Talk:Resident Evil 7: Biohazard/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Freikorp (talk · contribs) 03:24, 21 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Be advised rather than bringing up any minor issues I will just fix them myself. If you're unhappy with any changes I make simply revert them and we can instead discuss the issue here. Also feel free to reply to my concerns as they come in; don't feel like you have to wait for the entire review to be finished. Freikorp (talk) 03:24, 21 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Is it reasonably well written?
Lead

Some indication of who Ethan is would be nice. Especially since I am familiar with previous RE games (though I haven't played this one) I felt the need to scroll down immediately to find out whether he was a soldier or STARS member etc, but I'm sure all readers would benefit from this, so describing him as a civilian in the lead would be good. Also why is he wikilinked in gameplay yet not in the lead?

~~A brief indication of what the 'molded' are would be good. Are they human? I literally have no idea.~~

~~"Instead of being action-oriented" - Maybe clarify that recent RE games have been more action oriented, like "Instead of being action oriented like the more recent games in the series..."~~

Gameplay

Surprisingly this section gives no further clarification to what/who the 'molded' are. Granted some indication is given towards the end of the plot, but readers shouldn't have to get that far into the article to find out what these creatures are.

~~"Unlike the more recent Resident Evil installments" - I think it would be helpful to specify a couple of these more action oriented installments.~~

"Item boxes may also be used to manage and store items for later use" - Some more clarification of what an item box is would be good. Where are they found? If you put an item in one can you retrieve it from a different item box?

Plot

~~It isn't a requirement to have sources in the plot, but it's a good idea.~~

Some more indication of who Ethan is would be nice, or do we never find out any more about him? All I know from the plot about him personally is that he is a man with a missing wife. Do we know where he comes from? What he does for a living? If not, consider specifying somehow that he is not well introduced to the player, rather than just not mentioning anything at all.
Nothing is known about his life before the game. Feel awkward adding "civilian" or "Texas resident" (Mia has Texas driver's license). Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I do think it's important to convey this intentional absence of information to the reader somehow, even if it's something as blunt as saying something like "In 2017, Ethan Winters, a civilian whose background remains a mystery, (...)" . Freikorp (talk) 13:07, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

"E-Series bioweapon" - this is just confusing. E-Series? As opposed to say, D-Series? Which we also don't know anything about. What does this mean? I'd consider just dropping that entirely. And "bioweapon" is a bit vague. Can you be more specific? Perhaps calling it a biologically engineered weapon, or bio-engineered weapon? With the wikilink. Does RE7 specifically use the term bioweapon? RE5 uses the term "bio-organic weapon" in game.

The prose in this section isn't fantastic, but copyediting isn't my strong suit. I won't fail you on the current workding, but consider either going over it with a fine comb or just placing it in line at the Guild of Copy Editors.
Will do. Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Development

~~"from The Evil Dead film" - I think this would be better worded as "from the 1981 film The Evil Dead"~~

"because its considerable demand for equipment made it unviable for transport" - I feel like I might be missing something obvious, but I don't understand what you're saying here.
It says in the source that "One problem with the photogrammetry is that it requires a lot of gear - too much to haul around to the US and back, which was a problem for the developer as it's making a game set in Louisiana. As such, Capcom had to do some things the old fashioned way by taking fewer pictures for inspiration then modeling assets by hand." Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Release and marketing

"Over 2,000,000 players accumulated worldwide, with over 200,000 of them being VR users." - In what time frame are we referring to here?
The latest stat update was on 20 May 2017, but is subject to change. Should I add the date anyway? Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's a good idea to add the date. Freikorp (talk) 13:07, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Freikorp: Just visited the source and it now says 22 May 2017. Seems to be updating itself each day. Cognissonance (talk) 13:24, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah just had a look myself and it definitely looks like a frequently update list. I'll leave it up to you if you want to add the date or not. Freikorp (talk) 13:30, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The source is going to say June 2017 next month and so on. Cannot keep up with that. Cognissonance (talk) 13:39, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Reception

That second paragraph is pretty massive. It's not necessarily a problem, but can you explain why you've given so much weight to the reviews of Furniss and Carsillo?
They are simply more substantial because I wrote the section starting with them and had more energy as opposed to the end of the writing session. Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

"Flashbacks via VHS tapes also received commendation, as it offered him one of his favorite features." I'm confused. Are you saying the Flashbacks via VHS tapes were one of his favorite features? If so, I suggest simplifying to exactly that. I.e He considered Flashbacks via VHS tapes to be one of his favorite features.

~~"Capcom gave the game a lifetime sales forecast of 10 million units" - when did they say this? Also try and avoid one sentence paragraphs if possible.~~
Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
A. Has an appropriate reference section:
Fact: articles that don't have their sources archived are far more likely to fail GA or FA reassessments due to link rot. It might take years, but eventually a good chunk of those sources that are live now will be deadlinks. It's not required to pass GA, but I strongly recommend you archive all your sources. It is a massive pain to do to this many sources; personally when it comes to stuff like this I set myself short goals, say archive just five references a day. They'll be done soon enough. Personally I now archive all sources prior to GA nomination. If you're not going to archive the sources, at the very least you could add the 'accessdate' parameter to all your 'cite web' references.
Will do. Cognissonance (talk) 12:54, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

B. Citation to reliable sources where necessary:

C. No original research:
Is it broad in its coverage?
A. Major aspects:

B. Focused:
Is it neutral?
Fair representation without bias:
Is it stable?
No edit wars, etc:
A couple recent contested reversions but nothing big enough to concern me
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:
The cover art image strikes me as too large for a non-free image, and it doesn't need to be that big anyway. It only needs to be as large as it appears in the infobox. Have a look at how big the cover art is on the featured articles Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 5.
Reduced size. Cognissonance (talk) 15:46, 21 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

~~The gameplay image is OK, but I can't help but think you can find a image with better lighting. I can't really tell how good the game's graphics are from this image.~~
Found none with better lighting that aren't promotional. Improved the existing image. Cognissonance (talk) 15:46, 21 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Much better. Freikorp (talk) 07:48, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:
I'm not sure if you can justify a non-free image of the engine's logo, or if it really improves the article, but I'm not going to contest it myself

It's not a GA requirement, but I think it's a good idea to add ALTs for your images
Overall:
Pass or Fail:

Well done on the article overall. Placing this one on hold so issues can be addressed. Freikorp (talk) 12:11, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

All issues have been addressed. Happy for this to pass now. Congrats. Freikorp (talk) 14:26, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]