I heard that I'd get a planet as a party member, but I assumed it'd be some New Age Gaia-ish deal where there'd be the planet's avatar following me while its attacks would come from the ground and sky themselves.

Instead I got...Democratus.

:P

Neat trick, eh? ;) Democratus, both as a party member and as a location, is my favourite part of the game. Especially the idea of "mandatory voting", and a democracy which is really an oligarchy which is really a dictatorship by a single council member.

Heh. For my part, I was amused by the propositions I had to vote on. "Cyclical Vomit Torture" indeed.

I suppose it raises questions about what happens to Democratus in battle. If it takes damage, are millions of people dying?

Of course, this is the part where I'll be forced to choose up to two members of my whole troupe to drag around. This is always a hard decision for me in RPGs like this.

You'll get several more party members in the course of your travels. And for every re-visitable area you'll have to return later with another two party members if you want to take the full advantage of its features. You can't know when you'll need PAL's hacking skills, Grumpos' yammer, Democratus' tractor beam etc., so you'll have to backtrack a lot to exchange party members back at the Sender Station, which is a real nuisance. That's the only thing I really dislike about this game. Or you can forget about the bonuses and just go along with the main plot. Then you can use whichever party members you like best.