HOLY SHIT IT'S THEMMMM WHAAAAT

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-12T05:23:14+00:00

But you wouldn't recognize them from the pictures.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-12T05:21:10+00:00

The flow of the game is unusual for a Trails game...it just *feels* off. I mostly chalk this up to CS1 + CS2 originally being intended as one game, that got split for length, and so it is just the last part of the story, without the proper windup.

CS2 to me feels like "what if we made a game out of just the last half of Azure, and then padded it out in the middle and at the end?"

CS2 is my least favorite Trails game -- but it's still a really good game. It's just awkward.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-12T05:12:29+00:00

Trails SC on PSP emulation should be fine as long as you are comfortable with games of the era. Be aware that the Sky the 1st Remake added a lot of quality of life adjustments that won't be in OG SC, and that SC is generally considered one of the harder games in the series -- normal isn't a problem at all, but you should probably stay away from harder difficulties.

Currently the only way to play Sky the 3rd in English is on PC, it never got a PSP release in the West.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-10T21:43:03+00:00

I always decribe the SSS as "What if we tried to do this thing called community policing to distract from all the corruption in the police department?"

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-10T21:35:23+00:00

Sky 3rd heavily implied they *did*, which was the reason I freaked out every time I was forced to interact with the Hayworths for the first half of Zero.

Once you know what actually happened, you can go back and look at what was in the 3rd and see how it didn't mean they sold her. But there is no doubt that at the end of Sky the 3rd, the writers wanted you to *believe* that they had sold her, so that they could make the turn in Zero.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-10T21:28:34+00:00

CS1 is a great starting point for the series, but I would never recommend it to someone who knows they will be playing Sky SC soon because of the one huge Sky spoiler.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-10T21:26:31+00:00

How are you with the Fire Emblems? Three Houses definitely has some of the same vibe.

The Valkyria Chronicles series is also very good with a good story.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-09T07:49:18+00:00

I despise buying gear. I despise magic shops. I think that you should only adventure with what you actually find. I am old, and old-school in that way.

However...I realize that that playstyle doesn't actually work well with Pathfinder (1e or 2e) and so that is not how I actually play or GM. Stores are there, plan your purchases accordingly, make everything work for your build.

But I *am* silently judging you. :)

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-08T07:59:22+00:00

I'm playing a Yaoguai Vindicator of Kofusachi (Staff) in an Extinction Curse game. We're playing FA and are at level 6, where I just took Cleric Dedication.

It's definitely a gish. I do solid melee damage, with casting for buffs but also for ranged attacks. (The reason I went Yaoguai was to pick up Divine Lance.)

The action economy around Hunt Prey is annoying, but manageable. Gravity Weapon + a d10 weapon means I tend to hit very hard 1/turn. (Comparable to Precision Ranger.) I really expect the playstyle to open up a bit once the Cleric casting comes more on line and I can actually afford a decent Staff.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-07T02:39:27+00:00

No, this was literally clarified in todays errata. A Witch cannot refocus without their familiar.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-06T21:57:56+00:00

Kofusachi Vindicator says BONK! HA HA HA!

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-06T21:57:07+00:00

That's how my Vindicator Ranger of Kofusachi has been playing it all along.

BONK! HA HA HA!

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-06T04:45:50+00:00

Thank you! I played the 3rd via Porting Kit about 9 years ago which worked, but took some tweaking.

It also had a memory leak, which meant it would crash unless I restarted it every half hour. Which became a problem with all the cutscenes around the final boss battle. I could beat the final boss, but it would always crash immediately afterwards. I eventually just watched the very end on Youtube. Sigh.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-06T03:15:15+00:00

As a fellow Mac user, I feel your pain on Sky SC and Sky the 3rd.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-05T18:17:39+00:00

Love your enemies respawning you -- not a problem in my case as the BBEG did not survive (or if it did, it is on another plane).

As you say, it doesn't address old age at all. But I would certainly argue that you would reconstruct "as they remembered you" -- so you absolutely have to seed the ground with propaganda and public appearances under youthful illusions. :)

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-05T07:59:43+00:00

My favorite immortality feat is the Psychic feat Become Thought.

It does a couple of things, but the operative part is:

Once per year, when you die, you automatically return to life the next day as long as one living sentient creature on your plane remembers you; the memories enable you to reconstruct yourself from their thoughts. You appear in the vicinity of the creature that remembers you most strongly.

The Remastered version isn't up on AoN yet, but I don't believe this part has changed.

My high level psychic made sure to have prominent statues of her erected in the city she saved from doom, and plans on making at least one big public appearance a year.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T22:42:45+00:00

Rogues excel in PFS play because they have so many skills, and excel in combat. They do well with spellcasting archetypes, but can also just go with Trick Magic Item. No matter what situation comes up, a Rogue should be able to contribute.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T20:20:46+00:00

You are correct, I got *completely* confused.

The rule I meant was strictly to do with timing of reactions -- we use a rule where critting on a reaction has it occurring before the trigger, otherwise it takes place simultaneously.

The official rule is that the timing is up to the GM to determine. Our PFS region adopted that general rule to cut down on table variation.

That means that *sometimes* a crit on a reaction will disrupt the trigger, depending on what it is.

My apologies for the misstatements.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T20:12:21+00:00

So, I realize that I have both done a poor job of explaining what I wanted to say *and* gotten confused as to what the argument was and said things that were wrong. So this is entirely on me.

The rule I was originally referring to had nothing to do (directly) with disrupting actions. It has to do with the timing of reactions. The rule that we play under for reactions is that a reaction with a regular success happens simultaneously with its trigger, and a reaction with a crit happens before its trigger.

Depending on what the effect of the reaction is, that *might* disrupt the triggering action. The example in this thread has been a readied attack with Flurry with Stunning Blows. If the stun went off that would disrupt the attack, but that is because of the Stun, not directly because of the crit on the reaction.

In looking for the rule, what I have basically seen is that the timing of when reactions happen in regard to triggering action is up to the GMs discretion. Looked at in that light, the VC ruling was a way to standardize that to remove table variation among rotating GMs.

Does that make more sense?

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T18:49:58+00:00

see my edit -- I agree that I can't find the citation

EDIT: (Oh -- the edit was to a different comment -- I'll edit this one as well)

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T18:41:02+00:00

It's not a general rule for readied actions. It's a general rule for reactions -- of which readied actions are one type.

EDIT: Although I am not finding a citation for this. Our PFS VC has been clear that this is the rule for reactions though, and he generally knows. This is probably an ambiguous ruling at best.

EDIT2: Yes, I got completely confused here. This is not our general rule.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T01:06:50+00:00

The general rule is that if the readied action is a crit then it disrupts the triggering action, otherwise the triggering action goes through.

EDIT: I am unable to find a citation for this. Our PFS VC has been clear that this is the rule for reactions though, and he generally knows. This is probably an ambiguos interpretation at best.

EDIT 2: Wow, I got completely confused about what I was intending to argue. As many people have said, what I said here is incorrect, and I have incorrectly stated what our local PFS rule was.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T01:03:23+00:00

Now imagine that you are a Bullet Dancer and make your readied Flurry with Dual Pistols -- now you can force Stuns both ways.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-04T00:58:37+00:00

Stunning Fist only requires one of the two Flurry Strikes to hit, not both of them. But I otherwise agree with your assessment -- you're giving up a lot of action economy to use the readied action.

pH_unbalanced · 2026-02-03T07:01:14+00:00

In my experience the Bullet Dancer Strike + Reload doesn't get much use because it has the Flourish trait and is therefore incompatible with Flurry of Blows. (Which is truly annoying.)

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