Plot "summaries"

Xiahou Dun

Xiahou Dun

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A companion thread to the Good Writing Thread. As stated, obviously, this thread focuses more on atrocious plot summaries.

We need to take some cues from Wikipedia.

How to write a plot summary.

A good plot summary should be the following: :fancy:

  • concise
  • accessible
  • serve as a general overview
  • does NOT swamp an article

Generally, plot summaries should serve as a refresher for those that are familiar with it. For those that are unfamiliar, it should give them a general idea. If people really want to know the details and stuff, the game is there for a reason. We should not substitute it.

Anyway, here are some plot summaries, at the time of this post, that I find excessive on detail or length, frequently, both. They may be the reason some of these articles are unfeatured, but some of these are part of currently-featured articles right now. I'll provide a few thoughts on those plot summaries.

Don't worry, none of them are quite like the Mario at the Olympic Winter Games Nintendo DS casualty, but, unfortunately, some of them are another level of horrible.

  • Bowser (this article is so filled with this, it should be the first thing to come in mind when you think of overwhelming plot summaries. You can't miss it.)
  • Super Mario Bros. (film) (the rewrite template on top does NOT do it justice)
  • Super Mario Galaxy (not quite as long compared to other plot summaries, but the detail here is excessive and can use a real trimming.)
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 (same as above)
  • Dimentio(bleh, not the best)
  • King Boo (for a major villain who shows his face rarely in Luigi's Mansion, this section doesn't need to be this huge.)
  • Kamek (doesn't seem so bad? Just scroll down and see the Mario RPG sections. That Yoshi's Island one is suspect as well.)
  • Doopliss (just one appearance, sure, but can help with some work)
  • Kolorado(again, just one appearance, but can benefit from a condensing)
  • Super Mario Sunshine (it's not even THAT plot intensive, but that summary tells you otherwise)
  • Fawful (Superstar Saga needs some work, but that Bowser's Inside Story section, not to mention, Powers and Abilities, is an eyesore)
  • Rice Beach (not a plot summary, but its amount of detail is questionable)
  • Bramble Scramble (same as Rice Beach)
  • Shadow Mario (more Sunshine-related plot summary)
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (this article got unfeatured (not only) because of its trite plot summary)
  • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (it somehow avoids the pitfalls in the other Mario & Luigi articles)
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (same as Bowser's Inside Story)
  • Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (same as above; this one is especially awful)
  • Toad (the comic book sections mostly; 'nuff said; I do appreciate details into obscure content, but not of this scope; other sections as well are excessively detailed)
  • King K. Rool (Some stuff can really be condensed).
  • Bowser Jr. (the son of the monster that is Bowser)
  • Luigi's Mansion (like Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario, but worse)
  • Super Paper Mario (like all other Paper Mario plot summaries, but worse; it is THAT bad)
  • Sir Grodus (it's unfeatured for a reason)
  • Mario Super Sluggers (we don't need details for each cutscene, especially if all cutscenes have NO dialogue)
  • Most things Mario & Luigi-related, including (but not limited to) related content in, well, Mario and Luigi.
  • That being said, most content related to Mario RPGs not listed here.
  • Most episode-related articles pertaining to DIC cartoons. AKA The Fake Mario Show, The Fake Mario 3 Show, and The Fake Mario World Show.

GOOD EXAMPLE. Super Smash Bros. Brawl Subspace Emissary plot is not only short, but describes the entire thing in just a few paragraphs. You know what's going on, how it ends, but without the boring details in-between.

GOOD EXAMPLE. Entirely rewritten by my sister. It's a bit long, but, to be fair, the plot is fairly intricate for a Mario game and reasonably detailed enough, and the writing itself should be good enough to lead interested readers. It probably cannot be much more condensed without removing crucial plot points.

Found other atrocious plot summaries? Give us a call, and we can help!
 
You should provide examples of summaries done properly should look like. Just look at your revision at the Subspace Emissary in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl article.
 
Such examples aren't very common, so I don't know which one qualifies as a good example of a plot summary.
 
Then use the Subspace Emissary summary for ----'s sake
 
This is probably me, being silly I... don't really object to the individual Paper Mario chapters having summaries, since they're really self-contained stories united by a tread (collecting MacGuffins). You could probably make a more general summary that follows the template

[Stuff happens], Mario collect plot coupons, [twist before foinal battle], Victoly
Click to expand...

-but I don't think that's doing readers any service. Of course the individual summaries may still be poorly written, though the TTYD one doesn't strike me as shocking or anything.
 
So is this considered good?

Mario and Goombella show the map to Professor Frankly, who reveals that the castle upon it is in the same vicinity as Petalburg. The group passes through Petalburg discovering Hooktail and passing Shhwonk Fortress on their way to Hooktail Castle, getting Koops as a new member. With the help of Ms. Mowz and after gaining another ability from a Black Chest Demon, they encounter Hooktail and defeat her, receiving the Diamond Star.
Click to expand...

For me? no.. Let's consider that misleading is probably the worst thing ever to encounter in wikis. After I read this what I understood is: "Awesome, we will just pass through Petalburg and Hooktail thing will be there, then we will pass through Shhwonk Fortress and we will find Hooktail Castle and get Koops as a member somewhere.."
That's truly misleading, Shhwonk Fortress is on the other-side of Hooktail Castle. We visit there to get stone things to open the way to Hooktail Castle. Also there is much missed information. Here is something better thus longer. (of course, needs a rewrite)

Mario and Goombella show the map to Professor Frankly, who reveals that the castle upon it is in the same vicinity as Petalburg. In the sewers, they find a pipe to Petal Meadows, where they see Hooktail and it's castle, unable to reach it, the group stop in Petalburg and learns that they need the Moon Stone and the Sun Stone to reach the castle. The group explores Shhwonk Fortress until they found them, back to Hooktail Castle with the help of Koops who joins them, they managed to enter the castle facing many traps inside. With the help of Ms. Mowz and after gaining another ability from a Black Chest Demon, they encounter Hooktail and defeat it, receiving the Diamond Star.
Click to expand...
That what I thought: "So we will pass through some meadows and find that thing and it's castle, we will give up and go to Petalburg, we will know what we need so we will go get those stone things and on the road back we will find this Koops guy who will join us and helps us to reach the castle. Inside we will find many traps and some mouze and a box will help us to reach that Hooktail thing."

Summaries cannot be like the first in my opinion.


Any thoughts on Super Mario 64 DS now?
 
Well just as long as summaries don't contain nitty gritty details such as "Mario must arrange the stones in this specific order: ROYGBIV after he -long paragraph explaining locations of these stones- collected them and then the gate takes slowly to open, making Wario ponder why is it taking so long to open." and blah blah blah.

Cover just what's necessary for readers to understand, but don't dive into detail. It's not encyclopedic. As in my sister's OP,

Generally, plot summaries should serve as a refresher for those that are familiar with it. For those that are unfamiliar, it should give them a general idea. If people really want to know the details and stuff, the game is there for a reason. We should not substitute it.
Click to expand...
 
Anyway, I did my best to condense the Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time plot while trying to keep details I think are important in there.

....I think I'm ready to refeature this article should no other errors or bad things be in there.
 
Awesome. I'll take a whack at SPM - hopefully I'll be able to get through it all before I keel over from lack of sleep.

EDIT: Okay, it's better now, I think. SPM's a really plot-heavy game, so while I cut out as many details as I could, especially from the individual worlds (so one paragraph per world, not including the Interludes), the beginning and ending in particular are fairly hefty, largely because story comprehension starts suffering. I'll try to go through Chapter 8 again at some point to see if anything more can be streamlined with a second pass.