Play the game the way you want and ignore the people saying magic, summons, and/or co-op is cheating.
- You can respec fairly early on in the game.
- Don't attack friendly NPCs and always exhaust their dialogue. In some cases you can Rest at a Grace (Dark Souls bonfire equivalent) and go back to the same NPC and get even more dialogue to exhaust. This is extremely useful on many questlines.
- Don't get stubborn if you hit a wall such as a tough boss or area. You can always go exploring and find upgrades and come back stronger. Exploration is often rewarded in this game.
- Use the map markers (not the 5 beacons, but the green permanent markers) to flag which dungeons and places you've cleared. This is something I wish I had known/done in my first playthrough.
- Use the wiki. They will typically list how a specific weapon upgrades and how it will scale with stats at higher levels.
- No shame in looking up questlines to see how to progress and where to go as most of them are fairly vague and convoluted.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdZ8Zex1cw