Seeking advice on rough order in which to tackle things, please

Salamis

Hello there, I've not played BG2 since it first came out and my memory is quite hazy. I've a (boring!) good party, me Paladin, with Jan, Minsc, Jaheira, Aerie, and currently Yoshimo though I will replace him with Imoen at the appropriate time.

I've wandered a bit in Athkatla (triggering far more quests than I'd like), done Nalia's castle, and just finished Umar/the Shadow Dungeon. What order should I do things in next? Plunge into Athkatla, do Windspear Hills, something else? Within Athkatla, what are the best quests for lower-level parties?

Thanks in advance, everyone.

Heindrich

Have u dealt with the slavers associated with the Copper Coronet? That's an easy quest, and gives u a discount with Bernard afterwards. If u could handle the Temple Ruins, u should be fine with the Planar Sphere and the Planar Prison.

Felspawn

this is a blatant copy and paste of someone named Morbidest on the bioware forums but its sound advise

"One way to look at it is:
Do the easy Circus and Copper Coronet stuff first, then first level dungeons (Slavers,MaeVar, Korgan,Anomen, and Edwin quests) in each of the 6 Athkatla neighborhoods.
Only then go outside the city for Nalia's castle and Trademeet/Druid Grove. Come back and do some of the slightly tougher stuff like the Unseeing Eye, the Astral Prison and the Planar Sphere. Then go after the 2 dragons, come back and chase Bodhi and go to Spellhold. Come back, see Cromwell, go after Kangaxx, Twisted Rune and clobber Bodhi. Think about doing the first 2 levels of Watchers Keep before you go to Suldanesselar."


(though i didnt think the Astral prison was that tough, that was one of the first places my Blade went (for the sweet sweet bardic loot) and i managed)

althor

Aren't we all.
I can honestly say, this recent playthrough, I have spent more time thinking about what to do next than actually playing. I will consider alternatives during work. Come home and change my mind.

Skaffen

Astral prison is quite easy but gives good XP and boots of speed. Unseeing eye is easy with shield of balduran (just take fireballs for the undead on the way). After that you should be good to go to Windspear hills for your holy avenger. Minsc might complain in between that you should do umar hills though.

Salamis

Many thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate your time and thoughts.

enqenq

I tend to do the Skinner Murders quest in the Bridge District very early. It's 70k xp and +1 rep for just talking. You don't have to go to the bottom floor and fight the Rune Assassins to complete the quest, but I did count the trap disarming xp from the second floor. Also, having done it enables you to do another easy, followup quest in Trademeet which is equally generous for its difficulty.

Shire

Maybe Im blind but i see no mention of the Shadow thieves questline. I just did it myself solo right after circus tent. Good Xp and alot of money at the end. The only tricky part is the mage who also got stonegolems in his house. But if you can sneak past the golems and not be to unlucky on rolls, the mage should die.

JuliusBorisov

@Salamis

I can advise you the following: go to the Temples District and complete quests for the Temple of Helm. There're quite useful items that can be obtained during these quests (for i.e. DEX gloves, a very good shield). Also they give a solid amount of gold. Just follow the quest line and don't open sarcophagus yet. Skeleton warriors can VERY well deal with all the enemies you'll meet during these quests.

Also, you can freely take Korgan and complete his quest in the graveyard. Again, skeleton warriors help a lot. I always do this after the Copper Coronet. After his quest you can dispatch Korgan without problems.

Windspear Hills (the dungeon there) is a rather difficult location for lower-level parties. Also personally I find the Astral prison difficult too.