Really terrific work on this patch. With the exception of one small typo toward the very end, and one cutscene with slightly weird text layout, it otherwise felt like I was playing an official English localization of Ys III. (And typos are hardly unknown in official releases: just ask Bimmy Lee!) The script is clean and clear, with idiomatic English that flows smoothly.

I don’t recall a single thing that seemed crudely or poorly handled, nor was there any hint of the injokey nonsense – or excessively literal Japanophiliac reverence – that mars some fan translations. The entirety of the game was treated with professionalism, and all its functionality worked crisply and without any glitches of any kind (not an easy feat in a game that lets you save anywhere).

The original game itself is only so-so, of course – it’s very linear and has almost no challenge if you do some grinding upfront. But Vice has done as good a job as I can imagine doing with Ys III on the NES, and it’s about time it got a review that gives it the praise it deserves.