Here's my list of advice I give to all new players (more geared towards Bloodborne):
*Explore, explore, explore. Whether it's finding a new way, new item or a new shortcut... the game rewards you for exploring. Even if it's dangerous to go out of your way, you will always learn something new about the game.
*Starting class does not matter much, just stay away from Waste of Skin (and even then that's not so bad). Starting weapon also does not matter much.
*Every weapon is viable so level up the weapon that you like the most. It's not hard to come by upgrade shards in this game so don't think you are over committing to a weapon.
*Each weapon has two modes.... L1 is used to transform a weapon. Normally a weapon will have a 2 handed mode and a 1 handed + gun mode. 2 handed mode will do more damage at the expense of taking away your option to use guns for the parry. Both weapon types are suited for particular scenarios so experiment with both. And you can transform mid combo... look for the combo strings. L2 in two handed mode does an alternate attack with the weapon.
*Stats in Endurance and Vitality are always good, just don't go past 40 on Endurance and 50 on Vitality. However these will just allow you to survive, you need some points in the other stats to get some damage boost. Look at your weapon and see what the damage scales off of. If it's strength then put more points into strength, if Skill then put points into Skill. Go by which rating is higher. You also don't want to put more than 50 in each category. Keep away from Bloodtinge and Arcane for now.
*The old Dark Souls mantra is true in this game as well... if you can take them one on one then you can take on any enemy in the game. However, as soon as there is more than one enemy you have to deal with things get pretty hairy so try to take on enemies one at a time.
*Dodge is your best friend. There are two types of dodges... a Roll when you press Circle without locking on and a dash when locked on. Generally the Dash is better for aggressive play and escaping stickier situations.
*Lock on is done with R3. Move the stick to change targets once locked on. Figure out when to use and not to use R3. When not in lock on you have to "aim" your weapon to hit the right spot using the camera.
*The guns aren't used for damage but for parrying. When an enemy is about to attack you, hit the gun to parry them. You will see them do a heavy stagger with a very particular sound cue. This is your opportunity to go up to them and press R1 for a Visceral attack for BIG damage. This is an essential combat skill in the game. Even some bosses can be parried.
*Another important skill to learn to use is the back stab. Against an enemy's back, hold down R2 for a charged attack. Charge all the way for a big attack and if it hits an enemy's back they will do a similar stagger as if you parried from the front. Go to their backs and press R1 for a Visceral attack for massive damage. Back stab is an effective way to kill enemies from stealth.. just make sure you walk very, very slowly towards them.
*It is definitely worth your while to read ALL ITEM DESCRIPTIONS! If you get something new, read it immediately.
*Read all notes on the ground especially in the main hub area. There are useful tips in all of them. Also look at the red specter notes as they show how people died before you. If there's a zone with a bunch of red notes on the ground... then that means be on your guard (except for red notes in the hub area... ignore those).
*Your lamp posts serve as your check point and they are very limited in the world. When you die enemies respawn and they respawn if you go back to your hub area (where you go to level up, upgrade, buy stuff and teleport to other areas).
*There is always, always going to be a short cut path to the boss fight from the main lamp post in an area. If you know you are about to encounter a boss fight but feel like the trek from the lamp post was too long then you should search for a short cut path to the boss fight from the lamp.
*It is very advisable to not spam potions in a boss fight in order to try to kill it in that fight. If you see that you are about to die and didn't even do 1/3rd damage to the boss then it's pointless to waste more potions on the boss fight as dying will not give you your lost potions back. Your maximum potions are 20 HOWEVER acquiring past 20 adds vials to your stockpile. So if say you got 10 vials past 20 (the holding limit) and you used 12 vials at the boss fight... when you respawn you will have 18 vials (you will get the 10 from your reserve). That's why it's a good idea to stock up on vials past 20 before going to boss fights. And try not to use more than 5 vials per boss fight as a rule, if you feel like you are using that many vials then the problem is that you aren't dodging enough or dodging well enough.
*Don't get greedy. Ever. #1 cause of death in this game is greed. You dodge an enemy's attack and then you attack. You will have them down to a pixel health. Instead of waiting for them to attack you think "oh they are at pixel health, I am just going to go in and attack which should kill him". Nope, this is a very quick way to die in this game especially against bosses. They will attack first, stagger you and if there's another enemy near by they will hit you too for big damage.
*When you get hit there's a small portion of your health that you can regain back if you can hit them back while the life is there. This is the regain system and it allows you to trade blows in certain instances. However this is also a trap in the game as in certain situations you do not want to go back in to regain that health as it might lead to your death. This is another greed situation that gets new players killed. Know when to go in for the regain and when to just go back and sip a potion.
*While dodging is very effective... proper spacing and movement is also very important. You want to be in a range just outside the enemies' attack range so that they whiff their attack and you can go in immediately. The way to do this is to keep going in and out of the opponent's attack range (going into their range to bait out their attack and then go out). Also circle/strafe them for added mobility. A moving target is harder to hit than a standing target.
*Study the enemy attack patterns no matter how simply they may appear. Many enemies have a standard 3 hit attack that they will do one hit of making you believe that they only have a single hit attack but when you try to counter attack they will perform the rest of the hits and take you off guard. Learn the full patterns of all the enemies/bosses in the game... many of them have hidden tricks up their sleeves.
*Co-op in this game is a very complicated and quite frankly obtuse matter
. Read this guide for it as they will explain it better than I can. Remember that you first need to get 10 Insight to unlock a shot right at the window of the room in the house which allows you to buy the Small resonant Bell for 1 Insight. Insight is gained from beating bosses or from Madman items in the game.
*Leveling up your character isn't as important as leveling up your "skill" (as in your own ability as a player). You can beat the game without even leveling up your character which means this game rewards skill more than grinding for EXP.
*Anything that gives you some Blood Echoes (Coldblood dews etc) should be used only when you plan to spend Blood Echoes... otherwise you risk losing them on death. Yes you lose Blood Echoes on death but you can retrieve them. Usually they are at the spot where you die but sometimes an enemy absorbs them and you have to kill them (look for the purple glowing eyes of an enemy). If you die twice in a row without retrieving the initial Blood Echoes then that first set of Blood Echoes you lost on death will be lost forever. Meaning once you die with a bunch of Blood Echoes in hand... it's time to play very, very carefully to get your Echoes back. But don't fret over losing Echoes... they are not that hard to get back.
*Bold Hunter's Mark teleport to your checkpoint without losing Blood Echoes but a regular Hunter's Mark will teleport you but will make you lose your Blood Echoes. Use the Bold Hunter's Mark to cash in your Blood Echoes in case you find yourself running around with too much Echoes and you are being anxious to spend them.
*Talk to NPCs, they can give valuable items later on. Try to do what they tell you, sometimes it may be worth your while (not always though). Other times it may actually be more worth it to just kill them out right...
*There's a lot of optional content in the game and a lot of optional bosses (over half the content and bosses in the game are optional). The rule of thumb is that a boss which is required for the story usually is preceded or followed up with a cutscene so if you are lost on where to progress next then go to the last area where you experienced a boss + cutscene... usually the next path leads from there.
And buy the damn Emblem key in the shop for 10K Blood Echoes!
*Be patient, be prepared and be smart. Once you get the hang of things you can go through zones without dying and even kill bosses on your first try!
I chose the name primarily because of Hamlet and, more recently, Pan's Labyrinth (where it's spelled Ofelia, being Spanish and all).
