I am finally playing this game for the first time, and it is fucking hard. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, where the hell to go, or what anything means. I'm constantly getting killed by this swarm of skeletons at a cemetery, and this giant raven is freaking me out. I'm playing offiline, but I'm thinking about going online to see the notes people have left behind. Will this help any or do I just need to have patience and tough it out? I don't want to succumb to walkthroughs and FAQs for my first play through.
Definitely get online. The hints can be quite invaluable at times. You can avoid invasions by avoiding playing as a human as much as possible. Basically, only go human to kindle a bonfire. Stay undead for the rest of the game.
As far as avoiding walkthroughs and FAQ's, I know people say to do this on here, but I feel that's fairly bad advice. Walkthrough's, yea, you should probably steer clear of them. The open-ended nature of the game means you'll probably read stuff you didn't want to know about simply skimming through to find what you're looking for.
But FAQ's? Well, I wouldn't ignore the Dark Souls Wiki if you need to learn something about the game you don't understand. You can usually just jump straight to what you need to learn so you don't spoil yourself on other stuff. I don't think I would have made it through my first playthrough without it. Weapon upgrade system, for instance. Game doesn't explain it very well at all and unless you do a bit of research, there's a very good chance you'll waste your shards(what you upgrade weapons/armor with) on the wrong things.
Many people here will give you advice based on the assumption that you'll be doing multiple playthroughs(where you can do things 'right') and tell you not to grind or use FAQ's or whatever. I say do what you feel you need to do. The game can be awfully frustrating and it *IS* possible to miss a whole lot(including entire areas) and do things very wrong if you're unaware. By all means, try and play the game without these things if you want, just don't feel like you're cheapening your experience by having to look something up. I imagine *most* people use a guide of some sort at some point in their first playthroughs and it definitely does not make this game any less amazing.
