Where to start?

[unix]

Hello,
i am very interested in translating j-rpgs, however, i am not really sure where to start.
I have experience in romhacking (nes/ snes) and in RE in general (analyzing malware, basic patching etc.), but i have no clue, where to start on a pc game? I tried several games to analyse (for example some of the Ys - games), but couldnt find out, where actually the text is stored and how to actually start.
For example, i am interested in doing quite the same as Nightwolve did with Ys - The oath in Felghana; He made an English translation for the PC game).
Can somebody give me tipps how to actually start there?
As for learning, it would be no problem, if i try to make another translation for the same game, as for example, i can translate it to a few other languages too. To make the translation itself, is no problem, but how to do it actually is my current problem.
Hope to get help. :)
regards,
unix

[roxfan]

Examine game's EXE/DLL files, find any references to res/pak/arc/whatnot files, see how they're opened and read, duplicate the functionality to make an unpacker/packer, check the unpacked files for any signs of script/text files, if the format is not obvious, go back to exe/dll analyzing, investigate the code to find out how the strings are extracted, make a string extractor and inserter, translate a few lines and insert them back, check how the text looks like in the game, if necessary find out how to patch the exe to enable half-width and/or proportional fonts, and now you can proceed with the translation itself.

Something like that, I hope this helps :)