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I put off playing this game for years. Due to recent circumstances, I knew that now was finally the time to play it. Not only for myself, but also to honor Near's life.

The presentation of this game is gorgeous. Each menu, each line of dialogue, was carefully crafted. So much thought was put into this translation. The localization is beautifully made. I found myself tearing up many times through my play-through, although that could have been due to the recent events. Playing through this game made me feel, a lot.

As I played through this game, I began to realize why this was Near's favorite game. This game has a different feel to it than the other games of its era. There is so much sorrow presented in the story of this game, and many lines of dialogue really make you stop and think about life. The story can be viewed as a metaphor of the human condition. So much so that it hurts.

This game is Near's swan song. It's tragically beautiful. I am so thankful for this translation as it's helped me cope with the loss of someone I greatly admired.

Thank you so much, Near.

This is an extremely high quality translation to the point of being impossible to tell that it's not official.

Clearly a lot of effort, care and attention has gone into making this happen.

As noted with v1.2 it works on real hardware. And given the circumstances of the update release I've chosen to commemorate the work by putting it on a real cartridge.

Ah yes, the game from which byuu's name came forth.

The translation here is nothing short of breathtaking, and it really goes to show how much love went into getting it right. The wording for each character's lines feel fluid and natural, and that lends itself to the language feeling immersive and "native" to the game's world. Menus and UIs look gorgeous with the sleek, modern typeface, and their choice of terminology fits perfectly.

As a comparison point, DeJap translated this same game several years earlier, but their version is a product of its time, which means that what you get is an overly literal translation that serves its purpose but feels clunky. Lines like, "Sire! What happened to Bahamut, Kahna's guardian dragon?" read like text from an instruction manual, whereas Near's version, "Bahamut is supposed to be the Guardian Dragon of Kahna! Did something happen to it?" sounds like actual spoken dialogue.

To DeJap's credit though, they did a great job with what they had at the time. It's just that Near was able to take modern-day software advancements, apply it to this game, and succeeded in making it look like a professionally localized Square-Enix release.

This hack is truly is a labor of love, and it's one that Near should be proud of. Highly recommended, and even if you're not a fan of strategy games, it's certainly worth a playthrough in their honor.