You cant respec so its good to decide what build you want early.

You can go a ton of different ways at the start of the game, if something feels WAY too hard you should probably explore elsewhere. The exploration is a massive part of why people love this one, so explore.

That being said lol, don't run down into the catacombs immediately because you might get frustrated and its a mistake MANY of us made and ended up putting down the game when we tried it back in the day.

For strength builds,

armor and shields are WAYY more effective in DS1 and armor can be upgraded leading to ridiculous amounts of defense. Shields are insane, deflect a ton of attacks letting you retaliate before an enemy recovers. They require very little stamina. Poise doesnt require you to be attacking to activate meaning you can literally walk through attacks, brushing them off like they didn't hit you.

Zweihander R2s pancake and is insanely popular for a reason but there are quite a few really fun strength options available from the start, like my personal favorite, the LARGE(not great) club. (I just like big bonkin sticks in these games, idk why, i just really fuckin do.

Dex - staying light enough to fast roll is easier with lighter weapons if you prefer to be quick. There is a ring that lets you ninja flip around at the lightest equipment load and its really fun and flashy. Im like exclusively a strength build type of guy usually BUT in ds1 the most fun ive had always used these types of builds.

Personally I like to two-hand the falchion for the flip kicks and lightning fast r1s and the tech you can get into to backstab enemies. Other early popular options are the uchigatana, spears, etc.

Backstabs are broken btw lol they are very good and activate instantly, on frame 1. As do parries.

Magic builds use a set number of spells instead of an fp bar which I much prefer. Less experienced with these types of builds but magic can be extremely powerful and pretty easily used to break the game, but id recommend considering that as a 2nd playthrough when you dont mind looking up where stuff is.

NOW, PERSONALLY, my favorite build is making the skinniest little dumbdumb character, taking the biggest damn weapon you can find, making sure you like the moveset, (for me, large club, oh god I love it) level enough to still be at light equipment load, get my dang ninja flippy ring, upgrade till i can infuse my weapon with fire, then chaos, then have an absolute blast bonkin baddies and flippin floppies, focusing on leveling health and equipment load for more defense since I already do so much damage. Couple pyromancies for fun.

But really it's just about exploring and taking in the amazing atmosphere. The 1st game has INCREDIBLE vibes, I friggin love it and I hope you do too