I'm still quite early in SoA, with most of the sidequests left untouched yet, but having already acquired 15k gold, and thinking to go after Imoen soon-ish, to have her along when doing the remaining quests when back in Athkatla.

Can anyone who did it that way before tell me if it adds anything to the experience, role-playing/banter/comments on quests etc. wise?

(also is there any time limit in which you have to go after Irenicus then?)

Role playing? Absolutely. She's your childhood best friend who's been with you since Candlekeep. Why would you leave her in the hands of a madman? Couldn't get any stronger reason to hurry to her side than that.

Banter? BG / BG2 is not about party banter, so unless you have third party mods then no, nothing significant is added. But that goes for any party member.

There is no time limit.

You can hold Imoen from your adventuring party for as long as possible but eventually you'll miss her...

:)

You'll miss her so much that you will start having dreams about her rejoining your party.

:)

What are you talking about? While I agree that the first BG is not about party banter, the same is not true about BG2. The different comments/conversations that NPC have with each other and with you is one of my favorite things about BG2 and is one of the reasons these games are so fun to replay with different NPC reactions/conversations. Mods greatly enhance this, but its still there without the mods. Maybe for you its not what the games are about, but for me it really is near the top of the reasons I love this game and why IMO BG2 is superior to BG1.

And to answer what the original poster asked, Imoen doesn't have much dialogue in SoA after you rescue her. Its up to you how much you want to role-play in this case, but she adds very little to the conversations.

^^ 'nuff said.

NPCs do not have 'conversations'', they make occasional interjection style comments, that's all. BG / BG2 is not about party banter.

How would you define "conversations"? I'd have thought that two (or more) of them exchanging comments, with or without CHARNAME, would easily qualify. A specific example that comes to mind is Haer'Dalis and Aerie having their romance, like when he's teaching her the play.

Protracted exchanges. There may be the odd one, like you mentioned, but my point is that the games are not about banter. Try initiating a conversation with any NPC without third party mods installed.

Have you even played the game?

Sounds somewhat like a definition difference, since I'd call my example a conversation. While no, the game isn't primarily NPCs talking to you or each other, I would say they have a lot conversations, like Jan smarting off to whoever happens to be around.

Thanks for clarifying.

I meant that Imoen doesn't have much dialogue commenting on the SoA side-quests. You're quite right, she does have a lot of dialogue, just not about the random quests. I guess I wasn't quite clear about what I meant.

What I understand from party banter is the conversations companions have in Dragon Age games. You can talk to them, ask about their history, converse in different topics. BG games have none of that. They dont even have Planescape torment level of banter.

Definition of conversation https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conversation

1
obsolete : conduct, behavior

2
a (1) : oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas < … we had talk enough but no conversation; there was nothing discussed. — Samuel Johnson> (2) : an instance of such exchange : talk <a quiet conversation>b : an informal discussion of an issue by representatives of governments, institutions, or groups <conversations among the senators>c : an exchange similar to conversation <We had a conversation by e-mail.

Definition of (1) is clearly what the "banter" in BG2 is. Some examples include:
1. Valygar asking the player character about their opinion on magic
2. The romances
3. Keldorn giving Anomen advice
4. Jan's stories (admittedly more of a one-sided conversation)
5. The good and evil characters discussing their different world-views
6. When the different fighters compliment each other on their battle prowess
7. Anomen asking what your opinion is about what he should do after his sister's murder

All of those are CONVERSATIONS. That's not even getting into the dialogue with non-joinable NPCs.

How sad.

My response was aimed at Hickory who said "NPCs do not have 'conversations'', they make occasional interjection style comments, that's all. BG / BG2 is not about party banter."

BG2 has loads of banter. The party members talk to eachother all time time. Some of the conversations are quite lengthy as well.

I never said there was no banter. Learn to read. I said that BG / BG2 is not about banter.