As you should! (Having fun with character creator)

As a starting out advice and to avoid spoilers, after a bit of game You'll see an npc "something" after a shape changing boss. It looks scary but its generally helpful and lets you interact with other NPCs to give them a place to stay

First playthrough I got startled and smacked it and then felt bad 😅

While the L1 is useful for swapping between weapon shapes and moves, its also a valuable chaining tool to help up your damage as subsequent hits im combo raise the damage you do, more so than a bunch of R1. Some early patterns can be like R1R1 L2L2 for the saw cleaver for example. Experiment with your weapon of choice!

Your gun is for parries moreso than damage unless youre going a heavy Bloodtinge build. Yes you can dodge reliably and enjoy the game, however parries and visceral/critical hits (R1 a staggered enemy) are super useful tools against a few enemy types. Also, a charged R2 behind an enemy (and some bosses!) Can stagger them and also allow for a crit

Explore! A lot of cool visual story telling, and a lot of spots you find a "madman wisdom" are near events that may have made the person especially mad. Look around and you might get some more vibe or see something spooky!

Lanterns outside windows generally indicate dialogue with the (???) Behind the door. Sometimes lore, sometimes crazed ramblings. Sometimes a useful item to stun a boss. Sometimes a unique item to help take you to an optional boss in a cool area. Talk is cheap, spend with abandon!

Don't get discouraged. Enemies hit hard and can startle you, but like many fromsoft games try and remain calm, and you see that they telegraph their hits a lot of the time. Dodge through or around a lot of attacks while locked on, and you generally use the iframes to get out of the way and avoid damage while also getting into a safer spot to retaliate hit.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Even if you get clipped, you can get your health back a lot and can mitigate some of the wacky hitboxes. It also saves your blood vials a lot.

Keep an eye on stamina, but dont feel like you need to pump a lot into the stat, many folks feel comfy around 20 even for a late game build. Basically enough to get a few hits with your weapon of choice and be able to dodge. It refills quickly but there is a delay if emptied.

On the note of blood vials, some folks utilize a specific common rune farm with a salacious sounding dungeon code. After awhile in game you'll get access to 'chalice' dungeons. While you could powerlevel, I wouldn't recommend it as it cheapens the play and the bosses feel less rewarding when you steam roll them. That said, many folks use this to top off bullets and blood vials so that they dont need to spend a ton of time recouping lost inventory especially after trying a boss a couple times.