DeSo cheats and hacks and slashes:

Character builds:
You want to roll with good Endurance, Intelligence and probably Vitality to start with. Royalty is meant to be the best class to start with, because it comes with an aces accessory and initial skillset, but their Vit and End suck-- but because of how the level up system works, you can boost both of those for really cheap. I went Knight, though, since it starts with good armour.
Depending how you want to play, there's not much point to raising Faith above 16, and even just above 10 is fine really.
Strength is kind of useless aside from weapon-stat-level requirements, same with Dexterity, imho; luck is not really too necessary at all. Of course, that's if you play the game like I did! There's tons of legit ways to do the game.

Good stuff to get:
Shrine of Storms (the fourth archstone, from left to right) has a lot of sick equipment that's worth getting in its first area, and an interesting enemy type who really help you ~get good~ at the game and give good EXP.
Things to look out for there: The Crescent Saber+1 (best generic fantasy name) on top of the cliff with the black skeleton. It's tough, though, so prepare yourself/have good items and spells on hand~)
The Regenerator Ring; its HP regen is /amazing/ and often a lifesaver. Can't remember where exactly it is, somewhere around the castle ramparts.
The Talisman of God, necessary to do Miracles. It's pretty much just in the first part of the area.
Second bit of Boletaria has the Wooden Catalyst, which is necessary to cast magic if you don't start as a magic-based class. It's somewhere near the start.


General tips:
Do /not/ consume the souls you get from bosses until you realise what else you can do with them.
When you meet Ostrava, if you don't think you'll be able to clear stages he appears in first time/repeated escort missions seem tough... honestly, it might be best just to murder him and loot his corpse if you want to fight the bonus boss. Maybe let enemies weaken him first, since IIRC he's pretty strong. Might want to kill him on his second appearance, instead.
Easiest first stage theories vary; I'd say the only really hard one is the Tower of Latria, but that might be 'cause I did it third. In general, though, it's most fun to discover for yourself~