I'll second the advice about not hording malachite gems, especially if you quicksave at malachite veins (or turning in certain quests in the FoV section of the game) and reload to try to get 2 or 3 gems from each. I ended DKS with 65 malachite gems (38 from FoV quests), using 2 for level 10 healing aura enchantments and 2 for a quest.
One specific case is to mindread Beatrice (I think), the quest-giver in High Hall,
before accepting or embarking on her quest otherwise the bonus reward never becomes available. Having said that, since DKS reworked it, the quest is such a bugger to complete that it's only do-able late in the game by which time you'll probably have plenty of gems anyway!
Periodic saves are a good idea, especially before entering new areas, etc.
Oh, definitely. I do this with every game, even the ones that try to mandate One True Save and no others.
There's something rattling around in my head about the ideal time or the best order in which to do certain quests but I don't have a clear enough mind at this time of day to remember what exactly.
