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This page documents an official Final Fantasy Wiki content policy.
It approximates a widely accepted standard that all editors should normally follow. Changes made to this page should reflect consensus.

A topic is notable if it warrants its own article on the Final Fantasy Wiki, based on importance, uniqueness, or independent viability. Notability guidelines are a measure against the site becoming an indiscriminate collection of information, to ensure the site's practical value and encyclopedic merit as a resource for the content with its Scope.

Similarly, content within an article is must be relevant to the average reader; trivial details and other fluff should be trimmed to keep articles focused and coherent. An article struggling to meet relevancy requirements while maintaining sufficient length may be indicative of a non-notable topic.

The burden of proof (of compliance with this policy) lies within the editor wishing to add an article, split an existing article, prevent a merger of articles, or prevent the deletion of an article under deletion criteria A2. However, this policy is intentionally inexact and approximate, and its criteria should be enforced with discretion and respect for established consensus.

Criteria for inclusion[]

Notability requirements may be satisfied by a topic meeting one or more of the following criteria:

  1. The topic is important to the Final Fantasy series—that is, it has significant plot or lore relevance, is an important feature of gameplay, or provides significant behind-the-scenes information.
  2. The topic is unique or distinct to the Final Fantasy series. For example, both chocobos and moogles are unique to the series. While summoned monsters are not unique to the series, they are a distinct part of it.
  3. The topic has inherent potential for article growth (regardless of existing length), maintains relevance independent of contingent topics (e.g. Seventh Heaven (Final Fantasy VII)), or is a recurring element across multiple games (e.g. airship).

More specific guidelines are as follows:

Lore articles (single release)[]

Articles created based on their plot or lore relevance are typically the most straightforward and easy to determine, with the main question being the independent notability of the topic. For this, it is important to note if the topic has relevance beyond the topics it's naturally associated with. Examples of lore pages include Cloud Strife, Lucis, Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Spira, and War of the Magi (Final Fantasy VI).

Notability in lore is independent from notability in gameplay. In many cases, a separate gameplay page will be warranted to cover the page independently from gameplay. For instance, Cloud Strife serves as the lore page, while Cloud (Final Fantasy VII party member) serves as a gameplay page; similarly, Magitek armor (Final Fantasy VI) serves as the lore page, while Magitek Armor (enemy) serves as a gameplay page. A page that is not notable for lore, but is notable for gameplay, may still have lore details on the page, e.g. Monster Arena.

Gameplay articles (single release)[]

Gameplay important topics can include, but is not limited:

  • Major gameplay mechanics, e.g. Junction system. These pages describe an important feature that defines gameplay for that title. In many cases, a gameplay mechanic may also be important for lore, as in Mist (Final Fantasy XII); if gameplay and lore importance are only to a single game, a separate gameplay page is not needed.
  • A playable character (independent of its lore page), e.g. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII party member). If there is a significant amount to be said about a character's playstyle and strategies, it is better to cover this separately from their lore page.
  • A location (independent of its lore page), e.g. Sector 7 Slums (VII Remake field).
  • A job or class, e.g. Monk (Final Fantasy V). If there is much to say about the abilities learned by the job or their playstyle, a page is warranted. In cases where the job is not relevant independent of the character (i.e. it cannot be used by any other character), it may not be needed.
  • An enemy, e.g. Behemoth (Final Fantasy VI). In the majority of cases, enough can be said about the strategy for combating an enemy or their unique stats to warrant a page. However, in smaller games such as Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, the enemy may not be relevant beyond the event in which it is featured.
  • An item or piece of equipment (weapon/armor/accessory/etc.), e.g. Gatling Gun (VII Remake). If there is a lot to elaborate on beyond simply the stats of the item and how to obtain it, typically with regard to strategy involving the items' use in combat or ways to enhance it, a page is worthwhile. Otherwise, the item can be merged with a list of items for the game.
  • A top-level ability, e.g. Black Magic (Final Fantasy IV). These are notable in almost every instance.
  • A low-level ability, e.g. or Cure (VII Remake). If much can be said about the ability on its own, such as both the strategy of the ability itself coupled with certain ways to enhance the ability further or use it in combination with other techniques, a page is worthwhile. In other instances, the low-level ability can simply be merged with the top-level ability.
  • A summon, e.g. Bahamut (Final Fantasy X). As with items and low-level abilities, if a lot can be said about the summon in terms of strategy involving its use, a page is worthwhile. Otherwise, it can be included with a list of summons.
  • A quest, minigame, mission, or event, e.g. Storm the Gates or Chocobo Hot and Cold. These pages can include a strategy guide.
  • A glitch that is not intended by the developers.

Recurring feature articles[]

Articles on subjects appearing in multiple entries in the series (or a subseries) are used "parent pages" to link to the more specific pages on a subject in the context of a single appearance. They act as an upgrade to disambiguation pages, and examples include Potion (item), Cid, and dungeon. Therefore, their notability is defined by how many appearances the topic has outside of the same subseries. This is typically determined by whether it shares its name in Japanese (which can be checked through translation pages) and also whether it shares its type/function, allowing for overlap (e.g. Bomb (creature) refers to both a summon and an enemy, and Chef's Knife refers to both a weapon and an ability).

Recurring features are typically handled on a case-by-case basis. However, the following rule-of-thumb can be used as an easy indicator of if a features is notable for a page:

  • A location in 3 releases.
  • A job in 2 releases.
  • An enemy in 5 releases, or an enemy species in 2 releases.
  • An item in 5 releases.
  • An item or piece of equipment in 4 releases.
  • An ability in 2 releases, or an enemy or summon ability in 5 appearances.
  • A stat, element, or status effect in 2 releases.
  • A gameplay mechanic or lore term (that is not self-explanatory) in 2 appearances.
  • A glitch that is justifiable (not intended by developers) in 2 releases.

Real-world articles[]

Real-world topics that are within the scope of the Final Fantasy Wiki are given articles based on their importance to the series. This can refer to products officially licensed by Square Enix, fan projects within scope, important personnel/developers, and other notable subjects. Examples of real-world pages include, but are not limited to:

Independent notability[]

The notability test is sometimes a question of independent notability. If a topic closely related to or dependent upon a broader topic cannot "stand on its own two feet", so to speak, there is no need for it to have its own article.

An elucidative example is the difference between Seventh Heaven (Final Fantasy VII) and Stargazer Heights:

Merging[]

When a topic is not independently viable, it may be merged into the next-most related article with a broader topic. Often, this means redirecting the article's title into the article with which it is being merged (referred to as the "parent" article), and in many cases categorizing the redirect. However, some topics are so non-notable that a redirect may not even be necessary.

When merging a non-notable article into a parent article, it is important to avoid article stacking, i.e. simply pasting the non-notable article's contents into the parent article under its own section. Instead, content should be added in harmony with the existing content, and both topics should be covered with due weight throughout the article.

Furthermore, where possible, avoid merging two topics that are categorically incongruent (e.g., merging a weapon article into a related character article). Instead, prefer merging the article into a parent article that is within the same category. For instance, Don Corneo's palace should be covered in detail on the Wall Market page, not Don Corneo.

Splitting[]

Conversely, some articles may cover multiple topics, but would benefit from having one or more of those topics covered on their own article. If the topic in question satisfies the above criteria for inclusion, or can "stand on its own two feet", it may be split from its parent topic into a new article. When this occurs, it may be wise to briefly summarize the sub-topic on the original page in its own section, and then use the {{main}} template to direct readers to the dedicated article.

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