Talk:Mythology of Final Fantasy X/Archive 1

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Contents

Notes on Capitalization

The following nouns should be capitalized consistently throughout the article:

  • The Calm
  • Hymn of the Fayth
  • Chamber of the Fayth
  • Final Aeon
  • Final Summoning
  • Crimson Blade(s)
  • Crusader(s)
  • Chocobo Knights
  • Four Maesters of Yevon
  • New Yevon
  • Youth League
  • Machine Faction
  • Gullwing(s)
  • Leblanc Syndicate
  • Lord (when used as a title before a name)
  • Lady (when used as a title before a name)
  • Sir (when used as a title before a name)
  • Father (when used as a title before the given name of a priest)
  • Cap'n
  • Al Bhed
  • Guado
  • Hypello
  • Ronso
  • Eternal Calm
  • Names of all people and places
  • For our purposes here, "Church of Yevon" will be capitalized, but when using just "the church" in reference to the order, it will not be


The following nouns should not be capitalized consistently throughout the article (unless otherwise specified below):

  • blitzball
  • pyreflies
  • sphere(s)
  • sphere pool(s)
  • fayth
  • aeon(s)
  • fiend(s)
  • sent
  • unsent
  • guardian(s)
  • legendary guardian(s)
  • summoner(s) (except in the case of it being useda specific individual's title; for instance: "Summoner Yuna")
  • high summoner (except in the case of it being useda specific individual's title; for instance: "High Summoner Ohalland")
  • maester(s) (except in the case of it being used a specific individual's title before their name; for instance: "Maester Seymour")
  • grand maester(s) (except in the case of it being used a specific individual's title before their name; for instance: "Grand Maester Mika")
  • captain (perhaps unless used as a specific individual's title before their name; there is no case of it having been used as such to verify this, however, except the Aurochs' use of the similar "Cap'n Wakka")
  • captain of the guard (perhaps unless used as a specific individual's title before their name; there is no case of it having been used as such to verify this, however)
  • warrior monk(s)
  • priest(s) (referred to before their given name by the title "Father"; for instance: "Father Zuke")
  • high priest(s) (perhaps unless used as a specific individual's title before their name; there is no case of it having been used as such to verify this, however; may also be referred to by the tile of "Father," though, again, though here has been use of it in reference to a high priest to confirm this)
  • acolyte(s) (perhaps unless used as a specific individual's title before their name; there is no case of it having been used as such to verify this, however)
  • praetor(s) (except in the case of it being used a specific individual's title before their name; for instance: "Praetor Baralai")
  • maeyvn(s) (except in the case of it being used a specific individual's title before their name; for instance: "Maevyn Nooj")
  • teaching(s) [of Yevon]
  • sending(s)
  • pilgrimage [of the summoners]
  • machina
  • temple(s) (unless it's used in the name of specific temples; for instance: "Macalania Temple")
  • spiral of death
  • sphere hunter(s)

(Ryu Kaze Updated at 14:43, 6 March 2006 (UTC); originally posted at 14:11, 26 February 2006 (UTC))

All right!

Hopefully this will be as cool as we all are imagining it will be! The first thing we need to do is to figure out is a good opening paragraph. Any ideas concerning style, wording, and content for this and the article in general are appreciated! Because I can't think of anything right now. :)PiccoloNamek 09:03, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, as far as style goes, I suppose we should just shoot for sounding verbose. XD
What to do for an opening paragraph...
How about this?:
In the detail rich world of Spira in the role-playing games Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, there are many supernatural elements that influence events both great and small, from the every day situation to earth-shattering conflicts of unimaginable proportions. Here, the concepts of magic and the spirituality of the common people are closely-tied, well beyond the point where the lines that may distinguish the two begin to blur. Their effects are constantly felt in the everyday lives of Spira's citizens, whether they're aware of it or not. Everything from sporting events and simply preserving memories on video to religious practices and the existence of beasts who harness power that could decimate civilizations are all tied together by the common bond of spiritual energy itself, the magic that lay at the center of Final Fantasy X's mythos.
Witnessed throughout Spira in the form of Pyreflies, its presence is felt most notably in the concepts of Fayth and their physical manifestations, the Aeons, as well as in the destructive beast known as "Sin" and the Church of Yevon, Spira's political, spiritual, and military ruling order.
From here, I'd suggest we start out with the pyreflies section, move into describing the Fayth and Aeons, establish the concepts of Sin and the notable backstory of Spira (we could either copy that from Yevon or Spira, and then describe the hierarchy of the Church of Yevon, the Teachings of Yevon and the other notable related info on the current Yevon page. Thoughts? Ryu Kaze 11:06, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, although we shouldn't elaborate too much on the backstory other than what is necessary within the context of the other information. It shouldn't become redundant, having the same information as Spira.PiccoloNamek 14:44, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I'll try to set it up in such a way that it flows logically from one section to the next and doesn't get too bogged down. But first... breakfast! In the meantime, if you've got an idea for how to do it, be my guest. The more excuses for me to be lazy the better. Ryu Kaze 14:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll do some work later. Right now I'm actually going back to bed. (It's 9:50AM here and I only went to bed at 4:30AM!)PiccoloNamek 14:52, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll go ahead and get us started. By the way, I take it you want Pyreflies removed from Spira, correct? For now, I'll just copy the information over here and leave it to you to remove that if you'd like to see how this goes over here first (though I have a good feeling about it, as I'm sure you do). Ryu Kaze 16:19, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, once I got started, I kind of got carried away. I've now incorporated stuff from all four pages/articles that have been discussed as being part of the merge. If you'd like to add more, feel free. Hopefully we can get the merge itself under way soon.

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool like this, though it still feels like there's room for more. Any ideas? Ryu Kaze 20:17, 18 February 2006 (UTC)


It looks good, although I'm feeling that the middle section is too much like the "The Beginning" section from Spira. Perhaps we should trim it down a little. I might work on it a little later. I've been busy playing on my brand new Cobalt Flux dance pad. It just arrived today!PiccoloNamek 22:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
It is pretty similar, isn't it? For the most part, I just copy-pasted what was on the Yevon page from the "History" and "Yunalesca" sections, merged them, and cleaned up where it was necessary so that they'd fit together and flow well. The only things I actually took from the Spira page for that section were the world map and the images of Zanarkand and Bevelle. XD It's a testament to the pity that the Spiral of Death is such a fundamental aspect of any discussion on Final Fantasy X's storyline that its impossible not to bring it up at some point, and harder still for it not to turn into a meaty section like this one that sounds strikingly similar to other summaries on the subject.
That said, I know we wanted to avoid redundancy, and on the whole, I think we're doing it well enough. The sections are different enough to have different flavors, I think. While this section is about the same length as "The Beginning" added to "Yuna's pilgrimage and the Eternal Calm," it goes into more depth on certain things than "The Beginning" (for instance, here, I focused more on Yevon's intentions concerning Dream Zanarkand, Bevelle's reaction in dealing with Yunalesca, the Teachings, and the possibility that it was all according to a conspiracy between Yunalesca and Yevon) while "The Beginning" goes into more depth on some geographical-related info (which it obviously should), such as the Calm Lands being the war zone for Bevelle and Zanarkand, and that the warriors -- and, later, the scouts -- from Bevelle had to climb Mt. Gagazet to reach Zanarkand; "The Beginning" also does more to emphasise Bevelle's warmongering nature, the reason why Bevelle believed Sin to be an Aeon (because of the Fayth the scouts discovered on Mt. Gagazet), the status of village infrastructure after Sin's coming (mentioning how the people live in constant fear and how towns don't get very big), and the effects that followed Yuna bringing the Eternal Calm.
The places where we have some overlap in material are really unavoidable, I think, and both sections taste different to me. "The Beginning" and "The Eternal Calm" feel more personable and oriented toward geography and Spira's citizens, while "Sin, Yevon and the Spiral of Death" feels more concept-related. At least I think so. I feel like I already trimmed it down to the bare-bones of concept-related info in making it. XD Ryu Kaze 03:47, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, I've been working on the formatting a little bit, but one line is bothering me:

"In order to accomplish this, Yevon manifested the city out at sea in an undisclosed location, far removed from the Spiran mainland and the warmongering Bevelle."

I thought the dream Zanarkand was that giant piller of gel at the top of Mount Gagazet. After all, during the ending movie, it fragments into many small bubbles, each of which is one of the people living in the dream Zanarkand.PiccoloNamek 06:04, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

That's just the wave of memories that's flowing from the Fayth; the stuff that Yu Yevon is channeling to wherever Dream Zanarkand's exact location is. If you were to look at any Fayth when it's being accessed, you'd see threads of energy coming out of them like we see coming from each Fayth on the Fayth Cluster. In their case, there was just a bunch of them and they were all being used for the same thing, so their memories flowed together in one giant wave.
That said, at one time, the creators thought about having Dream Zanarkand be above Gagazet, but that presented a bunch of logical errors (why the Ronso never saw Sin flying into the sky above their mountain, how no water ever fell down from the massive ocean that would have been needed to appear around the city, etc.), so it wasn't given a definite location in the end. It's just somewhere far removed from where it may be interfered with. Ryu Kaze 07:08, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

By the way, do you think it's okay to go ahead with merging these pages? I don't want to do it prematurely, but it's looking like this is going to work out, and there haven't been any objections on any of the source pages so far. Ryu Kaze 17:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if this is correct, by in my opinion, the Dream Zanarkand isn't located in any actual physical place. I believe that it could best be thought of as a one-dimensional holographic projection, if that makes any sense. In the Dream Zanarkand, there is only one dimension, and all three-dimensional movement is merely an illusion. Even though the city itself appears to be huge, it doesn't actually take up any space, and it has no volume or mass.

See: Holographic principle

As for merging, I say go for it, it can always be undone later if needed.PiccoloNamek 18:35, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Alright, I'll go ahead with the merge. I'm glad you liked the idea of making this page as much as I did.
Renmiri: If you read this, thanks for the suggestion.
As for Dream Zanarkand, I actually used to think the same thing, but the way Ultimania talks makes it clear that Dream Zanarkand's somewhere in Spira; it just doesn't specify as to where. It's just like every other Aeon and gets manifested in Spira: The memories of a Fayth get processed through their dreams, the Summoner taps into these dreams, accesses the memories, and then uses their affinity for channeling spiritual energy to let them manipulate pyreflies into a physical presence based on those memories. Aside from Dream Zanarkand being a really huge Aeon full of smaller Aeons that function just like regular Spirans, it's not distinguished from the other ones in any notable manner (aside from it taking a lot of energy to power it and a peerless Summoner to form it, of course).
Also, Yevon specifically wanted the use of machina to come to an end so that Dream Zanarkand wouldn't be infringed upon; the widespread, unbridled use of machina would have allowed the city to be discovered easily (imagine airships like the Celsius or the Fahrenheit going hither and thither all the time; it would just be a matter of time). Anyway, Yevon's desire for machina to be put down, even without the other stuff, directly implies that it was physically manifested in the same manner as the other Aeons, and that he didn't want people going out at sea. Sin does tend to attack ships, after all. The Fayth on Gagazet, however, were well known to Bevelle, and even finding that, they didn't realize what it was, thinking that it was a Fayth for Sin (thinking it was an Aeon).
Anyway, I'll get the merges take care of soon. I don't think we'll have to worry about reversing it. Ryu Kaze 20:27, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Ok, merges done, and I've added another image to the article, as well as the little "FFX navigation box" at the end. Ryu Kaze 21:06, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Regarding force-breaking of images

I've just removed several {{-}} (a.k.a. <br style="clear: both;"> tags) from the article. Such tricks are essentially dirty hacks that should only be used to resolve serious layout issues (such as overlapping divs, or horizontal image stacking), not to ensure that images show up exactly where intended. Overuse of it creates too much excess white space, which is just messy looking. See also Wikipedia:Picture tutorial#Forcing a break. – Seancdaug 21:16, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the assist. I'm not too familiar with those things. By the way, can we keep "Spiral of Death" capitalized in the "chapter" title? It's fine if the "section" titles don't remain fully capitalized -- and actually looks better that way (good move) -- but that just looks really odd, especially since the other chapter titles remain consistently capitalized. Ryu Kaze 21:24, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Housekeeping

Nice page, guys - don't forget to keep the Wikipedia:WikiProject_Final_Fantasy/Index up to date though! >Gamemaker 10:58, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Very nice work

Kudos to both Piccolo and Ryu Kaze, it looks great! I added a bit about the pyrefly / Spirit energy theory , hopefully just fact not POV. And also added a bit about fiends and unsent, other byproduct of pyrefly magic. We could perhaps also add a reference to here on FFVII's page too. Renmiri 17:39, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Ryu did all of the work. :) I just haven't had much time lately. :(PiccoloNamek 17:47, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliments, Ren, but you should pat yourself on the back, as well. It was your suggestion, after all. Ryu Kaze 23:12, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
By the way, the spiritual energy section you added wasn't a bad idea at all. I just reworded it a little and replaced your link with one to the most current version of that author's essay. The section on Fiends and Unsent, though, is already covered in-depth under the "Pyreflies and death" section. As for a reference to this page over on the Final Fantasy VII page, feel free to try to work it in somehow if you can. I don't have any objections to that and the subject matter is related... and most of your ideas so far have been really good, so I'm not going to start doubting you now. Ryu Kaze 23:31, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
It looks good but the link to Squall's article can not be to GAMEFAQ. Try it and you will see what happens. The GAMEFAQ site links you to a page that says GameFAQs is not a free public file server. Bandwidth costs money, and when sites link directly to files stored on the site, it becomes both a financial and resource drain. We've tried asking, but some sites simply don't care, so now we've implemented a technical solution.. That is why I was linking to the older version of his article... Do you have another source less stingy than GAMEFAQ ?

Yeah, I've got another link to it, this time on IGN: http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657331p1.html Ryu Kaze 05:23, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

It looks like this thing is really starting to come together. The edits of the last couple of days have really brought it to life. I'm fully convinced at this point that this was a great idea and worth-while endeavour. Great idea once again, Renmiri. And, hey, we're still under the 15 image fair-use thing! Ryu Kaze 13:52, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, the page is looking great IMHO. I see Ryu has been having a lot of fun with the "quotes" tag... Template:Grin Great, I doubt anyone will be able to say we need documentation after all those quotes from the game! Renmiri 18:40, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

What can I say... once I figured out how that sweet little quote box worked, I couldn't stop myself. And, yes, let those who would call our information false try standing up in the face of those quotes and the link to Squall's article! We will, like... laugh, or something. Yeah... I'm too hyper right now. Shouldn't have had that nutri-grain bar. But, yes, the page is beautiful! Ryu Kaze 19:01, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

By the way, no offense to Spira, PiccoloNamek, but this page is now my official favorite on Wikipedia. Ryu Kaze 19:11, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


Can Spira still be your second favorite? :)PiccoloNamek 21:05, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, indeed! Ryu Kaze 22:44, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

More Merging

Does anyone see any reason why Hymn of the Fayth and Machina (Final Fantasy X) can't be merged here ? And how about Suteki Da Ne ? Shouldn't it be merged to the Soudtrack page ? Renmiri 19:05, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm in full agreement with you, Ren (which seems to be becoming a trend). At the very least, the Hymn and Machina pages should be merged in here. Not sure if there's some kind of music loophole that would keep Suteki Da Ne around, so I'll let someone else weigh in on that. Ryu Kaze 19:10, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
I don't believe one obscure song would qualify as a page that should be kept but let's wait for more input. On the same note The end of Yevon and the Birth of New Yevon reeks as a page and shoud be merged here IMHO. Renmiri 20:26, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm in agreement with you about the song, but I admit to knowing little about the folkways around here as far as songs are concerned. I really can't see any reason for it to remain as its own page, though. As far as that The end of Yevon and the Birth of New Yevon page goes, I can't conceive of how that thing managed to get created and remain as an individual for this long. That's definitely one to mark for being merged out of autonomy. Great suggestions all around the board. Ryu Kaze 22:43, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

We should leave Suteki da ne alone. A lot of popular songs have their own pages. Liberi Fatali, One Winged Angel, Aria di Mezzo Carattere, and Eyes on Me all have their own pages. If it's notable enough (and SDN is) it will usually have its own page.PiccoloNamek 22:45, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Fair enough. But Hymn of the Fayth can get the axe, right? And Machina and The end of Yevon and the Birth of New Yevon? Ryu Kaze 23:09, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I think so, especially for The Yevon page. The HOTF page is very complicated and well-done, and should definitely be copied to the FFWiki and Wikibooks as well. This page should have a basic discussion on the hymn's history, how it came to be, what it actually means. We should be sure to mention that it was originally sung in defiance of Bevelle.PiccoloNamek 23:11, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Should the Hymn be in the Fayth or the Church of Yevon section? Hell, I'll go ahead and add it, you can move it if you'd like.PiccoloNamek 23:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

The information on the current page was pretty useless, so I wrote a new section here. It isn't very good, so feel free to expand it as needed.PiccoloNamek 23:46, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

It sounds good to me. I think it should go under the "Practices" section under the Church, though. Not only does the description you wrote relate more to the idea of it as a practice, but it'll flesh that section out more. Ryu Kaze 00:04, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
There we go. Moved and slightly expanded. Very slightly. Ryu Kaze 00:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and I totally agree that the Hymn page's content should be saved on the FF Wiki. Done: Link Ryu Kaze 00:17, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I did the same at Wikibooks. Also I couldn't resist and copied the Mythology page there Renmiri 15:36, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

By the way, do you really think there's anything of relevance to add to the Mythology article from the Machina page? It seems to me that it's all touched upon already. Ryu Kaze 00:35, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I think pretty much everything on the Machina page is already here; I went ahead and redirected it.PiccoloNamek 00:40, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Alright, cool. I've done the same with the other two and noted it in the edit history. The page is starting to get that beautiful complete feeling. I honestly can't think of a single thing to add to it at this point. Not sure if I should be disappointed or happy. I'll go for happy. You got any suggestions, guys? Ryu Kaze 00:56, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

An article is never "done". Spira is two years old and people still edit and improve on it. I can only see this article getting better and better as time goes on.PiccoloNamek 01:27, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, that's cool too. And I agree. This will be one of the pages that will really shine if it can continue getting better than it already is. Ryu Kaze 08:24, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
I'm sure someone will think of something else to add six months from now, but right now it looks pretty good and completed IMHO. And we merged almost 8 pages in it. Attaboy's all around Template:Grin Renmiri 15:36, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, we most certainly kicked ass. By the way, I changed Shiva's picture to show her complete form. Is that better to you, Ren? Also, good idea changing "pyreflies" to "pyreflies and spheres." I had actually thought "We should put spheres" in the title there before I came back. Great minds and all that. Ryu Kaze 16:39, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually the change to the title puzzled me - I'm not sure why the heading should read "Pyreflies and Spheres" when the latter receives only a couple of parenthesised references in what is essentially a discussion of the nature of pyreflies? >Gamemaker 23:32, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Looking just at this page you are correct, but coming from a link on FFVII you would be baffled as to why there barely a passig mention of "spheres" in the whole page. It seems all the other game pages that mention the Mako / Pyrefly connection rarely talk about Pyreflies but most of them talk about FFX's spheres. I put "Spheres" on the title to help people unfamiliar with FFX Renmiri 20:14, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Potential fair use concerns

The article is looking good, guys, but I'm a little concerned over a couple of things. First of all, it's getting a bit image-intensive, and since we're claiming fair use on all of them, this is beginning to look like a problem. Some of them seem less relevant than others (the picture of Shuyin, Yu Yevon's corporeal form, the image of Sin attacking Zanarkand) and can probably be removed. This is a bit of a grey area, since we're not strictly violating copyright policy until we use over 15 images from a single work, but we may want to consider erring on the side of caution here. And even if we don't, can we please play around with the positioning a little? The image stacking is unsightly, and force clearing after every section is explicitly discouraged by Wikipedia:Picture tutorial, and can be equally unsightly. How about alternating their placement right-left? The other thing I noticed was the quotes section, which certainly does not qualify as fair use: the quotes are lengthy, and we're not doing anything with them. Quite frankly, I don't understand what they add to the article, either: we can just as easily summarize the information contained within, and link to GameFAQs as a source. – Seancdaug 18:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Fair Use guidelines are 15 images as far as I am told. The page has 16 images and is well below plenty of other Final Fantasy pages that violate the 15 images rule. Since last time you claimed that 4 images was already a fair use violation perhaps you could clarify this rule to us and if this is indeed the case, we should look for all other pages that have more than 4 images and you could start your police actions with those.. Also, a Wikipedia:Picture tutorial is not a firm guideline and your removal of the TOCleft template broke the image positioning. Please be more careful next time. Remember, that being bold is not the same as being rude Renmiri 19:07, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
The quotes section is there because a citation needed tag was put in the page. It is also not a fair use violation to quote 15 dialogues of a game that has over 1,000 of those. Assume good faith, remember ? Renmiri 19:11, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, I can understand losing the image where Sin attacks Dream Zanarkand if we had to lose one from the "stack," but I highly oppose the other three images leaving, as they relate directly to the topic at hand in that section. As for the Shuyin image, if we had to lose one of the Unsent images, I'd suggest it be the one of Auron, as Shuyin being on the Farplane and maintaining his form is mentioned within the information on Unsent. Strictly in terms of what's "helpful," I guess the Auron image doesn't add too much, but I don't see why we couldn't keep it since we're well under 15 screenshots (some of the images are artwork).

The image of Yu Yevon's corporeal form relates to the subject matter of that section and certainly doesn't detract anything, but perhaps it doesn't add too much, either. I didn't even consider its value when I copied/pasted from the old Yevon page. I can't really see it hurting anything if we lose it, I suppose, but its presence serves a purpose in giving readers an image to work with.

By the way, while we're talking about images, anyone have a clearer image of Yojimbo's Fayth? Or any Fayth? I like the idea of using that sort of format, with the link to the song in the image, but I'd like an image on par with the others if we can get one. I looked for a couple of hours and came up with nothing.

The quotes were for reference purposes, by the way (something you requested, I believe, Seancdaug). I'm not sure what the fair-use law is concerning them, but as far as linking to GameFAQs goes, that's not going to work all that well in this case, seeing as how the info on Pyreflies I quoted from Shinra's Dossiers and Maechen's speeches aren't in any of the documents there.

So, if we've got to lose the image of Dream Zanarkand being attacked and the image of Auron, I guess it really won't hurt anything and you are correct that we're a little thick on images right now, but if there's any way at all that we can keep the quotes, I'd like to. Ryu Kaze 19:22, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I see. I didn't realize that the quotes section was being used as a citation list. That makes sense, but we probably should specify that in the text. All I was really after with the citation request was a straight-up literary citation to the game, or whatever outside documentation we were using (Square Enix (2001), Final Fantasy X). Personally, I think it's a bit excessive (I agree with PN that it's kind of "large and unsightly"), but provided that we specify that they're serving as sources its certainly not a copyvio. Also, I didn't put too much thought into the images I suggested: I only picked the corporeal form image because of its similarity to the Yevon logo above it. I just wanted to start the discussion with some concrete examples. Given that you guys have put a lot more work into this article than I, I bow to your expertise. – Seancdaug 22:52, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Slight edits to the above. Ryu Kaze 19:29, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Renmiri, aren't you getting a little defensive? I don't think anything Sean said was rude, and personally, I partially agree with him. The comments about rudeness and "police actions" were uncalled for. I think the several of the images could go. Personally, I wouldn't miss Auron, Sin attacking, or Yojimbo. That isn't even the hymn that he's reciting. As for the image stacking, that is a matter of personal opinion. I believe it looks fine the way it is.

I don't really care either way about the quotes, although the section is somewhat large and unsightly.

Also, the information conerning Yevon summoning continually should not have been removed. It was explicitly stated in the game that that is what the curse of Yevon was--The curse of being reduced to summoning continually.PiccoloNamek 19:34, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

The Curse of Yevon was on him being forced to continue summoning, though, not on other Summoners. The wording in the article was something to the effect of "the summoners of old being reduced to continuously summoning." It can go back in if you'd like, but just clarify that point for me, if you would. Also, "the Curse of Yevon" was his new name ("Yu Yevon"), which I added in.
By the way, if we do lose the quotes, I can vouch for all the info that's there as being in the Ultimania Omega, so if you just want to add a "References" section at the end and put in "Ultimania Omega Guide," we could do that, and we could put the link to Squall's document in there too.
I don't want to step into this minefield, particularly, but I can see where Ren was coming from. I mean, there are a lot of other pages using more than 15 images (the highly-vaunted List of Final Fantasy VII Locations page for instance is way over), but by the same token, I'll assume good faith in giving Seancdaug the benefit of the doubt and assume that he merely wanted to nip a potential problem in the bud before it became a problem, as trying to alter the other pages where it already is a problem would run into some opposition due to the established status of those pages. Ryu Kaze 19:43, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
That's pretty much it :-). I was also concerned that, should this page grow any further, we'd run headfirst into that limit. I've actually spoken about the excessive images in other articles in the past on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Final Fantasy: it's a regular concern of mine, and I clearly annoy many people with it. – Seancdaug 22:52, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
By the way, remember that only Yunalesca knew about Dream Zanarkand, but Bevelle called him "Yu Yevon" too. It's safe to assume that they called him "the Curse of Yevon" because of Sin. Ryu Kaze 19:45, 23 February 2006 (UTC)


Sigh... You are correct. Sean manages to get my goat sometimes. Here maybe he was not being too exaggerated but on another page he came with the fair use violation talk on a page that had only 4 images!! And breaking the top of the page we were so proud off based on a tutorial's recommendation was also very annoying... I apologize for my defensiveness Renmiri 19:46, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
As for the images I agree with Ryu, I think they are fine, under the limit and not excessive. I do have a better fayth picture of Bahamut's Fayth and I also can get a better one of Yojimbo's. That one was taken with my old video board. Renmiri 19:46, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Now about the quotes, how do you answer to citation needed if you can't post a quote ? Renmiri 19:46, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Explain the point of the game where it comes from in-text, and add a footnote reference to the game itself. If we're presenting something not found in the original text, find a someone else who's said it first, and cite them. I understand the reasoning behind the quotes now, and it makes sense, but that's not the way most resources I'm aware of handle quotes. That doesn't mean that we can't handle it that way, but I think the general expectation is merely that we provide a citation of the source material, not the source material itself. As an aside, the particular piece of information I wanted the cited (the bit about the name of Spira being intended as a reference to "spiral") actually isn't addressed by any of the quotations. I think what I was ideally looking for was an interview with one of the game developers stating this, though a passage from the game itself should serve equally well.
I'm not sure how I "broke" the page, though: the reason I removed the {{TOCleft}} tag was because it was sort of kludging up the display on my end. I understand that this may not be true for others, but it seemed a bit odd that we would go out of our way (by changing the default TOC positioning) only to replace one display problem (which, admittedly, I wasn't aware of at first because I'm not seeing it on my end) with another. That's another picture tutorial guideline, of course. It's not policy, and I'm not going to edit war over it, but I think it's generally in our best interest to stick by the guidelines unless there's a compelling reason not to (which, apparently, there is, even if I still can't tell what it is ^_^). Besides, moving the TOC to the very top of the page (as opposed to after the intro) addressed my particular layout problem anyway. – Seancdaug 22:52, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm with Renmiri on the citation thing. I really don't see how one would go about citing their source if they can't put up what was being cited -- as it should otherwise be understood/assumed that the game itself was the source. I'm still willing to go along with a References section and mentioning the UOG and Squall's article in there, but I can understand the frustration in putting in the quotes thing as an answer to "citation needed" and then the response being "I don't see what purpose it serves."

Back on the matter of the images, again, I'm alright with losing Auron and Dream Zanarkand in the moment before Sin smacked it around, and I guess I could part with the Hymn-Fayth thing without much in the way of the pain of seperation. We could just move the audio file link into the body of that section. I still think it might be unnecessary until it actually became a problem, but if we must we must. Would that be an alright compromise for everyone?

X out Auron, X out Dream Zanarkand pre-smackage, and X out the Chamber of the Fayth thing with the audio link being moved into the body of the section? Ryu Kaze 20:00, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I do think one of the Zanarkand pics could go, as we have 3 of them. Preferrably the drawing should go IMHO. I say that because the ruins at sunset contrast well with the city picture, a kind of "before" and after Sin while the drawing makes it hard to compare the full impact of Sin's destruction.. Renmiri 21:04, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Moving the audio to the body sounds fine, although the scene where the screen capture is DOES have the hymn, as you can listen here. I just got a couple more pics, see which one you like here and let me know. Or you can upload the one you like and I'll "sign" the fair use license later Template:Grin Renmiri 21:04, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
As for the quotes, we could move it to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiquote but I like them here, at the bottom of the page. They look good IMHO - Ren

Yeah, I agree about the quotes. I think they look good. And they do answer the call for citations. I think I may change the title to "references," though, and throw mention of the UOG and Squall's article into that, though, simply for the sake of cleanliness.

I also agree with you now about letting go of the drawing of Zanarkand. It almost looks like something Amano would have drawn. It's so abstract that it doesn't contrast well at all with the image of Zanarkand at sunset. And, anyway, that image of Zanarkand is over on the Spira page as it is, and this change would just serve to further distance it from "The Beginning" material over there.

I'm just going to go out on a limb and make a move to settle this issue. I'm not a big fan of fighting, so I'd like to get this fixed before it goes any further. If nobody's happy with the changes I make, we can just reverse them, but I think one of us should just make a move to stop this before it goes on any longer. That said, in the event that someone is dissatisfied with these changes, this is a list what I'm going to do for easy reference:

  • Drop the drawing of Zanarkand
  • Drop the image of Auron
  • Change the Yojimbo image to this shot of Ifrit's Chamber of the Fayth, as it provides a full shot of the Chamber and we can see Yuna's group in there, giving the reader a more personal comparison and association
  • Move the audio link into the body of the text
  • I'm going to leave the quotes section in there for now, but change the section into "References" and add mention of the UOG and Squall's article there

I won't do it for about the next twenty-five minutes or so as I'm going to take care of something else at home real quick, so if anyone has an objection to these ideas before then, voice your feelings now so I'll know before I try to settle this. Also, at least consider taking a look at it in practice before passing judgement.

By the way, if anyone knows any legal reason why the quotes can't stay, do explain why. Ryu Kaze 21:44, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

What concerns me is point number 8 of WP:FUC, especially the part that reads "specifically illustrate relevant points or sections within the text." In its current state, it's not clear what portions of the text the quotes are explaining. At first, I didn't even realize they were illustrating any particular points elsewhere in the article (which is why I suggested they be rewritten in our own words). If we don't want to work the quotes into the above article itself (which might be too unwieldy), might I suggest footnotes? That would immediately identify what quote relates to what part of the article, while still allowing the page to keep roughly the same layout overall. – Seancdaug 22:52, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Do you think one of these pictures could replace the Zanarkand drawing? http://www.ffshrine.org/ffx/ffx_fmvshots-metropolis2.php

Hm... none of them really seem to give a very panoramic shot. I'm going to try to make one real quick, actually. Looks like it's taking me longer to get to this than I expected. Ryu Kaze 22:26, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Okay, wasted endeavour. How about this?: http://www.ffshrine.org/ffx/01-zanarkand/00032.jpg
That one really shows off the city and at night, so it can contrast with the ruins in the sunset. Ryu Kaze 22:56, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Quotation footnotes

I mentioned the possibility of using footnotes in the quotation section to Ryu above. This is an example of what I was thinking of:

...

Fayth and aeons

The Fayth are humans who willingly gave up their lives to have their souls sealed in statues. Their existence as a Fayth allows them to bond themselves to Summoners they deem worthy of receiving their power. This union grants a Summoner access to a Fayth's dreams through which they can summon an Aeon, a powerful creature which a Summoner may then bring into Spira to aid them in battle or in their hour of need.[1] Aeons bear some resemblances to their corresponding Fayth statues, suggesting that the appearances of the Fayth statues themselves may be "blueprints" for each Aeon. It is also interesting to note that the game seems to build on the ancient meanings for the Latin word "Aeon," such as the meaning used by Plato, who used the word "aeon" to denote the eternal world of ideas and the Gnostic who call aeons the various emanations of their Gods.

During the events of Final Fantasy X, the Fayth of the Aeon Bahamut (housed in Bevelle) serves as the chosen representative of the Fayth as a collective. The Fayth aid High Summoner Yuna and her Guardians in bringing the Spiral of Death to an end, which results in their own passing. In Final Fantasy X-2, the Fayth return in their Aeon forms, this time having been overcome by the despair and malice of Shuyin, rendering them his unwilling puppets of chaos. Yuna and her allies must unite to free both the Fayth and Shuyin from the darkness that has consumed them.

Summoners are able to manipulate pyreflies in the formation of Aeons—and in the Sending of the souls of the dead—due to an inherent affinity for harnessing and channeling spiritual energy. Only a few people on Spire have the gift of being able to manipulate spirit energy to form Aeons, although there are many people and fiends around Spira who can manipulate the magical energy and perform magic spells. But very few black mages and white mages are able to become Summoners and even fewer can withstand the hardships of a Summoner's pilgrimage and become High Summoners, the honorific title given to the Summoners who completed their pilgrimage and defeated Sin.

In Final Fantasy X only 8 Aeons are known : Valefort, Ifrit, Shiva, Ixion, Bahamut, Anima, Yojimbo and The Magus Sisters. Each one of these Aeons has a Fayth associated with it, but there are many more Fayth on Mt. Gagazet, being used by Yu Yevon to summon Dream Zanarkand. The game seems to build on ancient mythological figures through the inclusion of the Aeons, such as the Arab Jinn of Fire Ifrit, the Indian goddess Shiva and even the Jungian figure Anima

...

References

  1. ^ Lulu: The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies.... Now they live forever trapped in statues. But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an aeon.

Just an example of what I'm talking about.– Seancdaug 23:07, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Not a bad idea. I like it. Ryu Kaze 23:14, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Me too.PiccoloNamek 23:18, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Ditto Renmiri 20:22, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Alright, I'm going to try to make the footnotes. Let's hope I don't screw up. Ryu Kaze 23:48, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Okay, check it out. I think it came out alright. Ryu Kaze 00:45, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Looks good. I've made a few relatively minor changes, such as putting the footnotes outside of periods/commas, and ellipsising out portions of the quotations (mostly just pieces where a character parrots back what another character has already said, like "Yu Yevon will join with the Final Aeon" and Yuna's response "Yu Yevon merges with the Aeon"). Finally, I've changed the alignment on one image (the picture of Sin) out of purely aesthetic concerns, and I removed the clear break right before the references section: it didn't seem necessary since the floating divs and whatnot aren't there for the images to bump into anymore. Just one or two additional comments: I've tried to add a full citation for the Ultimania guides, but I've had to work from web pages about the books. Can someone who actually owns either of the works in question verify the citations (and fill in anything that's missing, such as city of publication)? Also, the link to Squall of SeeD's essay seemed to lead somewhere else entirely, so I did a quick-n-dirty Google search for the title. This is the correct essay/version, right? Secondly, can someone identify the source for each of the quotes? Just something simple, specifying whether the quote is from FFX or FFX-2, in parenthesis following the quote or something. Of course, feel free to revert any changes of mine with which you disagree. In whatever case, it's looking good, guys. – Seancdaug 12:39, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Switching the Sin image looks good. I own the Ultimania Guides, so I'll get the citations such as page number and whatnot in there as soon as I can. Squall's essay, by the way, went to the right place. The essay is in that document that was being linked to; that's why I entitled the reference "Section entitled etc." The one you linked to on Eyes on FF is quite old, I believe. I know the one in the document I had linked to is the newest one because he updated it for the last time at the end of last month. Also, I'll take care of the specifications on where the quotes came from.

And, yes, we are looking quite good. Ryu Kaze 13:37, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I remembered the page reference for the UOG, but not the SUG; I'm going to need a few minutes to go check that and the city of publication. The game references are taken care of, by the way. Ryu Kaze 14:10, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Alright, got the page references:
Page 59 for the SUG
Page 82 for the UOG
I'm probably overlooking it, but I don't see the city of publication. I see "Printed in Japan," though. Ryu Kaze 15:17, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Looks great! But a question: SUG & UOG are ?? Renmiri 20:22, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Ah, sorry about Squall's essay. My mistake. And no worries about the city of publication: I just mentioned it because it's one of those things the graduate student in me is trained to look for. Thanks for the page refs, too. – Seancdaug 20:17, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Renmiri: Does look great, doesn't it? Oh, and "SUG" = "Scenario Ultimania Guide" and "UOG" = "Ultimania Omega Guide."

Seancdaug: No problem. Ryu Kaze 20:33, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

A question about capitalization

Image:ECffx.jpg

Just a really quick note: there seems to be some confusion in the article over which nouns are proper and which aren't. We seem to alternate between "Aeon" (proper noun) and "aeon," and "spiral of death" and "Spiral of Death." Looking at the quotes, it seems that the games are not capitalizing these, so I was wondering why we are. It's a really minor issue, but I noticed it when I was going through and making some changes to the footnotes, so I thought I'd mention it here while it was still fresh in my mind. – Seancdaug 12:39, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I usually capitalize anything that's a title ("Eternal Calm," "Spiral of Death," "Aeon," "Unsent," "Fiend," etc.). Ryu Kaze 13:39, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Surely they're not all titles, though. Maybe I'm not understanding what you mean, but none of them seem like titles to me: Final Fantasy X is a title, as is High Summoner, but "aeon" is a common noun, like "lion" (or any any group of beings, I suppose), which aren't capitalized. If the game isn't treating them as proper nouns, then it seems odd (and grammatically incorrect) for us to do so, IMO. – Seancdaug 19:55, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
Aeons, the Eternal Calm and other terms like that were capitalized on FFX as you can see on the pic I added Renmiri 20:34, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, it doesn't really matter one way or the other to me. It's a bad habit of mine, and one I've recently been trying to break. If it's a proper noun for sure (like "Eternal Calm"), we should be consistent with the game(s), but otherwise (with the exception of chapter titles on the article), I'm not too concerned with it. Though I still think "Spiral of Death" would make more sense to be capitalized since the period before the Eternal Calm is consistently referred to like that during FFX (three times):

Auron "Ah, the spiral of death."

Tidus "Huh?"

Auron "Summoners challenge the bringer of death, Sin, and die doing so." "Guardians give their lives to protect their summoner." "The fayth are the souls of the dead. Even the maesters of Yevon are unsent." "Spira is full of death." "Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death." "It is a cycle of death, spiraling endlessly."

--

Seymour "Allow Kimahri to die, and release him from his pain." "Spira..." "is a land of suffering and sorrow caught in a spiral of death." "To destroy--to heal--Spira, I will become Sin."

--

Mika "Spira has lost its only hope. Destruction is inevitable." "Yu Yevon's spiral of death will consume us all."


But as I said before, the only thing I'm concerned with is the chapter titles. Go with whatever your judgement says. Ryu Kaze 20:41, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Opening paragraph text flow issue

Having a TOCleft and a right-aligned image has created a text funneling issue with the opening paragraph (the text can be forced into an extremely thin column between the two boxes). I've made a correction - hope this hasn't caused any other probs. >Gamemaker 13:19, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Good job. I wasn't sure how to fix it and thought it best if left to someone else. Ryu Kaze 13:49, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
That is how we had it originally. I tried to fix the mess left after Sean removed all the {{-}} but I didn't know how to get rid of the "tunnel". It looks great now! Renmiri 20:27, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
BTW, Ryu, do you read Japanese ? Renmiri 20:27, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I've studied it, but it's not my first language. I've actually not been practicing lately either, but I didn't feel too lost when looking at the Ultimanias earlier too check for page number references. Haven't really practiced intensively, though, since last September when Advent Children came out and I translated the movie. Ryu Kaze 20:52, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Cool! Where you able to get something out of the Nojima interview ? Renmiri 21:09, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
What I took from it is that the VII-X-X-2 connection is what Nojima intended and that it's the reality of the story (he speaks as though this is how things are and not like it's just a joke to get laughs). He even had part of the idea in X-2: International+Last Mission (Shinra working with Rin), which came about a year after the interview.
There's actually an interesting section on it in Squall's document. Give it a look. You'll like it. Ryu Kaze 21:33, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Page Done ?

Looks like it is done to me. Pretty cool page IMHO Renmiri 21:19, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

PS: If anyone still has the energy there are a lot of things to do on other FF pages...
Feels like we've done as much as we can for now to me too. I'm quite proud of it. I'll look into the "To do" list more later on today and see what's up. Probably'll check the Shuyin article and the VIII and X-2 criticism pages first. Ryu Kaze 21:37, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Like I said before, a page is never done. I think I might continue copyediting the page for a while, to refine the language a little and remove any errors we might have missed.PiccoloNamek 03:07, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Alright. I'll give it a look sometime today too. Ryu Kaze 11:44, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Just in case you guys miss it (we're used to looking at the bottom of this page now, I know), I've made a list of things that should and should not be capitalized at the top of this page. Ryu Kaze 16:15, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Okay, the capitalization has been standarized and the wording tightened throughout. Can't think of a thing to add at the moment. I notice that you did, though, Renmiri. Good thinking (I'm referring to the thing about Valefor and Anima's genders). Ryu Kaze 17:34, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Graduation thesis

Someone actually did a 300 pages dissertation on FFX Mythology for a Doctorate. Should we add a link ? Renmiri 20:42, 28 February 2006 (UTC) In HTML Google Cache

or in Word Australian University paper

Sweet. I'm for linking it! Ryu Kaze 00:58, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Done Renmiri 00:02, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Cultural references section

I'm not sure about the inclusion of this new section, it seems to me that most of the content is beyond the scope of the article. We already have some of it in Summon magic (Final Fantasy) - any aeon-related info not already in that article or in a specific aeon's article (thinking mainly of Anima (Final Fantasy X)) should probably be transplanted. >Gamemaker 21:52, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I do feel kind of inclined to agree, but at the same time I like the section. I guess in all honesty, it does break the flow of the page and looks a bit awkward, and it probably is beyond the scope of our intentions here. If it's removed, I won't oppose the decision and I do acknowledge the reasoning behind doing so. Let's wait to see, though, if Renmiri has some extra reasoning behind the section that was going to be fleshed out. Ryu Kaze 00:56, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
It strikes me that the section stands out a little because it's basically extrinsic: save for a sentence here and there, most of the article deals with the fictional narrative of the two games. The references section really steps back from that narrative and doesn't really seem to directly relate to the internal mythology of the game world. Plus, as Gamemaker says, it duplicates a lot of information already present in other articles: we could insert the same entries for Shiva, Ifrit, and Bahamut into almost every other Final Fantasy game article. There's already a cultural aspects section in the main Final Fantasy X article, as well. I would suggest rewriting the section as prose, providing a link to the relevant portions of Summon magic (Final Fantasy), and adding it either to the cultural aspects section of the Final Fantasy X article, and/or creating an similar section within the Final Fantasy X-2 article. – Seancdaug 02:01, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
I'm forced to agree. Even i don't like the section the way it is right now. It breaks the flow of the page as Ryu says. I guess we could move it to Wikicities or somewhere else. Renmiri 18:58, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
PS: Shouldn't Anima's FFX page be merged to Summoning magic or to here ? We are not making a page for each aeon here and as you can see in my "Cultural References section Anima is by no means the only Aeon to have larger meaning. I guess that is why I originally added the CR section, to get rid of Anima's Renmiri 19:01, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Summon magic (Final Fantasy)Page : IMHO that page's scope is too narrow. It should be merged to Final Fantasy magic We should expand it to include the Aeons (Ifrit, Ixion, Anima), fiends (Quimera, Fenrir, ...), Weapons (Raganarok,..) etc.. Renmiri 19:11, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
BTW, we should pat ourselves in the back, particularly Ryu and Piccolo. As of now 8 redundant/stub pages have been merged to this Mythology of FFX page. If we add Anima (Final Fantasy X) and Summoning magic we can make it 9. Not bad for a cleanup, heh ? Renmiri 19:15, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
The summon magic article was created because there was too much information on the subject for it to comfortably fit in the existing Final Fantasy magic article. I agree that, in principle, the information belongs together, but I'm concerned that, from a practical standpoint, merging the two would result in an somewhat unbalanced (not too mention far too long) article, particularly if we want to expand the information on the subject. Also, while I think the Aeons should be mentioned in the article, I'm not certain that we want to provide an in-depth guide to each and every Aeon in that article, because a) that kind of information is probably too detailed for our audience, and b) if we mention Aeons who've only appeared in FFX/X-2, then there's no good reason not to mention every summoned creatures that's appeared in any Final Fantasy game. The section of Final Fantasy VI alone would probably consume most of the article :-). Short of creating a seperate article specifically for the Aeons (which I kind of feel is bad practice, because it invites articles for all sorts of other "species" of summoned monsters, from Espers to Eidolons) , I would think the easiest way of handling things would be to go into detail on the FFX-specific Aeons (Anima, Ixion, etc.) in the FFX article, and leave the familiar faces (Shiva, Ifrit, et al.) in the broader summoned monster article. Aeons, as a general group, can be mentioned either here (insofar as they are important to the mythology of the games), or the actual game articles. I agree, though, that's it's silly to talk about the origins of Anima's name and ignore the other Aeons. – Seancdaug 19:59, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
My point exactly. But I believe I see a solution. The Final Fantasy Bestiary could have an entry for each Aeon and explain the origin of their name and we could just put the link here (and a mention the names have paralels although I think pretty much everyone has heard about Shiva before). If they do it for the very minor pop culture icon that Final Fantasy bestiary (N-Z)#Ochu is, why not for Ifrit and Valefor ? (BTW, why should Ochu have it's own page ?)
PPS: I agree the summoning page is cool, but so were the Hymn of the Fayth or the Al Bhed pages. Isn't that page a "move to Wikicities" candidate ? Do we really need all this detail here at Wikipedia ? Renmiri 20:56, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
It's a borderline case, IMO. Summon magic is an integral, even identifying, feature of the Final Fantasy series, and as such has a much greater claim to notability than "Hymn of the Fayth" or the Al Bhed. From a functional standpoint, I'm not sure how it would fit in with the Final Fantasy magic article, either, because it seems that the way we would present, say Leviathan is fundamentally different than the way we would present Quake, given that the former combines both gameplay elements and story aspects in a way the latter does not. Plus, the greater portion of the summon magic article deals with the role of summon magic in each game in the series, which I'm not sure really qualifies as extraneous information (given that Espers, GFs, Eidolons, and Aeons are among the primary plot elements of their respective games), but which doesn't really match the formatting of the magic article (since there's not really much to say about the role of black magic in Final Fantasy IX, for example). I'm not fundamentally opposed to the idea, I just have trouble visualizing how its going to work. – Seancdaug 22:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
My only real concern with moving everything to the bestiary pages is that, particularly for Final Fantasy X-specific Aeons, I think it adds an extra layer of complexity: people looking for information about Ixion, for example, are unlikely to seek out that information without first going through articles within the "orbit" of Final Fantasy X (i.e., start with the game article, move into related articles like this one, etc.). It seems unnecessary to move them to what is essentially an entirely seperate realm to get that information, and to potentially clutter that realm with information that may not be of interest to someone looking for a broader overview of the creatures that have appeared in the series. As problems go, it's not really a show-stopper, but with the bestiary pages already as lengthy as they are, it worries me that we'd start adding more without providing some evidence of their relevance to the series as a whole, as opposed to one individual installment. As always, though, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. – Seancdaug 22:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I think Seancdaug's suggestion may be for the best. It's probably too far beyond the scope of the FF Bestiary as well to go into detail on all the Summons there, and unless we're prepared to make entries for everything from Alexander to Cait Sith there, it would fall short of purpose. Also, we definitely can't add Summon Magic to the FF Magic page without making it too long.

Personally, I think the FF Magic page itself is extrinsic beyond belief and that most of the detailed information in there should be moved to the FF Wiki, then Summon Magic and FF Magic merged into one far more brief overview of each type of magic, mentioning the more commonly known spells for each set (Black Magic: Thunder, Fire, Meteor; White Magic: Holy, Cure, Regen; Summon Magic: Bahamut, Shiva, Ifrit, etc.). Then, links could given to their respective FF Wiki entries and could likewise be placed in the Summons entry in the FF Bestiary.

All of this would not only heavily tighten Final Fantasy's magic info to a more general interest level, but would provide a valid excuse for bring up cultural references, and there'd still be links to the FF Wiki entries for people with a greater interest in the subjects being discussed.

I realize that's a lengthy project (isn't it horrible how one project leads into three others?), but it is related and is possibly something that should be considered, and is probably the most ideal solution. Ryu Kaze 22:16, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Agreed 100% ! Was that an offer to do it ? Template:Grin Renmiri 00:04, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Oh, and thanks for the compliment, Renmiri. And, darn, it looks like someone else posted while I was writing my comments. Hope I didn't just repeat stuff. Ryu Kaze 22:17, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Oh again. I agree that Anima should be merged wherever Ixion and the others find a home, and I agree that it makes no sense for Ochu to have its own page. That should go into the bestiary. Ryu Kaze 22:19, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
I agree. It is worth pointing out, however, that Ochu (or rather Otyugh) isn't primarily a Final Fantasy-related article. We can probably cut out most of the Final Fantasy-related detail from that page, but doing anything to the article itself is probably something we should bring up at either Talk:Otyugh or WP:RPG. – Seancdaug 00:34, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, cool. And, yeah, Ren, I'd be willing to do it myself. Glad we all do agree on it, but should we bring it up anywhere else first, do you think? I mean, I can't really imagine too many people being opposed to relocating the descriptions of a bunch of FF spells to the FF Wiki, but is there a protocol we should follow nonetheless?

About the Ochu thing, I guess we should leave it alone then. I admit to not being familiar with its relevance outside of FF.

P.S. For anyone who'd like to know, the Shuyin, Nooj, and Gippal pages have been merged into the character list for FFX-2. Ryu Kaze 01:22, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

With regards to transwiki'ng Final Fantasy magic: I'd bring it up at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Final Fantasy, since it impacts a lot more than just this particular article. Beyond that, it's pretty much just a copy-n-paste job. To conform with the GFDL, though, we need to copy the edit history over to the FF Wiki, which I usually just paste into the talk page of the relevant article over there. See also m:Transwiki. – Seancdaug 01:36, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Alright, I'll go bring that up over there now. By the way, I was thinking that Anima might be most logically merged with this page, if only because we bring up all the relevant information about it here (the Carl Jung reference, that she was Seymour's mother and Final Aeon, located in Baaj), and because she doesn't fit in either the old or [hopefully] forthcoming format of the FF Summon Magic page, and because it doesn't make sense to make an "FFX exclusive summons" section on the main FFX page, 'cause -- as far as standardization of main page formats goes -- we'd then have to do that with every FF, and that's obviously not a good idea (as seems to be the trend where headaches with summons are concerned, I point to FFVI). Thoughts? Ryu Kaze 09:40, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Agreed Renmiri 23:26, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

It looks like it'll be a while before we get the issue of the Magic pages settled, but either way it goes, are we all still comfortable with putting the cultural references about the A-listers (Bahamut, Shiva, etc.) with the Summon Magic article? I'm still for it. Ryu Kaze 22:55, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, please. I refer you to my very first comment that began this section =) >Gamemaker 23:27, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Alright. I'm gonna go ahead and carry it out. If there's any objections, we can change it back later, but I don't think there will be. Ryu Kaze 09:30, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Al Bhed page unmerged

By Kappa who claims we didn't merge it properly. What now ? Renmiri 23:26, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, first I walk around and say "Wtf" for a while and then go see what he meant, I guess. I'm doing that now. Thanks for the heads up. Ryu Kaze 00:07, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
We are debating it now at the WPFF Todo page Renmiri 00:09, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I'd actually gone ahead and called him out on it on the Al Bhed discussion page. XD And, uh, like I said there and in the other place, hope I'm not coming off rude. I'm just a bit irritated. We've all done a lot to try improve the FFX stuff with appropriate condensing (I know you and I especially have gone out of our way for that), so it's kind of a slap in the face. Ryu Kaze 00:47, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

It's important to keep perspective - its's only a difference of opinion. >Gamemaker 12:42, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

It's not the difference of opinion that's the slap in the face. It's the whole "I'm going to revert what 8 or 9 people have approved, and without majority consensus or even bringing it up for discussion first, because I think my opinion's universal truth" thing that gets to me. Ryu Kaze 15:08, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Ok, calmed down and acknowledging that maybe I've been too hard on him, as can be read here. Apologies for the rant, brief though it was. Ryu Kaze 15:34, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
It was not just you going too hard Ryu. His unilateral decision and his accusations that the page was not properly merged were very rude IMHO. He got my goat too, I hate when people try to pull Wikipedia laws out of thin air to scare us newbies into compliance. He only backed down from the accusations when I asked exactly what guideline was violated.
But for the sake of peace and consensus, we must forget the past and find a way to move on to a solution that works for everyone Renmiri 15:46, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Good job

Excellent work on the page; this is how a lot of pages should be treated. The magic page may even want to see this sort of level of prose. Deckiller 23:37, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Deckiller. It's nice to hear. Ryu Kaze 01:07, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe this article can become featured one day. In any case, it's certainly a good article.PiccoloNamek 01:11, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

That it is. It's my pride and joy of Wiki work thus far, and I don't imagine it losing that status any time soon. Ryu Kaze 01:27, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
It is impressive, guys. I initially had doubts as to whether or not it would even be possible to pull together so many topics effectively, but I'm glad to be proved wrong. Kudos all around! – Seancdaug 09:39, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! And don't exclude yourself from those kudos, 'cause you've done your fair share, as well. Ryu Kaze 09:47, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Good Article status

Hey guys, I recommend submitting it to WP:GA as a selfnom and see if you can get it to at least that status. If not, then you should probably start a peer review. It may be jumping the gun, but the article looks good so far. Deckiller 23:29, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, definitely go for GA status! Citations, little if any actual "cruft", it's great. Deckiller 23:30, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Damn, this article is good. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 01:02, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, now Spira is playing second fiddle to this article. *Cries*PiccoloNamek 01:09, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

This one is yours too, you helped a lot here Piccolo. PS: Did I do the GA thingy right ? Renmiri 01:35, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, you did it fine. We all did an excellent job on this article, whether it be from formatting to copyedits to information to citations...everyone who edited here deserves to be commended. Deckiller 01:50, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
  • Lets out a long satisfied sigh* That is all. Ryu Kaze 09:26, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Oh, well not quite. Cheer up, PN. As Ren said, this one's yours too. That makes two Good Articles under your belt (unless there's more I don't know about), so be smug and happy! Ryu Kaze 09:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Tenses

If the events explained occur during the storyline, shoudln't the tenses be changed to present? Deckiller 01:10, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Probably not, since FFX-2 would be considered the present, making events in FFX past tense. Ryu Kaze 09:25, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
I dunno: that seems to be overly technical to me. I think the "scholarly" standard is to write in the present tense unless it breaks the chronological flow. I don't think we need to establish FFX-2 as the "present" unless we're referring back to the events of the original FFX in a section primarily about FFX-2. But then, I'm not 100% sure of the proper way to address situations like this, and I don't think there's much of a consensus here on Wikipedia, anyway. It's probably not a problem, whatever the case may be. – Seancdaug 09:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I don't imagine it being a problem, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no official ruling on this sort of thing unless it's a FFX-specfic article or a FFX-2-specific article, and this is both, so I don't think it matters. Ryu Kaze 09:46, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Map of Spira

I've (temporarily) removed the map of Spira in response to Renmiri's comment that its placement "looked weird." We seem to be going back-and-forth on this a lot, so I wanted to discuss it here. Obviously, I can only speak to my personal aesthetic taste, but I find the inclusion of multiple lines of white space far worse looking than letting the image bleed down into the subsequent section. I can see this being a problem when you've got a left-aligned image, since it messes up the placement of the section header, but this isn't a problem with right-aligned images. Also, I'm really not comfortable using clear-breaking except where it's absolutely necessary to avoid catastrophic layout problems (like overlapping divs, or multiple-image stackups), and that doesn't seem to be the case here (correct me if I'm wrong, though). Wikipedia guidelines seem to echo this sentiment, too (though saying this certainly doesn't settle the issue, of course – just pointing it out). Leaving this all aside for the moment, since the appearance of the image is really all a matter of personal taste, it strikes me that the root of the problem is that there really isn't much text in the section on Spira, so it may not even be necessary to include the map at all, which would avoid this problem to begin with. Anyway, the map really deals with Spira as a geographic entity, whereas the section on this page doesn't really concern that. By way of comparision, the article on Greek mythology doesn't have to include a map of Greece. Thoughts?

Removal is fine by me Renmiri 02:13, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

(As an aside, has anyone found a source to support the contention that the name "Spira" relates to the concept of cycles? I agree that it sound perfectly reasonable, but without some citation, it seems like we're making assumptions about what the designers were thinking. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it is correct, but I'd like to see some support. Is there anything about this in any of the Ultimania guides?) – Seancdaug 02:06, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

There is plenty on the game about "Spira's Spiral of death" but I don't recall seeing anything in English about the name Spira itself. But it sounds like a reasonable inference Renmiri 02:13, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Oh, and the game designers do have a thing for spirals Renmiri 02:15, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
I agree, but it still makes me a bit uncomfortable. It's one thing to say that the symbolism is obvious, but it's another thing to state unequivocally that the designers intended something based on inference. What's obvious to you and me may not be obvious to others, and setting a precedent like this opens to door to other editors inserting their "reasonable inferences" as fact in less clear-cut situations. Barring a direct quotation, is there any way we could reword the passage so that it sounds a little less like we're making claims about the developers' intentions (something like, "as befitting its name, Spira is characterized by prevalent concepts of cycles and repetition..." rather than the saying the name is "based on" this or that)? – Seancdaug 02:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Sounds good to me Renmiri 03:45, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, would be for the best until the official source can be located. The best I can remember at the moment is Bahamut's fayth saying something like "Sin, the one around whom all Spira-the spiral-revolves." Ryu Kaze 09:20, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and I also agree that the loss of the Spira map is fine. Now that it's gone it doesn't seem to matter all that much; Yuna's picture at the top prevents "dead space" until we get to the pyreflies. Ryu Kaze 09:25, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Oh, wow. I didn't expect that anyone'd actually use my suggestion verbatim, Ryu: I just threw it together on the fly. I mean, I've no problem with it, I'm just surprised it was coherent to anyone other than myself Template:Grin – Seancdaug 09:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Sounded good to me. Ryu Kaze 09:44, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Anima article

By the way, in case anyone's missed it, it's been suggested that we merge the Anima page in here instead of making a "FFX exclusive summons" section on the main FFX page. I think it would be better to merge it here because we already mention the Jungian reference, and the storyline related info (Seymour's mother and Final Aeon, located in Baaj Temple), and it doesn't make sense to put it over on the summon magic page since Anima's only made one appearance. Ryu Kaze 09:42, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Hm. I agree that the information belongs here more than anywhere else (and I don't believe that Anima deserves her own article), but I'm concerned that it would need to be trimmed substantially, otherwise it would... I dunno, overpower maybe?... the rest of the article, since it seems like it's more detailed than everything else here. Where were you thinking of placing the info, and were you planning to omit and/or trim any of the detail present in the current article, Ryu? – Seancdaug 09:48, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Well, I was actually thinking of just making it a redirect to this page, since we obviously don't care about Anima's Overdrive and acquirement methods here. And since we don't go into those details with other summons anywhere else, it's no big loss. As you said, Anima doesn't warrant her own article, and the story relevant info about her is here anyway. The most I can really see us needing to add is an image, but we don't even do that for Bahamut (Shiva's got a picture up, but that's for just for "Here's an example of an aeon" purposes). Ryu Kaze 10:32, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Ah. That sounds reasonable. Although, might I suggest that we replace the Shiva image with Anima? Anima has more of a novelty factor, if nothing else, since Shiva shows up pretty much everywhere in the series. – Seancdaug 13:48, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Great idea but... Anima is so darn ugly! We could use her fayth instead since we talk about her being Seymour's mother.. Renmiri 15:22, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Anima's fayth

I think we could use both her fayth's image and her aeon form. The aeon form because -- as Sean said -- the novelty factor is greatest there, and the fayth form because it supplies contrast... and because she was quite a looker. I'll make the edit!

<_< Okay, fine. Just the aeon if it must be so. *saves picture of her fayth form, though* What? >_> Ryu Kaze 18:10, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

By the way, Ren, you take great screenshots. Thanks for all that good work you do with them. And if there's no objections, I'll go ahead with merging Anima in. Ryu Kaze 18:17, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Why not both pictures ? We took the map off, our picture quota would still be well bellow most pages Renmiri 18:29, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Good point. I'll put both of them in then after all. If no one likes it, we can always change it. I personally think it's a good idea. Because of the contrast and not just the other reason. Ryu Kaze 18:38, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I got the images in after struggling with them for a while. I don't think they look right, though. I'm going to tinker in the sandbox and see if I can figure out how they work. Ryu Kaze 19:03, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I give up with the images. I was trying to stack them, but the only way I could do that was to do a force break, and that of course is to be avoided when possible, and it also left an ugly white space. I'm going to leave it as it is for now until one of you who knows more about it can take a look. It doesn't look that bad at the moment, but it doesn't look right. Ryu Kaze 19:29, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Ok, Anima's merged, and I've copied its original form over to the FF Wiki, as is standard practice. Now if only I knew how to stack those images properly. *sighs* Ryu Kaze 19:48, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

The text says that Anima became Seymour's Final Aeon. Is that really technically correct? IMO, "Final Aeon" should only refer specifically to an aeon that is intended to fight and defeat Sin. If nobody disagrees, I am going to change it.PiccoloNamek 19:53, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

It's correct, PN. Seymour's mother had a terminal illness and was dying. Also, she and her son had been banished to Baaj by Jyscal in the first place because of the uproar it caused in the Guado nation that he had taken a regular human for a wife. That was his way of keeping peace.
Because of who her husband was, and the Guado's own records of the past, she knew of the Final Summoning and that Yunalesca could turn her into a fayth. Since she felt that the people (Guado and regular humans both) would never accept her son, and since she was dying anyway, rather than leave him to face the world alone, she decided that the best thing she could do for him was give him the power to beat Sin, even if it would cost him his life. He'd be remembered and revered for doing that, but he didn't want her to do it.
When he saw Yunalesca turn her into a fayth and saw what she became, he fled from Zanarkand in horror (he was only 10 years old at the time), and he didn't return to Zanarkand to claim Anima as his aeon until 3 years before the game started. He then moved her fayth to Baaj and destroyed the entrance to the temple.
Techincally, Seymour had the power to beat Sin at any time, but he wanted to become Sin instead of letting his mother become Sin. Ryu Kaze 20:15, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Was that in the Ultimania guide ? Add a reference if it was, this quote is cool! Renmiri 23:49, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it actually was in the Ultimania Omega. It's on the timeline page. I'll check the exact page number in a little while and put it up. Ryu Kaze 01:18, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

It's page 81. By the way, thanks for fixing the images. I was hopelessly lost. Ryu Kaze 02:31, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
  • Six months ago, I would be more than happy to help with this discussion. Unfortunately, I've forgotten most of the backstory, lol...Deckiller 20:17, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

That pyreflies and life section

Ummm... okay, I'm going to take that back out. It's not only redundant concerning the formation of fiends, but some of the info is wrong and some of the other info is unfounded speculation. Ryu Kaze 18:13, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Agree, we want to keep this as succinct as possible. Deckiller 18:21, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I don't even recall having a "Pireflies and life" section. Good thing it is gone! Renmiri 18:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
BTW Ryu, weren't you going to do away with the cultural references and move it to magic ? Renmiri 18:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I took care of that. Are they still showing up on your browser? Ryu Kaze 18:39, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Not anymore! Renmiri 17:33, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Merge Unsent of Final Fantasy X

It's not like we don't already have enough FFX-related articles -- CHANLORD [T]/[C] 01:10, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

There isn't anything in the article that isn't mentioned here, so I'm just going to redirect it.PiccoloNamek 01:44, 6 March 2006 (UTC)