the boss fight on the return trip isn't really that hard, as the tactics for fighting it remain pretty much the same as the tutorial boss. the only problem I ever have with it is that you start the fight taking damage from the fall and then he has a nasty habit of exploding in my face before I can get near him. it covers much too large of an area. once you can get behind him though, you're golden.
as for four kings it helps to get right up in their face. as long as you're basically touching one, the others wont hit you and it's attacks will do a fraction of the damage (except the AoE).
on my first character i'm running:
ornstein's armor and gauntlets
gold hemmed black hood/skirt
black knight shield +5
quelaag's furysword/lightning uchigatana (both +5)
ring of favor and protection
hornet's ring
on my second character I have:
full black iron set (all +5)
greatshield of artorias (not yet upgraded)
occult greatsword +5/gravelord greatsword +5 (will be exchanging for grant - loved bramd in demon's souls)
ivory talisman
havel's ring
wolf ring/ring of sun's firstborn
i'm loving this game, and it remains one of my favorites along with demon's souls. am now patiently awaiting 1.04 as it was released in japan 2 days ago.
Also, I got a winged spear to magic +5 and ascended it to enchanted but the stat scaling hasn't changed (E/E/C/-). It's already enchanted +3. Shouldn't it be scaling A to intelligence? what gives?
stat scaling is one of the issues being addressed in the patch, though it could also be an oddity of the weapon (divine and occult greatsword both get a C bonus in faith, while all other occult weapons are upped to a B).
