I picked Royalty, I liked that it started at soul level 1. I'm playing a hybrid class for now, but magic is my specialty so far. I'm using a Crescent Falchion +4 and a Purple Flame Shield +4 for now, I want to upgrade my bow but spiderstones take a while to find -.-
Still on my first playthrough, I use light gear (female character), and I LOVE clever rat's ring. It's not uncommon for me to stroll up to a new boss at like 30 hp with my ring on =)

Game doesnt seem difficult yet, since I'm at low hp, I can't afford to take hits at all, so I don't get hit =) though I've only beaten the dragon and monk final stage bosses so far.

I don't know, I've been playing fairly cautiously and it hasn't been too difficult yet. I do to pits/fall 90% of the time. Then again, you and others have said 'the real game doesn't start until NG+' so I guess I'll have to see it for myself =)

Oh and I love doing ripostes (though I haven't lately). I knew all those hours perfecting parrying/repelling in Soul Caliber would pay off for something later =)

I just love the whole atmosphere of the game, and that it's not just a hack-n-slash. Okay, back to playing it =) be back in a few more days haha.

@r505Matt

Great combo that you've got there, I had that for a while when I was adjusting for the difficulty spike in NG+

Alas, spiderstones aren't exaclty difficult to find, you just have to know where to look for them.

There's a crystal Gecko in 2-1, in the corridor where two Lizardmen throw stones at you and are surrounded by both Sword and Pick-Axe carrying Lizardmen.
That gecko is the only one that drops Spiderstones in the whole game, you can get a decent amount of them, even on NG. I got enough Spiderstones in my first go to upgrade my Bow to Sticky +4 ;)

Alas, I see that you like to use the Clever Rat Ring xD Have you tried to make a Morion Blade? It works the same as the ring, plus it stacks with it :D

I started off with the Temple Knight which has a halberd as the starting weapon which I found to be fairly useful due to it's long range but I wouldn't recomend picking that class as the other benefits are not great. Reading through this thread will give you lots of tips on how to play but the things I found to be most important early in the game (I've clocked up just over 14 hours) are:

1. Learn soul arrow as soon as possible (or pick the Royal class which has this as a default spell).

2. The ability to move quickly, especially rolling, is vital. To roll properly you need your equipment burden to be less than 50% of its maximum value and so I find that light armour is much better than heavy armour.

@Lestat:

Nice, right now I'm more interested in the the "Hunter" because ya know, sniping is fun :D

Whatever, I'll probably play the game on every class though.

Nah, I didn't kill the 4-3 boss yet, but I plan to make a Morion's =) I don't care so much yet, but I'll get around to it soon enough.

Yeah, I've already used up that gecko spawn (cept I didn't go back after killing the Dragon God yet). I didn't know about geckos the first 2 times I went through that area, so I missed them =(

I know about the miners dropping them, and I'll farm them at some point but I've been putting it off. I've only gotten like 8 shards so far, so we'll see how long it takes to farm them. I want a +4 sticky before I even go to NG+

@r505Matt

It will take a while to farm that way, the drop rates for Spiderstones are stupidly low >_

I DID IT! THE PLATINUM IS MINE! ALL MINE!

Thanks for all the help from everyone, especially lestatdark.

I'll miss DS, but I'm looking forward to finally playing another game!

I just started playing the game. My character is a male soldier named Cloud and my soul level is 6.

@epicurean

Congratulations man! Bask in all the glory of the DS plat trophy :D

I still have all the journey left to do xD

Hope to see you around in any other game, I'll be giving both Uncharted 2 and Valkyria Chronicles a try as well xD

Welcome to the Club. :)

I'm playing my other games now, but I'm always tempted to start a New Game of DS. It's that addicting and good. :)