Bismarck.Josiahfk said:
»I’m familiar with the game, had just wanted to go through it once in the original creators intended design once for the experience.
Ehh, you haven't really been able to do that since at least 2012. And I'll clue you in on that one too.
Imagine walking through a level in online mode. A Black Phantom enters your world. He ganks you in a single hit. Congratulations, your experience has been enriched by online play! :P But really, online play won't ever give you what the developer intended.
Seriously though, most of the online mechanics just let you change world tendency more easily. If you force world tendency to white, monsters have lower HP and hits are weaker. If world tendency shifts towards black, there are more monsters, high HP monsters, monsters hit harder, and certain NPCs will straight up be Black Phantoms.
Killing Black Phantoms causes -2 to Black Tendency, so you move towards white. Killing bosses causes +1 towards white. Killing NPCs, or invading people and killing them +1 towards black. iirc.