Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Peer review/List of Tales of Symphonia characters

List of characters in Tales of Symphonia

I'm looking for ways to improve this article even more; grammatically or reference wise and to improve it's grade from start class. I think it's structure may need work but I'm not sure what to do with it.DragonZero (talk) 00:10, 2 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Let me just say that it has a crazy amount of game references, which is good. However, it lacks any out-of-universe development information except for voice-actors. If you look at Characters of Final Fantasy VIII, it has a huge section on "creation and influences" and devotes much of the article to discussing how the characters were developed. In-game references aren't going to cut it in this case.--_ZXCVBNM 22:10, 15 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Another problem with the article is that it includes sections on any and all minor characters. According to Wikipedia guidelines, only major characters should be given descriptions - minor characters that don't influence the plot much shouldn't be excessively detailed or it becomes crufty.--_ZXCVBNM 22:12, 15 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Review by MuZemike

Because of the sheer length of the article (I will address that in the review) I am not going to go over every little sentence in detail, but instead will hit on the big things that I have observed in this article:

Images

Images need to be of smaller size in the article, preferably no more than 256px.
In order to fully comply with WP:NFCC #3, the images need to be of lowest resolution possible. I have been able to reduce the sizes of both images to 260px and 280px, respectively and cut down the file sizes of both (I haven't uploaded them yet, however).
Also be sure that your non-free rationales (for the next time you upload images) fully cover everything that is required in the Non-free content criteria, especially be very specific on the "purpose".
Space out the two images in the article, and consider.

Notability

You need to show (as well as reference via inline citations) using reliable secondary sources why this list of characters display notability to a real-world (as opposed to in-universe) audience. I have placed a {{primarysources}} template on top of the article as a reminder to add in secondary sources that can display real-world notability of these characters.
You may want to look at how other similar articles accomplish this, like in Characters of Final Fantasy VIII or Characters of Kingdom Hearts.
The final reference #134 does not seem to be a reliable sources. You should read that guideline to see what qualifies as well as look at WP:VG/S for good reliable secondary sources to use.

Lead

Lead is way too long. It should chiefly serve to give readers a peek into what the character list is about and not go waist-deep into describing every plot detail or character description (that is what the remainder of the article is supposed to cover). It should be cut in half at least.
You should read the Lead part Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20080409 and try to rewrite the lead using those guidelines; you may also wish to read the WP:LEAD guideline.
First sentence should start with something like "Tales of Symphonia is a role-playing video game released on ..." instead of "This article lists the characters ...".
The lead seems to drone on a bit come the second and third paragraphs. Again, shorten it, and make it concise and to the point. The lead is also supposed to hook readers into the article.

Citations

Maintain consistency with citations (as recommended per WP:CITE). The {{citation}} template covers everything that is already covered in the other similar templates such as {{cite web}} and {{cite video game}} for instance. They should all be replaced with the standard {{citation}} template.
Place all quotes from the games inside the {{citation}} templates using the "quote" parameter.

Content

Some of the material is unreferenced (see the Marta Lualdi section) and possibly original research. Add reliable sources or consider removing the unsourced material.
Remember to always italicize the names of video games, which I do not see anywhere (except I have seen it done with the mentioning of Tales of Phantasia).
It is not necessary to wikilink every occurrence of Tales of Symphonia (note the italics I have mentioned in the previous bullet plus the wikilink) or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Usually, only the first occurrences of something should be wikilnked in the article. Then, it shouldn't be repeated.
Doing a quick spot-check on the prose, it looks pretty good.

Article size

The article size is 109KB, which is way too large for an article like this. An ideal article size, according to WP:SIZE, should be 30KB or under, but many articles can and do go above that. However, once you start going above 30KB, browser performance begins to suffer, and it may take a long time to load or edit articles especially if you're working with a low-bandwidth Internet connection. Ideally, for a long list like this, I would estimate that this should be no more than 80KB but try to aim for possibly 65KB. Consider the following things to reduce the file size of the article:

Cut down on the content a bit. As I mentioned earlier, the article seems to drone on a bit, and the plot summaries seem to be overdetailed. Even though a plot is important in developing the character, the writing should focus on the character rather than the plot.
Consider splitting the article, which I do not recommend especially if the content can be cut down. There are several ways in which this could be split. If you wish to go that route, remember to discuss it first with some of the other editors before doing it so you can get other opinions and recommendations on it.

I also agree with Zxcvbnm's recommendations above, and I think you should also heed those, as well. Hope this helps out. Happy editing, MuZemike 01:47, 19 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I wasn't the one who went crazy with wiki linking I just noticed it. I'll copy and paste your review to the discussion and see if anyone will follow this since I'm a bit busy right now.DragonZero (talk) 02:38, 19 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]