Wall of Text cleanup

Alright, thanks. I want to make sure I'm on solid footing here.

Here's our results so far. What do you guys think?

Does Death of the Author seem a bit wordy to you guys?

yes

A lot of that can probably go to an analysis.

It's not the worst wall of text I've seen on this website, but this example on Uncertain Audience needs to be trimmed and split up to avoid being a general example.

• The modern cinematic universe trend seems to have slowly revealed an issue of this trope. Given that the model that made the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the more rushed DC Extended Universe — work was in part made for people who like comics and to introduce them to a larger audience via positive word of mouth, those universe have very set target audiences. The Follow the Leader trends, not so much. Most notably, The Mummy (2017), Universal's first entry to kickstart the Dark Universe franchise, failed because it couldn't win any specific demographic; fans of the classic horror movies were turned off by how the movie spends most of its runtime on Tom Cruise's character instead of the titular monster, while mainstream audiences weren't won over by the film's connection to rather obscure horror monsters. The MonsterVerse started out seemingly able to handle this better, mostly due to Just Here for Godzilla tendencies. Following Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) the critics turned on the Monsterverse for essentially going to please the classic Toho fans more than the expectations of the modern Shared Universe fans which reacted far more positively. Meanwhile Warner Bros' other attempt at a theatrical presence, SCOOB! used press releases to assure Hanna-Barbera fans characters they haven't seen much of (or at least true to form) in a while are indeed going to be in the movie. The actual movie itself went full on Hanna Barbera Crisis Crossover and its only Uncertain Audience point being whether putting it in a modern setting was okay or Were Still Relevant Dammit. Which wasn't even that new to HB IP's and with maybe the exception of Yo Yogi! wasn't a problem in practice.
  
  To better explain this, it needs to be noted the ways Universal and Toho (let alone other horror/monster franchises) made their crossovers work and the way the MCU set up things are actually polar opposites. By this we mean the MCU was producer-driven with full intent on producing a uniform setting and despite being a genre-type was still very normal in many Hollywood norms. Universal (as well as other horror franchises) were always done much more haphazardly with many decisions on sequels, crossovers and reboots being handled as people came up with new ideas and a chunk of its output each year is in disregard of many Hollywood norms. Toho itself being much bigger regard in Japan than in Hollywood is also seen as an example of this as during Universal's heyday with the monster flicks they were never considered a major studio either. Hanna-Barbera on the other hand is also in a very similar position. The studio never took themselves that seriously but loved to produce Crossovers with their characters. HB however like Toho and Universal Horror has not been held in high regard in some areas of Hollywood and the internet. What is certain though is all three have long histories of producing crossovers and have legions of fans that prefered them being done in their usual ways. This means it is going to be hard for any of these properties to be made in a way to please both types of fans and any film with them could fall victim to this trope one way or another.

This was added to Magnum Opus Dissonance. In addition to being a wall of text, it's not clear that it's an example (does the creator consider it a magnum opus?) and the long note at the end describes the readers' reactions as if they're a hive mind.

And it gets worse. I had a look at Trivia/Prehistoric Earth to see if there's a similar wall of text there. The Creator Backlash entry is fourteen paragraphs long and most of them would be a wall of text by themselves.

What do you guys think of OvershadowedByControversy.Channel Awesome? Pretty much all the entries are lengthy walls of text that describe in detail everything bad they did.

The above is a humongous wall of text addition to

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/AnimeAndManga

Edited by AegisP on Aug 7th 2020 at 6:06:19 AM

I'm going to take a swing at the Fate/Grand Order wall. Looking at it, some of them are comparing early in the game's existence to later, which I'm not sure counts as Franchise Original Sin as it's all one installment in the franchise.

It's also obnoxiously gushy.

Sooooooo... Cut?

Yeah.

YMMV.Pokemon Red And Blue has a bunch of text wall examples for Tier Induced Scrappy. Each bullet takes up the entire screen (or more) when reading on mobile.

Edited by Karxrida on Aug 8th 2020 at 10:43:45 AM

Trivia.Phantasy Star Online 2

• Bad Export for You:
  • This is the entirety of the Southeast Asia (SEA)/Taiwanese version. Not only does it contain numerous Dub Name Changes that conflict with Phantasy Star mythology^note Severe backlash has led to PlayAsia claiming that they'll eventually change it back, but they haven't gotten around to it and exploit Cut And Paste Translation in numerous areas, but damage formula/calculation is almost entirely wonky, ARKS Cash is ten times less valuable^note This is at least somewhat justified due to the game covering several countries at once, a "Costume Affix" system and AC Rankings enforce heavy Pay To Win, and rebalancing came too early, forcing the game to ramp up in difficulty far earlier than in the Japanese versions. This came to a head when both versions basically let the contract expire because they were unable to keep the players on the service, and ultimately led to the game ending up becoming No Export for You to the region...
  • While the NA version mostly averts this (almost equal to the Japanese version, with some Regional Bonus to boot), the translation job is frequently called into question, with several glaring inconsistencies and text parsing issues, as well as the removal of the majority of flavor text for what can only be assumed to be time constraints and lack of manpower (due to the massive amount of flavor text). The official translation is generally considered to be overall sloppier and of lower effort than the Fan Translation by those who are familiar with the fan patch. The Windows 10 version also has several framerate issues when dealing with multiple players in lobbies, apparently due to its use of the Microsoft Store.
  • The monetization loop in the North American version is also a huge sticking point, as while premium currency is still mostly limited to cosmetics and minor conveniences, the rate at which the game chews through your Star Gems is massively increased due to the introduction of Mission Pass and Fresh Finds, both of which require large amounts of Star Gems to get actually good rewards from and whose cosmetics are untradeable, which puts players in danger of FOMO (fear of missing out) and pressures them to spend money before they miss a desired cosmetic. This is doubly compounded by the fact that there are less ways to get Star Gems; there are no shops that sell Star Gems via Global Currency Exception unlike the Japanese version, meaning that once you exhaust the supply you get from the Story, you're limited to event handouts, Mission Pass rewards, and rankings, the latter of which are very unreliable to get SG from unless you know what you're doing. The whole thing came to a head with the introduction of SG Scratch, which is not only a third SG sink introduced during a time where there are still no additional methods to earn SG, but the gacha nature means randomized rewards (unlike Mission Pass and Fresh Finds), the Scratch listing is significantly more bloated compared to its Japanese counterpart by adding in way more stuff, and it's also much shorter; while most SG Scratches in JP last for about half a year, NA's SG Scratch lasts for two months, hardly enough time to get a reasonable amount of SG to pull on it. All these factors together ended up convincing some players to stop paying, quit altogether, or change to the Japanese version.

The third entry is especially a Wall of Text, which complains about totally optional stuff that the game doesn't force you to buy.

Microtransactions almost always affect the game design to pressure you into buying them. It's definitely way too long but it seems valid.

I'm more concerned with how the middle example is written. It focuses too much on the quality of the translation (which is probably another trope) while the actual issue with the Microsoft Store is a footnote.

Edited by Karxrida on Aug 10th 2020 at 7:03:08 AM

I disagree. It’s complaining about the fact they dared to add more ways to spend SG. You’re not required to spend on every single little thing that pops up on the store. It means jack shit.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Aug 10th 2020 at 3:22:22 PM

About half of BrokenAesop.Comic Books is solely focused on the X-Men. Either it needs a trim, or it needs its own page.

On Deader Than Disco, the entry for the Slender Man is fairly long and split across several paragraphs. Anybody care to reduce it in size?

The entry for Absu on the Music section of Overshadowed by Controversy feels...lengthy. (I would've linked to the actual namespace entry, but I can't figure out how and I'm too tired to check.)

This part of DorkAge.Sonic The Hedgehog is rambly:

The third Dork Age began some time after the release of Sonic Generations and may or may not have ended by now; marked by a slew of releases of surprisingly middling quality after it was believed Sonic Team had finally gotten back on track. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II became a contested followup within a sequel series that was controversial to begin with, and its sales and reviews were so middling that it caused plans for future episodes to the saga to be quietly dismissed. Following that was Sonic Lost World, which brought upon a myriad of changes from the past titles — most notoriously the gameplay and level design, the artstyle, and the narrative/characterization in the story — that weren't accepted by several and were considered heavily flawed by those who did give it a chance; and was widely perceived as the first real stumble. Lost World also established the beginning of an unpopular and unsuccessful partnership forged between Sega and Nintendo, which restricted a trilogy of Sonic games as exclusive to the Wii U console, which turned out to be a commercial disappointment. Then came the infamous Sonic Boom spinoff games (Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal), which, already riding off the controversy of being licensed games to a new brand of Sonic, fans criticized as unnecessary and at risk of further fracturing the fanbase. With both games criticized as repetitive and dull in their design, and Rise of Lyric in particular turning out to be yet another rushed mess of a game (with many likening Rise of Lyric to the aforementioned Sonic '06); the Boom games proved themselves as a new low point for the series as both critical and commercial failures. Unsurprisingly, they were credited to Sega undergoing restructuring and dozens of employee layoffs shortly after their release, and Sega later apologizing for betraying the trust of their consumers.

While the Boom games would mark the absolute nadir of the third Dork Age, attempts to move on from it haven't been smooth sailing. Sonic Team's attempt at getting into the mobile gaming space with Sonic Runners started out promising (if still not without problems) with its soft launch... only for the game to go offline barely a year later thanks to the well-received "official" worldwide launch of the game, which took the game's existing issues and turned them Up To Eleven while adding more issues onto the pile. A third Sonic Boom game, Fire and Ice, sank without a trace; despite being delayed by Sega for over a year for quality control reasons and commended as a superior effort over the past Boom games by the few who decided to pick it up. The legal pileup caused by Ken Penders's lawsuits and Archie's shifted focus to other properties resulted in Sega and Archie abruptly cancelling the latter's famed comic series about the mascot. Despite the comic having run for 24 years up to that point, the cancellation was announced with minimal fanfare and after a startlingly long period of radio silence from both parties after release of issues came to an unannounced (and permanent) hiatus. Sonic Team's long-awaited followup to Lost World, multiplatform debut for the generation, and tie-in game for the series' 25th anniversary, Sonic Forces, only continued the streak of lukewarm reception. Despite garnering interest for returning to the Boost gameplay, gunning for a more serious story and tone (in contrast to past titles), and premise (Dr. Eggman having succeeded in taking over the world); the gameplay and level design was panned as a lackluster step back from previous Boost titles and its story was considered a disappointment, with the game largely considered unambitious outside of its "Custom Hero" playstyle (which ever since its reveal has remained a major topic of great debate between fans).

The third Dork Age, however, isn't without its few diamonds in the rough. Despite the poor reception of the tie-in games, the Sonic Boom animated series has generally been considered a genuinely enjoyable show, and has largely shaken off the stigma caused by the tie-in games. The end of the Archie Sonic comic was shortly followed by Sega announcing they had given IDW Publishing the rights to make a new comic about the series set for 2018, emphasizing the series as a fresh start from the Archie continuity. Sega taking a chance on getting the fans to make an official Sonic game resulted in their other 25th anniversary project in Sonic Mania, a successor to the Genesis Sonic games developed by high-profile members from the community that was praised by reviewers and fans alike as not only a proper follow up to the Genesis Sonic titles, but as one of the best Sonic games in years. The brightest spot from this Dork Age, though, was a proper feature-length film adaptation that, despite initial indifference and lack of confidence from fans, turned out to be surprisingly well-received and overtook Pokémon Detective Pikachu as the highest-grossing video game-based movie in the United States, introducing Sonic to generations of new fans and potentially reinventing the franchise going forward.

Any thoughts on how to reduce it?

Edited by ccorb on Aug 15th 2020 at 10:00:15 AM

For Slenderman, I'd say that Slenderman used to be a popular Creepypasta character, then became overexposed enough to be a Discredited Meme among the Creepypasta community. He then hit mainstream infamy when two twelve-year-old girls stabbed their friend in his name, followed by several similar attacks. Since then, Slenderman has become more of a joke than a scary legend.

Edited by ccorb on Aug 15th 2020 at 9:43:15 AM

Well, I reduced both the Slender Man and Sonic examples as best as I could. I think they read a lot better, but people are free to tweak them if I missed anything.

I think Trivia.Prehistoric Earth and YMMV.Prehistoric Earth need a clean-up.

Soooooooooooooo can I cut that wall of text? The one I presented?