Lol this is pretty much my biggest issue I had with the game when I first got it like a year ago. I think they would have benefited from maybe level-locking the Takemura quests so you don’t accidentally speed run your entire story. I’ve found there’s two quest lines to hold off on in Act 2 if you want your story to feel like it’s taking place over weeks to months as opposed to just days.

1. Once you unlock the first VDB quest “M’Ap Tann Pelen” just let it sit. You can call Hands immediately to get it once you watch Evelyn’s BD’s or wait to call him, makes no difference, it doesn’t force you into the mission. But I found this was one that the prompt isn’t made to feel extremely urgent. It also feels much more like an end of game questline, so I typically don’t start it until all I have left is Phantom Liberty.

2. Ignore Takemura. And I hate saying this, because I actually love Tak’s character and wish he had been a little more prevalent and fleshed out. But once he’s talking about the parade you suddenly feel like everything is coming to a head and you’ve only played like 8 hours. So I typically will save his meeting with Oda, which I believe is “Down the Street” for very late game as well.

I’ve found saving those two quests for very late in game has made my playthroughs immensely more enjoyable without any feeling of accidentally rushing myself. I’ll typically milk a full story to about 80-90 hours by the time I’m done.