Become very familiar with the wiki, it will spare you a lot of pain. I'm the game IDK if I can blue ghost a lower lv but PM if you get stuck, I will send you a I survived Demon's Souls T-shirt.
I'm doing fairly well. Killed Phalanx on my second try, but the way to him was not a walk in the park. I'm playing as a royalist and that seems to have been a good choice. Soul Arrow is really helping me. I want to stay away from the wiki as much as I can, but I did take a look on general stuff. I might have a closer look if I get stuck. I must also admit that I did look at some mage builds, not because I want to copy any of them, just to have an idea of how points could be spent. I tried 1-2 a couple of times but got burned by the freaking dragon. When I finally made it to the last part of the bridge, archers and blue knights slaughtered me. So I'll skip it next time and go for 2-1, 3-1, 4-1 or 5-1 next time.