through new areas. Every area is a training yard and it's there to teach you new things. Don't skimp on training.

Try many different weapons. Look at what stats they depend on and scale with. Go for one handed, for two handed, for spear or sword or club. Figure out what sorts of playstyles work for you in what areas against what enemies. Nothing needs to be set in stone.

If one strategy doesn't work, try another one. It's worth it to spend time learning to dodge and roll and avoid attacks instead of trying to go pure offense. The game is about learning how enemies move and act: take the time to appreciate that and you won't be butting your head against a wall but rather taking notes.

Don't take the master key. It might be the most useful item, but not on your first playthrough.

Bows aren't useless at all, they're great for luring enemies. Just don't use them as a main weapon.

Don't read a guide.

Anyone who tells you otherwise about the master key should be shot and his extended family gassed.

I beat DeS 3 days ago. Combat feels the same as DaS. Whole world 5 is shit, so is 4-2. Estus flasks are much better than grass, since not having enough grass makes the game too hard, and having too much makes it too easy.
DeS did feel easier and shorter but I wouldn't list that as a pro or a con since it might be just cause I was already used to Souls.
Upgrading weapons in DeS is also very complicated with the 50 different kinds of ore, so I ended up ignoring that for the most part and finishing the game with a Bastard Sword +5
He might end up skipping some of the content with the key, but in the end it's not a huge deal whether or not he picks the key as long as he explores the game.

Is it weird that I've played up to NG+++ and have never parried once?

Thank you.

As long as he explores then it's all good.
Like
says. Try different weapons, explore, train a bit, have fun.

Where is the claymore?

I never did NG+ but I beat the game 2 and a half times without bothering with parrying. It's too risky and rolling is all I need

I guess it's weird if you've never at least tried it once before realizing that it's simply not worth it.

>Combat feels the same as DaS.

The pace and movement is much more like Demon's.

That was more or less my experience. Tried it on some of the Knights before the first bell and realized 's point of rolling being better

Resistance is useless.

Stats have caps past which you get either literal or approximate jack shit. For example, for strength and dex it's 40. Don't mindlessly pump shit.

Don't summon on your first playthrough.

Rolling>blocking.

Keep your weight at least below 50% so your rolls aren't useless. If you go below 25%, you get the best rolls.

Upgrading weapons>leveling

Stick to the normal upgrade path and increase the stats your weapon scales on, elemental weapons have split damage which kinda sucks.

After Firelink you need to find a path upwards and through an aqueduct. Don't go to the skellies. Don't go down.

Vit and End are always useful, as long as you're not at the softcap.

If a boss is raping you, try to approach it methodically and figure out its patterns. They all have tells for their attacks and windows that are safe to punish.

Two-handing your weapon makes it so your strength gets a 1.5x bonus when calculating damage and meeting requirements.

Learning to parry helps with certain enemies.

Keep a bow and 50-100 arrows on you, you won't use it as a main weapon, but it's useful in certain situations.

Pretty much every weapon is viable in PvE, just pick something that looks cool and has a moveset you like.

Can you rephrase that, I don't understand. The pace and movement of what is like Demon's Souls?

kill the dogs first

I had a hard time of it before I got to the forest with the guardians and then I just started practicing. After a while I could do it with ease and now it's my favorite way of taking care of knights.

>Don't kill any of the NPCs

Execpt for that Way of White guy.

I pretty much just kick enemies. I think all of the enemies that can be parried can also be kicked and it's a lot faster and safer.

The only "Souls" game I've ever parried in is Bloodborne. And even then it wasn't until defiled chalices when I realized how absurdly strong a ranged parry is.

>It's too risky

Eh, I dunno. If you play the game a lot, you get used to enemy timings. Most of the times when I'm facing a black/silver knight i'll just parry it, because I'm used the their moveset.

The different timings fucked me up real good when I tried parrying them in 3

at least not until you get the dark hand and farm him for humanity

Dark Souls 2 is objectively MASSIVELY inferior to Dark Souls 1 though.

DS2 definitely seems like the weaker of the series.

Admittedly I haven't played DS3 yet.

It's not totally false, there are good loots there
Quite useful depending on your build
Just run, dont kill the skeleton and avoid having a lot of souls, you will die but it will be worth it

Yeah, but on a first playthrough it's completely pointless to try to learn all of the timings when you can just block, roll, or kick. Yeah, a riposte does a lot of damage, but it's just not worth the effort unless you're replaying the game enough times where the learning curve isn't a waste of time.

>What should I know before I start for the first time?

-Choose Pyromancer as your starting class
-Explore
-Talk to all NPC's
-Kill NPC's after you've completed their storyline/purchased all items from their shop
-Always Have the Ring of Favor and Protection equipped
-If you need practice in an area put down your soapstone to play through the area with someone until you get the hang of it
-40 Endurance is the minimum level you need to get the most out of your character
-Try each weapon fighting style for a bit and find which one you feel the most comfortable with
-Don't be a shitter and disconnect if you get invaded, play offline if you don't want to deal with invaders
-Don't give up if a section of the game seems hard
-Git Gud

It was worth it to me because riposting is so viscerally satisfying and once you learn to do it it becomes so much fun.

>-Choose Pyromancer as your starting class
>-Always Have the Ring of Favor and Protection equipped

I don't agree with you on those points, while pyromancer is a good and effective class I think he can choose anything he wants maybe just avoid sorcerer,cleric and thief for a first run

For the ring I left that for preference, I used Havel and Covetous Gold ring for my first run
Damn I missed it now, discovering everything... this game is one of my favorite

Kill Lautrec when you see him.
Kill the dogs first.
Be careful, dont charge into an unknown area.
Explore.

How fucking bad are you?

What's wrong with Cleric for a first run? Sure, you don't get good miracles until later on, but a one-handed weapon (whether you keep the mace or switch to a sword or morningstar) and shield are all you need until then.

That you should skip this piece of half finished garbage game and just play demons souls and dark souls 3.

Online is still alive and well actually. Switch to Luxemborg. Sometimes the latency is an issue but there's still plenty of players.

Play demons souls first you rube. Its a better game.

Eh, I think magic is a tad confusing for a first run in my opinion, a more offensive, focused on weapons class like warrior, knight or bandit is more suited
I'll must make a cleric/thunder character for once

>-Choose Pyromancer as your starting class
I only suggested this for the first playthrough since this class is an intro to spells and can be customized into anyhting

>-Always Have the Ring of Favor and Protection equipped
FAP ring is good for beginners and veterans because of the HP, stamina, and equipment load boost... good for the first run

Nah. None of the early spells are complicated. The magic and pyromancy starter spells are actually great for beginners. And clerics just get healing spells, so they're still essentially warriors in light armor. If anything, I'd think the hardest for a beginner would be the ones who can't attack at long range and don't use shields.

I played it on PS3 a couple months ago and can confirm online is still pretty damn active

That it's best to explore and learn things yourself.

>What should I know before I start for the first time?
Don't look things up online, it ruins the fun.

Dark Souls is really at its best when you're actually exploring and testing shit out

OP here, I attacked the NPC after the asylum and he's wrecking my shit lmao

>resistance is useless

I can never bring myself to use magic. You'd have to put points into INT or FTH, instead of STR or DEX, you also have limited spells you can remember, and you have a limited amount of times you can cast them before visiting a bonfire. So in the end, you're forced to use a melee weapon most of the time, but since you put your points into INT or FTH, you can't melee that well.

weak.

Picked up a good time to start.
reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/4mgpom/100000_subscribers_and_dark_souls_1_global/

Yes it is
If poison is a problem just take a high resistance set like Crimson set or Queelana set

I did as well because it was on sale for 5 dollars and a friend wanted to play with me. Playing with friends is fun, but it murders the difficulty of the game. Playing by myself isn't as fun though, it feels like the developers tried too hard to be hardcore. It's designed to make you die again and again at the start, and it's just not fun. It might be a bit more fun later once you improve your character and your ability, but I don't know, I think they just tried too hard.

It's designed to make you die if you run in or don't pay attention or try to learn. It rewards cautious and thoughtful exploration.

It is not designed to kill you over and over
The thing is, the game is made to make you watch every of your action to be careful, I think what illustrate this the best is SenFunhouse
And there is nothing wrong to have a friend to play with

It's more fun to just die a lot than to walk slowly despite what memers on Sup Forums say imo.

Pay attention and use your wits. If anything, the game is designed to punish impatience and recklessness.

This is a lie.

>Wouldn't any modern publisher run a mile at the suggestion of a game that makes a point of killing its players as quickly, creatively and frequently as it can?
>Miyazaki laughs in recognition at this suggestion. "To be quite honest, we didn't really mention that aspect of the game when we did the presentations to Sony," he says, when I ask how FROM managed to get Demon's Souls green-lit in the first place. "We knew that people at the publisher would feel that way, and that they'd make us change it. So in the product concept presentation I didn't talk about it much. Of course I communicated with our producer at Sony, Kaji-san – but he actually agreed with me. He felt that if we were too forthright about all the death, about this game concept, with the marketing people, they would have run a mile. So that's why we had to be a bit sneaky about it."

I've played games that reward caution and thoughtful exploration that aren't as irritating as Dark Souls.

Yeah I know, I've been playing games since 1989, I still remember the old rules.

So why do you keep dying again and again at the start if you're cautious and paying attention?

OP PICK FUCKING DEPRAVED AS YOUR STARTING CLASS
IT TEACHES YOU HOW TO DODGE PROPERLY DUE TO HAVING SHIT EQUIPMENT THAT MAKES YOU NIMBLE BUT FRAIL AND OFFERS YOU THE MOST FREEDOM IN BUILDING YOUR CHARACTER EARLY ON