Another tip: Take any Firekeeper Souls you get and use them to Reinforce your Estus Flask. You can reinforce by using the Firekeeper below the Firelink Shrine, the one in Anor Londo, and the Chaos Covenant leader. Reinforced flasks stretch the healing further
Also, I play Dark Souls offline by just unplugging my connection until it hits main menu so it forces offline mode. Don't know how to do it on consoles since i have Prepare to Die on PC