fighter or mystic knight?

im planning on starting my second playtrough (first one was an assassin), and i wanted to play a more tanky and melee playstile, so it is either fighter or mystic knight. MK seems to have a lot of fun skills but all i can read about him is the great cannon, and it seems to me he is more of a spell caster than a swordman, while the fighter seems like a more basic, well, fighter, with sword combos and shield strikes, but lacks the elemental damage and parries that made me look at the MK. what are your opinions on the topic? i fell like im having a wrong understanding on the classes