I've never actually made it too far into the game. Keep in mind, this was my first venture ever into a Souls game. Being that, my first few outings were on a pirated copy (I've since bought it), since I wasn't even sure if I'd like it.
First character was a dud. Tried a basic sword and board character, as those usually have a good balance of defense and offense. Got rocked hard, didn't make it far. I'm talking got to the Gatefront Ruins and abandoned it.
Second character was a spellcaster, glintstone type. Saw all those dope videos of people one shotting bosses with Comet Azure, figured I'd try it out. Easier starting off. Made it through Stormfront Castle, and it started to loose steam in Luirinia (however it's spelt).
Tried a 3rd character. Dual curved sword bleed character. The thing rocked everything as far as I went. Made it through Rennala and Raya Lucaria. At that point, I was still on the pirated copy, and ran in to a road block with Varre's questline, as it requires online play.
That's when I bought it, and essentially remade the same char, and started over again. I'm pretty much back at that same point, about to go through Raya Lucaria again.