Best time to pay Shadow Thieves/Vampires for help with Imoen?

jukaga

It's been a good 10 years since I've played BG2 and was wondering what is the best time for starting the rescue Imoen stuff? Only when I'm done with the Amn side quests or can I safely start the Imoen line without missing anything? I seem to recall the cut-off point is when you get on the ship and go down to the fish-people city, then the underdark. IIRC you do go back to the main map, but old sidequests are nullified.

Felspawn

i personally try to cram everything in chapter 2, but i'm told you can still do most side quests in Chapter 6 before Suldanessellar

Alkalurops

You can safely start the Imoen line. After the chapter 3 main quests you'll still get the option you're "not ready yet" if you don't want to set sail to spellhold yet.
You can still do most quests in chapter 6, although you'll probably find them too easy at this point in the game.

[Deleted User]

If I remember correctly, you can still do side-quests in Amn between making the initial payment and getting on the ship. I'm also pretty sure, though, that any sidequest in chapter two that doesn't have a timer on it (i.e. pretty much any one that isn't connected to an NPC) can be picked up again in chapter 6 and finished.

There are usually two criteria I use to decide when to head off after Imoen/Irenicus: 1) Do I have all of the good magic items that are available in chapter 2 that I want to have? and 2) If I plan to use Imoen in my party, how much experience do I have? I seem to remember that if I started chapter 3 around 1 million experience then Imoen would be in the right ballpark once I picked her up.

nano

I do a few quests to get stronger but I head off to Spellhold as soon as possible. If you do the side quests in chapter 6 everything is upgraded a little bit due to your higher level and you get to fight random liches which is kinda fun.

jukaga

Thanks for the tips gentlemen, I appreciate it, I don't think Imoen will have a place in my group, we're pretty established now, I have no need for another caster. Depending on how I feel, she may displace Jan, but Imoen is a lackluster thief at that point.

Tyranus

You'll want to pay the initial 15k ASAP. This only advances the story but doesn't send you to Brynnlaw yet. It also gives you access to an amazing magical necklace you'll want early.

I like to just clear the world before I ever get on the ship. There's a sense of urgency to capture Irenicus and finish the game at that point. I almost never use Imoen in my party so she can sit tight for a bit.

GamingFreak

I'd say doing all the stronghold starter quests prep you enough. Then maybe do your stronghold quests and finish them (unless you're paladin or something, then maybe waiting it out is smart), and finish some of the personal quests for party members maybe (Jaheira having a very very big one, and it's even tied to her romance if you want to aim for her, so to speak).

Doing all of those should net you a *TON* of XP and loot/gold.

jukaga

I think there may be a bug. After doing the Shade Lord quest, I decided to give the ST their 15k, advanced to Chapter 3 and checked my journal. None of my open quests transferred to Chapter 3 and Chapter 2 was now blank. Reloaded, and kept plugging away at my quests. Do the quests remain active even though the journal was blanked? I don't have the best memory so even if that's the case it sucks.

Eudaemonium

The journal seems to blank out randomly. I usually have it restore after a while or after getting another quest update. Its a bit erratic.

Amardarial

I didn't do much until after I left the underdark, then I went on a Side-Quest spree...

Alexisisinneed

I always found it best to do a lot of the side quest before paying the bill to get imoen back. This way it makes the underdark not that much of a challenge.

Wanderon

I almost always complete whatever chap 2 quests I plan on doing before heading for Imoen - I just don't have any motivation to clean up side quests once I finish the underdark - of course out of the dozens of characters/parties that start chap 2 only a handful actually get to Imoen LOL!

On the bright side that means the second half of the game is still relatively "fresh" for me and when combined with my fading memory some places almost seem new!