Kour,
I'm trying to understand.
1. I rolled multiple hits on spellcasting test, yet because the Force of the spell was 1, I was allowed to take only 1 hit.
2. guard roll their resistance with willpower, you say none of them withstood, but there is at least one guard that have rolled 2.
3. does it mean that the the strenght of the spell can be no greater then 1 net hit (had it been physical spell or something in the description related to the net hits) or you made a mistake, and those that rolled at least one hit, have saved against the spell.
4. there were two critical glitches among those rolls
5. guard can spend 1 complex action per combat turn trying to shake the spell, do they have to roll 1 hit or is it cumulative? why cumulative if so?
the thing is, manipulation spells are successful if the net-hits on spellcasting are above resisting, if spell-casting roll is less then force it fails.
each CTxForce the victim can shake the spell rolling willpower+ Counter-spelling when the cumulative hits reach the net hits of the spell casting test they are free. mind Manipulation was a bit different then physical manipulation spells they have to reach 2 hits on the cumulative test
so the roll that rolled 2 hits for example needs one additional hit to get free, but the ones that crit glitched become more controlled instead they need 4 hits each to break free.
Area spells are ForceXmeters radius, so you could only get the guards and i doubt even the guards would stand that close, you always can take away dice from the spell-casting test to increase the radius. or cast in a higher force, you can still use the "one off" i gave you when telling you about the force 1,sorry for the mistake in mind manipulation. so you are welcome to reroll if you like.
i hope i have clears it up, if you have questions post it here or pm me i will try explain it.
i still have 20 min to post before my boss kills me for overusing the break time.