Missions first? Or clear all provinces?

[fredster]

What would in your opnion be the better way? I remember that in JC2 first I cleared most of the provinces before I bothered with the missions. Therefore the missions were pretty easy whereas out of the missions it had become near impossible not to get killed by instantly and endlessly spawning of helicopters, boats, airstrikes...
But when the missions are completed, I guess there would be much less motivation to stay in the game.
So, what would be better for the balance? How is the game intended to be played?
Thanks for your opinions.

[Warc1]

Personal preference. Mine is to clear the provinces first so I can create a save game for future replay where I don't have to grind through all of the takeovers to replay the main missions. I did missions far enough to start the Sky Fortress DLC and get the Bavarium Wingsuit, and then switched to takeovers.

[e.bkapalka]

Some provinces require missions to fully liberate. I also personally like some enemies left on the map when playing the story so I wouldn't clean up all of the bases and such prior to the story

[The Phasmid]

The missions are completely secondary to this game (even moreso than JC2). The core sandbox elements are way more fun. Just try to complete the story based missions ASAP. Get it out of the way, so you can focus on doing the fun stuff like blowing up bases, challenges, aimlessly blowing ♥♥♥♥ up.