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On a New Game+, the gold chests in Crypt 4 don't reset. They just give the "you've already emptied this chest" message.

Really? That's odd, then, we should have been able to find him somewhere in the Academy... o_O

The Mechanic Base never did anything for me. I don't think you're ever supposed to go there; they're allies of the Cult, so they wouldn't be very friendly.

Huh, I am kind of disappointed that Niven doesn't make an appearance, he was one of my favorite characters. What does the end text say for him, again?

I'm also kind of surprised that we don't see Grotius even mentioned. Didn't he become a leader of spriggats or something?

Perhaps, but their biology seems psy-related. They appear to be somewhat intangible, with detached hands and such...it is possible that the reason they live longer is because they are more psychic energy than physical matter? They don't have physical resistance, though...

Hm, interesting. Though Arman does have pretty high HP, the problem is that his playstyle tends to force him into dangerous positions behind enemy lines, which can easily get him swarmed. My Arman has 30 HP currently -- while that may seem like a lot at first, it isn't when he's being attacked by 3 Loyalist Soldiers, all of which can deal at least 12 damage... Maybe I'm just not playing him right. I did tend to have a similar problem with Darkling in TRPG2.

Since I didn't use Malis on my first playthrough at all, maybe I'll give her a try on this one. Maybe replace Arman with her, see how they compare.

And hm...it would have been nice to give Set a few more buff skills. I often have him do nothing the first turn, and every so often, no one will really need healing, so he just sort of dawdles around. I really like Fury and Stimulate (I love buff spells in general), but I often don't have a chance to use them, since Duvalier's offensive skills are just so much more valuable. I think it would be interesting if those buff abilities were given to a healer like Set, he'd have more opportunities to use them. A second psy fighter that was more specialized for damage (sort of like Guy), thereby freeing up Duvalier to do other things, would also be interesting. Ah well, maybe next game.

Also, Mind Shield isn't the only advantage that Naj has over La'Man -- she also has 1 extra point of speed, which can make a surprising deal of difference. Also, I generally find that more enemies use cold attacks than heat ones... (Actually, come to think of it, are there any heat-using enemies in SoG other than Fernatus?)

That bug has been fixed. :)

:D

I find that the Blood Orb makes the resistance orbs less necessary.

I don't, actually. Maybe for the early game, but remember that Duvalier has no health bonuses to begin with. The Blood Orb just brings him up to par with other allies that have intrinsic health bonuses, but in the late game, enemies can still utterly demolish your health. I'm mainly thinking of the Somnus quest -- the Loyalist Captains and Soldiers hit like trucks. And they're everywhere! D:

Also, hm, the green orb does not simply bring your speed to 9, as I originally thought -- it can bring it up to 10 and above if you've had Arman raise your speed. This could change things... I still don't know what orb I'd give up, though.

Edit: Actually, I redact my statement about the Blood Orb -- Static Shield works better. Now, I usually replace the Blood Orb with the Green Orb.

As for the other stuff...I prefer to keep my mouth shut for the time being. :)

Is that a hint of a sequel I hear? :D

Their are many types of Psys in the Telepath Universe, one type is a Seer, an example of which is http://telepath.wikia.com/wiki/Malignus_(Spriggat), who are able to see the future, or in Malignus' case be able to relive it, however, they might been able to see the future.

Ah, I see. That would fit with the theory that they're psys but don't realize it. That would mean that Cygnus is just a very powerful Seer who thinks that his visions are granted to him by Yahwah.

Alternatively, we could take a middle option that I think someone proposed earlier: Yahwah can grant the powers of the Gift to devout believers, but people who are born with the Gift are anomalies, and that's why Yahwah hates them.

It makes sense that mind powers could prevent things like dementia, but I don't see how mind powers could prevent physical aging.

Perhaps. But we've seen psys do some pretty funky things in this setting, I wouldn't put it past them to be able to alter their biology to stall aging somehow. And we do know that shadowlings, a very psy-oriented race, have vastly extended lifespans...

(And we still don't know how Nelis got her immortality. Will that ever be answered? Perhaps if there's a sequel to the Bad Ending of TRPG2...)

[Griffin vs. Qudssi vs. Rajav]

Hm. Hard to say. I suppose it really comes down to...

Griffin vs. Qudssi vs. Rajav: All have roughly the same role -- melee attacking and tanking. Qudssi is very useful at the start for his high skill, speed, and mental resistance, but his specialization is too narrow. Griffin outclasses him later on, due to having more versatility. So it's really down to Griffin vs. Rajav in the endgame. In terms of tankiness, they're about evenly matched; Rajav has physical resistance, and Griffin has a counter-attack. It's hard to say who's better offensively; Rajav has a ranged attack and an (arguably) better area attack, but Griffin is better in terms of pure damage with Backhander and Double Strike. I generally go with both, to be honest. :3

Arman vs. Malis: It's a real pity, since I like shadowlings and Malis is the only one, but I generally find Arman to be better. He has a better damage output, and better speed. The only thing that Malis has over Arman is flight...and I guess shadow resistance? Eh. Doesn't do it for me.

La'Man vs. Naj: Naj, all the way. She has better speed and Mind Shield. All that La'Man has over her is a touch of extra health, but Naj is already a decent tank.

And I guess I'll do a numbered list thing, since everyone did that in the corresponding TRPG2 thread:

1. Rahel: Definitely one of the more valuable team members. She has the best range in the game, and can deal significant damage. Great for staying behind the main force and sniping enemies. Split Shot is really useful, too -- it's like Trick Shot, only better -- I didn't think that was possible! :o I was little disappointed to discover that Trueshaft was just a "deal more damage" skill, though -- I was hoping she'd get a skill that shot 4 spaces ahead, to give her even more range.
2. Set: A healer, and a good one at that. Invaluable, even if he can't damage enemies directly. Solid State Shield is pretty nice too, though I didn't get it until my second playthrough, which I'm still on, so I'll have to experiment with it a bit more.
3. Luca: I really like her, for no other reason than I love characters with weird, gimmicky abilities. Transfer is a godsend for me, since I'm a fan of high-cost abilities; most of my characters eat through their PsP like popcorn. Her physical resistance also makes her a decent tank. Also, she can fly -- always a good perk.
4. Griffin/Rajav: As I mentioned, I find that they about tie in usefulness.
5. Arman: He dies too easily! He can deal a lot of damage before he goes down, though. I think a ranged attack would have been really good for him -- allow him to keep his distance a bit. Or would that have made him too broken? :p
6. Naj
7. Malis
8. Qudssi
9. La'Man

To be honest I found the team diversity to be a little disappointing compared to TRPG2. It's mostly just boring humans.

Edit: Hm. It would be interesting if the poll showed team combinations instead of the individual team members themselves. Ah well, the limits of technology...

When talking to Helena about recruiting troops, when I say "nevermind", a dialogue step seems to be missed; Duvalier goes straight to saying "What's the job?" when Helena never mentioned a job.

My theory is that the Helena we see in Servants of God is actually the daughter of the one in the second game. If it had been about 50 years since the end of TRPG2, it wouldn't be unlikely for her to have a daughter in her late forties in this game, and for the daughter to bear the same name as that of her mother and her prized mercenary group. (I have not yet interacted with Helena in length, however, so I don't know if she later presents any contradicting information.)

Contradicting information is later presented, according to the wiki. (Open the spoiler for details...)
[spoiler]
If you capture Hellion for Festus, he arranges for Helena to give you a discount on troops, as a friendly favor. Which means that that is the Helena he knew personally, from TRPG2.
[/spoiler]
So yes, that's not her daughter, that's actually her.

By the way, this is a bit of a tangent, but do you think it's possible for psychics to extend their lifespans? Many fantasy stories talk about ancient wizards preserving their life through magic, and though the Gift is a bit more grounded than most fantasy magic, I wonder if a similar thing is possible. We know that Nelis, at least, was thought to be immortal, implying she outlived even the long life of a shadowling, though it's anyone's guess how she actually did this.

Even if it is possible, though, it doesn't seem like the characters we know used it; the Nameless One and Anya both appear to have aged naturally.

I can see why Craig left the "big question" open, but my main objection was to the little details. I don't mind the game being ambiguous on the existence of Yahwah -- that's kind of the point -- but weird things like the visions definitely happened. There's also the matter of Fernatus and Malekahin knowing the Resistance's plans in advance despite the Nameless One running obfuscation, plus the high-level Scan he mentioned, which is evidence of a psy. Those things definitely happened and must have a tangible explanation. These dangling plot threads aren't necessarily related to the big question of Yahwah's existence, yet they're all dropped without a further mention. This just bothers me.

Hm. Well, as of the full game's ending:
[spoiler]
It's still open-ended. Cygnus isn't Yahweh, as I thought originally. In fact, you can talk him down during the final battle by besting him in a theological debate. So he seems to honestly believe in Yahweh -- he isn't simply making it up for his own gain. But then, how is he a "prophet"? Where do his visions come from? Where did the vision after the bandit mission come from? He also uses very strange abilities when you fight him -- he is able to make copies of himself, create solid state shields, and even perform a mass teleportation. Now granted, we don't know the actual limitations of psychic powers in this setting, but that seems like something out of the ordinary to me. The fact that he has Mass Juxtapose, a spirit-based ability, also lends credence to his gaining powers by another source. Still, I do like the theory that the cultists are psys who don't realize they're psys -- they think their powers are divinely granted. But then, where did those high-level Scans that the Nameless One mentioned come from?! Agh...
The ending is just so unsatisfying! :( I really hope we get a sequel, there are just too many things left open.
[/spoiler]

There's no battle music during the fight with Cygnus.