Demon's Souls

• Learn by dying. When you die, think about what you did wrong, and don't do it again.

• Don't grind unless you're really close to affording something. It will make the game tedious and less fun, and you'll get souls much faster by exploring new areas.

• You're going to lose lots of souls. Don't stress out over it, you'll get more in no time. You can avoid losing large numbers of souls by spending as many as you can before going somewhere dangerous, and by only using the soldier's and hero's soul items when you're close to affording something.

• You can do the levels in any order (after you beat the first boss). If one level is giving you too much trouble, another one might be more susceptible to your strengths, or you might find something that will help you in the level that was stonewalling you.

• The Demon's Soul items dropped by bosses can be traded for unique weapons and magic. Don't use them unless you're sure they're no good to you.

• Don't try to play straight melee.

• For a first time player, ranged attacks are the way to go. Enemies gang up on you and weapons clash off walls so pure melee characters have a rough time starting out. I suggest the mage or royal.

• The answer to "I wonder what happens if I jump down here" is always "you will die".

• Just hold down the shield block button all the time.

• If you're ever having problems, summon some blue phantoms. Chances are they will tear shit up for you as you casually walk through the level. Just about every boss in my first playthrough was demolished by two naked dudes with meat cleavers while I safely watched from a distance. (Note that you need to be in body form to do this, so beat a boss or use a stone of ephemeral eyes.)