Affinity works much in the same way as Pursuers did in Dark Souls 1. Once cast, when an enemy gets within a certain range, they will automatically fire at the enemy.
From the wiki:
Similar to Pursuers from DkS1. Cast a number of orbs that deal dark damage. The orbs target and home to the closest enemy.
The controller has nothing to do with it :)
If I recall correctly the tutorial mainly consisted of teaching you the controls. If you have those figured out you haven't missed much. The full control list can be found at the wiki here.
Upgrading Equipment
You've learned how to level up so the next most important thing is learning how to upgrade your equipment. As you explore you will encounter several blacksmiths who will give you the option to upgrade your equipment when you talk to them. Upgrading equipment will cost souls as well as upgrade materials. Different weapons require different materials to upgrade, some materials can easily be bought from the smiths that upgrade your weapons and some must be found. Each weapon only has one upgrade path unlike in past Souls games.
Eventually, you will find a blacksmith who will be able to infuse weapons when you give him a key item. Infusion just means adding an effect to your weapon such as fire, lightning, magic, or poison. This infusion upgrade is independent of upgrading a weapons level. So infusing a +4 long sword with lightning will result in a +4 lightning long sword. Materials for infusion can be found or bought in limited quantities.
NPCs
On your travels you will encounter several NPCs. You should talk to them. However, they will not reveal everything they have to say at once. Talk to NPCs multiple times until they start to repeat themselves. Once the dialogue of NPCs is exhausted they will often be of some benefit to the player. Some give you items, others will sell you items, some even move into Majula for easier access.
Messages
You will often see orange mark on the ground. If you interact with them they will bring up a message left by another player. Some player messages are useful warning you of danger to come or giving hints about secrets in the area. However, some players leave messages to mislead you so always exercise caution. You too should leave messages for other players by pushing start and navigating to the message menu. Share your knowledge, or cause a bit of mischief. Or leave funny messages in front of skeletons.
Finally
This should be enough to get you started. Always remember that the wiki is your friend if you are confused about something. Dark Souls 2 really likes to withhold information (hidden effects on some equipment, random walls open up to secret rooms, etc.) so there's no shame in using outside resources.
Best Answer
In Scholar of the First Sin, the stone soldiers in the room with the stone golem no longer come to life. Instead, you'll need to proceed to the next room with the two iron chests. Two Masked Manikins will attack in this room, you'll need to lure them into the previous room. Kill one of them right next to the golem and he'll come to life and activate the elevator.
In the original version of Dark Souls 2, killing the stone soldiers in the same room will activate the golem.