This game tries to be hard by using cheap tricks, but you can deploy your own to make it as easy as you want it to be.

• Using a polearm or any long weapon trivializes melee combat
  
• Using life gems (which stack to 99 i believe) trivializes health management
  
• Using a ranged weapon (preferably bow) to aggro enemies trivializes ambush based level design
  
• Summoning at least one phantom trivializes every boss fight
  
• Putting first 30-40 levels into Vigor and Adaptability makes you tank/avoid the seemingly forced damage the game throws at you for the first half of the game

Always fight on your turf, whenever you see an enemy first look around for those waiting to aggro whenever you attack the one in the open. Either trigger them and return to a safe area later, or aggro them in any number you want using a ranged attack.
Either by janky hitboxes of attacks, sheer amount of ranged enemies in this game or just plain status effects or fall damage, you will take damage.

• Dont try to be a man, and level Vigor first, the scaling of your weapon is very weak till +5, so this bonus 17 dmg won't do ♥♥♥♥ if you get one shot
  
• Other Souls games might have taught you that estus is everything when it comes to healing. WRONG, here you also get life gems. Estus is an emergency resource in this game. The game won't tell you that you're actually supposed to use both sources of healing. Just stock up on them from the old lady merchant and top your health up every encounter, and save estus for boss fights / as last resort
  
• If you didn't level Adaptability because the game never specified what it does, your dodge rolls will be garbage, level it alongside or secondly after Vigor, you can use shield until you feel like your dodges are enough

With abundace of enemies every encounter and using lock-on making you move slower sideways and backwards, most of the time that mechanic will end up a liability to your gameplay. So either get comfortable with constantly unlocking your camera or dont use it in the first place.
I personally found it engaging to never use it and play the game differenty from every other game in the series.
Trying to weave in attacks and dodge roll enemies will soon end in getting staggered by some attack and getting mauled to death.
Some enemies will still hit you even if you roll or hit them yourselfe, it's just how the game works.
Playing this game like a turn-based RPG saves you a lot of frustration.
Walk near an enemy to make it start the attack and walk or run back, wait till it finishes its temper tantrum and then it's your turn to put in 2-3 attacks or use an item. Repeat till it dies, bonus points for staying on thier back. Works on bosses too.
Most bosses are just enemies with 5X health, 2X damage and 3X size. Applying the same strategy as point above will work just fine with only difference being the fight taking longer.
Alternatively, just summon any phantom to take the aggro and keep attakcing the boss form behind
Altough it is hard to die on a boss following the step above, it still can happen. You might want to just run past everything straight to the boss, but make no mistake, the game preys on that behaviour. Unless you pull of some ninja ♥♥♥♥ you will get caught by the horde and mauled to death. Unfortunately it is safer and paradoxicaly easier to clear the whole path to the boss again, just follow the first point in this section with primary focus being on preserving your estus flask. You'll get more souls that way and by summoning a phantom once the path is clear it will be in pristine condition for the boss fight.
What's also worth to note that after about 8 kills some enemies stop spawning, so if you get very unlucky it will eventually get easier.

• Play a Sorcery or Hex build (two types of magic, miracles are more utility based)
  
• For melee builds use a polearm (range of those will keep you out of most attacks), in my case halberd, with a ranged option like pyromancy but prefferably bow
  
• At the start of the game level mostly Vigor (also put some points in Adaptability) with minimal stats to use the weapons of choice

DS2 is a time demanding game, running throught levels will drain any shred of fun you could find in this game. Methodically clearing areas will not only make you remember the areas more, it will also give you way more souls so you're not under leveled for every location. Make sure life gems are your main source of healing as stated in previous section of the guide.

Levels structure can be boiled down to:

• Walking area
  
• Under fire area
  
• Fight area (with 80% chance of ambush)

Walking area is mostly safe so feel free to explore.
Fight area is tricky because the game tries so hard to make it as unfair as possible, if you think you can take the ambush then feel free to proceed as any other game. If you know the ambush will be too hard to manage, trigger it and return to the last Walking area or aggro some of the enemies and fight them outside the Fight area
Under fire area is when you get attacked by ranged enemies from a spot you cant reach. You can:

1. Clear it out using your own ranged weapons
   
2. Ignore the enemies, check if the next area is a Walking area or Fight area, if its the former then proceed as normal, otherwise trigger the ambush/aggro enemies and lead the through the Under fire area to the last Walking area and take them on there

Sometimes the Fight area and Under fire area are combined, for those I sugges the Aggro some of them strategy.

• If something looks suspicious and there are more pools of blood than usual it's better off not touching it
  
• If you open a chest and don't see the item literally spawn inside it as you opened it, then its a trapped chest, just spam roll button away from it, then pick up the item. Mimics are chests exclusively with locks on them
  
• You can use any item you want anytime, except Giant Souls, DO NOT use them
  
• You can interact with much more objects using a torch than you think, so be sure to use it. you can light it at any bonfire or standing sconces.

Most of the bosses are just some Big Guy in Armor with a Shield and Big Weapon, they usually have 2 attacks: Strong Overhead slam and wide horizontal swipe. To dodge the overhead one just run sideways and optionally roll at the end. For the swipe, just run back so it won't reach or roll into the swipe and run away for the next attack in combo.
If it's a boss you cant/do little damage, then aim for the face.
If it's a beast like boss stay under it near the hind legs and watch out for that one backwards attack.