Alright well, I've been taking my time now and such. Turns out that while I'd figured an illegal dancer start would be similar to thief, I really didn't consider the fact that I'd have actual dancer abilities and destroy everything. And then once I got access to blue magic well it's just smooth sailing from there.
Karnak Castle, the timed escape sequence, ended up being a huge pain. I think Pixel version has more encounters in there for one thing. I skipped out on the elven cape and main gauche which are both great treasures but I have blue magic so it's nbd. I did get the ribbon though obviously. Come on. Of course I got the ribbon. It's the best hat possible.
Pixel gives a massive buff to snapped rods it's not even funny, but since I could already have roasted soul canon with lightning rods anyway it's not doing THAT much yet.
I had to install a mod to fix a bug that prevents you from using confusion to get white wind (and later mighty guard) for your blue mage on pixel. Technically I'm getting it early because of my cheating a dancer in and I would have been fine without it but if I'm using blue magic I want to be busted. Literally what is the point otherwise. I am the tiny baby shiba in the meme I can't survive without healing all my guys for a ton instantly, even if they have bone mail on.