Forum:Changes to enemy pages

Forums: Index > Rin's Travel Agency > Archive > Changes to enemy pages

Here's how our enemy articles are currently laid out as according to the MoS:

1. Infobox
2. Intro (including location and battle circumstances and just things summarised)
3. Story (optional, for minor story character bosses)
4. Bestiary info (optional, only if applicable, and also Mark information-- information of the enemy as part of a game-specific system)
5. How to find (optional, usually for optional bosses/rare game)
6. Stats (optional, for FFVIII enemies)
7. Battle
8. Strategy
9. AI Script (if we can)
10. Gallery (optional, for enemy abilities and artwork)
11. Trivia (optional, most things can go in the intro)
12. Related Enemies

I don't know if "How to find" should go above or below the game-specific info. It's not in the MoS, but it should be. "Stats" isn't in there either (it's only for one game... I don't know how XII works but I imagine it might have a similar system, but unless we have formulas we can't really do anything), however above "Battle" makes most sense.

Suggested changes:

• Make "Strategy" a sub-section of "Battle". It only makes sense is the strategy info is primarily based on info from the Battle section.
• Add a section for formations. I also think we should add all enemies that can appear in the same battle as the enemy in question should be placed in related enemies, but at very least we need a list of the different formations the enemy can appear in. This is also going to effect the strategy section, and could help us bulk out random encounters more. This section would only apply to random encounter games really. This is very possible for implementing to I and VII immediately, and most games have an "Enemy formations" section on location pages.
• In the "Locations" section in the infobox: List all sub-locations. If we don't want to do that then we could perhaps consider making it a section of the article. Even if an enemy appears in all areas, by not stating that they are in all people won't know for sure they are in all. And I wouldn't like just saying "All areas" for the same reason I don't like saying "Ribbon prevents all statuses".

The formations and locations sections could be related. The same random encounter might appear in multiple locations. We might want to consider how we would link this information up. We could number up the formations (we know VII's internal numbered system, but we number them on a per-page basis, from 1 up) and then the Locations sections could be a table with the name of the Location, and then a list of numbers which link to the enemy formation further up the page.

We may also want to consider a List of Enemy Formations page. User:JBed/FFVII/Enemies/Formations does this, but we would obviously have to use the enemy names and link to when they are fought.

I think there's something else I forgot, but that will do. Anyone disagree? Other suggestions? JBed (talk) 00:48, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

In short, I'll agree with all three of the bullet points made, and also agree that enemies that appear with enemies in formation should be in related enemies. I can't count the number of times I've wanted for a related enemies pointing to enemies that fight with that enemy, only to have to go through the relevant location page or the category.

A list of Enemy Formations page sounds... worrisome. If it's not a big deal to make, I don't see the harm in it, but at the same time, I don't know how much benefit those pages would bring. It just seems sort of like a waste of time to me, but I suppose the coding perspective of the games was never really my focus, so I can hardly call my opinion on the matter informed. I guess I'll hold judgment and wait to see what others have to say on the matter. Jimcloud 02:17, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

I like the lists. It adds the centralisation. Like any list page. My only worry of how big it will have to be, at least for VII. JBed (talk) 02:26, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

		Xenomic TALK - 02:33, April 20, 2013 (UTC)
		That's not including other games where there's a crapton of enemy groups too. But I agree that they could use a big update. As it stands, some of them lack ANY good information, and we DO need the Enemy Groups (I propose those being in their own section rather than related enemies personally, seeing as related enemies are those that are palette swaps or a type of that enemy). For locations, I think that they should all be listed in the information box personally. Not like it'll hurt it that badly I think. Just my two cents on the thing.

I like it. Especially support the enemy formations things being included. These are quite important in games like FFV and FFVI, where enemy formation is what determines ABP/Magic Points gained, not individual enemies. As I've been playing through FFV, I've found the lack of enemy formations on enemy pages rather irksome, and trying to figure out how to list ABP on FFV enemy infoboxes makes me queasy, since it isn't actually tied to enemies. A formation section would solve this problem, since we could list ABP/Magic Points with each formation. And of course, varying rarity of the enemy formations from area to area really makes a difference in how people go about trying to find certain enemies.

As for locations, we really could go all out with them if we wanted to, and I know at least I would find it useful. I can't count how many times I've been trying to find some monster and the enemy page was no help at all. The Location part of the infobox could just have the general Location, just the name of the dungeon(s) it appears in. This would be just a quick reference guide to get an idea where its at. The Location section of the page itself would have an in depth explanation of where, when, and how it appears. And then a sub-section for formations, with formations sorted by every location the enemy can be encountered in. We could even at add a picture of the location for each location section, and picture of the world map with the relevant region highlight in someway for world map enemies. Try finding Vilia or Stingray without a highlighted world map!

And I think there should always be an allowance for "special" sections for unique and noteworthy details of certain enemies. I recently added a crapton of info to the Metamorph enemy page and Red Dragon enemy page from FFV, and the info is large enough and important to deserve its own section, I think. It doesn't really fit under general "Strategy", since the bits aren't actually about beating the enemies, but exploiting/understanding complicated aspects of them. I guess the sections could be sub-sections of Strategy, but I'm not sure. Espritduo (talk) 06:35, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

Actually, that information on Metamorph would go in a "Battle" section. Pages are meant to have Battle and Strategy sections, but as it stands, most just have strategy sections. 92.28.179.86 15:39, April 20, 2013 (UTC)