Overview
Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10
Offline: 41/41 (1,000/1,000)
Online: 0/41 (0/1,000)
Approximate amount of time to 1000: 80-120 hours
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2 full, 1 partial playthroughs.
Number of missable achievements: 26 (Optional bosses, item crafting/hunting, covenants).
Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No cheats
Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
Glitchy achievements: None
Unobtainable achievements: None
Extra equipment needed?: None
Introduction:
Welcome to Dark Souls, a game legendary for being difficult. Prepare to die, as it will happen a lot. From being too low level to handle something to accidently falling off a cliff this game will kill you a lot. If you persevere through the first couple hours of the game and actually start to learn how the game operates it becomes much more manageable. Overall for the 1,000, it will take you roughly a minimum of 80 hours, with max out sitting around 125 hours on the high end of the spectrum. You will need to do 2 full playthroughs including the 2 optional bosses (Gwyndolin and Priscilla) and then a partial playthrough up through a portion of Anor Londo so that you can reach the giant black smith.
Missable achievements:
I am not going to list them all off, but I will tell you what kind of achievements are missable so that you know what to watch out for. I would recommend following a guide for the sorceries, pyromancies, miracles and rare weapons. A lot of the items for each achievement are quite missable. First NEVER swing a sword or use a damaging sorcery/miracle/pyromancy around any of the people that sell you these items as they will turn hostile until your next playthrough. All of them have something you need so BE CAREFUL. If you do happen to hit one of the people need to buy stuff from, just run, do not kill them. If you get away, go and talk to Oswald in the bell tower. You can pay him absolve your sins and make that person you accidentally hit not hostile anymore. The cost of absolution is 500 souls x your level, so it does get pretty costly especially later in the game.
I recommend buying the pyromancies, sorceries and miracles on playthrough 2 only really getting what you need for your character build. As you get many more souls on NG+ for killing enemies and bosses. This also allows you to focus your energy on leveling and getting the gear that you need for your build. This of course is optional, you can get all the pyromancies, and sorceries on your first run as long you make sure to follow the guide. Especially pay attention to your sorceries, as some of Big Hat Logan’s spells are missable. A critical mistake that can be made that makes pyromancies missable is saying no to the egg carrier right before the chaos servant covenant leader, make sure to say YES and do not kill him he sells you unique pyromancies. For miracles, make sure to follow through Onion Knight’s quest line through at least Anor Londo and pay close attention to the cleric quest line surrounding Petrus and the Tomb of Giants. This is covered more in depth in each achievements respective section.
You also need to get max reinforcement with each weapon type, these are not highly missable like miracles and sorceries are, but don’t forget to take care of them at some point during either full playthrough. You will need all the embers and at least 1 of each kind of slab (you can dashboard to get it back)
All the Covenant achievements are technically missable since you are never forced to join or find one for the story. The major one to look out for with this one is the Dark Wraiths. Do not talk to Frampt (Ugly snake thing that shows up after ringing the bells at fire link shrine) at all if you want to find the Dark Wraiths. Continue with the story beating Smough and Ornstein to get the Lord Vessel and then beating the four Kings (You need to have killed Sif to do this fight). Once you beat the four Kings and if you haven’t talked to Frampt, you will meet Dark Stalker Kaathe who will allow you join the Dark Wraiths.
The other two missables would be for killing Priscilla Crossbreed and Gwyndolin. Both bosses are optional and are not required to complete a playthrough. Priscilla gives you an option to leave without fighting, do not do this, and fight her. I would recommend waiting to fight Gwyndolin until you have received the item for reaching level two in his covenant so that you don’t have to worry about it later.
Playthrough 1:
Pick your class and gifts. For your gift get the master key unless you’re a thief, this will make your playthrough slightly simpler. On this playthrough I would recommend focusing on your build and not worrying too much about collecting everything. You can grab all the sorceries and pyromancies in this playthrough if you desire. You can get all but 1 miracle this run and over half of the rare weapons. The only rare weapons you can’t get this run involve having multiples of boss souls which there are only 1 of each per playthrough. If you want to you can grind out the loot drop rare weapons during this run or the next but make sure to get the covetous snake ring from Sen’s Fortress before attempting the loot drop based rare weapons.
Make sure to kill Priscilla, The moonlight butterfly and Gwyndolin at some point during this playthrough. I recommend saving Gwyndolin for very late in your playthrough for reasons mentioned in the missable achievements section.
There are 2 soul grinding spots in the game that are early enough in the game to really help out new players, which are posted here. The first one is really super early in the game and is a good way to level up for the twin gargoyle fight and get enough souls so you can access the grinding spot in the second video.
Playthrough 2:
This run will be significantly easier and shorter than your first run as all your gear and level transfer to each subsequent playthrough. The enemies are all higher levels but you will breeze through the early parts with little to no issues. The main thing to watch out for difficulty wise is the Smough and Ornstein fight and the four Kings fight. If you didn’t find the Dark Wraiths in your first run then do so this run and make sure to join them at some point to get the rare weapon Dark Hand.
In fact, everything you didn’t pick up or find in your first playthrough needs to be done this run to save you the heart ache of doing more than you need to in your 3rd partial run. All the rare weapons need to be forged and found (minus the one you can’t get this run since you need a 3rd copy of Sif’s soul). All pyromancies, sorceries, and miracles collected. Everything! Also, make sure to pick the ending that you didn’t pick in your first playthrough so you can get the achievement for that ending.
Partial Playthrough:
This partial run should only take a few hours maximum; you should only need to do two major things. Forge Gwyn’s souls to a weapon or offer it to the Sunlight Covenant and kill Sif for a third time. After you have gotten Sif’s soul for the third time, you will need to get the Giant Black Smith in Anor Londo so he can forge the soul into a compatible weapon. Given that you have done everything else this should unlock your last two achievements and give you the completion.
Conclusion:
While this game is challenging and relentless at times it is completely doable as long you are willing to give it your attention and your time. If you’re just starting out, good luck and have fun. You can do it if you just stick with it and don't give up.
[x360a would like to thank KillerBEA for this RoadMap]