Cheddahz I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but also kind of not.
What made it click for me in my first successful playthrough of a Souls game (Dark Souls II I think? Actually I kinda can’t remember anymore) was when someone shed more light on how stats and gear interact and how important it is to level up in a way that prioritizes weapon damage guided by the weapons you like using. As soon as you find a weapon you like the feel of, find out how to get the most out of it statwise by looking at its scaling and kind of basing your level ups on that. And always prioritize your current favourite weapon for upgrades. Armor upgrades are much less effectual, especially if we’re not talking about chest or leg pieces.
Also consider that on your travels you will find weapons similar to the ones that you like, which may just be better overall at similar upgrade/stat levels, or have cool added effects or differences in the moveset that you end up preferring. But finding your first favourite weapon will generally put you on the path to greater success.
Dark Souls is a funny game in that I think it’s easiest to understand how it works as a new player if you prioritize offensive stat growth while focusing on a defensive playstyle. Being careful and deliberate with a shield up 90% of the time you’re anywhere near an enemy and keeping a one handed weapon on at all times will keep you alive, until you have to fight back and actually win fights. It’s a trap newer players fall in because they haven’t properly prioritized offensive stats out of a generalized fear of the game, and in being too careful every fight ends up being a duel where you’re trying to sneak in small hits on an enemy who can kill you way faster than you can kill it. A playstyle much more conducive to learning how the game works is one where your offensive stats and weapon allow you to keep your distance and staying defensive, but also knowing when you can blow your whole stamina meter and end fights decisively. That is way easier when you know it will take 2-3 hits to kill an enemy than 6-8. With faster weapons and keeping your shield up you can still sneak hits in too of course, but you are much better served by making sure those hits will count for as much as you can (helps also to make careful note about how much damage a shield actually mitigates, with 100% mitigation being relatively rare). At any rate, it takes quite a while for pumping points into Vitality to really translate into being much harder to kill, and unless I’m confusing this with a different Souls game leveling up any stat will give you a modest HP boost either way, so yeah, I think the best way to really get acclimated with Dark Souls is to make sure you are as deadly to enemies as they are to you. Combat will never not be dangerous so the main way to be in less danger is to end combat as quickly as possible.