Final Fantasy II
Although born in America, Woolsey spent five years living and studying in Japan as a young adult. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He spent time as a graduate student at the University of Washington, where he completed a master's degree in Japanese literature. He quit his Ph.D. studies to join Square's American office in Redmond, Washington, shortly after that in 1991. At the time, "Final Fantasy IV" had just been released in the United States (under the title "Final Fantasy II") and did not sell according to their expectations. At this point, Square had no localization department, and a Square employee who spoke some English ended up translating "Final Fantasy II". Other employees, including one in the financial department and a senior vice president, helped with editing after hours in their spare time. Woolsey's first project with Square was the translation of "Final Fantasy Legend III", and the company asked him to review and avoid a repeat of "Final Fantasy II"s messy translation.