I've been replaying the first Dark Souls in co-op with a friend over the past few months. As long as you stay out of the shield-turtle playstyle trap (something

I've been replaying the first Dark Souls in co-op with a friend over the past few months. As long as you stay out of the shield-turtle playstyle trap (something that took convincing for my friend) it's a lot of fun. I will say there's a steep quality drop in the back half of the game (post Anor Londo). The Artorias DLC matches the best of it, though. Only advice I'd pay to newbies is to get good at dodgerolling instead of using a shield. Turtling behind a shield is very effective in Dark Souls 1 (fixed in later installments) but becomes dreadfully boring after a while. The game has a reputation as being difficult but if you summon NPCs or other players for boss fights they are quite easy (purists might say this defeats the entire point).