In total, there are a lot of episodes to watch of Higurashi. The first season is 26 episodes, with the second having 24 (Also OVA's and a reboot). Focusing on the first season, I found the first few episodes very enjoyable. It seemed like it was really going somewhere.
After the first few episodes the show stops adding to story and focused purely on the violence and gore side.

Most of the episodes don't contain anything important towards the story of character development. However, every now and then there is an scene contained in an episode that does have story, and does build character. For this reason you wouldn't be able to skip anything.

The last few episodes are as good as the first, but the whole middle area of the show is practically empty. The story makes no sense and you will be left feeling like you wasted a lot of time watching the show.

Higurashi was the worst anime I've ever watched. However, I gave it another chance by watching the second season (kai).
Even with the second season being 24 episodes it manages to include significant story in each episode and it never feels slow.
It changes your view on the first season, as it try's to explain it.

After watching all of Higurashi, my view on it has changed, because I enjoyed the second season. Though I still think the first season could have just been 12-13 episodes long. (show less)