Megami Tensei Miraheze Wiki:Style Manual

This page is the Manual of Style for the Megami Tensei Wiki. This page will guide editors on how to properly format articles so they are consistent with many of the similar articles.

If there is any questions even after reading this page, message an admin on their talk page and do not act hastily.

General

 * Every article should start with an opening line. The first line in the intro should be about the subject of the article, and the subject has to be written in bold. This is only for the first sentence about the subject. Please note that the first line should be written with the definite article and the topic is regarded as a singular entity, except for certain cases.
 * The definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) should be avoided in article titles except if they are used in an official title/name.
 * The Japanese term should be included in the intro after the bold subject term within parentheses and included with the romaji, written in italics, e.g. Pixie (ピクシー, Pikushī). Pages that use infoboxes are exempt of this since the infoboxes already have sections for the Japanese term.
 * Articles created should be limited to the Megami Tensei sphere. Creating real world articles must have roots in the Megami Tensei series and/or be entirely Megami Tensei centric.
 * Use third person; do not write in the "you," aside from dialogue and such. "You can open locked treasure chests with keys" can be formatted to "Treasure chests can be opened with keys."
 * Generally, try to avoid referring to player characters such as protagonists as "the player."
 * Write professionally and be as succinct when possible.
 * The language of the wiki is American English; spelling and grammar must be concise and clear.
 * Avoid opinions: the purpose of the wiki is to be informative.
 * Use extreme discretion when referencing media outside of the Megami Tensei franchise (ex. x element is like y element in the z series).
 * The Spoiler template should only be utilized outside of mainspace articles. Articles are written as an encyclopedia and will contain as much information as possible. The Spoiler template should be used in blogs or forums where such information isn't likely to be expected to appear.

Composition
Although the manual of style goes into how to properly section entire articles, this article goes into how to properly format segmented parts of an article.

Because this is primarily a video-game wiki, there will be a lot of technical data documented. Some instances include damage modifiers, such as those from Tarukaja, and rare-case scenarios that examine how an attack will interact under a specific environment. Those can greatly flesh out an article, especially if they're looking into constants invisible to the average player.

But to maintain structure, it is highly recommended to not go straight into more complex subjects, but rather introduce the topic in a very straightforward manner that is easy to digest for the average reader. This will make it much easier to understand the context of not only what problem the technical information is trying to tackle, but will also prevent it from obscuring what the purpose of the topic is.

For example, Omagatoki: Luck has the basic effect of increasing the party's EXP and Money gain, and starts off with only explaining that and how the effect works. Then it goes into information the average reader would be interested in, such as how much the skill actually increases the user's reward: since the formula is simple, it's instantly elaborated that EXP is doubled and money is quadrupled.

The skill however gets into very deep detail after that: it examines specifics such as how the multiplier handles decimals and when decimals are gotten rid of. Not only does this section introduce an obscure process of calculation that's otherwise irrelevant to the article, it's also complicated and unnecessary for the average reader. This information was put into a separate paragraph as a result.

To flesh out the composition more, game mechanics can be examined in the same fashion, explaining their core function, but preserving details that are for later use, even if they're apparent and important. For instance, Commander Skills can be explained about how they work and what they ultimately bring to the table, but facts like "they don't use up MP" or "multiple different skills cannot be used at once" are less significant compared to how they each recharge depending on how many turns have passed.

Formatting

 * General media, such as game titles should be written in italics, e.g. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey & song titles should be with "quotation marks," e.g. "Poem for Everyone's Souls." Media that spawns from within a work of fiction is not exempt from this rule.
 * Article titles referring to games should be formatted in italics. Use.
 * When not everything in an article can be formatted, such as with titles with disambiguation subtitles, use to manually handpick what is worth formatting. Do not use the template for any purpose other than for italics.
 * On wikilinking with anchors, adding #anchor at the end of the link will automatically set it up so interacting with the link will have the user instantly jump to the specific section. ( Megami Tensei will instantly lead the user to the Plot page of the Megami Tensei article.) Using the anchor alone in a wikilink will simply move the user to the listed section of the current article ( will transfer the user to the previous section in this Manual of Style.)
 * To stylize links with anchors, use the "→" symbol between the original article and the anchor section, with empty space in-between. ( Kegare → Etymology ) It is advised against wikilinking with an anchor if the anchor is not explicitly noted beforehand, so instances like Kegare or simply Kegare should be avoided.

Terms to Avoid
To keep articles clean and evade cliches, some terminology will have to be avoided. Neologisms should be avoided as well as their meaning can change over time. Contentious opinions should be avoided.

Some of the more common examples for related terminology include:


 * dull comparisons involving superiority, such as "good/bad", "best/worst", should normally be avoided.
 * descriptions of unlikeable behavior, such as describing the subject as "annoying" or "obnoxious."
 * denotions that attempt to describe socially conflicting behavior, such as "rude, arrogant, selfish, etc", are vague and misleading at best, and might count as contentious. To best describe and understand characters, it is important not to focus on just one trait alone, which will help give a better feel for the themes and nuances of their personalities. Those terms can be used, but it is highly recommended to use them with nuance.

Other terms to avoid include:
 * it should be noted;
 * it is/was revealed.

However, as the series uses many pop culture references, transcriptions pass.

Capitalization
Names of games, events, characters and locations are always written with capitalization, unless specified or stylized otherwise (e.g. Persona 5 the Animation.) Skills, items and elements are always capitalized, but it's important to distinguish whether the subject is referring to the mechanics themselves. For example, "the attack set the enemy on fire" does not refer to Fire Skills, and hence should not be capitalized.

Game mechanics, such as Security Level and Critical are only capitalized if they're directly referring to the game's design, so the titles of articles covering mechanics should always be capitalized. Otherwise, using lower-case ("security level" and "critical") when referring to it under normal circumstances is recommended.

Terms that refer to UI and controls should always be capitalized. ("To access the Menu screen, use the Home button.")

When joining words with hyphens, the 2nd word and following are generally written in lower-case (e.g. One-shot Kill.)

Wikilinking
Wikilinking can be done by covering a word or a phrase with square brackets, as so: Agi. To blend terminology with the article, a second phrase can be linked with a vertical bar, which will be what appears in the article. This is useful for formatting and concealing subtitles, such as with Megami Tensei (Series). Megami Tensei will produce Megami Tensei. The first letter in a phrase isn't case-sensitive, so critical will still link to "Critical."

Wikilinking is limited to the first occurrence of the word or phrase, and within the body content. This is to grant the reader the ability to distinguish terminology (with the knowledge that each article will only be linked once) and to avoid overlinking. Other formatting rules include:
 * Avoid wikilinking headers.
 * Wikilinking in tables and navboxes is allowed to be done as many times as necessary.
 * Generally, when it's possible to use both wikilinks and external links, wikilinking takes priority.
 * Do not use external links loosely.
 * It is okay to wikilink to articles that don't exist yet, should they warrant creation.

On what or when to wikilink, it is important to consider the relevancy of an article.

One such instance is the darts mechanic of Persona 5 Royal, which has deep ties to Baton Pass. Because the information for how Baton Pass is integral to truly understanding the mechanic, Baton Pass should be linked.

It is also important to consider the context. There are cases where linking a subject would simply be inappropriate, as it's irrelevant to the topic at hand. Additionally, there might be multiple subjects with the same name. For example, Persona (concept) and Persona (Series) refer to completely different subjects, so it's important to consider the context of the article and what they would be referring to at that time. It's also important to consider that the word doesn't directly refer to either subject. "He adopted his public persona" uses the word in ordinary context, hence linking either would be incorrect.

What not to Link
Avoid linking core terminology unless strictly relevant to the topic at hand. This is important as to not to overlink. What is considered core terminology generally includes common words understood by everyday people, and in the context of this wiki, RPG terminology.

Some articles that should have wikilinking minimized include:


 * Combat
 * Turn
 * Action
 * Level (stat)
 * Experience
 * Party
 * Battle Stats
 * Damage


 * Skills
 * Items
 * Equipment


 * Yen
 * Daily Life
 * Calendar

These articles can only be linked should information listed be directly relevant to the subject at hand. For example, linking Level (stat) would be appropriate when the article discusses how levels are able to directly influence power in combat.

Characters, locations, games, media, events and people should always be linked.

Other terms, such as mechanics might be situational. Specific skills and items (such as Agi and Revival Bead) should always be linked.

Disambiguation pages should never be wikilinked unless in hatnotes, where they're specified to be disambiguation pages.

Disambiguation
With a series that spans many games and series with detailed lore and design, especially when localized from another language, there are many cases where multiple subjects can clash as they have matching names. As such they're given a subtitle in brackets. For characters, their game of origin takes priority. Otherwise, distinguish by its subject type, unless it can only be distinguished by game. One example includes Tadashi Satomi (Megami Ibunroku Persona). Otherwise, the page should be subtitled by the main subject at hand, such as "(item)," "(skill)," etc. One can go deeper and categorize them according to a sub-category, such as "(key item)" or "(Fire skill)."

Disambiguation pages should either be subtitled with "(disambiguation)," or represent the subject of disambiguation as a whole by not including any subtitle to begin with. If marked with "(disambiguation)." if there also exists an article without a subtitle, that should directly link to (disambiguation). It is also important to make sure no articles needlessly link to the disambiguation page instead of another specific article, so relying on can be useful.

Disambiguation pages on very specific items can be created for search convenience, such as Hasegawa. It is also recommended to include as many related articles within the disambiguation pages as possible. The articles that can be listed within the disambiguation page only need to list the word once, such as with Masquerade (disambiguation) (Masquerade Ribbon, Masquerade Mask, etc.) The list only has to be succinct.

The Disambig template should always be added at the end of disambiguation articles, and will automatically add the Disambiguations category. For disambiguation articles with the (disambiguation) subtitle, the Disambig template should also be formatted so it refers to the article without the disambiguation subtitle mentioned to it. Hinokagutsuchi (disambiguation)'s formatting would be, which will produce "This article is a disambiguation page for Hinokagutsuchi" rather than "This article is a disambiguation page for Hinokagutsuchi (disambiguation)."

Articles can be marked with For to link to disambiguation sections as such:, which will be formatted like this:

It is recommended to link directly to the disambiguation page, rather than the alternative article directly as to not lose track of the disambiguation page.

Unlike with creating disambiguation pages, marking main articles shouldn't be used excessively as to avoid clutter, and should be restricted to one or two uses per article. So nicknames and the like should be excluded. For example, although one of the Persona 5 protagonist's most common names is "Joker," the article refers to him as the "protagonist," and hence does not need to link to a disambiguation page for "Joker."

Short disambiguation articles, such as common single names (Haru) do not warrant the need for the related articles to be marked for disambiguation, as their names are already detailed enough to be distinguished.

Aside from nicknames, if a subject goes through multiple different names between games (Sacramental Wine to Wine of Grace,) both are applicable for a disambiguation page.

It is not recommended to make disambiguation pages based on Japanese naming convention alone.

Creating disambiguation pages
As the wiki is still developing and compiling information, there will be times where it'll be important to relocate and reorganize articles aside from just creating disambiguation pages. The steps are generally as follows:
 * 1) Create the new base article with a basic subtitle to distinguish it (such as "(item)" or "(weapon)"). It is recommended to have the original name of the article temporarily redirect until the whole process is complete.
 * 2) The article that it shares a name with should be renamed to have a subtitle as well.
 * 3) Add a "  " hatnote to both articles,
 * 4) Create disambiguation page.
 * 5) Edit wikilinks that lead to original name of the article. It is recommended to start with relevant navboxes, such as Template:P3Items.
 * 6) Any remaining wikilinks are going to be on specific articles, and those can be found via the Special:WhatLinksHere tool. It might take a while for the tool to remove any mentions of navbox-only wikilinks, so it's recommended to wait.
 * 7) The original name of the previous article should redirect to these articles' disambiguation page. It is recommended to do that last.

Canonicity
Because of the structure of the series, each story might be canon in its own right, but because these stories are interlinked, it is important to establish the relationships between these stories in terms of their canonicity. (Persona 3 is canon to the story of Persona 4.)

For example, Persona 3 Portable opens a second, alternate story that stars a different protagonist but has almost no influence to the flow of the story. However, later entries to the Persona series are written based on the original protagonist's story, hence, from these games' perspective, the second Persona 3 protagonist is non-canon.

Additionally, it is important to consider remasters in mind. In spite of Persona 5 getting a remaster (Persona 5 Royal) with a refined and expanded story, to Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 is canon as it is a direct sequel to it instead.

American vs. Japanese localization
The wiki puts an emphasis on the American localization, as such information based on the American localization is prioritized. But because there might be many inconsistencies between the American and the original Japanese version, even in terms of story, it is essential to preserve information on the source material as to ensure a proper understanding of the subject as a whole.

It is generally recommended to note inconsistencies outside the main body of an article, such as within the trivia section, and if prominent enough, create an entirely new section and sort where it fits.

Datamining and unused content
Content that can only be found in the game's internal code is non-canonical content, and should be kept separate from data that can be found in regular gameplay.

Unused content does not warrant creation of individual articles under any circumstances. It also cannot be used as a reason to categorize pre-existing content. For example, although Plume of Dusk appears in the internal files of Persona 5, it is not considered a Persona 5 item, and it should not be categorized as a Persona 5 item in any way.

The only exception is creating articles for the sake of compiling unused content, similarly to Unused Content in Persona 5.

Specific bits of unused content can also be made note of in regular articles, but they should normally be sorted in the article's Trivia section. The information can also be compiled in the Development section, as long as it taps into the subject's development process.

Sections

 * Whenever you can combine two relevant pages together without it becoming too big, do so.
 * An Appearances section doesn't apply to every page. Pages regarding game mechanics should be absent of them, as well as pages that pertain to a specific game, e.g. List of Persona Q Requests. If the page details how the topic might have changed from game to game, create headers with the game title as well as a redirect to said game title like so:  ==Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey== . Whether you use two or three  = s depends on the needs of the article and what will best organize the information.
 * Sometimes, a Strategy or Battle section may apply to dungeon or enemy pages to detail successful tactics. Use extreme discretion when writing these sections—admins may remove bogus strategies on site or take democratic action. Due to the nature of tactics being open ended, separate different strategies should be sectioned out.

Lead Section
The lead section is an untitled section at the beginning of an article. It primarily serves to introduce the readers to the subject, as such it is recommended to keep the premise brief and concise while avoiding technical information. It is recommended to reduce wikilinking in lead sections, and link only if the topic is hard to understand or directly related to the subject at hand.

The length of lead sections can generally be one or two sentences. Although the lead section's purpose is to introduce the reader to the subject and give them interest to read further, the section must be informative first and foremost, and shouldn't rely on withholding information to do so. The lead section may repeat information found in the rest of the article's body.

It is recommended to insert a notable and definitive quote at the beginning of the article that is preferably directly said by the character or represents the subject at hand.

The lead section is also useful for introductory navigation, such as including hatnotes to redirect lost readers. The order should be as follows:


 * Hatnote
 * Deletion/Merge/Rename
 * Stub/Incomplete/Incomplete Project/Research/ImageReq
 * Construction
 * Image or infobox template: this is where the main article starts.
 * Quote
 * The main body.

If there is no infobox, the Japanese name of the subject should be listed after the article title with and if there are any more names to either, those should be listed as well.

Trivia
Trivia is trivial knowledge that is fact or at least can be alluded to or implied to be as such. The section normally alludes to information that simply cannot fit in any sections (which strictly focus on directly covering the main subject of the article,) and is neither appropriate to create a section over it, but is still able to flesh out the subject itself.

Editors must explain thoroughly why that Trivia is valid within the Edit Summary. If one provides a citation with, then even better. If not, the edit is at higher risk of being undone. Due to the nature of this section, it is not always cut and dry as to what is considered trivia. Whenever dispute arises on the part of the original editor, please take it to each other's talk pages, the forums, or to an admin or moderator to settle it.

Appearances of Megami Tensei characters in media other than the Megami Tensei franchise should be considered trivia, and written under a subsection "Appearances in Other Media." The appearances should be written in a bullet list or a table with a succinct description of their role e.g. "Cameo" or "Player character."

Edits that are firmly not considered trivia are:
 * Restatement of plot/details/character traits that are prominent in the plot;
 * Allusions to characters inside and outside the Megami Tensei franchise that are paper thin. In other words, allusions that rely on similarities centered around:
 * Names;
 * Personality, especially if they don't focus on characteristic traits;
 * Visual appearances, especially if they don't focus on distinct and unique traits;
 * Common plot elements;
 * Generic attacks;
 * Voices, even if the characters share the same voice actor unless the editor is able to make it insightful (ex. voicing x character helped to voice y Megami Tensei character);
 * Anything that can fit into another section.

Names in General

 * Although the characters are primarily Japanese, and hence their name order starts with their family name, the wiki follows English naming convention, where the given name is first. That is unless their name is localized differently in English, as with Hatsune Miku (Miku being her given name, hence she would otherwise be "Miku Hatsune.")
 * The official English names should be used for articles in all cases Ex. 1. The exception to this is when there is no official English term which will then be substituted for the romanized version of the official Japanese term/name Ex. 2.
 * Ex. 1: The game "Devil Summoner : Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abadon Ou " should be named "Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon ," while Japanese-exclusive games such as "Shin Megami Tensei Debiru Chirudoren Kuro no Sho " should be named "Shin Megami Tensei : Devil Children Black Book ."
 * Ex. 2: " Kotowari " should be " Reason ." " Kagenuki " should not be " Shadow Extractions " or " Shadow Pulling ."


 * In the case of multiple character names, titles, or otherwise, the most recent English incarnation should always be used.
 * e.g. Kei Nanjo is known as Nate Trinity in Revelations: Persona. In 1996, Nate Trinity would be used per Revelations: Persona. In 2000, Nate Nanjo would be used instead per Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Since the 2009 remake, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, refers to him as Kei Nanjo, he will be referred to as such.


 * No abbreviations except for terms that are commonly used in the source material (ex. COMP) or if one is entering information in an infobox such as age.
 * e.g. Eriko Kirishima is age 17 in Persona but age 20 in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. For her infobox, it is acceptable to input the age value: "17 (P1), 20 (P2:EP)."


 * For protagonists, see the character section.
 * Following game convention, the plural form of Persona is Personas or Persona, not Personae.

Tables and Class Codes

 * For help on creating Tables, please refer to Help:Table

Some information in an article may be attributed to a certain game. These information can be contained in tabulated form that use color swatches to indicate which game the information applies to. Below are a list of class codes that are used for certain games:

As for the style of a table:
 * The main row is given the color of the game's class code. Text is bold and centered by default.
 * The main column is given a color distinct from the data cells, by default Black. Text is bold and center by default. This is discounted for tables without a main column.
 * The wiki uses two classes to create:
 * a table with main columns using the default "class:table." Encouraged for tables of a particular topic, e.g. tables in Heaven.
 * a table without main columns using the customizable "class:customtable." Encouraged for lists that don't refer to a particular subject, e.g List of Magatama.
 * Wordings are in left-alignment, while numbers or very short terms are centered.
 * All table cells are designed to be rounded at 7px (outer) and 3.5px (inner) by default.
 * Table borders are optional but not encouraged as it constraints width.
 * Table captions are optional and helpful if no title headers precede them.
 * Do not loosely merge matching content with rowspan= and colspan= as it can make the table messy. As a rule of thumb, some exceptions include:
 * Stylizing the main row;
 * An entire row or column matches with almost no differences;
 * The section is sorted accordingly to the column at hand;
 * The information emphasizes on comparisons between a single subject. Merging can make it easier to display there are no differences, and they instead lie somewhere else.

Games

 * Each game gets an article. Articles may start with an Infobox if information such as Official Logo/Boxart, Game Information and Release Dates are available. See the game infobox designed for this.
 * End article with relevant navigational templates. See a list of navigation templates.
 * Games must be categorized under Category:Games, written at the bottom of the article.

General Sections

 * Plot - Synopsis of the main storyline. If sections need to be added to explain any of the side story, use subsections.
 * Characters - The name of every major character that links to each respective characters' pages, along with a short summary of who each character is, particularly including their role in the game in question by being as brief and succinct as possible.
 * Gameplay - Explanations of gameplay elements, especially those that deviate from the norm (in the context of the series that the game is associated with). With a sharp focus on the latter, this section may alternatively be renamed Gameplay Changes or have a subsection under that name as well.
 * Development - Compiles any details about the development process of the game, including design choices and thought processes by the developers. It is important to cite everything with a source, whether it's an interview or the like.
 * Promotion - A sub-section of Development, elaborates on the public promotion of the game, at least in Japan. Prominent with more widespread games.
 * Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is.
 * Gallery - showcasing box art, promotional art including screenshots.
 * Trivia - (see above)
 * External Links - Relevant links to other things related to the game that are official and aren't references or citations. This could be something like the official site, trailers, and otherwise.
 * See Also - Similar to external links, but it instead compiles other related articles, as long as they weren't mentioned beforehand.
 * References - Occupied only by the following text: . Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by . Such links will appear here. Always put last.
 * Always end the article with the game's template and Megaten.

Characters

 * Each character gets an article. Characters with alter egos get their own article if the information is too large to be contained within the same article even if they only appear in one game.Ex. 1 Otherwise, if said information can be contained within the same page without getting out of hand, it should be.Ex. 2 Ex. 3


 * Ex 1. Yuriko & Lilith are separate pages
 * Ex 2. Louisa Ferre within Louis Cyphre page
 * Ex 3. Thorman within Thor page
 * Protagonist should be lowercase, as in protagonist, except in cases where grammar denotes otherwise such as in the beginning of this sentence. Protagonist is not a name.
 * Articles may start with an infobox designed for the game which the character first and mainly appears in. See a list of character infoboxes by game. Always include the intro afterwards.
 * The introductory line is as simple as " Ronaldo Kuriki is a character from Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2. " Notice how the name of the series he appears in prominently is noted.
 * Article titles for characters should follow the official English name based off their major appearance. Exceptions:
 * Characters who have never appeared in any official English media, which should follow the official Japanese name of their major appearance.
 * Characters who are unnamed completely, namely protagonists whose pages should just be titled " Protagonist (initial series) ."
 * Characters who are unnamed in their source material but are later forcibly named in other material in the same continuity (ex. the Persona 4 protagonist named Yu Narukami in Persona 4 Arena).
 * This does not mean using the name where it's not appropriate or used: in Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden, Yu Narukami is still unnamed and when exploring those subjects he should always be referred to as the "protagonist."
 * Characters who have an official, reoccurring nickname and/or appears in their dialogue box (ex. Demi-fiend instead of Protagonist (Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne) ).
 * Relevant navigational templates should be at the bottom.
 * Characters should always be added to their appropriate categories.

General Sections

 * Appearances - A list of all appearances the character has made, including cameos. Please note their role (with discretion), especially if the character is in fact a cameo.
 * The character must make a physical appearance or have a 'talking' part to be entered into this section. Being mentioned by another character or being a palette swap does not qualify.
 * Profile - This section is synonymous to a Biography section and thus, should be a synopsis of the relevance, actions, and portrayal of the character in the game(s), denoted by subsections. These subsections are named based on "Game Title" and they should never be wikilinks. A bullet list of things like Age, Initial Persona, Weapons, and Arcana should not be included as such information should be relegated to the character infobox instead.
 * Social Link / Confidant - This subsection should only appear on Social Link or Confidant characters. It should detail the technical information on the social link, such as which days the character is available, what level a romantic relationship becomes serious, and which persona is unlocked by the completion of the Link.
 * Battle - If the character is fought against, include a synopsis of the battle flow of the battle as well as a subsection denoting the game. This section should detail battle information and useful strategies.
 * e.g. Orcus → Battle
 * Stats - This section should contain stats on the character if such stats are initial, preset, or based around their appearance as enemies, if at all. If the character appears in more than one game, denote it with sub sections.
 * Skills - Regularly, this information is merged with the statboxes of the Stats section but if stats for the character in question do not exist for whatever reason, then this section exists as a repository for such information.
 * Strategy - Similar to the Battle section and used in lieu of it if the article is dedicated to an enemy that only has the potential of appearing once within the entire franchise. If the enemy ends up appearing more than once, move and replace with a Battle section.
 * e.g. Shadow Kanji
 * Development - Information on the development process of the character. Always cite sources on the subject of creation, whether it's from interviews, developers' notes, etc.. If there is enough information to justify making a development section, make one.
 * Promotion - Information on how the character has been promoted, or how they were involved in any promotional material. This section only includes official involvement from the developers, and excludes intervention by fans. The section follows the same rules as the Development sections: cite sources and only make if there's enough information to make and move into a section.
 * Quotes - Dialogue from the game, or any variation of it belongs right before the Gallery.
 * Gallery - Image gallery of the different arts of various demons and characters.
 * Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is.
 * In Other Languages - A compilation of terms and their comparison between different languages. Only include languages in which the subject has been officially translated in the respective language.
 * Trivia - (see above)
 * See Also - List of links to pages on this wiki that are closely relevant to the page in question. The final section before the navigation template.
 * References - Occupied only by the following text: . Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by . Such links will appear here.


 * If you have any ideas for other sections which you think will help keep things organized and user-friendly, please suggest them in the discussion page
 * Please see images section on how to use images.

Separate Articles
This refers to situations where specific information on the article at hand is instead compiled within a sub-article. These can be useful for separating very big articles into segments.


 * (Main Article)/Gallery - When the gallery section becomes too big, it is recommended to move everything to an article like this.
 * (Main Article)/Quotes - Similar to the Gallery article, but for quotes.
 * Social Link/(Main Article) - A guide for going over the character's Social Link. The main article should still contain general information of the subject, such as plot details and rewards received within the social link.
 * Confidant/(Main Article) - Same as Social Links.
 * Party/(Main Article) - This is for strategies on utilizing party members in battle, and compiling information on their use.

Demons

 * The introductory paragraph/line can be as simple as " Pixie (ピクシー, Pikushī) is a recurring demon in the series " Additional information may be added to note the origin of the demon, it's common role in games, etc. without going too much in detail where such information belongs in other sections of the page.
 * Relevant navigational templates should be at the bottom where the demon in question is closely influential plot-wise. This does not necessarily count as appearances as NPCs, having roles in side quests, or being acquired specially.
 * Demons should always be added to their appropriate categories. Demons should bear the name of their Clan, Race, Class or Order in each respective game they have one. In the case of games with English releases, use the English Race or Clan. In the case of games without English releases, use the English equivalent terms where applicableEx. 1, otherwise, use the Japanese name of the Clan. Do not attempt to preemptively "localize" Races/Clans exclusive to games without English releasesEx. 2.
 * Ex 1. " Herald " is to be used for all cases of " Daitenshi " or " Shitenshi " unless specified differently by the English release of the game in question. (For example, Nocturne specifies "Daitenshi" as " Seraph " and "Shitenshi" as " Hallel ."
 * Ex 2. Due to the games it appears in being Japan exclusive, " Kyojin " will be referred to as such and not "translated" into " Madman " or " Psycho ."

General Sections

 * History - A demon article should start with this section. This section should be about a demon's actual historical information and be paraphrased and/or cited by right after the sentence that the citation refers to, with no spaces in between the punctuation and the tag.
 * Appearances - A list of all appearances the character/demon has made. Race, or any of its analogues, should always be included if such information exists as well as their role in the game, if it is noteworthy (ex. Boss, Major character, Ultimate Boss, Final Boss).
 * Profile - Subsections should exist for each game the demon appears in where critical information, substantial story roles exist for the demon, or simply information that expands upon the demon, revealed in or unique to the game in question. These subsections are named based on "Game Title" and they should never be wikilinks.
 * Battle - If the demon has a prominent battle in the storyline, include a synopsis of the battle flow of the battle as well as a subsection denoting the game. This section should detail battle information and useful strategies.
 * Stats - This section should contain stats on the demon. Always denote the stats by a subsection with the game title corresponding to the stats in question.
 * Skills - Regularly, this information is merged with the statboxes of the Stats section but if stats for the demon in question do not exist for whatever reason, then this section exists as a repository for such information.
 * Quotes - Dialogue from the game, or any variation of it belongs right before the Gallery.
 * Gallery - Image gallery of the different arts of various demons and characters.
 * Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is. This is usually information that should embedded with the History section though, since names are often related to their origins.
 * Trivia - (see above)
 * See Also - List of links to pages on this wiki that are closely relevant to the page in question. The final section before the navi template.
 * References - Occupied only by the following text: . Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by . Such links will appear here.


 * If you have any ideas for other sections which you think will help keep things organized and user-friendly, please suggest them in the discussion page
 * Please see images section on how to use images.

Notability of Information
It is integral to keep information on skills as clean of common or obvious details that are in turn unnecessary. For example, writing on every Physical skill that the attack is able to land Critical hits would become redundant. If it's a trait that's shared by a property that encapsulates more than one skill, such as an attack element, it is better to emphasize on that information on sections that dedicate on that property. Writing on skills that have traits that stand out, such as those with increased Critical rate, are recommended to note.

A better example would be talking about their ability to exploit weaknesses and the overarching results (One More, Blinking Turn Icons, etc.,) or go as far as to explain the mechanics of these mechanics on the skill article themselves, and so on. Essentially, be wary of infinite loops, and remember that this problem is directly resolved through having multiple specialized articles.

That being said, it is highly recommended for information on skills to be as detailed as possible and examine any unique circumstances. If there's info that one wants to be looked into, use the template and place it on top of the relevant section or article. Some major details include specific attack multipliers, such as Tarukaja, Rakukaja and Sukukaja, as well as how these buffs stack with one-another.

As Tetrakarn and Makarakarn have very unique properties, they should be treated as their own separate mechanic. As such, there's normally no need to bring mention of them on separate attack articles. There are several exceptions: in Shin Megami Tensei V, it can be mentioned on Omagatoki: Critical's article that the effects of a repelled attack cannot land Critical hits. The same applies for Eat Whole, as the draining attack is explicitly turned into a regular attack upon being repelled.

Merging and Distinguishing Articles
It is important to remember that each skill or item has its own identity, purpose and/or origin. Regardless, there are many cases where a single subject may simply have multiple names, generally due to being renamed throughout the series, particularly with skills and items. (e.g. the skill Bash would be renamed to Lunge.) Roughly, there are a few rules to follow when two names refer to a single subject:


 * Check if their purposes match. For instance, Morning Star refers to both a weapon and a skill. Despite sharing a name, they have completely different purposes.
 * Check if their Japanese names match. As many games in the series use common terminology (such as Agi), there are cases where despite the original Japanese term having been left untouched, it links to two different names in the English version (Bash and Lunge are two English translations of the skill "突撃.")
 * There are cases where the same subject may have been renamed over time even in Japanese, but only its name has been changed. For instance, Persona 5 Royal 's Gun Amp is the spiritual successor of Persona 5 's Cripple, but ultimately they both share the same origin and purpose, only their name has been changed. There's even the stylization of multi-target skills in Soul Hackers 2 ("Maragi" is stylized as "Ma*ragi") but it's still the same skill in essence.
 * Note that this rule can still apply even if the English name itself has been left unchanged.
 * Sometimes, there might be two matching items with the same English name, but their Japanese names indicate two completely different items. The Wind Ring refers to two distinct items with each appearing in either Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal. To differentiate between whether the item was simply renamed or not, it's good to compare its purposes and role.
 * This can be compared with the Tesla Coil of the same games, which was renamed to Magneto Coil in both English and Japanese. In Royal, the Magneto Coil still maintains its role as an offensive consumable item that deals multi-target Electric damage, and in unison sibling items still preserve that purpose. Meanwhile, the Ring accessories between Persona 5 and Royal have been completely overhauled, changing up their role and their names, where the Persona 5 rings reduced the respective elemental damage taken, and Royal granted access to elemental attacks. The Wind Ring of Royal has no reason to be the same as the one of Persona 5, as the latter's siblings, such as Psychic Ring, never made it to Royal, though the Atom Ring is another instance of two separate items with matching English names.

Skills

 * Effect - This section compiles a basic explanation of the effects of the use of the respective item, followed by a table summarizing all information between each individual game.
 * Skillset - a detailed archive of what demons are able to learn or inherit the skill, as well as general methods towards teaching the skill (such as through skill cards.) The information is to be divided between whether the information relates to (in priority):
 * Ally demons, enemies or party members (if an enemy, specify if an encounter or a boss);
 * The game(s) it refers to;
 * The means of acquisition (through leveling up, through skill cards, etc.)
 * Acquisition - a detailed archive of how the related item is to be received;
 * Gallery - if there are any additional images related to the subject at hand, they should be compiled there. Always put any pictures of the latest released game (or in some cases, the first) up in the leading section of the article.
 * See Also - recommended if there are any related articles that haven't been mentioned yet. It can be used for instances where multiple skills have a matching effect.
 * References - add only if there are cited sources.

Sorting Acquisition Means
To make navigation easier and more organized, valid acquisition means should be sorted in a particular order.
 * Persona 5 / Royal: Sort by daily life, dungeon, combat, fusion and miscellaneous.
 * Shops
 * Batting Cages
 * Trader Sakai (Royal)
 * Laundry
 * Search Objects
 * Treasure Chests
 * Battle Drops
 * Negotiation
 * Electric Chair Execution
 * Challenge Battle (Royal)
 * DLC Content
 * Special Means

Categories

 * New users should understand the basic Categories below:

Category: Administration - root category for administration and related stuff

Category: Games - root category for game content; Characters and Locations
 * all categories under here follow the full title of the game
 * e.g Category: Persona 3

Category: Images - root category for images
 * all categories below are sorted according to the game a character appears in. Follow the full game title.
 * e.g. Category:Persona 3 Character Images

So, for example, Hidehiko Uesugi would have a category of Category:Megami Ibunroku Persona Characters without having Category:Characters. Category:Characters is reserved for the overall root for all characters on the wiki, not the characters themselves. Categories start with the specific article and work their way up to the root category. The same is true of images and other related material.

Images should be categorized in the same manner. Images should not be categorized in general article categories, such as Category:Chariot Arcana instead, it should be in Category:Chariot Arcana Images and Category:Persona 4 Persona Images

An article can carry as many categories as possible, they are not limited to one category only.

Images

 * For help on using Images, please refer to Help:Images.


 * No fan art allowed in mainspace articles except for the ones in the Shin Megami Tensei Poster Book. Commemorative art, such as that from Persona 5 Strikers and Soul Hackers 2 is allowed.
 * No images with watermarks.
 * Images must be scanned if they come from a real life publication, extracted from an emulator if it is from a game, or come high quality if it is from an animation.
 * Always insert pictures in "thumb" format. Use  Random.jpg  which will align to right side of the line you add this code, and then resize it to 250 pixels in horizontal size. If you want to align the thumbnail to left, add a new parameter "left" like this:  Random.jpg . For a rule of thumb, resize to "250px" as so:  Random.jpg . Only exception would include images with portrait aspect ratios, especially for scenarios where the image is too long and interferes with the rest of the article. When adding thumbnails in the article, be sure to add a proper caption like  Random.jpg . Caption tones should carry its weight in terms of information. Exceptions:
 * The image is (rarely) self explanatory, such as a portrait, a logo or a sprite for a demon who appears in only one or few games.
 * The picture is being submitted into an infobox, in which case it should not be in thumb format.
 * Generally, starting images should be placed at the right hand side of an article. Subsequent images should usually be placed right-left-right in zigzag sequence at the editor's discretion.
 * The punctuation period can be omitted if the caption is a not a complete sentence with complete verb.

Main Images

 * For games, the English logo should be displayed at the topmost, right hand corner (default alignment of image thumbnail) of the page unless one of good quality does not exist. Otherwise, a clear photo of the latest English boxart of the game takes precedence unless there exists even better official art that depicts the game more accurately (ex. logoless boxart). Vertical pictures take precedence over horizontal. Other releases should be placed in a "gallery" format in the appropriate section.
 * For all other articles, the clearest, best image should be used at the top of the page and, more often than not, this is the official concept art from art books like the Kaneko Works. For Character pages with infoboxes, transparent images are preferred. Demon artwork should use the earliest designs in the series. All other artwork should go in a section called "Gallery" at the bottom of the page. It is necessary that each image contains a caption worded "[demon's name] as he/she/it appears in Name of the Game artwork came from." Avoid wiki links and bold words, but game titles should be italicized.

Userpage images

 * Users may use article content images on their userpage freely.
 * Users my upload up to 5 personal images for use on their user pages only. These images must be categorized under . If a user wishes to upload more images they must mark old ones for deletion.

Video

 * See also: video help document on Wikimedia Commons


 * Embedding Video into the article can be done in two different ways.
 * Upload a -encoded OGG video file directly to this wiki and then embed it in the article like adding thumbnail of image file with  Random.ogg . Be sure to compress the video quality properly so the file size is below 10 Mb (Wikia official file size cap for all kinds of file formats.)
 * Even though .ogv is an acceptable extension of OGG video file, Wikia software is buggy to deal with this extension and your file should be renamed to end with .ogg like the -encoded OGG audio file.
 * Embed the video from Youtube which supports off-site viewing with the following code:  YOUTUBE VIDEO CODE </tt>
 * Exclude any extensive functional code after the video code itself.

Templates
This sections serves as a guide to navigating information that's dispersed in multiple, sometimes separate articles.


 * Infoboxes on games use the template . The color code for the template is mentioned right after like with regular templates, such as  for Soul Hackers 2. Any data is put within the template before the ending brackers }} with recommended use of line breaks to keep information readable for editing purposes.
 * Character infoboxes use template, which functions similarly to gameboxes.
 * Demon information, such as in-game stats, uses the template. The data may differ depending on the game it represents, such as the elements as well as pool of skills they use.
 * Information on skills is stored in Module:Skills/, followed by the ID of the game. Shin Megami Tensei V would be Module:Skills/SMT5.