Talk:Azur Lane/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: TarkusAB (talk · contribs) 15:13, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

I will review this article. Just a heads up, a brief cursory glance suggests several big problems with the article that will need some serious work for improvement:

• Most importantly, Scope. You need to decide, is this article about the game or the franchise? At times the article seems to be about the game, but other times trends deep into the other media, making me think it's about the franchise overall.
• Characters section could be considered game cruft.
• The Other media section just lists off each piece of media, like a catalog
• Lots of passages are written as one-off sentences and not worked into flowing paragraphs that are easier to read.

I will return with a full review soon. TarkusAB^talk 15:13, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi @TarkusAB: Thank you for reviewing this article. The article will mainly be about the base game itself, as AL:Crosswave and the anime adaption won't be released until sometime in 2019. So in my opinion the franchise won't be big enough to merit a base game/franchise article separation in the near future. When structuring the article I followed the entry of Rewrite (visual novel) as an example, and info about other media is mostly contained within its own subsection, all other sections are about the base game, I believe.

• Characters section: I wanted to demonstrate the game's diversity in character origin to support statements in development section, as this is one of the major differences between this game and its older competitor, Kantai Collection, and also a possible factor for the game's success noted in some sources ref'ed in the article. But I do admit that it might still be too long and lacked secondary sources. I still think listing the protagonist/starter charcters necessary.
• The game still lacked quantity in derivative medias, so it was initially structured that way. But as the list grow, refactoring them will be helpful, I guess.
• I'll began working on refactoring short standalone sentence-paragraphs. I kept them because I feared that longer paragraphs might disinterest readers.

I will be awaiting your full review. Thank you. --Tsumikiria (talk) 19:57, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

OK here we go

• First off, I'm going to be making minor, or what I consider uncontroversial changes as I read. This is to save both of us time. I see many spelling and grammar errors.
• Second, you need to write the article for a general audience. Imagine the reader has no idea what Azur Lane is. You need to explain the game in a manner so anyone can understand.

Lede

• I will read through this more closely after I finish reading the rest of the article, but the lede is supposed to be a summary of the article. All the information should be in the rest of the article and sourced there, then the lead is written as a summary and does not use sources. So...yea you may want to move this information to its respective parts of the article then rewrite the lede.

@TarkusAB:Hi again. Can you provide more detailed advice on rewritting the article's lede? I did try to summrize the article in the current lead, with gameplay, reception, setting, collab, derivative all being addressed, and with EN release information pertinent to EN readers. Maybe I need to use more professional, neutral, encyclopediac wording and sentence structure? Should I remove all/most the references in the lead? I'm confused.

I may need to tweak the release section, but all other problems should be resolved. I will be waiting your assessment on reception. Thank you. ---Tsumikiria (talk) 05:17, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB: Altight, I tried to rewrite the lead section based on my observation of several other VG GA articles. Hopefully this will be (approaching) satisfactory. I'm going off to bed now. --Tsumikiria (talk) 09:01, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

Briefly checking, it looks much much better. I'll do a full read through of it after I read the rest of the article  :) TarkusAB^talk 11:10, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

Gameplay

• You need to state up front what kind of game it is. I know you already stated this in the lede "side-scrolling shooter", but the lede is a summary of the article. It needs to be stated in gameplay as well. If it crosses different genres, that's fine but explain using sources what kind of game it is. Write it like someone has never seen footage of the game before.
• you write anthropomorphic representations but link to Moe anthropomorphism. This is an WP:EASTEREGG, fix the text of the link.

• I was afraid of terms like anthropomorphism may be diffucult to some readers so I previously substituted it with terms like "anthropomorphic representation" and "personification", but I guess that was an utter unnecessity. Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• "When preparing for sortie,". This is an oddly poetic term that, even if used in the game, is not used often in standard English. Just say "When preparing for a battle", much easier to understand.
• "as well as the player's own skill"...I'm removing this, this is kinda self-explanatory
• The second paragraph needs work. How many fleets does the player have in play at once? You write "Player fleets" making it sound like more than one.

• 2 player fleets are allowed to put into a map, but PvP involves only one. Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• "Player fleets, along with various types of enemy fleets, Sirens (event map only), and bonus/ammo nodes are spawn among the reefs and islands of a map." This sentence is no good. "Sirens (event map only)" might need to be removed or put into its own sentence where you explain what a siren and event map are, if it's even important. So can the player move node to node? Can the enemy move node to node? Do other player fleets spawn as well or just NPCs? Playes spawn on the map, because that's how it's written...? This sentence may need to be broken into two separate ones and rewritten. Write as if explaining the game to someone that has never played before.

• Enemy fleets are immobile, but Sirens can chase players around. Changed 'Siren (event only)' to 'pursuing humanoid enemies" as they are going to be permanent additions in new game modes introduced in latest updates. Other player's fleets don't spawn, but there used to be a game mode where fleets of other players are spawn in a special event map, and players may invite one of their in-game friend's characters to join the battle. Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• "enemy ambush and airstrikes" is linked to random encounter, again another Easter Egg. Just say random encounter and link it. You need to explain it as a game mechanic. I didn't understand what you meant until I saw "oooohh random encounter!"
• "using as minimal movements as possible." Is this true? What if I want to get a bonus node? I get the risk of random encounter, but that means I'm not using "as minimal movements as possible". Maybe just "using minimal movement"
• "The back row, while stationary, can have shell barrages or bullet-clearing airstrikes called in manually." What do you mean bullet-clearing? Are both called in manually?

• Both battleship shell barrages and carrier airstrikes have to be manually called in using buttons on lower right, but in auto mode they will automatically target and fire, or release planes, as soon as they became available. Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• "PvP"...I changed this to Player versus player. Avoid game jargon
• Remove the Kantai Collection sentence. Unnecessary, we aren't talking about that game here. The contrast isn't needed to get the point across
• The following two paragraphs should be put into a single paragraph. It should start saying that additional mechanics have been introduced to the game, this includes blah blah blah. The dates aren't important.

Backyard

• "passively gain experience points, recover morale and raise affection when food is given. " You need to explain how experience points, morale, and affection affect gameplay. Who gives them food, the player? other characters? do you need to buy it? is there an in-game currency? Lots of parts of this paragraph are explained.
• "to raise experience gain", you mean to just raise experience, or raise the rate at which experience is gained?
• "Backyards of their friends." how about "other players" instead of "friends"
• You mention furniture coins early on then in-game cash currency later. Same thing?

• Buy furniture increases the rate which exp is gained. Food are bought with either free regenerating fuel or microtransaction currency. Most furnitures are exchanged using a free currency, which can be obtained by sending characters to time-consuming tasks.
• Four currency in-game: gold(free regen), fuel(free regen), furniture coin(free, task), and diamond(IAP, also reward for clearing maps); also there are tokens obtained from hard mode，PvP and events that could be used to exchange equipments and, rare characters, and other items Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Marriage

• This is getting too WP:GAMEGUIDEy. Wikipedia is not a game guide. The stuff about the character stats isn't needed.
• The second paragraph in the marriage section needs to be trimmed down significantly. There are many details here that would be considered game cruft.
• The final two paragraphs in marriage should be moved to another section where you discuss the release or promotion of the game.

• Removed much of the marriage section and moved the final two paragraphs to new promotion subsection for now. Tsumikiria (talk) 20:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB: All fixed in this section, I think. In the very least this will likely resolve the confusions in your previous readings.

• Added text about morale system
• Moved images to the left, renamed "Backyard" to "Dormitory" as this is the official localizatiion.

I'll work on other sections later. Hopefully these changes will be satisfactory. Thanks. --Tsumikiria (talk) 06:55, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

In the future, please try and put the responses in line after each bullet. It makes things easier to track. TarkusAB^talk 12:45, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Development

• Use the EFN template to footnote the Chinese letters after the name. Most readers can't read Chinese. Just say "Azur Lane's producer, Yuwan, also well known..." Done
• "Bilibili" can you briefly explain what this is. Not known outside China. Done
• Honestly there is so much written poorly I am making lots of changes as I go through. Revert anything if you disagree.
• "Keeping game balance and rarity with these museum-vessels was difficult, as the developers noted, however, they are resolved to give these museum-piece characters opportunities to stage, and are intended to introduce more characters based on real-life museum-ships." Are they talking about introducing more characters in the future through DLC??? Or was this only during development that they discussed this?

• They are talking about introducing more of these characters in the future through DLC. Clarified. Tsumikiria (talk) 21:27, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• "Although realizing Azur Lane's potential..." Ughhh this whole paragraph doesn't tell me anything of value. Just remove it. Done
• "Li Hengda, president of the game's Japanese publisher Yostar, revealed that although he saw Azur Lane's potential, he never expected the enormous popularity the game enjoyed in Japan. As such, believing that around 10 people would suffice, the company was in a lack of funds, only had 4 full-time employee and 2 interns before the game's release, and had to work in a body-consuming state of morning until midnight behind the game's climbing popularity until the end of 2017." - I don't understand this passage. What is meant by "lack of funds?" Were they in debt or low in cash? Is this the staff after release adding on more content or before release? Anything after release should come in the release area.

• He only said the company had no money and no people, so I'm changing it to "low on cash"; Moved accordingly. Tsumikiria (talk) 21:27, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Characters and Plot and Setting

These two sections need to be massively trimmed down. See WP:GAMECRUFT specifically number 5. The details on which ships the characters are based on are not needed. You can share a couple of examples, but beyond "The characters are based off WWII ships from these naval forces. Such ships include THIS and THAT" there is nothing much more to say. These whole two sections can be trimmed down to 1-2 paragraphs. Sources are not needed for plot. The bit about more characters being introduced would fit well into a release section of the article where you discuss DLC and other expansions.

Done. You can remove more if you think it's still not concise enough. So the sentence about French ships should be moved to release section, correct? Tsumikiria (talk) 22:20, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

I mean, it's OK there or it could go to the release section. It really depends on how much other DLC there is and what makes sense. We'll revisit when I do my second read through. TarkusAB^talk 03:04, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Other Media

• Footnote all Japanese titles Template:Efn Done
• "mainly featuring the character of HMS Javelin and the game's other 3 protagonists," This makes it sound like Javelin and 3 others are the main characters of the original game, is that true? Javelin was never mentioned above and neither is there any indication that any particular ships are more "main" than others.

• Character section has one sentence to mention them. They're like the starter pokemons of the game for players to choose in the beginning. A "collection" interface in-game has them grouped under the label "protagonists". In the original game's plot, they appeared mostly in chapters/events that represents their historical battles. Promotional materials also referred them as protagonists. This manga is also mainly drawn around them.

• "and on the game's Japanese Twitter account as well." The entire manga and novel is being published on Twitter????? Fixed

• For the manga Very Slow Advance! only. I should've splitted that sentence. But yes, new strips of this 4koma is posted on the game's JP Twitter account every 3-4 days, many of them features contents corresponding to events or contents added to the game around the time of their posting. For promotional purposes, I guess. You can check them out using their own hashtag.

• FYI WP:OLINK. I'm taking care of it.
• "in Comic Rex's December 2018 issue on October 26, 2018." We don't need the whole issue number and everthing just "in Comix Rex in October 2018." Fixed
• "the character of USS Laffey" Are the charcters in the game directly named after the ships, like is the character's name USS Laffey?

• All characters are named after the ships they're representing, save for the "USS/HMS/IJN" part. The ship names in English is subtitled under character names when you're in the "view character" screen. Some exceptions exists like the character for Russian cruiser Aurora is written as "Avrora" to prevent naming conflict with HMS Aurora (12).

• What is Dash X Bunko? Is that a store?

• No, it's a book label used by that publisher. I shouldn't have template:ill linked things that are irrelevant to English readers. Sorry.

• Is Azur Lane Crossover a spin-off, remake, remak? I don't like how this section is titled "video game", cuz like, Azur Lane is a video game too.

• It will be a spin-off, although not expressly stated. It will have a new plot and some new characters. Similar to how the Kancolle Kai is a spin-off for its base game except ALCW is for PS4 console. Sorry I didn't think the section title 'Video game' was appropriate either. 'Console adaption' may be more appropriate, but I'm not sure.

• The first sentence in the video game section is a run-on sentence. Break it up Done
• "that the animation project began as early as Autumn 2017," The way this is written means this: it could have started earlier, he doesn't know, but he knows it definitely was in the works by Autumn 2017. Is that correct, or did it definitely begin in Autumn 2017?

• I meant that the animation project began as soon as the game receives popularity around Autumn 2017. He said that an animation project will take about two years to produce so the sooner they start it the better. Sorry I didn't think of the confusions that may arise from the wording.

• "due to Li's personal favor for the Demonbane franchise." What do you mean? Li owed a favor to a franchise? That doesn't seem right. Do you mean to say "due to the Demonbane franchise being one of Li's personal favorites"?

• Oh I really thought the word favor can be commonly used as "one's favorite". Didn't think of the "deed" sense when writing this. Common mistake when writing in L2 I guess. Fixed --Tsumikiria (talk) 06:54, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Collaborations

Trim this down. Each collaboration can be summarized in a sentence, 2 max. We don't need the full details, just a "they borrowed some of the character designs" is enough". Can all be in one paragraph. Done

• "A December 2017 collaboration with the video game series Hyperdimension Neptunia introduced protagonists of Hyperdimension Neptunia with naval designs, as well as their "goddess forms" as separate characters." Wait, were Neptunia characters put in Azur with Naval designs? This just affected Azur right not Neptunia? Are the "goddess forms" forms from Neptunia? Was this limited time?

• It was a limited time event, but a re-run is confirmed for EN release. It was one-sided with nothing from Azur Lane featured on Neptunia. They really had guns and torpedoes equipped, drawn by Neptunia's artist Tsunako. Neptunia characters' Goddess forms like Neptune's Purple Heart are available as separate characters. All characters introduced are playable.

• "originally thought by the players of both games to be a celebration of April Fools' Day," Remove this

• Done originally included because both games' publishers made announcements on Apr 1 on Twitter that they're going to implement the other game's features, before announcing the actual collab.

• "An April 2018 collaboration with World of Warships, originally thought by the players of both games to be a celebration of April Fools' Day, brought "Development Dock", a new game mechanism for Azur Lane players to obtain characters based on ships from World of Warships, as well as World of Warships players getting voiced captains based on Azur Lane characters, and skins for ships based on colors of said characters." I literally can't get through this sentence. It's way too long. Who is doing these collaborations? Is it the developer or a publisher? How about: "In April 2018, (Company A) collaborated with (Company B) of World of Warships to make some of each others characters available in the others' game. In Azur Lane, this was added through a new mode called "Development Dock". World of Warships only got character voices and skins." Don't copy word for word but something like that.

• It was a collab between Yostar and Wargaming Japan Ltd.. Rewritten to comply.

• "A collaboration with Armored Trooper VOTOMS in" Games don't collaborate with each other, companies collaborate.
• "iconic" WP:POV, I removed
• "A collaboration with the visual novel franchise Utawarerumono slated for Novem" Again, games don't collaborate with visual novels, publishers and developers collaborate. Done
• ", with crossover appearances of Utawarerumono's characters," To make sure I understand, the visual novel characters were added to Azur Lane? Were they made playable or NPCs? Was this limited time?

• 5 of the visual novel's characters is going to be playable in Azur Lane, as teased in collab announcement. This will be a limited-time event. Sentence shortened. --Tsumikiria (talk) 08:20, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Release

You need a release section where you can put all the details of when it released and what DLC came out later. Don't need all the DLC details but just move what you wrote before in gameplay to this section.

Done. Should it be == == or === === ?

== TarkusAB^talk 03:03, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Reception

• First I must say you dramatically improved the section from what it was before. So thank you.
• "A recurring doujin convention exclusively dedicated to the game was held in November 2017." How many times has it been held? You said recurring. Is it annual? Might be better to say "The first doujin convention exclusively dedicated to the game was held in November 2017 and will be held annually in the future." or something like that

• Held 4 times. 5th one to be held in next month. It's held every 3 months. Fixed

• "Official merchandises for the game was sold at the 93rd Comiket in December 2017." Is this really worth mentioning?

• Axed I guess no. They'll be at every Comiket since the 93rd.
• Still, maybe worth a mention in promotion section. Tsumikiria (T/C) 07:40, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

• "depend little on factor of luck, and make easy entry due to few microtransaction elements" Is this saying that it's good the game depends little of luck factors? And the second part, does that mean that it's easy for players to start playing because it doesn't rely heavily on microtransactions?

• The game still has some RNG elements like skill procs, but in general the luck factor in gameplay is nowhere near KanColle.
• The game mainly profits from selling cosmetic elements like character skins, wedding rings, and minor UE improvements like Dorm slots and furnitures. The only thing players can pay to affect the gameplay is reviving a dead character mid map campaign, which is a very unnecessary and stupid thing to do even for a whale. Gacha rate is very generous and there are multiple ways to obtain a character so with enough planning and some luck nearly all characters can be eventually collected without paying a cent for gacha. The game basically wants players to catch-them-all (so they can sell all the skins).

• I general, I don't like using quotes for sources written in another language, unless a reliable source translated it to English. Try and WP:paraphrase the quotes. Fixed
• "Japanese region, as indicated in data from Sensor Tower." What is Sensor Tower?

• It's a data company for mobile app revenue reports. I guess it's unnecessary to mention in article. Removed

• The game's monthly revenue of August 2018 is estimated to be $14.5 million. This is sorta WP:CRYSTALBALL-ish, we shouldn't include estimations unless it's really something out of the ordinary. The game will continue to make money, yes we know. Removed Tsumikiria (T/C) 07:40, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Controversies

First paragraph goes to Reception Second paragraph goes to Release Third paragraph goes to Release Done

See Also

If the games are relevant, they should be mentioned somewhere in the article. If they are not in the article, they are not relevant enough, Remove the links and eliminate this section. Done

Thoughts so far

• @Tsumikiria: This article is going to take a while to review. Lots of issues but it's OK we'll get through it. I aim to get this to GA status with you. My comments above are just from a first read and there are other things that will need work in gameplay after this stuff is addressed. You can start working on that. And I will get to Development soon. TarkusAB^talk 00:31, 5 October 2018 (UTC)
• The extensive details on the Japanese and Korean releases are too much. I get that the game has a following in those countries, but on the English Wikipedia, we really only care about its history in English speaking regions and its home country. We can mention the JP/KR releases and certainly anything notable but not all the details.
• Since this article is about the game, swap out the infobox with the video game infobox and not the multimedia one.

• While I agree with most points here, considering this article also fall in WP:A&M category, and other multimedia video game GA articles like Little Busters! and Rewrite (visual novel) also uses A&M infoboxs, wouldn't it be more helpful to retain the A&M infoboxes? Having them certainly doesn't hurt reader's experience. --Tsumikiria (talk) 05:03, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

• I'm OK with that TarkusAB^talk 12:41, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• @TarkusAB: Can the w:File:Manga 4-koma Palette Cover Azur Lane Bisoku Zenshin!.png be kept? It showcases two of the main characters in the franchise, having the picture would certainly help illustrate the article greatly and improve reading experience. Again, GA article Little Busters! also features a cover art of its manga adaption, with the image uploaded more than 10 years ago. It's certainly a precedent. Thanks. --Tsumikiria (talk) 22:43, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Add it back in., TarkusAB^talk 22:44, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

• @TarkusAB: Hi. Can I request an update on your review? I know you are working on several other projects aiming for GA so there's no need for haste. Although an IP editor's contribution today, specifically in development section, left me some questions. I've rephrased them a bit, but should the details on WoWS collab characters and mentions to specific voice actors be kept? The former does help explaining the developer's attempt to differentiate the game in that paragraph, but it's an post-release addition. Should it be moved then? Your suggestions? Thanks. --Tsumikiria (talk) 20:22, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Yes I'm sorry, I intend to get back to this later this week. I'll try to do some more work on it later today. Some of the grammar and spelling the IP made is good, but the additions of the collab are too detailed. It's fair to mention the collaboration, albeit briefly. Something like: "The company collaborated with Lawson convenience stores for two months for exclusive content. The store distributed plastic sleeves imprinted with Azur Lane characters." or something like that, like 2 sentences. The specific details of the giveaway, like the character's name, and products you needed to purchase to get the content, are not important to a general audience. TarkusAB^talk 20:43, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

I'm sorry this will take me some time. I'll be honest, the article is not very good right now. It's very difficult to read. The information and sourcing is there but there are lots of grammar issues, run on sentences, WP:GAMECRUFT, and some passages are just poorly written and not explained very well. It will require 2-3 passes. I think most other reviewers would have failed the article or recommended you get a copy edit at the WP:GOCE which has a several month long queue. This review will probably run well into November, so please be patient with me. Thank you. TarkusAB^talk 03:58, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB:I understand, and thank you for the copyedits you made. This is my first attempt in writing a WP article comprehensively in a L2. Quite some time has passed since my last high school English class, so I apologize for not promptly discovering and fixing all the grammatical mistakes after writing. Thank you for your patience.

Please check out my edits in the other media and collab section, and my new comments above. Hopefully the article is more readable and your questions is answered. I will be awaiting your suggestions and further review. Thank you. --Tsumikiria (talk) 08:42, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB: I fixed many of the grammar and overlink problems in the article, and rewrote the reception section to comply with what I saw in WP:RECEPTION. Critics' comments are now categorized in paragraphs and subheadings removed. Your advice would be appreciated. Thank you. --Tsumikiria (talk) 04:41, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

I'll get to this soon. TarkusAB^talk 13:51, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

OK I have read through the article once now. I am going on a trip for a few days so I won't be able to continue this review until sometime next week. Continue to work on the article while I am gone if you can. One thing to work on is to make sure that everything from Gameplay to Reception has a source (except the plot). There are some passages that are missing sources. Overall though the article is looking much better. TarkusAB^talk 02:08, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB: Thank you for reviewing the reception section. I hope my answer above will clear up some confusions. References are supplemented and I think no passage lacks one now. Although the mention to character count can only be ref'd to a page on AL wiki, which might not comply WP:INTREF4, I guess. I will continue to work on the page while looking forward for further review. Thank you. --Tsumikiria (T/C) 07:48, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Second read through

I'll be starting the second read through now. I'll review the lead once we've cleared up issues with the main parts of the article. TarkusAB^talk 14:38, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

Infobox

• Can you crop the logo image to remove the blank space? It would look much better in the infobox that way. Done

Gameplay

• You say it's a scrolling shooter at the beginning, but from the gameplay description is sounds more of a cross between shooters, RPGs, and simulation games? What do sources call it?
  • RPG Site wrote it as a "mobile shooting RPG" or "mobile shmup RPG". Japanese sources call it a "simulation RPG" and "side-scrolling shooter". It's indeed a mix since players are controlling characters (RPG) in a shmup gameplay, using naval guns and torpedoes (simulation game). Although this might be difficult to phrase into the article. I tried.
• "When preparing for a map battle," What is this mode called? Would be better to say something like: The main mode of gameplay is "X", when preparing to enter "X" mode..."
  • The mode is called "Attack" on EN version. Pressing the orange button on the main screen to enter the map selection interface. Done
• "Player fleets, along with various types of immobile enemy fleets, pursuing humanoid enemies, and bonus/ammo nodes are spawned among the reefs and islands of a map."
  • What are "pursuing humanoid enemies"? Just NPC shipgirls that can move?
    • Yes. They move across ~2 nodes when players make every other move. If they chase player fleets down players will have to engage them, and they're much stronger than mobs. Changed
  • It sounds like player fleets spawn along the map. Are you talking about online player fleets? You have not yet said this is an online game. Is it always online?
    • Only the player's own fleets are spawn in a map, not other players'. It is an online game since the server has to store and validate player battles and progress, etc., like any other mobile game. But there aren't any MMORPG-like player halls where player character gather with other players' characters. Players all beat their own maps. Although an event earlier this month experimented with maps that require all players of a server to push the map progress together, and in an old event there was a special map/mode where a player must prepare 15 characters to defeat 10 random, similar-strength fleets of other players in a row. Changed to "the player" to avoid confusion by plural "players".
  • What are bonus nodes? Like a high score bonus or supply items?
    • Yes. Bonus nodes may give: food, ammo, equipment box, HP recovery token, or extra enemy spawn.
• "using fuel and ammo." You have not yet explained what fuel and ammo is. You should explain early on that the player enters the map with a set amount of fuel and ammo, and fuel is used for X and ammo is used for Y.
  • Fuel is one of two in-game resources. The other one is gold. I feared the passage might become overly detailed if I explain specific in-game resources so I didn't mention them. Ammo is a set amount in map battle, each player fleet has 5 ammo point, with each fight deducting one. Although fleets ran out of ammo can still fight, they just deal 50% less damage. Usually 4-6 fights are needed for boss node to spawn. Added explaination.
• Does the player have a destination on the map they are aiming for? Is it the Boss? This should be explained first, as you discuss the player moving across the map before saying where they are moving to.
  • There are multiple nodes on a map where the boss may spawn, so players needs to identify and fight potentially obstructing enemies to get to the boss.
• ", a mechanic similar to the "bomb" in Touhou Project games." I removed this. This is standard across many shooters, not just Touhou.
  • My bad. My previous experience with shooter games are limited to Touhou.
• "Player versus player battles are controlled entirely by AI." This is the first time that you mention players can play directly against one another. Is this part of the main map game mode we've been talking about or an entirely separate mode? Do you have to enable a special option to play against other players when going into map mode?
  • PvP is an entirely separate mode. Called "Exercise" in-game. Players don't play directly against one another. Rather, players assign characters to a defense fleet, and challenge other players' defense fleet. It's better explained here.
  • I separated PvP to a new paragraph, but I can only find AL wiki to cite. If you think this citation is not valid or this paragraph count as overly detailed gameplay, you're welcomed to remove the whole paragraph.
• "Should a character fall in a battle, no permanent death will incur. Instead, regeneratable morale points are deducted at every battle." Instead of saying what doesn't happen, say what happens. Is the character able to be used in the next battle? Do they revive at the end of the map? Do they revive with low health?
  • HP is a only a stat of a character. Characters enter a map with a full HP pool. If they run out of their HP in one battle, they cannot be used in another battle within the map. So technically they never "die" or "revive", just barred from further action in a map. Players can pay to restore a character's HP to full in a map, but it's utterly unneeded since they can always try the map again. Added explaination.
  • Morale are deducted for all characters of a fleet every time they go to a battle. If one run out of HP, a larger amount will be deducted.
• I am making lots of changes myself. Please review to make sure I am not misunderstanding. I have never played the game.
  • It's fine. You intepreting differently means I haven't wrote with enough clarity.
• "Characters may passively gain experience points, and recover morale and raise affection when food is given by players." Punctuation. Does food raise affection AND morale?
  • Well, morale recovers on itself, but food will raise additional morale at a constant rate, but not affection. As long as there is food, there's a chance that a "heart bubble" pops up on a character. Clicking that will raise about 0.1 affection points, not really a significant amount. BTW, every successful battle will raise 0.0625 affection points. Removed
• "Foods can be exchanged or purchased by players using fuel or premium currency." What is premium currency? Is this in-game currency? How is it obtained? Also in English "exchanged" usually means "traded", as in trading an object for an object, not money for an object. I think you just mean purchase so I am going with that...
  • I think I previously confused in-game currency with in-game resource. Gold and Fuel are resources, and Diamond is the currency bought using in-app purchase. So food bought using resource. My bad... Changed to clarify
• "Players may exchange various themed and occasionally time-limited furniture sets and decorations to raise the rate experience is gained, using "furniture coins" obtained by sending characters to expeditions." I think you mean "purchased" not "exchanged". Also what are expeditions? Like map battles?
  • No. They are "fire-and-forget missions that the player can send ships away on in order to earn EXP, resources, and items". Changed to "missions"
• "Players may inspect Backyards of other players." What are Backyards? Explain brifely
  • I meant Dormitory. Backyard is a fan translation of CN text before the official TL. I forgot to change that occurrence. Fixed
• "which would be suitable for players who aim to play at their leisure." How is this for players who aim to play at their leisure? I don't understand this passage. Deleted Unneeded.
• "When a character's affection point is raised to 100 via secretary duty, battle, or Dormitory, players may choose to give a "wedding ring" item to said character, walking down the aisle with their ship darlings." What is "secretary duty"? And who walks down the aisle with the character? This sounds almost too poetic.
  • "Secretary duty" is the character the player choose to appear in the game's main screen. Added explanation to first picture since there's nowhere to fit it in the text.
  • "walking down the aisle" I wrote this as a WP:HUMOR. I wanted to keep it but I guess this phrasing probably better belong to a fan wiki... "Marriage" or "Pledge" as in game is more of a cosmetic mechanism. This video can explain better. Also see here.
• "For example, after the character Belfast won a popularity contest on the game's Japanese release, and after the character Hood became one of the most married character on the game's Chinese release, both of them were given unique wedding costumes." I removed this, the previous sentence explained it well, you don't need the example.

Development

• Does the source say when development began? 2016? 2017?
  • I actually don't have the source magazine at hand. This passage is mostly translated from JP WP and both JP WP and excerpts of this interview I found elsewhere online did not provide the time the development began.
• "Keeping game balance and rarity with these museum-vessels was difficult, however, the developers are resolved to present these museum-piece characters, and intended to introduce more characters based on real-life museum-ships in the future." Verb tense agreement: "was difficult"..."are resolved"..."intended". I rewrote this sentence.
• Regarding the voice actors paragraph, you lead with the game having critically acclaimed voice actors, but the rest of the paragraph implies the staff gave preference to amateur actors. You should lead with the discussion of amateur actors and only mention the well-known voice actors at the end.
  • Manjuu hired young actors during development stage was also apparently due to economic reasons. Although later on when they had revenue they hired more famous ones. Rephrased

Release

• "Shanghai Yostar" I don't understand the name of this company. Is this the Shanghai branch of a company called Yostar, or is the company called Shanghai Yostar?
  • Yostar Inc. is the game's JP publisher. Their parent company, Shanghai Yostar Network Technology Limited (Chinese: 上海悠星网络科技有限公司) is a developer and a publisher founded in Shanghai in 2014. Shanghai Yostar Ltd got the contract to operate Azur Lane in Japan in 2017. Their previous in-house game was rather unsuccessful in Japan and was shut down earlier this month to give way to AL.
• "As such, believing that around 10 people would suffice, the company was low in cash, only had 4 full-time employee and 2 interns before the game's release, and had to work from morning until midnight behind the game's climbing popularity until the end of 2017." So believing 10 people would be enough they only have 6?? Why? Was it because the company was low in cash? This sentence is difficult to understand. Can you try rewriting?
  • He really said that he thought 10 ppl would be good and in reality he only hired 6. Though he did admit it is a "big mistake". Removed the cash part. Rewritten
• "Jin Haganeya, writer for Demonbane, happily agreed when tasked with series composition for the game's anime adaption." If I'm understanding correctly, he was tasked with serving as writer for the anime adaptation? Rewrite like this: "Jin Haganeya, writer for Demonbane, agreed to write the script for the game's anime adaptation."
  • IIRC "series composition" means "A key role given to the main writer of the series" in anime production. Although "writer" is preferrable here I guess. Changed
• I rewrote the paragraph about Nardack.

Promotion

• Who is Manjuu?
  • One of the game's developer companies. Yuwan works for them. Shanghai Manjuu Network Technology Ltd (Chinese: 上海蛮啾网络科技有限公司) is responsible for the game's audiovisual design, writing and marketing, while Yongshi (Xiamen Yongshi Network Technology Ltd. (Chinese: 厦门勇仕网络技术有限公司)) is responsible for programming, game data design and content planning. They hold the IP together, with a 65%/35% share on profit. Included in development. You can move or delete if this is WP:IINFO.

Characters

• I moved some key parts of this section up into Gameplay (see second paragraph there) and deleted the rest. This is like having a section on the pokemon page saying "There's lots of Pokemon, like Charizard, and Jigglypuff, and Bulbasaur, and Pikachu." It's not needed. The reader just needs to know that there are lost of different ships, maybe know which ones are the protagonists and that's all.
  • I'll admit this "There's lots of Pokemon" made me laugh, although Azur Lane is the reason for me and many other players to spend hours reading histories of these ships and their battles on Wikipedia. Otherwise I guess I wouldn't have knew or cared about those heroic sailors and captains. Still, I guess I'm fine with this section deleted, listing them directly doesn't seem to serve further purpurse.

Plot and setting

• I moved this up as "Synopsis" and rewrote some parts. Please check my accuracy.
  • You made it better. Thank you. :)

Thoughts so far

• Article is much better. The gameplay needs some work. It needs to be written to better explain to someone who has never played the game before or even seen it in action. I will review the rest later. TarkusAB^talk 16:52, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
  • @TarkusAB: I expanded the gameplay section to clarify confusions. Also added the dev companies responsibilities and shares in the dev section. Hopefully this will improve it. If you think the whole PvP paragraph is unneeded or cited by an invalid source you can change or remove it. Although I can't believe I had to dumb down on basic gaming terms. Well, this is Wikipedia and I'm just learning to write it. Please check my changes and above notes. Thank you. --Tsumikiria (T/C) 07:23, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
    • I understand. See WP:VGJARGON for where I'm coming from. TarkusAB^talk 12:37, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Other media

• "Azur Lane Crosswave, a 3D naval tactical shooter game"...Naval is a thematic genre, not gameplay, and this is obvious anyways so I've removed. Also is it a tactical shooter? The sources don't mention this and there is no gameplay to verify. RPG Site says it will be a "Advancing Naval Battle RPG" but that isn't a traditional genre so it doesn't help us understand how the game will play. I'd suggest removing the genre tags and just calling it "a game" until we get more information.
  • Changed to "3D shooter game". At least this is obvious.
• "Autumn 2017" MOS:SEASONS, replace with "late 2017" or exact month or Q3 or something else. Done

Collaborations

• I moved this section under Promotion because collaborations are just a form of promotion after all.
• "while World of Warships players may purchase voiced captains" What are voiced captains? You mean they can purchase voiceover tracks that represent the characters from Azur Lane?
  • Kinda. Captain is a game mechanism in WoWS where players can use these characters' skilltree to aid their battle. They'll also speak various voice lines during battle ("We're hit!""Incoming torpedoes!" etc.)
  • This just means WoWS can buy captains that are AL characters, with newly-recorded tracks to fit the game.
• I made some changes here. Please make sure I'm being accurate to the truth.

Reception

• "the Chinese market....the Japanese region" Can we just say China and Japan here? Or do these markets/regions consist of other countries? Axed. changed to players
• "the game received a bronze medal" Does the bronze medal mean it came in third place? Just say that instead of mentioning the medal. Readers not familiar with the competition will not understand what the bronze medal means.
• "Game of the Year of the 15th Golden Dragon Award (zh), China Animation & Comic Competition." This is not written correctly. Did they receive a "Golden Dragon Award" or is that the name of the ceremony? If that's the name of the ceremony, what is the China Animation & Comic Competition? Try rewriting this sentence.
  • Fixed "China Animation & Comic Competition Golden Dragon Award" is the full title of this competition. more here
• "Famitsu found players can express their own style of playing, depend little on factor of luck, and make easy entry due to few microtransaction elements." I'm still having trouble understanding this sentence. Can you describe to me what you are trying to say here again and maybe I can help reword.
  • Sorry. The original sentences (and my rough translations) are:
  • Japanese: 『アズールレーン』の課金は、キャラや武器を手に入れるための課金ではなく、スタミナ課金や水着などのアバタ―（性能無関係）購入などよりゲームを楽しむための課金な印象を受けました。
    • English: Microtransactions in Azur Lane are not for obtaining characters and weapons, but rather for making gameplay fun, such as restoring stamina and swimsuits (irrelevant to power)
  • Japanese: このあたりが、“ガチャ疲れ”しているユーザー層に刺さったのでないかと、なんとなく予想しています。
    • English: Presumaby this is specifically designed to target players who are "exhausted by (other) gacha games"
  • Japanese: そんな中、本作の特色となるのが手動操作の要素があること。
    • English: In which, manual control is a distinguishing feature of the game
  • Japanese: いわゆるシューティングゲームなんですが、ガチシューティングのような当たったら即撃墜してしまう仕様ではなく、あくまでフレーバー程度。とは言え、高難易度クエストでは、艦隊の位置取りや、魚雷発射や空爆、主砲攻撃のタイミングを任意で操作しないとクリアーが難しいケースも多いので、自身のPSが重要になってきます。
    • English: Unlike other shooting games, getting hit will not cause instant death. That said, in hard maps, without carefully positioning the fleet and timing the torpedoes, airstrikes and main gun salvoes, it will be very hard to clear (the battle). (The player's) own PS (standing for play style as explained in Taiwan translation) becomes important.
  • Japanese: この適度にPSが反映され、運の絡む要素の少ないゲーム設計は個人的にかなり好みなポイントでした。
    • English: This game design of adequately reflecting play style and few dependence on luck is my personal preference.
  • Japanese: けっきょく『アズールレーン』は何で流行ったの？あくまで体感ですが、・課金要素の薄さによるゲームへの入りやすさ・育成する楽しさ・適度にPSの反映されるおもしろさ
    • English: So why is Azur Lane popular? ・Easy entry to a game with few microtransaction elements ・fun of raising characters ・adequately reflecting play style is interesting
• "described the gameplay as "unexpectedly steady"" What does he mean by the gunnery and torpedos etc. are "steady?" That's a very strange way to describe gameplay, perhaps a mis-translation. Describe here and maybe I can help reword.
  • Japanese: 「艦これ」が兵站管理に重きを置いたシミュレーションゲームだったのに対して，「アズールレーン」は弾幕を掻い潜りながら敵艦の撃沈を目指すシューティングゲームなんですよね。自分もチュートリアルで初めて触れた際に驚いたんですが，これがなかなか……。艦砲射撃はもちろん，艦載機による面制圧や雷撃の概念も上手く活かされていて，思いの外しっかりしたゲーム性です。
    • English: Contrasting to KanColle which is a simulation game centered on resource management, Azur Lane is shooting game aiming to barrage and sink enemy ships. I was surprised when going through the tutorial, this is quite... Naval gun fire is of course, surface suppression (perhaps better translate as surface bombardment?) by carrier based aircraft and the concept of torpedo attack are well utilized(上手く活かされて), (having) unexpected (思いの外) firm/steady? (しっかりした) gameplay (ゲーム性).
• WHat is HK01? Are they a website or TV show, newspaper? "Media" is not descriptive enough.
  • They're are a website and also publishes weeklies in paper format.
    • OK "Hong Kong media outlet HK01" may be the best descriptor here.
• FYI I'm stepping away from my computer now so feel free to make edits.
  • @TarkusAB: I really tried to understand and translate above Japanese texts using my broken and nearly-forgotten Japanese. Please help me reword it. Thank you very much.
    • ありがとう、すぐに読みます :) TarkusAB^talk 01:47, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

Second opinion request

OK at this time I'm pretty OK with the article. I think it nearly satisfies the minimum GA criteria, but I have concerns about whether it meets criteria 1.a. "the prose is clear and concise, and the spelling and grammar are correct", and 3.b. "it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail". I think it could benefit from one more set of eyes, so I'm going to request a second opinion. Thanks for being patient thus far. TarkusAB^talk 11:55, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

@TarkusAB: Thank you. The prose definitely looks clearer to me, but more community input will be helpful on deciding necessary details.

About the lead, should I rewrite it to say that its a shmup, sim, and RPG in the first sentense to correspond with the gameplay section, or stay with the current wording in lead? Tsumikiria (T/C) 19:37, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

I think maybe one other genre would be good. Three may be too much for the lead. I'd say pick one other (whichever sources say more) and include it there, I think that's fine. TarkusAB^talk 19:48, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi there, just here to give a second opinion on the article. I personally would not be happy with the quality of the writing in terms of the GA criteria here; my first step in reviewing it would probably be to ask the nominator to put in a copy-edit request for it to give the whole thing a good work over and tidy-up. It is up to TarkusAB how they would like to proceed with the review, and I think it is great that so much work has been put in already to try and get this article promoted, but my opinion is that the writing is just not good enough to be promoted just now. As for going off topic, I think it is pretty good. The gameplay section may get a little too detailed in places, but that is not a major concern for me. - adamstom97 (talk) 09:29, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for the second opinion Adamstom. I agree that the quality of the writing is still not GA level.

I am going to fail the nomination because the article does not satisfy criteria 1.a.: "the prose is clear and concise, and the spelling and grammar are correct". However, don't take this whole process as a failure, Tsumikiria. We did a lot of work to improve the article, and the page is now much better than when you first placed the review request. To continue improving the article, I recommend placing a copy edit request at the Guild of Copy Editors. It may take them a while to get to it. Once the copy edit is finished, you can nominate it for peer review for another set of eyes, or go straight in and renominate for GA. TarkusAB^talk 12:51, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

I'd like to thank Adamstom.97 for sparing time to review this article, and especially thank TarkusAB for working with me to improve this article, at great length. That was beyond his capacity as a reviewer. This is certainly not what I expected, but I guess I can see several section still have spaces for improvement, gameplay section certainly could need more care. GoCE probably will be a long wait, but I'll try. Again, thank you. Tsumikiria (T/C) 18:45, 22 November 2018 (UTC)