Wikipedia:Peer review/Oxenfree/archive1

Oxenfree

Listing this to get additional feedback on the article with an eye towards taking it to FA status—especially interested in prose comments from fresh eyes. Thanks! Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 22:16, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

Comments from Mike Christie

This looks fairly close to being ready for FAC, but I did spot a few infelicities.

• There are a couple of places where gaming jargon or material that would not be comprehensible to non-gamers needs a little in-text explanation. Examples: "2.5D", 'the "walk and talk"', "parallaxing".
• The lead feels a little short for the length of the article.
• allowing the player to choose between two or three options what Alex will say next: are you missing a "for" after "options"?
• unexpectedly forms a rift: after I read further I was able to guess what this meant, but it's incomprehensible as it stands.
• "Magnetophon" is a brand-name, and is probably unfamiliar to many readers; unless the name is important I'd just say "reel-to-reel tape recorder".
• Maggie Adler's plan to fix the temporal tears—transposing onto the other side and tuning within: I have no idea what this means.
• Inside the caves, Alex tunes into a rift that sends her into a void. Encountering the possessed Clarissa, Alex is warned that she will die if the rift is closed, but Clarissa will be kept if she goes through the portal. What portal? Is a rift also a portal? And I don't know what "kept" means here. Kept by the ghosts? And the next sentences say if she closes the portal it will trap her (Alex?) with the ghosts, so is there actually an option where Alex dies?
• Why is it relevant in the epilogue that Nona's picture is shown? Is nobody else pictured at this point?
• Delivering a statement on her own experience, Alex can either go to college in or out of her hometown or take time off: suggest trimming this to something like "Alex also describes her own plans; she may go to college, either in or out of her hometown, or take time off."
• We wanted to something a little bit more: missing a word somewhere?
• After the founding of Night School, the team set up a casting call...: well, of course it was after. How about "Night School set up a casting call..."?

Out of time for tonight; more in the next couple of days. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 03:26, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

More comments:

• The game's camera distance from the player characters and 2D look were the result of functional necessity: I don't understand this.
• The dark, organic elements of the setting were put in opposition to the supernatural elements, which are bright and geometric: what does "opposition" mean here? Does it simply mean that the two thematic elements had very distinct designs, or is there more to it?
• What is a "story beat"?
• Krankel described the goal of the music to feel simultaneously analog and digital: ""described the goal to feel" is ungrammatical. How about "Krankel said the goal was for the music to feel...", or "According to Krenkel, the goal was for the music to feel..."?
• "The game was announced.... It was announced" within a dozen or so words.
• After release, Skybound Entertainment approached to help develop merchandise and the game for additional media: Sounds like there's at least one word missing here. Should it be "approached Night School"? And what does it mean to "develop the game for additional media"? I see Skybound are mentioned again at the end, and presumably that's what the reference is here. I think it would be better to combine this material, in one place or the other.
• What is "New Game+" mode?
• I think it would be worth mentioning that the box was found by a group of fans, and give the date if available.
• The reception section is better than most. You might look at WP:RECEPTION and see if it gives you ideas for further improvement; the essay talks about an "A said B" issue, which this article mostly, but not entirely, avoids.

I can't speak to comprehensiveness or reliability of sourcing. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 10:50, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, Mike. I'll take a look! Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 14:52, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

Hey @Mike Christie:, I've made some changes to the plot section, can you take another look? I understand your confusion with regards to the verbiage, and I've tried to streamline some of it and use fewer words for the same thing to try and ease confusion. Does it work a bit better now for you? Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 01:51, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Some strikes above; looks like you only addressed the first list? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 12:02, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, only had the time. I've gone through and tried to address the rest of the comments you had; I tweaked the reception section slightly but more substantiative changes will probably require a more thorough reorganization. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 19:44, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

I've struck most of the points above; just the "story beat" one left, which I assume is gaming jargon. Reception sections are hard to write. If you do rework it again, ping me and I'll take another look. As it stands this is not far from FA level but I think you do have a bit of "A said B" here. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:56, 27 December 2017 (UTC)

Comments from Anarchyte

I've been meaning to play this game. Here are a few passing comments:

• The player controls the protagonist Alex. Could this be shortened to The player controls Alex or rearranged to be The player controls Alex, the game's protagonist? It reads a bit odd right now.
• built around the "walk and talk". How about built around the "walk and talk" mechanic?
• instead of dialogue occurring during cutscenes, speech bubbles appear over Alex's head. The bubbles allow the player to choose between two or three options for what Alex will say next in the conversation. This could be shortened to instead of dialogue occurring during cutscenes, speech bubbles appear over Alex's head giving the player a choice between two or three dialogue options.
• choosing to wait for other characters to finish, choosing to interrupt, or remaining silent. I think this could be changed to either one of these: choosing to wait for other characters to finish, to interrupt, or to remain silent or choosing to wait for other characters to finish, choosing to interrupt, or choosing to remaining silent. At the moment it's only got "choosing" on two of the three options and makes it read a bit strangely.
• This is entirely optional, but in reception would it be a good idea to expand the first sentence to include the Metacritic summary? It'd provide backing for the "received positive reviews from critics". (i.e. received positive reviews from critics and garnered "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic). Anarchyte (work | talk) 11:16, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Hey @Anarchyte:, thanks for the comments. I've gone ahead and made the suggested changes. And I highly encourage you to play the game! It was recently free on GoG and Xbox, and you can find it pretty cheap these days. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 13:53, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

Article's looking better. Another thing I noticed is that the plot section is incredibly long. WP:VG/CONTENT advises it to be maximum 700 words, and at the moment, it's closer to 1200 (not including #Endings). Anarchyte (work | talk) 13:05, 20 January 2018 (UTC)