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This is my preferred translation for FFV, as it smooths out some of the rough edges of the famous RPGe translation and takes slight liberties with the text to flesh out bits of dialog. Really, this is good stuff.

For those unfamiliar with your translation options, the RPGe translation used straightforward, plain language, while the Game Boy Advance (GBA) translation is campy. To phrase it differently, the RPGe translation is considered by some to boring and the GBA translation uses language that's zany to the point of off-putting and tonally dissonant. People seem pretty passionate about their translation pick, which I get, but I think this update helps make the RPGe translation more enjoyable.

If the authors ever decide to update this patch, I would strongly encourage them to use some of the conventions that are in the GBA translation, which make it clear who is talking, especially for unknown and lesser characters. The RPGe translation doesn't always assign dialog to these characters, and they can appear confusing when juxtaposed against characters who have their dialog properly assigned. Two examples:

• In the fifth intro scene, Bartz or Lenna can be interpreted as saying "Ugh..", when it's really Galuf before he's introduced. The GBA version designates the unknown character dialog with "????: Ughh..".

• Likewise, in the next (sixth) scene it looks like Bartz says "Wark! Wark! Wark!", when it's really Boco. The GBA version says "Boco: Wark! Wark! Wark!".

I'd just take care to to make sure that if it's not completely obvious who is talking, that the dialog is assigned in one way or another.

Conversely, although this is a minor thing, King Tycoon is assigned the label "King" in the first scene and then "King Tycoon" in the third scene, when there really isn't a reason why for literary purposes. It's helpful to have him as King Tycoon the whole time, as in the GBA version, because it reinforces that you're in that land when you enter, say, the Tycoon Meteor area.

Finally, I'd suggest rolling in as many bug fixes into your translation as possible, because many of the them are distributed around the web or on the Slick Productions wiki. The documentation on some of those fixes is unclear, and can require require trial and error to determine if the ROM needs to be headered or is compatible with different translations. It would be nice if all those fixes could be rolled in together with proper credit assigned to the contributors.

Thanks for taking the time to make this update!

There are some misunderstandings in the previous review. The reviewer mentions how this patch does not use "the real Japanese names 'Butz' and 'Cara'," but those names are not "real." Indeed, the name "Cara" was invented whole cloth for the original RPGe translation, and is not a valid translation of the Japanese name. At the time the RPGe patch was released, only the literal phoneticization of the name, "Kururu," was widely known, and RPGe changed it because they found it silly. "Krile," however, is a valid translation, and was very likely what Square was going for all along. Butz/Bartz is a different matter: both are valid translations from the Japanese, neither being any more "correct" than the other. Early English-language material (prior to the first official English localization of the game with the PlayStation port) generally opted for "Butz," but later on Square settled on "Bartz." In any case, it's not a question of accuracy, merely localization choice, and Spooniest has clearly settled on sticking more closely to the official Square Enix localization.

Beyond that, this is a good, almost mandatory addition to the RPGe patch. It's not perfect, and it maintains some of the changes mentioned in the earlier review ("Shoat" for "Carbuncle" being originally derived from the American Final Fantasy III). But it does an admirable job of sanding off the rougher edges of the RPGe translation while working within the aesthetic and space restrictions of the 16-bit game. In terms of a more complete and accurate translation, it's not as good as the Game Boy Advance, mobile, or Steam releases, but if you're feeling nostalgic, or just looking to experience the game in something closer to its original format, this is currently the way to go.

I played the original LotC translation before it updated. I don't remember having much of a problem with it before, and I don't know if it's just ver 1.1 that did it, but this new version is a mess.

First off, the translator has no idea which translation he wants to use. There's stuff from the English localizations (both the correct and incorrect stuff) and stuff from the Japanese version, all mixed in at seemingly random places. "Bartz", "Lenna", and "Krile" are used, which are their current English names, so the real Japanese names "Butz" and "Cara", as well as the PS1 "Reina", are not used. With this info in mind, I went in expecting it to copy and then improve upon the current English versions.

But it doesn't. "Catoblepas" is called "Shoat" for some reason, which was a major mistranslation from the PS1 game. "Carbuncle" is spelled with a "k", "Regole" is "Rugor", "Ranger" is "Hunter", "Beastmaster" is "Mediator", "Zantetsu" is "Slash", "Rapid Fire" and "Dualcast" are "X-Fight" and "X-Magic", respectively, etc. There are even some bizarre punctuation and grammar errors scattered throughout, such as "Hiryuu's attack in desperation!"

It doesn't adhere to the Japanese version, and it doesn't adhere to the English version. It just does whatever it wants, and it seems to have been made specifically to cater to the hacker themself, rather than for anyone else.

Just play the Steam/Mobile release. That's the most correct English version thus far.