The first thing you want to do in firelink is run up through the flooded temple and take a left. You should see a graveyard down the hill from you, this is your objective. As you enter the graveyard you will be attacked by skeletons, dont try to fight them as they are tough enemies and will kill you very quickly, just roll past them. Run around the graveyard collecting all the loot before trying to run back to the bonfire. If you die here it doesn't really matter since you dont have many souls at this point. Next, coming from the bonfire you want to head up and then take a right before entering the temple, you can then take a left into another room where there is a fat guy with a mace and shield, talk to him until he offers to let you join his covenant, say yes and then learn his gesture. Then head up the stairs behind him and drop down through one of the doorways, turn around and you will find a bunch of chests to loot. Get all the items from here before running back to the bonfire.

From the bonfire again, stand in front of the Crestfallen Warrior and turn left and head down the stairs, follow these stairs to the bottom and then take the elevator down. You are now in new londo ruins, before leaving the elevator you will want to press the button to send it back up before rolling off, head around to the left and then down towards the water, cross the wooden bridges and roll past the ghosts, turn right back towards the way you came from and cross the underwater bridge, rolling past the second set of ghosts to the firekeeper soul. If you dont want to die, use one of the homeward bones you got from the chest to teleport back to the bonfire, otherwise just die it doesn't matter. You are now done with New Londo Ruins until very late in the game (unless you want magic weapons that is)

Now, head back to New Londo Ruins the way you came before, you wont be entering the ruins properly just passing through, when you reach the bottom of the elevator tower head right and go up the second tower. Open the gate to the Valley of the Drakes and get ready for some running. Cross the wooden bridge then head left following the cliff along, when you reach the undead dragon you have a choice to make, you can grab the items he is guarding (astora straight sword and dragon crest shield) but this will mean dodging his attacks which can one shot you, or you can leave him be and continue on, either way once your past the dragon you will see a blue drake waiting for you. Depending on how confident you are in your ability to dodge you may or may not want to grab the Red Tearstone Ring and Bandit gear. If you want to get it you will have to dodge past 4 drakes, roll past the first one before heading over the stone bridge, you will need to have your dodge timings down otherwise you will get staggered and killed pretty fast, if you dodge them then you can grab the bandit gear from the floor and then run up the ladder for the ring. You will probably want to suicide or homeward bone out of here since the drakes will be waiting for you at the bottom of the tower. Once you have escaped head back down, if you dont want the red tearstone ring or you have already got it you will want to head right after the first drake and head up the slope before going through the door and up the elevator to the Darkroot Basin.

If you want you can rest at the bonfire in this cave but it isn't necessary, it depends on how confident you are. When you leave the cave there will be a Black Knight waiting for you, I usually try to backstab him off the edge or let him push himself off, if you're lucky you will get his halberd, otherwise just grab the grass crest shield and head on. Head up the slopes to the top of the basin and then into the Darkroot Garden, dodge past the tree that will attack you and then head left, when you get into the stone building, dodge past the prowling demon and head up the stairs, you have now reached Andre, if you have any souls you can upgrade your equipment with him, which is very helpful. Now head up the stairs, you probably wont need to rest at this bonfire since there aren't many enemies ahead but you can if you want. Head up the stairs again and across the bridge, run past the hollow soldiers and dodge past the massive knight to the altar behind him, grab the firekeeper soul and then run to the wall opposite the door you came in by and jump into the elevator, ride it to the bottom and you will find yourself back where you spoke to Petrus in Firelink Shrine.

All this is optional as it can lead to missing out on several items and causes some events to happen prematurely. The first thing you want to do is head back up to the parish, and head left up the stairs you then want to dodge the balder knight and then sprint past the hollows and head left and head up the stairs, dodge the second balder knight and roll through the wall and head up the stairs and talk to the man in gold, let him out of his cage and the probably die to the horde of enemies you have angered. When you get back to the bonfire by whatever means, head down the stairs towards where the elevator to New Londo Ruins is and talk to the gold guy for a useless item, then attack him and then kick him as he stands up to hopefully kill him, otherwise get ready for a fight. Once he is dead, grab his ring and then heal up (Note: If you killed him by kicking him off the edge you will need to quit and reload to get the ring). Head back down to New Londo Ruins and up into the Valley of the Drakes, cross the wooden bridge and then head into the cave. You are now in Blighttown, dodge the beserkers and run to the ladder, head down the ladders until you get shot by a blowdart sniper, hopefully kill him without getting toxic and then wait for your toxic to go. Then head past where he was, run along the wooden platform hopefully not getting toxiced, head left and then attempt to roll over the edge down to the firekeeper soul below, grab it and then die. Now you have this soul, head down the stairs and talk to anastacia and give her all 3 firekeeper souls. You are now ready to start the game. Have fun!