The V8

[HateMe]

It seems like this is the last territory in the game.. Which confuses me. Im doing all this stuff everywhere else with the V6 and im gunna complete the game around when I get the V8... Should i be doing the gastown area BEFORE I finish the rest of the territories?

[Denniss]

Why not? Moar Powa !
But you need a hell lot of scrap and you may need to tackle some other prerequisites to install the highest level V8

[Kunovega]

If you get the V8 you are very near the end of the main story. The majority of the game is optional side fluff that from a technical stand point could be skipped. You could (if you rushed and were skilled enough to get through without needing many upgrades) finish the main storyline with probably 20% or less of the world itself actually completed.

It's entirely up to you, but most of what you do is just to earn scrap for upgrades to make things a bit easier, but it's all mostly optional. Getting 100% of the world done is 40+ hours of side hustle beyond what the main story requires.

[Volrishan]

personally i get jeet and gutgash's areas to threat level 0 then open up pinks stronghold. since v8 upgrades come from her area i move on to deep friah's area get that to threat level 0 and get the v8 engine. then i get pinks area to threat level 0 before completing the game. but that is just me as Kunovega says you don't really need the upgrades to beet the game but i like to have them anyway.

[HateMe]

Thats what i needed to know. Thank you. Ive got 11k scrap and am about half way through Pink's territory.. so Im gunna go get me a feckin V8 then come back.

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by Volrishan:

personally i get jeet and gutgash's areas to threat level 0 then open up pinks stronghold. since v8 upgrades come from her area i move on to deep friah's area get that to threat level 0 and get the v8 engine. then i get pinks area to threat level 0 before completing the game. but that is just me as Kunovega says you don't really need the upgrades to beet the game but i like to have them anyway.

It was mainly just in response to his feeling like the game was coming to end shortly after getting the V8. The main story certainly makes it feel that way and if you made the choice to focus on that, you won't have 0% threat in any territory by end game, let alone before opening new areas.

The game has a lot of freedom and even I've spent the time to 100% it completely, I'm just pointing out that the narrative of the main story doesn't require it, so yea, you can get the V8 (especially your first time) and be wondering if the game is almost over, because it sort of is, unless you choose to just "live in the world" (which many of us do)

I'd have to replay it again to double check, but I think if you really know the game mechanics and decided to intentionally do the minimum I think you only need to do like 2 convoys and 1 camp completion, you could leave something like 11 convoys and most of the camps remaining, so at least 80% of the non-main-story can theoretically be skipped.

Of course the only 2 reasons to do this:
1. You just don't care and want to be done
2. You want to intentionally get to the post-story open world sandbox and still have things to do with your end game car

My first time through I went super slow, I didn't progress story missions until there was literally nothing left in a region. 100% in game and achievements:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2188450229

My second time through was just a sloppy sort of speed run, not optimal and I did more than needed but not everything.

I don't feel like playing it again right now, but I'll circle back to it probably in another year and decide how I feel like playing it that time when I get to it.