Best time to start PL? Suggested level?

[Hayashi.226]

I've completed Automatic Love questline all the way until M'ap Tann Pelen started. I know that when I complete this chain I can start PL.

But I have yet to talk to Rogue in the Afterlife, and meet Takemura the 2nd time (1st time being the one at the start of Act 2 in Tom's Diner).

Story wise, when would be a logical time to start PL, you think? Automatic Love is about trying to determine who hired Evelyn and thus we learn how the heist came about, while Ghost Town is about V trying to track down the creator of the relic.

Despite enemies scaling with you, is there a suggested level to start PL?

 

[Grantig]

I second the question.
Do you have to do it before the main quest line gets fixed (Hanako-meeting), or is there a way to do it after that without reloading an earlier save?

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Not sure if there is any ideal time to start Phantom Liberty, but in my case, I would say as late as possible. There is too much end-game stuff in Phantom Liberty to start it "early". But on the other hand, you can earn many unic weapons/relic perks/cyberwares which can be useful or fun to use "early" in the base game.
So well, not sure, so not useful advice, but it really depend

Do you have to do it before the main quest line gets fixed (Hanako-meeting), or is there a way to do it after that without reloading an earlier save?

You mean the last meeting, at Embers (Nocturne OP55N1) ?
If yes, it doesn't matter, you can't play after anyway. The game (re)spawn you at the point of no return, so before meeting Hanako

 

[Grantig]

Yeah, maybe, but when is the last point to start it properly?

 

[Crimsomrider]

Personally I'll be starting it after dealing with Judy's and Panam's entire questlines, as I always leave Takemura to infinitely wait.

As for the suggested level; theoretically the suggested level is 15 since that's what the instant-access puts the player at, but honestly there is no suggested level because everything scales. So can pretty much do it whenever one feels like it.

 

[Grantig]

Bute the last option to start is right before "Nocturne Op55N1"?

 

[Wint3rking]

Personally I think one should start the DLC immediately after you get the call from Songbird which happens after Transmission because it does and it is urgent and then do everything until you get to the part where you are supposed to wait a couple of days for Reed's call .. Then can you do whatever side mission or gigs inbetween the main missions.

I made sure I had Panam, Judy and River storylines finished too before starting it.

 

[playerzeroed]

i'd recommend to start ph_l whenever you want. there are a lot of small differences depending on the main game progress, and it is impossible to get them all at once.

edit: maybe it is better to rush the main game directly to the songbird's call for the first time. but if you dont plan to play this dlc twice, then there is no big difference. enemies are "level scaled" anyway.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Bute the last option to start is right before "Nocturne Op55N1"?

It's up to you, between "Transmission" (when Phantom Liberty is triggered) and "Nocturne OP55N1" (the very last "playable" quest line which lead to the endings). Outside of that, it's totally up to players to decide whenever they want to start Phantom Liberty.
There are good points to start Phantom Liberty soon enough, there are good points to start it late, but there is no "ideal" time in reality.
My "ideal" time won't probably yours

 

[Grantig]

Yeah, I'm already level 47 and doing Kerry's quests now.
So after that quest line I get to PL

 

[1337Tott]

When PL launched, I did 2 playthroughs from scratch:

1- Went straight to PL after the heist and transmission: no gig completed, no NCPD hustle. Woke up from the junkyard, talked to Goro and straight to Judy.
2- Did everything from base game before I reach to Songbird.

The difference is VERY minor, the only thing that affect PL is the Lizzy Wizzy Questline (Violence) for that iconic headpiece and some comments about me killing Maman Brigitte.

The other REAL difference is how fast you want the relic perks to be unlocked as for some build it is a game changer.

 

[Stinkyremy]

I would say best time to start it is around 30 mark, but if you got to 50 before doing it that would be fine. I didn't start it until 60 thinking it was a DLC where I will be in dogtown for ages then come back to the base game so I did nearly all base game side quests up to chipping in and point of no return, but actually you go in and out of dogtown after starting it, some missions even end you out of dogtown, like I did a gig and it lead me back into pacifica via an underground area.

The thing is when you start it you are pushed into a rather long linear quest, then a straight up quest to that quest and a wait for the next quest (2 days) In that wait time I have already done everything I can do location wise, side quests etc in dogtown, so it is intended for you to do it alongside the base game.

More importantly you open up radiant jobs in the base game, car missions, which can help you loot wise, are infinitely repeatable, drop XP so help with levelling as well as take you across the base game areas so can lead you in directions to do other side stuff rather than going out of your way to go to the locations yourself.
Plus it seems each of the gigs in dogtown has NPCs attached to it and your actions has impact on the outcome, and possibly they could open up side quests in the base game. i have had one case of it happening, and the DLC also adds side quests in the base game areas too.

Ultimately it is not insular, you can swap between PL main mission and base game main missions (before point of no return) and do side quests and content as you see fit.

So no rush to start it, but no need to wait for max level either. Best to start it after you do the voodoo boys, when it allows you to do it, or whenever you feel you want to do it.

Post automatically merged: Oct 22, 2023

I made sure I had Panam, Judy and River storylines finished too before starting it.

This is a good point too, there was a side quest I could call people about and had river and panam as an option, I guess you may not have unless you completed their questlines.

 

[solarparty]

It's up to you, between "Transmission" (when Phantom Liberty is triggered) and "Nocturne OP55N1" (the very last "playable" quest line which lead to the endings). Outside of that, it's totally up to players to decide whenever they want to start Phantom Liberty.
There are good points to start Phantom Liberty soon enough, there are good points to start it late, but there is no "ideal" time in reality.
My "ideal" time won't probably yours

New player here so no spoilers please, but I had been playing the game with the assumption that you can continue to play after the main story finishes. Are you saying that's not the case and that we need to start and finish Phantom Liberty before finishing the main storyline?

 

[LeKill3rFou]

New player here so no spoilers please, but I had been playing the game with the assumption that you can continue to play after the main story finishes. Are you saying that's not the case and that we need to start and finish Phantom Liberty before finishing the main storyline?

In fact, you can't really "finish" the main story except if you decide it. In short, without spoiling too much, after the endings, you can :
- Either "end" your playthrough by returing to the main menu.
- Either spawn back at the point of no return, like if you didn't complete ending(s), with the (last) main quest active (and everything you didn't complete yet available too, Phantom Liberty included).

So you can complete Phantom Liberty whenever you want. As soon as it's available, you can keep it for the very last moment or even after completing one or all main game endings. It's totally up to you

 

[solarparty]

In fact, you can't really "finish" the main story except if you decide it. In short, without spoiling too much, after the endings, you can :
- Either "end" your playthrough by returing to the main menu.
- Either spawn back at the point of no return, like if you didn't complete ending(s), with the (last) main quest active (and everything you didn't complete yet available too, Phantom Liberty included).

So you can complete Phantom Liberty whenever you want. As soon as it's available, you can keep it for the very last moment or even after completing one or all main game endings. It's totally up to you

Thanks, I appreciate the info! I guess I'll do Phantom Liberty before starting the final story quest; it would be weird to me to jump back in time after experiencing the "ending".

 

[warlock75]

I have heard that if you do PL before doing some of the main quests, different dialog options appear. Like with Alt and Hellman. Probably minor, but going to do another playthrough after this one to see what they have to say.

 

[playerzeroed]

The difference is VERY minor, the only thing that affect PL is the Lizzy Wizzy Questline (Violence) for that iconic headpiece and some comments about me killing Maman Brigitte.

*diffenerces
you cant see everything wth just two playthroughs. but whatever.

 

[alphamachina]

I've been told the best time to do it is after you've completed the game, and you've loaded back into the world. But I have a problem with this, and it's that I'm not even close to completing the game, and with the difficulty settings maxed out, my character is already way too OP and I just blast through everything like its nothing, so it makes the entire game feel trivial. I don't think Phantom Liberty will be very rewarding like this, so I'm going to load an older save when my character is still fairly low level (maybe level 15 or 20) and then rush through the story so I can jump straight into Phantom Liberty and actually enjoy it with a challenge.

 

[TheLocalHentai]

Started a new game after the dlc dropped and the right time would be right after doing all the "find a cure" branches but before the parade. It's sorta like a last hope thing, where V (thinks he) doesn't have to take the last resort with Hanako and doesn't have all of Arasaka wanting to kill him. This also allows you to bring goods from the DLC to the main game, instead of getting some really good endgame gear and then basically having very little to use them on.

An argument could be made that after Hanako's abduction, instead of V ending up in the badlands to hide in a hotel, he SHOULD have escaped to Dogtown instead, do some of the main PL branches to let the heat die down a bit, go back to NC and finish some of the side quests involving main game/dlc interactions (basically just Lizzy Wizzie, which could have easily been an act 3 thing).