1. It does open up a bit. You'll always be in the city (except for the very last part) but I didn't find it too claustrophobic overall, though that is admittedly a subjective matter. There's plenty for you to do, though!
2. Don't know. Somebody whose playing style involves a bit more finesse than mine (i.e. everybody else!) may be able to answer this.
3. Mindreading is expensive. Not prohibitively so, I found that I still gained enough experience to take on the end battle without too much difficulty, but I would suggest investing lots of skill points in the mindreading skill, perhaps even maxing it out. Skill points absolutely abound in FoV so it's not like you'll go short elsewhere, though obviously exercise some caution in the early stages!
