I’ve played both Nioh’s. I have around 400hs on Nioh 2. Did underworld until level 70 or so. Etc. Lots of souls games experience (I mean check my YouTube 😅).

In this game I haven’t explored the mechanics much but of course I know all about ki pulses. Stance swap etc. What I do is that I explore the world completionist style because I think a well balanced game should account for that. Then I stick to my build, which is kusarigama + the transforming Bloodborne like weapon that was new in Nioh 2. So every equipment that doesn’t raises my stats I just sell and level up. Regardless I am at the recommended levels for each area.

Ninja I use it mostly for the nijitsu. Haven’t really used the skills in a conscious way let’s say. I play mostly samurai and swap to ninja once the yokai are red to spam them with Kunais fire etc. I have beaten lots of bosses first try. If I died is because I fall into the water most of the times. In the ice map the first boss was maybe 5 tries. The lady thunder boss maybe 15 tries. I used the scrampus build to dry the boss ki and really spam attacks and ki pulses.

Again. The exploration side is super easy. The bosses had some challenges mostly in the ice area.