SoA quest list is insane!

FredN

.....The story line for ToB is relatively straightforward. Yes, you can choose between several courses of action, like when to go after Sendai vs hunting down Abazagil, but that's a minor decision. Right now I am redoing SoA as a Bard, and I am almost at a loss. I have freed Nalia's Keep ... and apparently, despite my combat ability, I am not good enough to be given stewardship of the D'Arnisse Keep ... and the number of quests currrently clamoring for my attention is absurd. I had almost forgotten how many there are.
.....The Umar Hills quest. Jaheira and the Harpers ... a massive quest that generates a ton of experience ... the campaign against the slavers, the Thieve's Guild and the fight vs Bohdi and her vampires, the fight against Firkraag, the Planar Sphere quest ... these are just the visible tip of the iceberg. Let's not even think about the later quests ... the Underdark, Spellhold, etc. And of course, every damned NPC companion has their own personal quest line.
.....It's been a few years since I actually did a full playthrough of SoA, and I feel like I have been gobsmacked with a blackjack. I have no idea what to do next. OK, I have Yoshimo in my party, so I should probably go talk to Bloodscalp next to avoid a conflict with the Thieve's Guild. But I could always delay this by removing Yoshimo from the party and grabbing someone else, like Valygar or Korgan. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I should procede in a semi-coherent manner?

Trouveur

There is no timer for Yoshimo.
You're a bard, I would suggest helping the actors in the bridge district inn.
Beside that, do what you want, you're not supposed to do all the things.
Your goal is to find money to go save Imoen. All others things are optional.

FredN

.....Oh, I know a lot of stuff is optional. What I want to do is maximize my experience gain so that when I get to ToB, I can actually fill all my level 6 spell slots. As I have mentioned before, I have a touch of OCD. But what's perplexing is the sheer number of quests that are all available at the same time. There are a number of factions that want my attention, and they all want it NOW. Bloodscalp wants me to get the goods on Mae Var, the other Thief guildmaster (I forget his name offhand; Avram something?) wants something else, the Vampire thieves want to recruit me, the Slavers are being obnoxious, and the folks in the Umar Hills are begging for help. Sheesh! And all that's just the tip of the iceberg. You mentioned the actor's quest, which is yet another can of worms. And then there's that whole bit with Xzar/Monterron/the Harpers. And the Dryad quest. And Firkraag. And ...
.....Also, as I mentioned, all the NPCs have their own personal axes to grind. Jan, Anomen, Jaheira, Hexxat, Dorn, Valygar ... the list is endless. The ToB plot line is much simpler; you usually have only two or at most three choices of actions to take. OK, I'll probably head over to the Thieve's Guild first, to keep Yoshimo happy, although taking out the slavers does seem pretty attractive. Oh, and I need to raise more cash and bribe the local officials so that I can actually use magic without being arrested. Gah! My "to do" list is overflowing; I need to sit down and prioritize everything.

atcDave

No doubt you get a lot dumped at you all at once at the start of SoA. It’s funny to me how many distractions there are just trying to get out of town to Nalia’s Castle! Getting that stronghold is funny. I so often play Paladins, and get that same line about “if you were more of a fighting type…” anyway, I usually use the “all strongholds” Tweak, so it becomes my choice which ones I take. And yeah, I ALWAYS take Nalia’s Castle. To me, it just screams “home base”, for any class.

In spite of the urgent sounding requests, you know everything will keep until Chapter six too. I usually go get Imoen pretty quickly and finish up when I get back.

FredN

>"I usually go get Imoen pretty quickly and finish up when I get back."<
.....OK, I know this is going to sound heretical, since Imoen is supposedly the MC's sort of step-sister, but I really don't care WHAT happens to Imoen. Yeah, she is a better thief than Nallia, but only when it comes to picking locks and disaming traps. She can't actually set a trap to save her (or my!) life. And in ToB, setting traps is a huge deal. A well placed high level spike trap can take out a Fire Giant. Since you get Nalia earlier, she has the potential to be just as good a mage, if not better. And potions/items to let Nalia be a better thief are a dime a dozen.
.....As far as I am concerned, the game designers made a serious error when they didn't create a decent good/neutral thief type. The absolutely best pure thief in the game is Hexxat but she has some obvious disadvantages. Not only is she a Vampire (hard to fit into a party that includes Anomen and Keldorn), but she is also suicidal! Yes, Jan is decent, but he has the blatant drawback of being a multi-class. Which means it takes him 2x as long to get that ever so sweet thief HLA of Use any Item. Yes, you could play a thief type yourself, and I have done so, but it sort of gimps your physical combat ability, except for the occasional (hard to set up) backstab. Yeah, the assasinate HLA is pretty sweet, but it takes forever to achieve. Potions of invisibility can help set up a backstab, but most high level foes have abilities to detect invisible.
.....And yes, early in the game Yoshimo is my go-to thief type, but I think we all know what happens to him midway through SoA. There's a reason you can't summon him to the Pocket Plane in ToB. Which, btw, I think is also another design flaw. There's a damned divine spirit in charge of summoning the companions I desire. It should be able to bend the rules a bit to give me whomever I want! I call Shenanigans! (South Park reference).

atcDave

Well, Imoen is always my thief and my mage. I rescue her promptly.

FredN

>"I usually go get Imoen pretty quickly and finish up when I get back."<
Oh, you can absolutely do that, especially for RP reasons. She is, after all your childhood friend and companion. And she can
handle traps and locks better than Nalia. But if you want someone who can reliably set traps ... and in ToB I definitely want this;
there are some things I'd rather not melee with ... then you need to recruit someone else, since Yoshimo is long gone. As I said, Hexxat is the ONLY pure thief type available from the NPC roster once Yoshimo goes to Valhalla, but she comes with a LOT of baggage. IMHO, this was a serious oversight on the part of the designers. Yes, Jan can do the job, but as a multi-class he is tediously slow to gain levels.

FredN

>"You're a bard, I would suggest helping the actors in the bridge district inn."<
Oh I did that; now not only do I have to rescue Haer D'Aelis, but I get hit with the "Skinner" murders side quest. I had totally forgotten about that one. Yeah, it's optional, except for me it's not. OCD can be seriously annoying at times.
Addendum: Ack! Rescuing Haer D'Aelis leads to the Planar Prison quest ... which is, of course, totally distinct from the Planar Sphere. I give up; there is no way to keep track of everything outside of drawing a flow chart diagram.

DinoDin

Yes, it's kind of masterful how much content they made. I suspect where you are now, Chapters 2-3 of SoA, is most people's favorite part of the whole saga. A vast array of quests to choose from and many of them complex and layered in a way they just weren't in BG1.

Enjoy it, especially if it's been a long time for you.

FWIW, I think it's worth it to limit your completionist urge to NOT include trying to juggle companion quests. Several of them have long timers that take awhile to kick in. And, they ultimately end up with meager XP or gear rewards. The exceptions are Jaheira and the EE companions. And even then the EE companions have level requirements before progressing their quests, making them a chore unless they are a constant member of your party.

Otherwise, I do think the game can be done in a completionist fashion without much hassle.

FredN

Hmm, was thinking of rotating the companions around to keep them more or less equal in levels, but probably it would be best to settle on two core groups; one good/neutral amd one neutral/evil. And of course I have to bear in mind that certian NPCs can't exist in the same party. Edwin and Neera is a no go, and I shudder to even think about Dorn and Keldorn meeting. And Neera's quest is just as extensive as jaheira's.

FredN

It never stops! Heading to Malkath's lair to rescue Haer D'Aelis, I bump into Neera, who wants my help in the WIld Forest. Desperately trying to get to the damned wizard, I am accosted by a priest of Helm who wants to recruit me to combat the Cult of the Unseeing Eye. Nope, nope, a definitive nope to all of that. I am going to make a short list of the pending quests I want to do now ... there are 4 in Athkatla itself ... and everyone else can go take a flying leap. When I am done with those, I'll play it by ear from there. Ahhh! Having a concrete plan feels ever so much better