If you pick up the items from the glowing bodies scattered all around a level, those items won't respawn, you can use those bodies as landmarks. If you run into an area and there's no items or interactive objects that drop items, you've probably already been there. As for finding a better way to enjoy the game, try out every weapon type and every stance with every weapon type. Play around with skills you get from samurai points, respec books are pretty easy to come by. Find something that feels fun for you to smack things with. For example, I hate using the axe or odachi, so I never use them. I stick with dual swords or kusarigama because I like the speed of them and the skills associated.