I imported it a few months back, and played it 5 or 6 times through. Already preordered the CE out next month in NA.
Too often I hear this game as (insert superlative) difficult. In reality its only as difficult as you make it. I the video review for example, she is using a halberd to fight a pack of wolves in a tight space. You wouldn't be able to swing fast enough or likely at all in that scenario to keep your cream filling on the inside.
She is also wearing pretty heavy armour in the second part of the first level. Assuming she didn't go back to it after a bit of grinding she would be too encumbered by her armour weight to actually be able to dodge roll.
I had no experience or foreknowledge before I began the game, and my manual was in chinese, but I would now consider myself to be an expert on it. If anyone wants to know anything about it you can just message me.
Biggest tip is that you want to stay dead as much as possible. When you beat a boss you get your body back. You should dive off the ledge in the nexus to get rid of that smelly thing asap. This keeps away unwanted PKers if you like, but more importantly you do way more damage as a spirit. You lose half your HP though, unless you equip the cling ring which lets you keep about 33% more of your max HP while dead.
The new NA servers are gonna be intersting for PK/Co-op. Currently you rarely find anyone around your level to actually be able to do either, and in my experience people will literally cut there internet connection rather than lose gracefully. I rarely invade games, I only help people in theirs against invaders/bosses.
While its true you can build your character any way you want, you really want to focus on stamina early and often. Armor is barely useful, so just wear whatever looks good/has most defense but weighs < 1/2 your max equip cap. Because rolling is good. Falling over like a bowling pin when you try to dodge is bad mkay?
Strength is not too useful, even if you want to be pure melee (and you are handicapping yourself if you are). Just get it high enough to equip a purple flame shield, as its one of the two shields you will ever need, and if you plan on doing more than one play though its all but mandatory.
Dexterity is where its at. My starting class was the wanderer, which is kinda a cross between a soldier and a thief. Plus is that you begin with a Falchion (curved sword) and all curved swords are faster an duse less stamina to wield. They also use Dex and Str as modifiers, but mostly Dex. Dex also is the main modifier of your crossbow/bow. You won't be using a crossbow, as they have poor range, poor reload, and poor power. They use only one hand though.
If you like, you can snipe almost every enemy and a lot of the bosses. However its only end game when you have the right equips that enable 4x damage (at a hefty and reasonable price).
Two kinds of spells. Magic (i.e. useful) and Miracles (i.e. uneeded healing/curing spells). You will consume moongrass to heal pretty much exlusively as its quicker and you can full heal with most of them. The only miracles you need are Anti-Magic field (so you don't get one shotted by the octopus guys or have ot defend against ANY magic) and evacuate so you can warp for free back to the nexus.
As for Magic you will proably use Soul light and firestorm like the cool people, because your other options suck and you only have so many spell/miracle slots.
Bosses are awesome, but the only really difficult ones are Maneater (you will know why and you will QQ), Flamlurker (this is why you have that purple flame shield), and the False King (unless you use the ubercheap method of poisoning him and walking away).
Unlike most reviewers, I strongly reccomend NOT playing it online. At least not at first. You really don't want to deal with the PKers when you don't even know the level yet. The NA servers will be starting fresh though so you won't have any douchebags that deleveled themselves with an old glitch so that they could fight newbs with end game stuff.
Also, there is a glitch/design choice that randomly resets your world tendancy to neutral in a world when you play online. This will seriously impact how easy/hard enemies are and which side areas/equip is available to you. If its your first time through this can mess you up to the point where you need to help others/kill yourself repeatedly to fix it. Assuming it doesn't happen while fixing it.
Best advice is to find a type of weapon early on that fits your playstyle, but be especially aware of its short comings. Daggers are great for critical backstabs and ripostes, which require you parrying with a light shield or certain weapons in your off hand. While novel, you would be a fool to have anything but a heavy shield in your off hand unless you are using your bow at the time. You can still back stab, and you can't parry a lot of attacks. Using a dagger on a boss is not going to work as you can't backstab them (unless they are black phantoms).
Halberds have the longest reach, but indoors they are hindered by this. Only a few of the attacks you can do with them will have room.
Most new players use spears since they are relatively quick, there are plenty of mobs that are weak to piercing damage, and you can attack from behind your shield.
Once you are more advanced you may have your own distinct playstyle, but I used a Moon Kilij +5 almost exclusively. It combines the speed of a curved sword with added magical damage on top of the regular physical damage. I use my bow and my spells often as the situation calls for, and this weapon is modified heavily by MAG, with minor STR and DEX.
The Meat Cleaver is another good choice, as is the Blueblood Sword. The former get mods from STR DEX MAG and Faith (on top of the ability to pound your enemies into the ground where they are set up for more abuse). The latter is like a longsword that's Mod includes Luck which makes it unique. You won't find a rapier that doesn't suck. Sorry.
Lastly if the idea of making a warrior priest sounds like fun, there is the Moonlight Sword. It has a purely magical damage modded by Faith. The blade is made of light, and as such it is the fasted of the huge swords and only weighs 2 pounds. Plus it being basically a lightsaber, it IGNORES SHIELDS. Goes right through them like tinsel. Useful indeed.
As long as you are flexable you will do fine. Since in the end (after way more time than most sane people would spend) you can level up to 786ish and max all your stats you should just have fun playing around with different stuff. Rerolling isn't needed.
Each time you beat it the game gets about 20% harder, with the exception of the second playthough which is a bigger jump in difficulty.
Devil may cry games, Shinobi, and Ninja Gaiden are way more difficult than anything this game has in store for you.