Should my first playthrough be Online or Offline?

[Blackfyre]

That's my question. Thanks.

[guy.lateur]

Online. That's my answer. You're wellcome.

[ElALEX]

Believe me! You should never ever play this game Offline, maybe as a challenge (MEGA HARCORE) You're welcome.
ps: if an Asian invades you, it is certain death hahahaha

[dcy665]

The question is wrong. The question should be is it worthwhile to play as human vs hollow?
Hollow you can do 80% of the game, and you can do that online so Steam Achievements work. That other 20% you need to be human, to kindle bonfires, to summon assistance from NPCs, or actual humans. But that leaves you open for invasions.

Good Luck

[yds]

Originally posted by dcy665:

The question is wrong. The question should be is it worthwhile to play as human vs hollow?
Hollow you can do 80% of the game, and you can do that online so Steam Achievements work. That other 20% you need to be human, to kindle bonfires, to summon assistance from NPCs, or actual humans. But that leaves you open for invasions.

Good Luck

This is not strictly right too. You can play connected to the internet with Steam overlay active (so achievements work), but at the same time you can set "start offline" in the game settings, which makes it impossible for other people to invade your game whether you're human or not. So you can actually use the NPC invasions, but play single player. Which is what I'm doing.

As for the topic starter's question, I say as long as you know what you're getting by playing online vs offline, it doesn't really matter how you play. Just choose the option you like the most, and you can always change the settings. I play strictly offline, because I want to play on my own. It's fine, you can finish the game, get achievements and meet all the NPC phantoms that way no problem. You can also finish the game without a single invasion. Every boss except one can be beat without any help.

[EleventhStar]

playing online means you can see player messages, ghosts, how they died, etc. this is pretty cool and can help you out now and then.

but the flipside is that it'll also basically point arrows towards a lot of the secrets and traps in the game.

so if you like exploration or want to go in truly blind, offline might be better.

[???]

I recommend to play every Dark Souls game solo and offline. There will be no human invaders and no human help (coop). The first time should be something special. Online Mode just destroys the whole first experience. Without human help it will be way harder but you will feel way better to beat the bosses all alone. There is no real challenge if you play coop. Even if it's your first time playing.

[yds]

Originally posted by Rapier User and Feetsucker:

I recommend to play every Dark Souls game solo and offline. There will be no human invaders and no human help (coop). The first time should be something special. Online Mode just destroys the whole first experience. Without human help it will be way harder but you will feel way better to beat the bosses all alone. There is no real challenge if you play coop. Even if it's your first time playing.

Agree. The constant messages on the ground could ruin the experience as well, because they are usually either spoilers or misleading jokes. But it could be fun to play online the 2nd or 3rd time, I'll probably do that

[HTJA]

Originally posted by ElALEX:

Believe me! You should never ever play this game Offline, maybe as a challenge (MEGA HARCORE) You're welcome.
ps: if an Asian invades you, it is certain death hahahaha

That is why you set the matchmaking to "local". Although if you play at odd times and want to summon someone, you can temporarily change it to "global" as well.

But just seeing other people's messages, specters and bloodstains is part of the experience and makes it worth playing online even if you don't care about PvP or Co-op. Not to mention drift item bags and vagrants, even though both incredibly rare.

[HTJA]

And of course also hearing people ring the Bell of Awakening, getting free Estus when someone kindles a bonfire nearby and seeing miracle resonance rings. Lots of small things that only happen in online.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by Hautautuja:

That is why you set the matchmaking to "local". Although if you play at odd times and want to summon someone, you can temporarily change it to "global" as well.

that actually does anything if you aren't living in japan?

But just seeing other people's messages, specters and bloodstains is part of the experience and makes it worth playing online even if you don't care about PvP or Co-op. Not to mention drift item bags and vagrants, even though both incredibly rare.

sure.

but now that we are 10 years post launch, the amount of "part of the experience" things are a pretty small fraction compared to the "look secret here", "clever" joke and "look i got out of bounds" things.

[kat998]

Offline. Online sucks

[SPACE NUGGETS]

Originally posted by Rapier User and Feetsucker:

I recommend to play every Dark Souls game solo and offline. There will be no human invaders and no human help (coop). The first time should be something special. Online Mode just destroys the whole first experience. Without human help it will be way harder but you will feel way better to beat the bosses all alone. There is no real challenge if you play coop. Even if it's your first time playing.

This sounds extremely boring. Highly recommend you don't do what this stick in the mud's saying.

Seeing ghosts, messages, bloodstains, and hearing people ring the bell is one of the coolest parts of the game. Just don't read the messages if you think that will "destroy" the "experience". Half of them are telling you to jump to your death or tell you a regular ass wall is a secret.

[yds]

Originally posted by SPACE NUGGETS:

Originally posted by Rapier User and Feetsucker:

I recommend to play every Dark Souls game solo and offline. There will be no human invaders and no human help (coop). The first time should be something special. Online Mode just destroys the whole first experience. Without human help it will be way harder but you will feel way better to beat the bosses all alone. There is no real challenge if you play coop. Even if it's your first time playing.

This sounds extremely boring. Highly recommend you don't do what this stick in the mud's saying.

Seeing ghosts, messages, bloodstains, and hearing people ring the bell is one of the coolest parts of the game. Just don't read the messages if you think that will "destroy" the "experience". Half of them are telling you to jump to your death or tell you a regular ass wall is a secret.

Matter of opinion. DS works very well as a singleplayer game and I personally enjoy it that way. Other people prefer to play online.

I'm pretty sure the OP just wanted to know what pros and cons each option has.

[HTJA]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

that actually does anything if you aren't living in japan?

You are right, it seems "local" in this case means Japan and "global" rest of the world, my mistake.

But since the option cuts off Japan, you can slightly reduce the likelihood of connecting with someone from other side of the planet. When the Remaster was released on Playstation 4 I remember the difference in Oolacile was rather significant – switched on global and you were immediately matched against people who warped all over the place. Also many more summon signs.

However, on Steam the difference is probably more negligible to the point of being completely insignificant, as PC gaming is not popular in Japan.

[???]

Originally posted by SPACE NUGGETS:

Originally posted by Rapier User and Feetsucker:

I recommend to play every Dark Souls game solo and offline. There will be no human invaders and no human help (coop). The first time should be something special. Online Mode just destroys the whole first experience. Without human help it will be way harder but you will feel way better to beat the bosses all alone. There is no real challenge if you play coop. Even if it's your first time playing.

This sounds extremely boring. Highly recommend you don't do what this stick in the mud's saying.

Seeing ghosts, messages, bloodstains, and hearing people ring the bell is one of the coolest parts of the game. Just don't read the messages if you think that will "destroy" the "experience". Half of them are telling you to jump to your death or tell you a regular ass wall is a secret.

First of all you sound like a newbie to the Dark Souls Franchise while it's me who played all of them since their releases (on Xbox360 and Xbox One) so don't you think a veteran players opinion is worthier than "oh online mode is better because of seeing ghosts, messages or bloodstains"? You can't say one single argument why someone should play any Dark Souls Game online the first time except the player "doesn't want to learn the way how to play" without destroying the blind game experience. It's easy to play Dark Souls with friends or randoms. Easy to find secrets because of other players (messages, bloodstains or even because of ghosts). The argument to say "if you don't like spoilers so don't read the messages" is weak. If you see a message in front of a wall you can already think what would be written there and you will find the secret.

You called me "this stick in the mud's" and it says a lot about your personality and your tolerance.

Dark Souls is a Hardcore Game. You need to learn how to play it or you will fail all alone. What's the point of being carried? What's the point of being spoilered about a trap or secret?

This is my last message to this post since I just wanted to say that offline is way better the first time you play. I won't argue with people just because I don't like to waste my time to them (already wasted too much time for this message here)

My recommendation: First time should be played offline if you want the true Dark Souls experience.

(When you won against the last boss I would recommend to play online mode for the experience and to find the secrets you missed.)