Talk:Beyond: Two Souls/GA1

GA Review[edit]

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Reviewer: Freikorp (talk · contribs) 06:05, 26 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I will review. Give me a day or two. Freikorp (talk) 06:05, 26 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

Is it reasonably well written?
A. Prose is "clear and concise", without copyvios, or spelling and grammar errors:
Lead
"Beyond: Two Souls was screened at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival." This confused me, since it's a video game being screened at a film festival. I felt the need to jump ahead to find out what was going on. It needs to be better explained what was being screened (new trailer and 35 minutes of the game).
Done. Thank-you for spurning me to do something about that, as it has been bothering me also. I didn't fix it exactly as you are expecting me to, but I changed it the way I have been meaning to: changing "screened" to "demonstrated" and included language that indicates how unusual a video game appearance at that event was. Let me know if that didn't fix it. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"by the end of 2013." Reception section states by January 2014. I know there's not a lot of difference between those two times, but it would be good to be consistent in the prose.
Done; good catch. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Lead could use some information on development.
Done. I added a sentence about the motion-capture, while rewriting another sentence. I did not provide much more than that, though; there isn't a lot to say about the development. Please let me know if this is enough. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I have provided some more; I think now it is even better. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Gameplay
After the first paragraph this section is devoid of wikilnks. 'monochromatic' stands out as my first choice for linking.
Done. You helped prompt me to include industry terms such as game mechanics and game stealth and terms specific to this article such as aura (paranormal). Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Jodie frequently calls upon Aiden to provide different abilities, such as: form a shield around Jodie...". I think this whole sentence is worded awkwardly. It is already established that Jodie is the subject, therefore mentioning her name again reads awkward, as does using the word 'form'. How about "such as forming a shield around her..." and similar rewording throughout the sentence.
Done. You're right, this sentence had been bothering me; I believe it has now been fixed.

Development
"A debut trailer featuring in-game graphics was released during the press conference". Second use of "press conference" in two sentences doesn't read well. Reword of perhaps just shorten the latter to 'conference'.
Done. You're right about the redundancy; I hand't noticed that at all. I deleted the second mention and brought the sentence to life a little bit more, describing an action that happened at the conference. Please take another look at this whole section now that I have expanded it. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"their fully realized video game graphic characters." I don't understand what realised means in this context.
Realize: "To make real; to convert from the imaginary or fictitious into the actual." You did make me realise I had made two mistakes: I spelled it the American way instead of the European way, and I believe I should have inserted a hypen as the two words serve as an adjective, as in "fully-realised". Both are fixed. Is this better? Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Composer Lorne Balfe, who composed the soundtrack for Assassin's Creed III, replaced Corbeil as the game's composer after Corbeil's death." Three uses of composer/d in one sentence reads a bit painful.
Done. That's a lot of composing. There were actually five there starting with "compose". That's what I get for taking on an existing article. Rewritten. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Release
"received the demo earlier than the expected release date of 24 September 2013." Needs rewording, as this makes it sound like the game's release date was 24 September.
Done. I'm glad you noticed this; that writing was terribly confusing. The paragraph was also missing the release date of the full game. This has all been corrected. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Reception
"more than Quantic Dream's previous game, Heavy Rain during its debut". I think this could be worded clearer, clarifying that we're referring to Heavy Rain's performance in that country in the twelve weeks since its release. If you disagree I won't press it further, but I had to re-read the sentence to make sure I hadn't missed something. You may have to reword the previous sentence to accommodate this.
Done. I changed it to "during its three-month debut"; I hope that fixes the problem you mention; let me know if not. I also clarified here and elsewhere that France is home for this company, which was a serious omission. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"and that by January 2014 the game sold one million copies worldwide". Any update on sales since a year ago?
Can't be done; No information is available at all, and I have decided to say so in the article. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure whether or not it's appropriate to do that. I mean, your source doesn't say words to the effect of 'no information has been released regarding the sales of Beyond since January 2014' (not surprisingly since the source is from September 2013). If you're only basis that no information on sales has been released is the fact you can't find any, wouldn't saying that be original research? Freikorp (talk) 09:06, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Done. You're right. That alarm bell was ringing when I tried that, so I should have listened to it. Now there simply is no further mention of sales. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:
Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
A. Has an appropriate reference section:

B. Citation to reliable sources where necessary:
"Meanwhile, Quantic Dream programmers, artists, and animators, led by François Baranger, developed the computer-generated imagery seen in the game. David Cage provided writing and direction and Guillaume de Fondaumiere was the video game producer." Is there no source for any of this?
Done. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

C. No original research:
Is it broad in its coverage?
A. Major aspects:
No information on budget? This source [1] should prove useful to you.
Done. Thanks for the source. Prhartcom (talk) 07:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

B. Focused:
Is it neutral?
Is it stable?
Some rather unfortunate edit-warring with IP accounts, however, this appears to be resolved, thanks largely to your sound and patient advice. Well done.
Thanks for the compliment dealing with the IP editors. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:
A caption for the cover image would be nice. Which country was this cover released in?
Done. According to the website of the source, this is the North American cover art. I also added the "alt" parameter so that the image can be described by special software used by our blind readers. Prhartcom (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Shame there are no other pictures. The gameplay description sounds very interesting. Can you not obtain a still from the game? This would demonstrate both quality of graphics plus (depending on your choice of image) gameplay/interaction. How about a split image showing the view that players have when controlling Jodie compared to the monochrome view of Aiden?
Done.
Overall:
Pass or Fail:

@Prhartcom: Well done on the article. Placing on hold until the above issues are addressed. Freikorp (talk) 12:45, 26 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Freikorp, thanks so much for taking on this GA review. I only just now allowed myself to read it. I have started the improvements, but have more to do. This is very sound advice. I will ping you when I am ready for you to take another look. Thanks again. Prhartcom (talk) 21:17, 27 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Great work so far. :) Freikorp (talk) 09:06, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Freikorp:, I have completed the work requested above. Thank-you for the suggestions. Prhartcom (talk) 04:29, 29 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Good job. I am not an image licensing expert, so I am passing this article on the assumption that it is ok to allow a single image file that shows three different images related to the game. Freikorp (talk) 05:15, 29 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you asked for a split image, and I thought that was a good idea. I hope it sticks also; we'll see.

I know, i've just never seen one with three images before (only 2), I don't know if there's a limit to how many images in one article you can justify under fair use. I figured a comparison of Jodie's view in game compared to Aiden's would be justifiable as the two methods of gameplay are noticeably different. :) Freikorp (talk) 10:46, 29 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

You're very likely to be right; I will wait and see if someone calls me out on it and then learn (as always) from the experience. P.S. On a different subject, if you are interested, I just learned from an edit made today to this article how the MOS specifies that the adjective "fully realised" should not have a hyphen, contrary to what I had thought, as any adverb with an "ly" is the signal to avoid the hyphen. Cheers, and thanks again. Prhartcom (talk) 18:27, 29 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank-you for the review! I hope we work together soon! Prhartcom (talk) 05:50, 29 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]