User talk:G-Zay/Source problems

This is a work page for cleaning up article sourcing problems that have been traced to editing work performed by the community banned user User:G-Zay. Relevant articles consist of mainly Square Enix and video games. The WikiProject Square Enix and WikiProject Video games have been notified.

Interested editors are invited to address problems that have been listed here, and to look through this editor's contributions to identify new issues to be brought here for consideration. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 05:31, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Note that someone with a throwaway account has gone through and ripped out/resourced G-Zay's contributions to a number of articles. (Special:Contributions/Xiomicronpi) --PresN 07:14, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

I've also created an evidence page for his latest sock puppets at User:Sjones23/G-Zay. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 02:51, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Articles

The first 20 articles are the articles most contributed to, in decreasing order.

Hiroyuki Ito

G-Zay by far and away wrote this article himself- from this to this over two years. Probably going to take the most work to see what can be salvaged. --PresN 07:20, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

This had many problems as G-Zay tried to portray Hiroyuki Ito as the single driving creative force behind all of Square and Square Enix's popular games. He did this to spread the fake info on Wikipedia to online message boards and to promote Ito as director of FF15. My current revision should have removed all the fake parts and provided the true statements with legit sources. Some examples of fake info and how it could be identified as such:

• All statements I've removed that were sourced with the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania were not mentioned anywhere in the book (most of it is walkthrough material and the interview with Ito didn't contain most of the stuff added by G-Zay). This mostly affects info on Ito's early career and his supposed contributions to games that were actually created by other people.
• The intricate description of Ito's contributions to Final Fantasy VI was made up. Final Fantasy VI Advance Official Complete Guide for example is only a walkthrough book and doesn't contain any development info. The only thing we know is that Ito was in charge of the "battle aspects" per the making of Final Fantasy VI in Edge. This article also contains an interview with Kitase on how he created the opera scene himself and what it was inspired by.
• Hironobu Sakaguchi didn't direct FF6 originally. This stems from a misunderstanding blown out of proportion by G-Zay. It originated from a 1UP.com interview with Kitase. The interview was released both in text and in video form (apparently the video was originally embedded in the article but was moved to another server location over the years). If both forms are examined it can be noticed that the text is a rewritten form of the (incomplete?) video interview with the order changed around a bit (e.g. the first question in the video is the second question on page 2 of the text). As such the translations differ. In the text form it says "Sakaguchi was the director..." The original video interview however has the subtitles "We still followed Mr. Sakaguchi's direction..." Doubts may arise over which translation is more accurate but one can clearly hear Kitase say "Sakaguchi-san no direkushon" rather than something along the lines of "Sakaguchi-san direkuta" (it's on page 2 and at about 3:10 in the video). To undermine Kitase's role as director for the drama aspects of the game, G-Zay posted this alleged factoid on several message boards (such as here). After adding it to the article, he went one step further and said that Sakaguchi only stepped down in his story-supervising director role after the game was 70% complete (note that the second source meant to confirm this is the FF6 Advance Official Complete Guide again). As stated in the aforementioned Edge article Sakaguchi placed two rookie directors (Kitase and Ito) in charge of the game from the very beginning of the project and personally supervised them along the way to ensure everything would turn out well. He wasn't the game director though.
• All the statements of Ito's involvement in Chrono Trigger were fake. Not mentioned anywhere in the Ultimania books. He didn't design the game (that was Sakaguchi) or enemy placements on field maps, he was never co-director and never stepped down from this role. He was merely an "event planner" (basically the equivalent of a cutscene director, handling character movements and music etc.)
• He didn't create the Materia system for FF7. That was all Sakaguchi's idea (per FF7 Ultimania Omega page 565).
• G-Zay says that the popular Triple Triad game was concepted by Ito while he wasn't responsible for the very unpopular Draw command. Neither of these statements are confirmed by the sources and are contradicted by the game's credits.

And so on and so forth. These are just some examples.Xiomicronpi (talk) 10:27, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Lucia Black and ProtoDrake are active contributors who disagreed heavily with G-Zay on sourcing and writing, so this one shouldn't be too bad. --PresN 07:20, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Still found lots of untrue statements and some fake sources here. I started removing these and generally touching up the article. Kind of unfortunate that these have gone unnoticed as I'm sure many people have read it and assumed it was all true.Xiomicronpi (talk) 14:52, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Finished cleaning this a few days ago. This version was at the height of G-Zay's editing and it contained so many fake rumours it isn't even funny anymore. Among others, the game was stated to be heavily influenced by FF12, to have its in-game time based on the PS3's system clock and to feature strip clubs and a protagonist with multiple personality disorder. Granted, an attentive user had already removed the most obvious fakes.Xiomicronpi (talk) 15:53, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Motomu Toriyama

Same here as with Hiroyuki Ito. Removed fake info and sourced true statements. Much info supposedly from the Ultimania books was fake.

• Toriyama is very unpopular and G-Zay tries to place all the blame for his promotion to director on Kitase to make him look as bad as possible. "Yoshinori Kitase specifically chose Toriyama to be his successor as a director of main series Final Fantasy games due to the positive reception to Final Fantasy X, for which Toriyama was the main director. At the South Korean launch event of Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshinori Kitase said that he wanted to continue working closely with Toriyama on main series Final Fantasy games." This is not mentioned in the Ultimania anywhere. In the South Korean source Kitase quite literally says "We just finished XIII. So Toriyama does not have any particular plans. Maybe in a few years if we have the opportunity to work together on a game again, I'd like to see that." The sources on the Final Fantasy X page also confirm that Kitase was "chief director" for that game.
• Again, very unpopular games and design decisions attributed to Kitase despite the sources not backing it up: "Final Fantasy XIII was designed by Yoshinori Kitase and used a modified version of the "Interactive Movie RPG" game design he introduced in Final Fantasy X. However, Kitase decided to make alterations from the Final Fantasy X incarnation of this game design by making Final Fantasy XIII even more linear and streamlined."
• G-Zay tries to place all the blame for FF13's lacklustre script on Toriyama rather than on the scenario writer Watanabe as he is a big fan of his work on FF12: "Daisuke Watanabe was the lead scenario writer and he was given very precise direction from Toriyama when writing the script. Toriyama was very specific on what he wanted the script to be like and Watanabe recalls that there were numerous times that parts of the script had to be redone as Toriyama was not happy with it."
• With MindJack he tried to attribute a very bad script to Toriyama though sources confirmed that it was written by a Western studio instead.

Again just some examples.Xiomicronpi (talk) 10:45, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Final Fantasy XII

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Toned down some of G-Zay's overly favourable descriptions in this article. Also deleted some statements I couldn't find sources for. (e.g. Jun Akiyama as writer, open world genre)Xiomicronpi (talk) 16:40, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Square Enix

Much outdated info on development teams removed. Product Development Divisions no longer exist since at least March 2007 according to this interview. The last known mention of one of these teams is in Hanjuku Hero 4: 7-Jin no Hanjuku Hero‎ of May 2005 I think. Unfortunately G-Zay added the names of these teams to hundreds of credit lists in game articles even after they were disbanded.Xiomicronpi (talk) 11:09, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Yoshinori Kitase

Had some serious libel based on fake statements. This is probably the person G-Zay's edits had the most negative effect on. Cleaned up and expanded with sources. Much of the fake statements already covered above in the Motomu Toriyama section.Xiomicronpi (talk) 10:58, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Final Fantasy XIII

Mainly infobox changes (since reverted) --PresN 07:14, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Final Fantasy XIII-2

I was actively editing this, so his contributions were pretty aggressively oversighted. --PresN 07:14, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

In general, it seems alright, since I have been an active editor on it since its creation (the info box credits that G-Zay put in were removed long ago). But the sections and general structure need work. --ProtoDrake (talk) 10:02, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Daisuke Watanabe

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

More heavy anti-Toriyama propaganda here. The entire "Work on Final Fantasy XIII" section is made up as confirmed by page 388 of the FF13 Scenario Ultimania which states almost the exact opposite. I removed the other statements that I couldn't verify so far. I think there's some truth to the "Work on Final Fantasy XII" section but it'll take time to tell it apart from the fake stuff. I also expanded the FF13 article with the Scenario Ultimania translations of page 388.Xiomicronpi (talk) 20:10, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Hiroshi Minagawa

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Checked and rewritten some time ago.Xiomicronpi (talk) 02:54, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Final Fantasy Type-0

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Everything problematic has already been removed.Xiomicronpi (talk) 14:58, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Final Fantasy X

Reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Jun Akiyama (video game designer)

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

I have dealt with a piece of info that a: did not fit in with the article and b: was referenced by Final Fantasy fan site Nova Crystallis.com. While a good source of dedicated info, it is not eligible for use on this site. --ProtoDrake (talk) 18:43, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Checked this over. Virtually everything was fake, from the anecdotes over the credits to the comments. Salvaged the article with new information and sources.Xiomicronpi (talk) 02:54, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Final Fantasy X-2

Reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Final Fantasy VI

Verified as cleaned. --PresN 07:14, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Also had lots of fake pro-Ito and anti-Kitase propaganda.

• "Hironobu Sakaguchi was originally the director of the game" "However, when Sakaguchi stepped down as director due becoming vice-president of the company, Kitase went on to have more control over the event scenes in Final Fantasy VI." Already covered above in the Hiroyuki Ito section.
• "Hiroyuki Ito also wrote the back story and character arc of Locke Cole." This was done by Sakaguchi per the Edge making-of interview.
• "He was also responsible for the pacing and flow of the entire game and tried to strike a balance between the gameplay and event scenes so the game did not feel too story-driven." Not mentioned in the book.
• "He was also the map director and designed the world map for both the World of Balance and World of Ruin. He also drew the background art for the various battle screens." Not mentioned in the book. A non-interview portion of the Edge making-of lifted this statement from Wikipedia so watch out for this statement finding its way back to the article with this source.
• "Tetsuya Takahashi also wrote the back story and character arc of Edgar Figaro and Sabin Figaro." This was done by Soraya Saga/Kaori Tanaka per the Edge making-of interview and this interview.
• "Hideo Minaba, the second of the game's four graphic directors, was the art director of the game. He designed the architecture and interior design of all the buildings in the various towns, which he based on Victorian architecture." Not mentioned in the book. A non-interview portion of the Edge making-of lifted this statement from Wikipedia so watch out for this statement finding its way back to the article with this source.
• "Although not immediately obvious, she made the battle sprites slightly more detailed than the map sprites. This was done because the battle sprites needed to do more animations due to the various attacks, spells and abilities possible in the game." Not mentioned in the book.
• "Kazuko Shibuya also wrote the back story and character arc of Gau." This was done by Kitase per the Edge making-of interview.
• "Tetsuya Nomura, the fourth of the game's four graphic directors, was the monster designer. He designed the battle sprites for the over 300 monsters you can encounter in the game. His most notable work is his elaborate sprites for the boss monsters, particularly the final bosses." Not mentioned in the book. A non-interview portion of the Edge making-of lifted this statement from Wikipedia so watch out for this statement finding its way back to the article with this source.

Some of the statements on the graphic directors may be true but I couldn't find sources to confirm.Xiomicronpi (talk) 09:54, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Kingdom Hearts (video game)

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Exclusively infobox edits. Corrected.Xiomicronpi (talk) 14:58, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

The Last Remnant

Checked over by me. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Exclusively infobox edits. Corrected.Xiomicronpi (talk) 14:58, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Crystal Tools

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Checked and rewritten some time ago.Xiomicronpi (talk) 02:54, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Final Fantasy

Reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Isamu Kamikokuryo

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

This article seriously needs to be reworked here, pronto. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 02:27, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Reworked this. It was largely copied and pasted with minimal changes from the sources.Xiomicronpi (talk) 18:29, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Yasumi Matsuno

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

This one was not affected but in a terrible state. I rewrote it a little.Xiomicronpi (talk) 20:34, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Akihiko Matsui

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Done here. It was pretty tame compared to the other contributions.Xiomicronpi (talk) 18:52, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Naoki Yoshida

Not reworked by xiomicronpi. --PresN 01:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Yep, needs work. But I have fixed one reference, tied to an interview with Yoshida relating to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Replaced ref from Nova Crystallis (see my post in Jun Akiyama for link to site) with one from Kotaku, which seems to contain the same stuff. --ProtoDrake (talk) 18:45, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Reworked this last week. Had lots of unsourced and fake statements on previous works.Xiomicronpi (talk) 13:32, 1 June 2013 (UTC)