So I started dark souls as a sorcerer yesterday because it was free...

[Racecarlock]

How do I get past the first boss in the northern undead asylum? Seriously, all I have is a broken sword and I can't find any secret areas and sure I have that healing holy water and 30 soul arrows but I don't have anything to use the soul arrows with and only 2 of that holy water left because I accidentally used one while figuring out the controls by pressing buttons.

What do I do?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Run past him. There's a door in the left corner of the room that will close behind you once you go through it, cutting you off from the boss. You'll get a bunch more equipment (like estus flasks, which are REALLY FUCKING IMPORTANT) and you'll come back to the boss room later once you have a few more things.

It's actually possible to beat the boss with the broken straight sword if you're so inclined, but it takes a while. If you kill him during the first encounter you get his weapon, the demon great hammer, but since you're using a sorcerer there's no point in you getting that since it's a strength weapon you'll never use. You might as well run past him and come back once you have a shield and estus.

Edit:

Almost forgot the obligatory "GIT GUD BRO!"

Edit #2:

I just realized that you quit playing on the first enemy in the game. This does not bode well for your prospects of finishing this thing.

 

[seaweed]

Run left through the door, you're not actually supposed to fight him at that point. I mean, you can if you want but...

 

[Racecarlock]

There was a door somewhere in that room? The only door I saw was the one right behind where the boss falls and it says that one is locked. Is there a secret door or was I just too distracted fighting for my life to notice anything?

 

[DeadProxy]

There was a door somewhere in that room? The only door I saw was the one right behind where the boss falls and it says that one is locked. Is there a secret door or was I just too distracted fighting for my life to notice anything?

You were too distracted. As soon as you open the door in front of the bonfire, you're supposed to run up the left side, and there is a door there to go through which leads to the rest of your starter equipment plus some more hints.

If you are interested in actually beating this game, then the Dark Souls Wiki will be helpful for you. Researching what spells you want to go for will help decide where you want to spend your stat points.

Gotta say, it doesn't really get easier until you can recognize enemy attacks based on their animations, or if you use the 1-on-1 strategy of using a bow and arrow to pull single enemies to you at a time.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

There was a door somewhere in that room? The only door I saw was the one right behind where the boss falls and it says that one is locked. Is there a secret door or was I just too distracted fighting for my life to notice anything?

It's on the left wall behind a whole bunch of big pots, run through there, get your sheild and dagger from the hallway that connects off, follow the path, talk to Oscar, get your flasks and key, go up the stairs, you'll have another shot at the boss.

...did you get all that?

Here, watch the beginning of ENB's walkthrough if you have any further trouble, he covers all the basics...

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

snip

Oh come on, don't just link him to a walkthrough. That takes all the fun out of exploring the game. There should be a sense of wonder every time you find something new and cool, and a feeling of despair every time you're killing by an ambush you didn't see coming.

If you really need a guide then at least use a written one, because at least that way you'll still be surprised and excited when you see the environments and enemies you've been reading about.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

snip

Perhaps that would be true for later parts of the game, but when someone is having difficulty just finding the first door, they might need a little visual direction to get them off the ground (hell, until I finally caved and looked up a guide I was trying to go through the Catacombs first and didn't even see the path up to the Undead Burgh, without watching a guide and having visual reference for where the fuck I needed to go). Also, ENB's walkthrough (especially the first episode) is custom tailored to explaining how the mechanics work to new players, and how to get the most out of them; things that, lets be honest, are explained fairly poorly in the game itself (it took me until playthough 2.5 before I figured out how weapon scaling worked).
There's absolutely nothing stopping a new player who doesn't want to spoil themselves from just watching the part of the video they need and then shutting it off and going blind from there.
Dark Souls is one of my favorite games and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, but sometimes you just need proper visual feedback, even if it's just to find a door behind some pots.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

snip

Perhaps that would be true for later parts of the game, but when someone is having difficulty just finding the first door, they might need a little visual direction to get them off the ground (hell, until I finally caved and looked up a guide I was trying to go through the Catacombs first and didn't even see the path up to the Undead Burgh, without watching a guide and having visual reference for where the fuck I needed to go). Also, ENB's walkthrough (especially the first episode) is custom tailored to explaining how the mechanics work to new players, and how to get the most out of them; things that, lets be honest, are explained fairly poorly in the game itself (it took me until playthough 2.5 before I figured out how weapon scaling worked).
There's absolutely nothing stopping a new player who doesn't want to spoil themselves from just watching the part of the video they need and then shutting it off and going blind from there.
Dark Souls is one of my favorite games and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, but sometimes you just need proper visual feedback, even if it's just to find a door behind some pots.

Oh yeah, you should definitely look up guides on the game mechanics, since those are explained incredibly poorly (took me forever to figure out how weapon upgrading worked in this game, and I actually got some help on this very forum), but there are guides on youtube that explain those mechanics better than ENB does, and which aren't walkthroughs.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend vageta311's parry guide:


Also, I wish you hadn't told him about the boulder trap. You're supposed to get hit by that, every player gets hit by that their first time, it's part of the experience and helps teach you that stairs aren't your friend. I tried to be kind of vague in my explanation, basically just telling him where the door was in the boss room, and emphasizing that you need estus flasks so that he would keep exploring until he found them, you told him everything to expect in the first area.

Granted, there are certain things that do totally need to be explained to people in detail, like how to get back to the undead asylum from firelink (I refuse to believe ANYONE figured that out legitimately), but the tutorial area is not one of those things.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

snip

Perhaps that would be true for later parts of the game, but when someone is having difficulty just finding the first door, they might need a little visual direction to get them off the ground (hell, until I finally caved and looked up a guide I was trying to go through the Catacombs first and didn't even see the path up to the Undead Burgh, without watching a guide and having visual reference for where the fuck I needed to go). Also, ENB's walkthrough (especially the first episode) is custom tailored to explaining how the mechanics work to new players, and how to get the most out of them; things that, lets be honest, are explained fairly poorly in the game itself (it took me until playthough 2.5 before I figured out how weapon scaling worked).
There's absolutely nothing stopping a new player who doesn't want to spoil themselves from just watching the part of the video they need and then shutting it off and going blind from there.
Dark Souls is one of my favorite games and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, but sometimes you just need proper visual feedback, even if it's just to find a door behind some pots.

Oh yeah, you should definitely look up guides on the game mechanics, since those are explained incredibly poorly (took me forever to figure out how weapon upgrading worked in this game, and I actually got some help on this very forum), but there are guides on youtube that explain those mechanics better than ENB does, and which aren't walkthroughs.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend vageta311's parry guide:


Also, I wish you hadn't told him about the boulder trap. You're supposed to get hit by that, every player gets hit by that their first time, it's part of the experience and helps teach you that stairs aren't your friend. I tried to be kind of vague in my explanation, basically just telling him where the door was in the boss room, and emphasizing that you need estus flasks so that he would keep exploring until he found them, you told him everything to expect in the first area.

Granted, there are certain things that do totally need to be explained to people in detail, like how to get back to the undead asylum from firelink (I refuse to believe ANYONE figured that out legitimately), but the tutorial area is not one of those things.

Okay the boulder, yeah, I probably shouldn't have said anything about that, it is sort of a "that's what you get for being reckless!" moment that's somewhat lost if you're expecting it so yeah, that was a poor decision on my part, I might just edit my original post to omit that detail.
I guess I just felt like they needed a little specific direction to get themselves to lordran and the game proper, and better to spoil the tutorial then have them just give up out of disenfranchisement and miss out on the rest of what I consider one of the best things to come out of the console generation, the ends justify the means as far as I see it.
But I do see and understand your point, noted for future reference.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

snip

Perhaps that would be true for later parts of the game, but when someone is having difficulty just finding the first door, they might need a little visual direction to get them off the ground (hell, until I finally caved and looked up a guide I was trying to go through the Catacombs first and didn't even see the path up to the Undead Burgh, without watching a guide and having visual reference for where the fuck I needed to go). Also, ENB's walkthrough (especially the first episode) is custom tailored to explaining how the mechanics work to new players, and how to get the most out of them; things that, lets be honest, are explained fairly poorly in the game itself (it took me until playthough 2.5 before I figured out how weapon scaling worked).
There's absolutely nothing stopping a new player who doesn't want to spoil themselves from just watching the part of the video they need and then shutting it off and going blind from there.
Dark Souls is one of my favorite games and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, but sometimes you just need proper visual feedback, even if it's just to find a door behind some pots.

Oh yeah, you should definitely look up guides on the game mechanics, since those are explained incredibly poorly (took me forever to figure out how weapon upgrading worked in this game, and I actually got some help on this very forum), but there are guides on youtube that explain those mechanics better than ENB does, and which aren't walkthroughs.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend vageta311's parry guide:


Also, I wish you hadn't told him about the boulder trap. You're supposed to get hit by that, every player gets hit by that their first time, it's part of the experience and helps teach you that stairs aren't your friend. I tried to be kind of vague in my explanation, basically just telling him where the door was in the boss room, and emphasizing that you need estus flasks so that he would keep exploring until he found them, you told him everything to expect in the first area.

Granted, there are certain things that do totally need to be explained to people in detail, like how to get back to the undead asylum from firelink (I refuse to believe ANYONE figured that out legitimately), but the tutorial area is not one of those things.

Okay the boulder, yeah, I probably shouldn't have said anything about that, it is sort of a "that's what you get for being reckless!" moment that's somewhat lost if you're expecting it so yeah, that was a poor decision on my part, I might just edit my original post to omit that detail.
I guess I just felt like they needed a little specific direction to get themselves to lordran and the game proper, and better to spoil the tutorial then have them just give up out of disenfranchisement and miss out on the rest of what I consider one of the best things to come out of the console generation, the ends justify the means as far as I see it.
But I do see and understand your point, noted for future reference.

Well damn it, if you do that then I have to edit my posts because I quoted you!

Still, I'm glad that we're in agreement. Now let us shake hands and part as gentlemen.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

snip

snip

Well damn it, if you do that then I have to edit my posts because I quoted you!

Still, I'm glad that we're in agreement. Now let us shake hands and part as gentlemen.

I'm a lady, but same difference.

*shakes hand*

 

[Aeshi]

Wait, what's that about Dark Souls being free? Or are you referring to something in-game?

 

[josemlopes]

Wait, what's that about Dark Souls being free? Or are you referring to something in-game?

If you have Xbox Live its free to keep, you just have to download it during the period of two weeks (started at 1 of June)

 

[Sateru]

[-snip]

Always remember that when you play as a long range squishy Sorcerer, you cannot expect to endure much abuse, and so you must learn that kiting is your bestest friend. Kiting means that you run just out of their reach, keeping your distance and attacking after they've attacked, exploiting their timing in order to abuse them with Soul Arrows. Of course, there is no such thing as a class in this game, you can always make your Sorcerer into anything you desire. Then again, I am a Pyromancer by trade and heart so... yeah. Naturally, I'm going to be against you for obvious reasons, and because... well... you're a Sorcerer, and they're elitist jerks to Pyromancers. :T

 

[Evonisia]

Wait, what's that about Dark Souls being free? Or are you referring to something in-game?

Xbox Live Gold is required but Dark Souls is part of the Games for Gold thing until the 14th June. Shame I already have the game 'cause I would have definitely downloaded it.

OT: There's a door near the back of the room on the left side, the objective is escape as far as I can remember, but you're supposed to go through that before going against that monster again.