I would suggest you a Thief or a Hunter, based on you having previous experience with Demon's Souls. Both are very versatile when it comes to starting game builds, but I'm going to go with my Thief mixed build.

You'll want to go for Sharp or Fatal weapons. A Sharp Uchigatana +5 has an S rating scaling for Dexterity plus the 300 to bleeding output. On PVE it looses it's damage output value on NG+ due to much higher enemy resistances against status, but we'll get to that soon. For Dex builds your main weapon will always be a Sticky Compound Longbow +5 (S to Dexterity, 300+ damage with the bow alone), so your main objective is to hit 30 Dex ASAP, but never go above it (the gains for Dex decreases drastically after 30 Dex and stop being worthwhile at 50). 

I suggest a flow like this for the first 30/40 levels gained: 5 Dex - 3 Str - 1 Vit - 1 End

After hitting 30 Dex, you'll want to build up your Str, so you can start preparing for NG+ (my character was using both the Dragon Bone Smasher +5 and the Sticky Compound Longbow +5) so that's why in the end it became a mixed build. If you don't want to use the DBS due to it's extremely high weight and very slow attack speed, you could go for a Crushing Crescent Axe +5, which has a S scalability with STR and has a average-to-fast attack speed and damage output, or you could just forge yourself the Northern Regalia and call it a day.

You'll want to adapt the points gain to something like this: 3 Str - 4 Vit - 3 End or take some points out of Vit and End for Int and Mag if you want to cast some protective spells like Warding (which needs 2 Slots) or Water Veil (works wonders against the Flamelurker and only needs one slot).

As for overall armour and protections, you'll want to get the Purple Flame Shield and forge it to +10 ASAP (and this one's important, for every melee or mixed melee/ranged build). Not only the PFS gives you 100% reduction against Fire and Normal damage, at +10, it has an 83% Guard Break reduction, which is only surpassed by the Tower Shield (which is unwieldy to everyone but the 99 END and STR tank builds). The PFS weighs 8.0 lbs and needs 22 STR to be wielded properly, that's why my build also focuses on early Str build. 
The only problem with the PFS is the low Magic Damage reduction %, but for that, you'll want to gain the Dark Silver Shield which is dropped by Garl Vinland on 5-3. It has 100% Magic and Normal Damage reduction, but it has a pretty sub-standard Guard Break reduction (50% at start, 65% at +5). It also has a pretty good bonus effect, which is increasing MagDef and a pretty bad penalty, decreasing your magic damage output (at start it gives 10% to MagDef and -30% to Magic Damage, at +5 it's 30% to MagDef and -87% to Magic Damage).

You'll want to wear armour sets that keep your below the 50% encumberance limit (below 50% of your total equip weight) to avoid losing mobility and dodging capacities. It will be preferable to be at <25% on NG+, which is feasible if you start pumping 3 End points for each 10 levels after level 40/50. My favourite set for Female characters is the Ragged set which is then substituted for the Gloom Set on NG+ (both sets have the highest overall resistances) and for males I would suggest to keep the Inital Black Leather set (if you start as a Thief) and then switch for the Gloom Set on NG+.
Of course, if you want to mix and match pieces it's fine too, but if you do so, try to keep a balanced approach for resistances (especially poison and disease, which if they're low, will give tons of headaches on World 5).

If you need any more advice, i'll be glad to help

@lestatdark, thanks alot for that valuable info. when i start up the game, i will keep u posted as to how i am doing. thanks again :)

You're welcome  

There's a reason why Demon's Souls is my favourite game of this generation and one of my favourites of all time. I've poured so many hours into it that I almost know it like the back of my hand

For Demons, i ended up using the meat cleaver, a sh*tload of strength, and of course a Damage Buff up always. the Damage was insane... even on NG++++++, i had no Probs with it.

@else: Started playing Phantasy Star Zero, level 59 right now... the only thing that keeps me from 'Super' difficulty, is the 'Eternal Tower'.. gosh, why did they implement a Quest you have to work on for like 8+ Hours without the possibility of turning your system off inbetween, lol. XD

The MC strategy was a good one on Demon's Souls for pure melee characters, though if you coupled the right items with a Dex build you could easily deal over 800-1000 damage per arrow with a Sticky Compound Longbow + 5 and White Arrows. 

It was fun going online and taking Sniper shots at black or blue phantoms and seeing then run with almost no health after one arrow xD.

I have to say my 'Hate-Counter' towards Nintendo decreased to 98 from 100, because Email aswell as Phone support was quite acceptable. (I'll have to send the second 3DS in, since it has a wobbly screen, and sqeaky buttons, and the upper screen seems to be a bit more yellow'ish than the lower one..)

but this system shows flaw after flaw, really. Start/Select/Home are buttons you wont be able to push without looking (only if you have a bit of luck, or are used to it due to weeks of practice..) .. and the D-pad clicks just like a 360's bumper, WTF? arent they actually supposed to be smooth, so that i can actually move a character without breaking my fingers?  And if this wasnt enough, why did they not increase the battery life? i played PSzero together with a friend (DS game), and he played on his DS Lite, which is damn old by now.. and i only had like 30 minutes of play left before the lights started flashing after he had to recharge. that... isnt much.

..ugh... yes, i think more than ever that nintendo made some very poor decisions regarding the 3DS, and they sure took a step back from what was the original DS.

Odd, haven't noticed both the clicking of the D-Pad (I've been using it a lot for SML3D and OoT 3D, it's better than the analog stick for me) nor that low battery life. Usually I have about 3 hours of online play with the 3D slider to max on Mario Kart 7 and between 4,30 - 5 hours without online. If I don't use 3D at all, I can usually get an hour more in both modes.

Don't really have any complains about the 3DS design, other than the usual original DS complain of the handheld being too small and cramped for people with big hands, but that'll be fixed when they release a XL model.

anyone playing the ff13-2 demo?

@basilzero, anywhere u would like too and welcome to the thread. :)

@basilzero, yes its free. :)
have u ever played : lost odyssey for the 360 its my favorite all-time rpg. :)