@Silent_Witness
Well for Souls, I never really spend them on anything big unless it’s a sorcerer or faith build, and those are very much recommended to only do when you’ve gotten experienced at the series. For like heavy builds, i.e., big weapons and armor, spending souls on upgrades and maybe some homeward bones or resins which are used for buffing your weapon. My first playthroughs of all three games I didn’t spend anything on weapons or armor, I just used the best armor I found, and most of the non boss armor can be found lying around, same with a good weapon. Upgrading your weapon at a smith isn’t even expensive, the only thing is finding the materials to upgrade, such as titanite in DS1-3. The cost does increase the higher you upgrade your weapon though but by the time you’ve gotten a few of the rarer titanite like chunks and slabs you most likely will have found a place to farm easy souls for it anyway. And upgrading your weapon is as such: titanite shard +1-+3 large shards +4 to +6, chunks +7 to +9, and slabs for +10, unless it’s DS1 than +1-5 shards, +6-10 large, +11-14 chunk and slab +15. So yeah first playthrough just spend mostly on leveling, and cheap consumables and resins, and weapon upgrades, also don’t upgrade armor, it’s not worth the cost. Ever. Homeward bones can be a live saver and are cheap as hell, stock up on a handful if you think you’re gonna be in a pickle. When you get accustomed to the game and mechanics then spend on other things.