WORD OF THE WISE!!! Tip of the Day!

For all Noobs to Demon's Souls. DO NOT, i repeat, DO NOT try to face the guy with the spear on the narrow pathway in 1-1. You WILL DIE.

Kill Ostrava. Yes, He appears to be a good guy at first but he turns into a Black Phantom later against his will. It is easiest to kill him early on, seeing as he will not fight back if you continuously stab him in the back. He drops the Mosoleum key which is needed to fight King Doran and get The King's Sword(which has an effect of Str increases the higher your White Tendancy)

@forevercloud3000

A word of advice first: Do not call newcomers to Demon's Souls noobs, unless you don't mean that in the derogatory terms, or else I shall have to report you, since it's an offensive word and this has been a clean thread so far.

Second, that Ostrava tip you gave? Wrong.

He will turn into a Black Phantom in 1-4 whether you kill him or not. Killing him will also screw with your Character Tendency and World Tendency for Boletaria Castle, since both will suffer a massive shift towards Black, making the game even harder, and will screw with the stats of the Demonbrandt (which is not named The King's Sword, you should know this).

Plus killing him is a huge mistake. You won't get the good rewards he'll give you on 1-2 and 1-3 if you rescue him, which are 2 Dark Moon Grasses in 1-2 and a Pure Clearstone in 1-3.

You may want to rethink your tips, next time you post them. The first one was good, even though people will eventually find out that you musn't face him at the early stages of the game.

Obviously I didn't mean Noob in a bad way, i still classify my self as a noob in Demon's Souls. Yet I am on my second play through and wanted to point out a few things.

And I found it best to do whatever bad deeds you NEED to do early on for it will be easier to get rid of. Everytime you defeat a boss you will shift back towards white anyway.

And that still is the only way of getting the Moss. Key(unless you know another way). You do not get it for killing him as a phantom(tried it). And I forgot the swords name but it IS the King's(King Allant who you Face later on) sword.

Pure Clearstones can be obtained elsewhere if you need them badly. Try the platinum lizard things in World 2. Its a Rare drop but they do drop them.

It sort of all depends on what you are going for really.

Agreed. DO NOT kill Ostrava! Even if you don't care about the Pure clearstone, you will care about a - 30% world tendency, actually getting you to -60% assuming you died from Vanguard in the tutorial.

Just keep a close eye on him, especially in 1-4 below the blue dragon that he dies and becomes a black phantom, get the Masaulem Key from him.

As for the red-eyed knights, avoid them at all costs, AT LEAST until you have found the Thief's Ring and you can dodge all of his attacks. Blue-eyed knights are mostly recommended though, especially for melee focused characters.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/npc-ostrava

"Drops the Mausoleum Key if he dies due to the player or enemy before he turns into a black phantom. This opens the door behind the Red Eye Knight in 1-1, where you may find Demonbrand and Old King Doran."

you cant get it that way, I have tried before(unless you know some trick that I dont). And depending on what you are doing, Dark Tendancy has its perks. Enemies drop more demon souls and item drop is higher for regular and rare items during black tendancy.

Everything in world one is rather easy anyway.

Ok then, it's just that most people use noob as a derogatory term, that's why i'm a bit wary of the word ;)

As routsounmanman pointed out, if you talk to him in 1-4, he'll suicide and give you the mausoleum key.

World Tendency will shift towards White as you pointed out, but Character Tendency will not, and it's really hard to get White Character Tendency once again, as you'll have to kill the Named Black Phantom NPC's on each of the worlds when they are in Pure Black World Tendency.

Both Pure White and Pure Black Character Tendency are needed in order to obtain the Friend's Ring and Foe's Ring respectively, if you're going for the All Rings Obtained trophy and ultimately the Platinum.

Pure Clearstones are hard to come by, even by the lizards on 2-3, saving Ostrava in 1-3 is the easiest way to get one for the beginners ;)

Actually (now i'm being picky, sorry about it :P) Demonbrandt is Old King Doran's Sword. SoulBrandt is King Allant's Sword, and it's only dropped after you destroy the final boss of the game ;) 

Edit - You'll get the key in 1-4, not from the Black Phantom Ostrava, but from Ostrava himself. Stop saying that you won't get it, you will. I've done 6 playthroughs in the game and have obtained the key in all of them using this method. Everyone in this thread will say you exactly this. http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/npc-ostrava

OOOOOO, ok. Suicide. I thought you were saying that killing him as a phantom would get you the drop(Which it will not according to my experience and the Wiki).

@Forevercloud3000

Yeah, that will only grant you the Rune Shield and Sword ;) Both of them are great for magic users though, i'm making a Magician around those two in a future playthrough xD

You don't even have to talk to him. I was fighting the Blue Dragon when I heard him dieing behind me. Dropped the Masauleum Key just fine. When I turned around, a Black Phantom Player Firestormed my ass off >_>

Will that sword and shield(or just shield) work against Lord Rydell? I heard his weapon is purely magical, so when he attacks it breaks through my defensive shield stance every time. He has killed me quite a few times now and I have lost over 300,000demon souls on him(first time i wasnt even trying to face him). I now have a personal vendetta and want to eliminate him :)