So, like the header reads, I just picked this up after holding off -

Anyway my question I have is, since I'm enjoying this game (still fairly early on, 14% complete, about to launch Nora's Revenge mission)- what is the suggested way of going about playing this if I want to play it a second time? I am having a great time exploring around and just soaking in every detail, and because of that I have no problem running the errand quests, picking up every flower or hunting for an hour straight- but if I want to continue the joys of this on a hard NG+ does it make more sense to leave side quests alone and focus more on the story so there's more to do on the second go/higher difficulty (hard +)

Suggestions? For now I'm going to try and ignore more side quests than my completionist instincts and balance it out with story progression, but I am just curious as to what people who have finished the game think is the most sensible approach for someone who really does want to play this game a second time around on a higher difficulty with more content to discover, without ruining the magic of the game by late game reveals that would make the re-play a trivial feeling endeavor where I know everything (like, say shadow of the colossus or the last of us where when you beat them, you have to take a good long break before returning, and when you do, you generally see everything you saw again.)

Hope that makes sense and thanks in advance for any insight.

I would save a lot of the side quests for play No. 2 if you really do feel like playing the game over again. The side quests fill in a lot of the color of the world as you'll come to know it, and if challenge is a thing you're interested in completing all the side quests, particularly one most people wound up needing a guide to complete anyway, will trivialize a lot of the late game encounters. That said, I really, really loved the combat in this game and clicked with it in a way I usually don't with games so I played it on Hard through the main game and am on Ultra Hard for the NG+. Granted, I beat the game back when it came out and didn't start a NG+ with Frozen Wilds until a couple weeks ago so I'm pretty rusty, but I haven't even beat the first new enemy from the DLC and I was fully maxed at level 50 by the end of the main game, so saving a lot of that side content for something to do in a NG+ will be a good way to gain experience without feeling like you're just doing all the menial (they label a lot of their side content as "errands" for a reason) content with no purpose other than getting stronger.

The game also divides the content pretty cleanly; I don't know if it doesn't unlock that stuff until you're at the appropriate level, but if/when it does anything for the Frozen Wilds (in my experience, you launch the DLC from a conversation in Meridian) will be labeled with a different color on your map so it's pretty easy to avoid that stuff. It was designed as mid/late game content, though, so I'll bet there's also something to be said for approaching it within the context of the greater story if you have the full package from the very beginning.

The Errands can be safely skipped, but many of the Side Quests do have some relevance to the overall story. They also all have dialogue and storytelling, so they're certainly worth seeing. The errands are the more fetch-questy stuff that are there just to fill out of the game.

Don't ever do an Errand, but do every single Side Quest (a lot have cutscenes). I would also recommend the Bandit Camps which, while a bit boring gameplay wise, introduce an interesting character. That served me well in the 25 hours I spent playing the main story. But, I didn't like the combat enough to actually want to play it again (but I loved the story to bits), so that advice probably only applies to doing 1 playthrough.

Thanks for the replies, appreciate it, particularly Nodima with kind of a perfect answer regarding the parts about Frozen Wild and using side missions to build up to it on a second playthrough. Thanks to all again.

In as non-spoilery way as I can put it the side quests are important and can affect which ending you receive along with an achievement. Not that there is a good/bad ending but your choices can affect what plays out at the end. As for the achievement its easy enough to get on the first play through if you are willing to put the time in.