Thanks a lot guys. It was stupid to completely miss the Forest of the Fallen Giants. I just learned how to get the Fire Longsword in that area as well. I already regret being wasteful in Heide's Tower so I might start over since I'm still early in the game. I am indeed new to the series, but I don't want to give up yet.
You don't need to start over. Don't worry about "wasting" lifegems. They are cheap and plentiful. Of course if you really want to start over, you're still really early so not much will be lost either (unless you spent a lot of time creating your character, which is what would pain me the most personally xD but not everyone cares about that), but I don't see the point.
My recommendation would be to take your time and explore the Forest fully, loot everything you see. If you are carrying a good amount of souls, go back to the vendor and buy those lifegems you want and/or warp back to Majula to level up a bit. Make sure you unlock the blacksmith, If you found enough titanite shards, you can also upgrade your equipment, including your sorcerer staff which will make your spells stronger. And of course if you found the key, unlock the mansion in Majula, there's some good treasure inside. One of those treasure is a key you can use to unlock a hidden door in the Forest (
) which has some good loot too
Also make sure you
outside of that Majula mansion if you haven't already, there's an
in there.
Once you are done with doing everything in the forest (note, there's a side
optional area with a difficult NPC invader, called
: if you are struggling in this area, it's perfectly OK to retreat and come back later, it's 100% optional), you will have better gear, more levels and be stronger, and you can take on Heide's Tower with far less difficulty. You will, in fact, be amazed at how much you used to struggle in comparison, I'm sure of it.
Oh yeah, when you meet a new NPC, exhaust all of their dialogue (talk to them repeatedly until they start repeating themselves). They might have useful information, and this will become important later on too (some NPCs will trigger new things after exhausting their dialogue).
You shouldn't need to farm for souls, but if you think it can help you, I guess you can do it for a bit (I never bother). Like, say, you're missing one level in dexterity to wield a weapon you found and want to use, or you're short a few souls to buy an item you want from the merchant, then sure, farm souls for that one level to get it right away, that kind of thing. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really, really struggling.
One more thing; you surely noticed that you lose some HP every time you die (capped at 50% of your health). If you want to revive as a human and regain your max HP, you can do one of these things:
- use a Human Effigy (do NOT burn it in the bonfire, just consume it);
- use the White Soapstone to drop a sign on the floor, usually near a boss room or a bonfire (online only); this will allow someone else to summon you as a helper for a cooperation session. If both you and your host are still alive and the boss dies, you will revive;
- use the Small White Soapstone to do something similar to the above, except for a quicker coop session. You don't need to kill a boss, just slay a few enemies for a few minues and bam, revived.
The last two options also refill your Estus and repair your gear as if you've been to a bonfire, too.
Good luck and have fun.
