The Official Dark Souls Thread - .....It Begins

[lestatdark]

JGarret said:
lestat, I started the game yesterday and I´m now in Undead Burg, met the first merchant (an undead guy)..anyway, got any tips on what I should get ASAP?...should I invest in a bow and arrows?...I noticed the pieces of armor he sells only increase my physical defense by one point, I´m not spending a lot of souls for them, at least not yet..so I´m not sure what the best thing to get is right now.

Well, buying armours is indeed a bit of a waste of souls, even if you started as a Deprived (as I did), because the armour you eventually find in the game is better most of the times. Only in the late game will you find actually good armour in the vendors, so keep your souls. 

Bow and Arrows are definitely something you should look at. Even if you're not a Dex character, using a Bow is a good method of kiting and luring enemies individually instead of having to deal with crowds of them, which is particulary useful in some scenarios, like the Elite Knights at the entrance of the Undead Parish. Also, you'll want to buy at least 50 arrows (100 if you can afford it) and use them later when you go under a bridge to escape from a fire-breathing red dragon, since you can target it's tail to get an amazing weapon.

Repair box is also a good buy, but a bit too steep at the moment, and you can get it cheaper on a blacksmith located just a little further from the Undead Burg. If you didn't start with the Master Key gift, then the Residence Key is a must buy. It will open some doors in the burg, especially on the lower Burg (later on) in which you can rescue a NPC. 

So my best tip is to go for the Bow and Arrows first and then the Key if you can afford it. You can always come back after progressing a bit more in the game and have more souls, or you can farm from the Undead Soldiers nearby (1000 souls shouldn't take too long to get).