Near end game of first playthrough

[VisciousFishes]

I am about to face what looks like some end game - I am about to do the second fight against Genichiro. Is there stuff I should do before this fight because I can't so it afterwards? Or can I do this fight and still continue with sub-bosses and optionals I haven't done yet?

I have done 2 headless and 3 schichimen. I haven't done one headless, two underwater headless and I haven't done the great carp. I haven't gone to Ashina Outskirts as requested by a Samurai at the gates of Ashina Castle.

Many thanks in advance.

[Alexoferith]

None of the enemies that you have mentioned are story progress related. So, yeah, go ahead and fight Genichiro. However, he is not the final boss... hint hint.
Incidentally, have you talked to the divine child? Or have you killed the serpent?

[VisciousFishes]

Originally posted by Alexoferith:

None of the enemies that you have mentioned are story progress related. So, yeah, go ahead and fight Genichiro. However, he is not the final boss... hint hint.
Incidentally, have you talked to the divine child? Or have you killed the serpent?

Divine Child - Yes!

Serpent - dried and fresh. Given them to Divine Child. (I got them out of sequence - I got the viscera before I needed them.)

SO Dragons Tears!

I think I may have missed a few things like mini-bosses. I have not seen all of the Fountainhead Palace it seems - I only just found the pot noble.

[maldorf]

For the great carp, you have to get fish food to feed him. The pot noble at the Hirata estate has some special food that you will want to get. You have to talk to him a lot, and maybe buy a few things too to get it. I cant remember exactly.

[VisciousFishes]

Originally posted by maldorf:

For the great carp, you have to get fish food to feed him. The pot noble at the Hirata estate has some special food that you will want to get. You have to talk to him a lot, and maybe buy a few things too to get it. I cant remember exactly.

Cheers for that. I have some "precious bait" that I found and both pot nobles have given me their "precious bait" after spending carp scales. Bit of a debate between them apparently. But they aren't in the inventory of equipable items. I even found the lady who's father.....

I plan on heading around Fountainhead Palace again before the Genichiro fight. There's an optional boss I want to have a look at first. I want 1 or 2 more prayer beads to make another necklace first.

[maldorf]

So many hidden places in the game. Be sure to swim around a lot too because there are some headless around in different zones to fight underwater, and some treasures to be found. This is after you have the ability to dive.

[VisciousFishes]

Originally posted by maldorf:

So many hidden places in the game. Be sure to swim around a lot too because there are some headless around in different zones to fight underwater, and some treasures to be found. This is after you have the ability to dive.

I have done one underwater headless now (I think that was Fountainhead Palace) and there is another I have had issues with at Ashina Castle. I have one headless to find in Ashina Outskirts but it is a place I can never remember how to get back to. But that one requires a dive to get to.

At first I missed the route I needed for the carp but I have done that now. My options are the Demon of Hatred or Genichiro/Isshin fights. I am 3 prayer beads away from a full necklace collection now too.

[Alexoferith]

Ah, ok, if you can fight Genichiro the 2nd time, that means you have defeated the Divine Dragon, yes? If so, killing the 5 enemies near the Ashina Outskirt - Stairway Idol is the best farming spot if you want to get those combat arts that you want to get. Stealth kill them apart from the last one of the 5. it takes about 10 seconds (if you are quick) to kill them all then go back to the idol to rest and then repeat the process. And if you have "learnt" the two passive combat arts in the Senpou book which will severely improve money and drops for each cycle (killing 5 of the mentioned enemies near the Stairway Idol). This farming sequence will net you just over 3,000 XP and over 1,000 sens.
The 2nd best place to farm XP is at the Maibu Manor Idol of the Fountainhead District. There are 13 lightning wolves and 2 nobles. It takes about 15 to 20 seconds to clear them. Stealth kill the 1st noble (This is the one that walk down the corridor near the idol). Kill the first 2 wolves with your sword and shurikens with the rest. Kill the 2nd noble by stealth. This farming sequence will net you just under 5,000 XP each run. But money wise, only about 300 sens. However, this is the much safest run as you don't have to "fight" at all.
As maldort has mentioned, you can find 3 prayer beads in the water that you can swim. So, do dive in all that you can dive to get them.
Finally, I do advise once you get enough lazurite crystals, fully upgrade either your shuriken or the axe. Personally I choose shuriken. Although the fully upgraded Axe is so over powering, it has a long animation before it can hit (resulting in massive damage to both health and more importantly the enemy's posture), so you are vulnerable during that time. Fully upgraded shuriken will kill the minions in 2 or 3 even they try to block. And for higher ranking enemies but not the boss class ones, fully upgraded shuriken still deal high damage to both health and posture to the enemies including purple coat samurai.
Hope this help. Good luck and have fun :)

[VisciousFishes]

I have now done all five Headless. Still not done Genichiro and that fight, but no more Headless.

[Crypto Gamer]

Ritual dagger is good for extra 15 embelms for a boss fight.

Malcontent can stun Headless,Shicimen warrior and the Demon of hatred up to 3 times(12 embelms) per boss fight.

Helps a ton best used with dmg buffs cause they can not attack back.


Fountainhead Palace also has a Sakura bull you can do half hp dmg to "him" from stealth death blow or can fire crack scare him from stealth.

Also I think gives player bead and a passive+embelm carry.

If possible complete the second part of the Hirata memory it has 2 sub bosses so 2 beads.
And also has a boss to fight.
Not sure if you can still access that memory after killing the divine dragon.

That said even after you kill the final boss you can still play as normal and decide when to go for NG+.

But you can get all left over prayer beads for slightly more hp before tying final boss.

Ashina outskirt endgame is fully optional has 1 sub-boss(bead) and 1 optional end game boss.

[maldorf]

Playing through the 2nd time, I did about 1 hour, is surprisingly fun. I enjoyed it more than the 1st time. If I didnt have so many other games to play I would probably play this whole thing through a 2nd time. The game actually felt somewhat easy the 2nd time. You can also chose to give a charm to the young King instead of keeping it for yourself, if you do that then it makes the game even harder.

[VisciousFishes]

So, my done checklist is:

All apparition enemies- Headless and Shichimen Warriors

Sakura Bull -

20 emblem capacity + ceremonial tanto.

All 5 spiritfalls.

I have no access to Hirata Part 2. The game is still playing out as the first memory. Is that contingent on beating Genichiro pt.2?

3 prayer beads required for last necklace. I did the Sumo guy at Ashina Outskirts.

My two current options are either Demon of Hatred or Genichiro pt.2. Or, thirdly, running an area to get skill points. The yield is so low now and at 30k+ required per skill point and the only things I can get now have a cost of 5+ skill points each.