First Souls Game Help

i had beaten Elden Ring & almost finished the DLC. i just bought Demon's Souls and i've been on the first level for almost 3 hours. anyone have tips besides "get good" ... i started as the knight class. although i expected this game to be hard, nothing could have possibly prepared me for this. i really don't want to use the magic class to be honest i really just want to get a hang of the game. i legit bought the entire dark souls series and am questioning my decisions at this point. any advice is appreciated