A Noob's first time with Dark Souls

So I just thought I would post about my first experience with Dark Souls for everyone's amusement and maybe some veterans out there could give me a hand if I get stuck? First a bit of background, I have never played Dark Souls, when it first came out I was in uni and money was very tight so I couldn't pick it up at the time. After that, I kind of just forgot about it to be honest as other games came out and by the time I remembered about it, I had upgraded to my Xbox. From there when the remastered Dark Souls came out, I didn't grab it since didn't have the time to invest but now seems like the perfect time, with my girlfriend away for two weeks, holidays coming up and being able to get the remastered trilogy for $89.

Quick recap of what has happened so far, I made my way up to the first boss and was summarily flattened because I couldn't work out how to use Esters properly, completely my fault for not working it out before taking on the boss. From there I worked my way through the Undead Burg until some bull looking SOB, flattened me and by that stage I had one Esters left. It was a long ass trip though from where I started after the cutscene, so I figured I must have been missing something and it turns out I was right. There was a bond fire at a halfway point. So I have kindled that and I am just grinding out skeletons at the moment to get a better feel for all the mechanics. I have gotten a couple of loot drops too, a handaxe (which I am currently using after upgrading my strength so I can use it one-handed), a couple of fire bombs and something called titanite, which I believe is used to upgrade weapons but I am not too sure how to do that or if I want to at this point.

So far I am loving it, including the grind that I am doing at the moment. Its great to be rewarded again for grinding rather than having to do it because some muppet changed the balance of the game, so they can direct you towards their skinned casino. Anyway, if you want me to keep posting about my experience, just let me know!

I’m a huge fan of dark souls, and love hearing about the experiences of first time players. Don’t forget that a lot of the combat in the game are about taking advantage of the terrain. The bill fight is an example, maybe have a good look around next time your in that arena.

Thanks for the tip, I found the thing you were talking about. The special way to do an attack that deals with big damage. I have moved on and have gotten past the gargoyle at this stage, though I think my habit of grinding is making it a tad easy cause I took him out without any issues. So now I have a shiny new helmet and have rung one bell successfully.

EDIT: I also got a shiny sword from our fire breathing friend on the bridge, though I cant take credit for that since a mate told me about it.

So I played a bit more in the early morning through a haze of insomnia and all I can say is that Capra demon can go to hell. Beat him on my third attempt but I think it had more to do with me being over levelled than any actual skill. I have also been told not to go any further without an iron ring? Aaaaand cause my mates are bastards thats all they have told me. So I'll be running around looking for it tonight. I have explored the Undead Asylum from the Firelink Shrine on and the Undead Parish really throughly already thanks to grinding so I have no idea where it could be.

have you tried going back to where you started.

Okay update, so I found the ring after I got a hint from my mate that said "Tweet, Tweet", wiseass. I then went into the depths and have beaten the Gaping Dragon. During the fight, I managed to get the Dragon King Greataxe, which should be helpful late game if I can build up enough strength to use it. I have found the entrance to Blightown as well. I don't want to head in there just yet, so I am back to grinding and trying to work out how to use my specialised pieces of Titanite, I have a Titanite Chunk, three Green Titanite Shards and a Red Titanite Chunk. I assume they upgrade your weapons and I am liking the look of the Red Titanite Chunk with the note of "fire weapon".