How Do You All Progress Through NG?

[Something]

Just curious how you all go through the first difficulty when making a new character? I usually do every side quest but from my understanding that's pretty slow and makes getting to NG+ feel like it takes forever. How do you all do it? Do you just blast through the main story missions until you hit a difficulty wall then go back and grind or?

[D. Flame]

You can just stick to the main quests on NG. You basically have to do them in NG+ anyway.

[Angel]

I do every mission starting with the lowest levelled one and working my way up, if I feel like skipping to higher difficulty content I'll do the fastest missions to get points, 1v1 etc.

[SubTonic]

I do all the side content as I go. Except Saito Toshimitsu, I ignore him.

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by Mushman:

Just curious how you all go through the first difficulty when making a new character? I usually do every side quest but from my understanding that's pretty slow and makes getting to NG+ feel like it takes forever. How do you all do it? Do you just blast through the main story missions until you hit a difficulty wall then go back and grind or?

The first difficulty, I tend to focus on the main missions and occasionally deviate for missions with unlocks.

Where if I'm starting the game over, it's because I want to explore it in a different way within the restrictions of what is available to a first playthrough player, minus the clan bonus and will switch to a less beneficial clan.

When I initially played, I saw the NG+1 through NG+4 and Underworld as an obstacle to get access to the good stuff. Where I was using stealth and sprinting past as many things as I could to get to the main objective.

Later on for myself, I realized these were all opportunities to continue exploring new ways to fight and defeat enemies in both familiar and unfamiliar configurations. That approach breathed new life in the game. Also sometimes to escape my inventory and storehouse, a new save was the way to go as opposed to Level Sync'd and just disassembling everything under the sun. And just not ever farming for Hidden Skills and Smithing Texts.

[level3]

On NG i do mostly story quests. On higher NG cycles i do shortest sidequests to get to dream of the nioh asap. There are some prerequisite sidequests for the smithy, which i tend to do in ng and ng+. If i wanted to do all quests at least once, i'd do different quests in different ng cycles.

[godsblade]

everything except online missions

[SealedSecret]

I usually play about 85-90% of the missions. So all Main Missions and most Side Missions.

(If I want to rush through a future NG cycle, I do the bare minimum and bully Otakemaru with Cats).

Since I like to use every weapon, I rotate between all of them when doing missions. Using Side Missions to break in a weapon I haven't used yet or to try and get extra Skill Points for them.

I also beat up a Boss for a bit, resetting the fight when they're close to defeat so I can farm more points to even out my Weapons too.

The Side Missions which have extra rewards like Guardian Spirits, Smithing Texts, Locks of Hair (and so on), I tend to prioritize just to have the extra options available for later in the game.

Some texts like Genmei Onmyo are also only available in NG+ (after finishing the Nine Symbols Mission) - I also prioritize these missions.

It also saves me time from having to return to a previous difficulty to comb through Missions for rewards I've missed or overlooked.

If I want to speed through a level, I usually use Catwalking and Sneak Thief Scrolls alongside Evasion Canceling to zoom past.

I also use Divination Talismans for leveling Onmyo and Shurikens too as a replacement for Stones to get an enemy's attention alongside leveling Ninjutsu (also Shuriken Cancels).

At this point, I usually lock any item I find interesting then Select All and Dismantle at the Blacksmith or Donate it to my Clan once it's available (which for 100% fresh characters is after defeating Tatarimokke).

[SubTonic]

Originally posted by SealedSecret:

Since I like to use every weapon, I rotate between all of them when doing missions. Using Side Missions to break in a weapon I haven't used yet or to try and get extra Skill Points for them.

I do this too. I used to try and specialize in 1-2 weapons, but I feel like using all the weapons, ninjutsu and onmyo makes the game way more fun. And it's also a lot more enjoyable to find a strong weapon drop because it's almost always going to be used, compared to before when I would just disassemble everything that wasn't one of the types I was using. I also level my stats relatively evenly. Nioh's all about gear and skill, really, and stats aren't as heavily weighted as they are in other games.

[SealedSecret]

Originally posted by SubTonic:

I do this too. I used to try and specialize in 1-2 weapons, but I feel like using all the weapons, ninjutsu and onmyo makes the game way more fun. And it's also a lot more enjoyable to find a strong weapon drop because it's almost always going to be used, compared to before when I would just disassemble everything that wasn't one of the types I was using. I also level my stats relatively evenly. Nioh's all about gear and skill, really, and stats aren't as heavily weighted as they are in other games.

Nowadays I prefer leveling my Heart, Courage and Skill to help enable me with more Ki, Ki Regen and to help my Ki Pulses/Flux recover more. I level Magic and Dex to get some more capacity, though I usually hold off on 30 until I get the other 3 stats to a good value (I do put points where needed to meet requirements too).

I ignore Constitution, Stamina and Strength recently since I prefer light armor. Only really caring about Stamina and Strength once I'm further in the game to hit A in both Toughness and Agility comfortably (and potentially AA Agility with Ultimate Stamina).

I don't concern myself much with optimizing stats for what weapons I use since the impact isn't too big (still worth if you're specializing, but since I'm more of a jack of all trades it isn't as important to me).

I agree on the Gear and Skill. I find I can (for the most part) pick up anything and make it work since the game is pretty well balanced on that front (by not needing to 100% optimize your stats and equipment to progress).

For Gear, from Dream of the Demon and beyond, having some decent passives is necessary to have a smoother time (since the game is built around this sort of stuff, interacting with it in some way becomes more necessary over time).

I'd say one benefit of having stats not be too important (and more uniform early on when leveling), is it helps relieve some of the pressure of having to consider them while also learning the game's mechanics (which can be overwhelming for newer players).

Edit: I wanted to add that Game Knowledge is also important. Things like making effective use of Elements (being aware of an enemy's resistance or weakness), using certain moves to break horns, deal damage, apply status, etc. Knowing an enemy can or will do a follow-up attack before or after something and so on.