Front View or Side View?

[Alador]

Hey there fellow game devs, I thought it'd be fun to see which battle version is more popular, side view or front view, so I am honestly asking, which do you prefer?

 

[Cerule]

I'm under the impression side-view is more popular. You can do cool stuff with it too like action sequences which means more possibilities for storytelling and presentation.

 

[Beregon]

For me, it's Front-view, oddly enough.

Tbh, when I started with RPG Maker, I thought that I won't use Front-view, ever. MV having a side-view option by default was actually one of the selling points of it for me and why I went for it instead of VX Ace. But I ended up preferring Front-view for a variety of reasons. I think it's underrated by people and more generally applicable.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I got for front view, but I got my reasons.

SideView = actions, but this can take 5-10 seconds per attack,
not bad if it's done nicely, but everyone has unique skills, some are
really nice to look at.

if done poorly, you want the quit the game faster, or skip battles, if you
work with levels, this can be harder later in game.

FrontView = nice when done nicely, attacks are mostly instantly so the battles
goes way faster than sideview (everyone has different opinion on this part).

while the attacks and stats ON you will not show like paralyze or others status
if the actor is not present so, you only see the icon.

I saw some really nice front battle, some with actors, some in other ways.

whatever they choose, it need to fit or it should look really nice.

skipping battles for frontview is the same as sideview, when it's poorly done.

whatever you choose is up to you, there is a plugin and some use it for sideview,
and for frontview so you can switch in between (even doing this should be done nicely)
and also on the right time, some use normal battles sideview, bossbattles frontview,
some use frontview for a different reach like sniping, and sideview for others.

whatever you approach, experiement with them and see what's fits yours

 

[Quexp]

Sideview seems like it'd be cool but I prefer Front View because having enemy battlers next to itty bitty player sv images looks funny to me.

 

[Milennin]

I have yet to see a front view combat system I found more pleasing to look at than the average side view combat, so side view it is for me.

 

[TheoAllen]

Sideview or Frontview does not matter.
But I lean toward Sideview mainly because it is more readable than Frontview.

You know who is attacking, and you know who gets hit. The pace is generally slower than the front view, which is why it is more readable. It is convenient when you have a complex mechanic going on so you need to pay attention to the battle flow.

 

[Shaz]

I've moved this thread to General Discussion. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

Preferences for front/side view battle systems is not "off topic"

 

[Shikamon]

Why no love for the rear-view battle system? you got your front-view monsters but you also can see the actor as well, kinda middle-ground for both of them.

Well, I prefer the front-view system because it's more immersive and quick-paced.. mostly.

 

[sleepy_sealion]

I'm more of a front view person. I was kind of mixed on it at first because it was the default, but it's grown on me to the point, I've been working on things to spice it up more. (It also helps when you have no budget or time to actually animate sprite sheets - but that's a secret)

 

[Scorps]

I prefer the sideview system, if the necessary resources can be put into it.
It can look really good when the enemies are animated and when skills have different animations, but it usually makes the fights last longer. When there is a large quantity of meaningless/repeated fights or/and if the fight itself isn't really fun the sideview system will most likely make it worse.

 

[Copywright]

Generally, I'd say sideview. Turn based stuff like Radiant Historia and real-time combat like Tales of Symphonia come to mind.

But, there's still room for innovation on the front view. Shining Force and Pokemon come to mind. I think it's the incorporation of animations. Even DQ XIS is front view in 2D mode. But, I didn't like theirs too much so I mostly played in 3D.

In any case, I personally plan to go for a Shining Force inspired front view. Front view is always better when you can see your player, not just your enemy.

Obligatory:

 

[Lornsteyn]

I voted for Sideview, because thats what I prefer mostly.
But Frontview is of course also enjoyable.

 

[Aesica]

Side view, absolutely no contest. Front view feels disconnected from the player characters and is generally less exciting. Enter commands, watch flashes appear on enemies or screen shakes when they attack you. Mash button get battle over with quickly, etc.

With side view, you can animate the battlers nicely and show them doing stuff like casting spells, leaping at foes, slashing multiple times, etc. Much more satisfying.

One of the biggest complaints I see from anti-side-viewers though is that side view is slower to play out, and in a sense that's true because you're showing more stuff to the player. However, as long as you don't use the yanfly default speeds for action sequences (which are horrendously slow) you can still allow the battle to progress at a nice pace.

Edit: One exception to my side view rule is, at some point, I intend to make a sci-fi game with space travel as part of it, and space ship battles in side view just don't make a lot of sense. So it'll be side view for the character battles, front view for the spaceship battles. Or something like that.

 

[Beregon]

Side view, absolutely no contest. Front view feels disconnected from the player characters and is generally less exciting. Enter commands, watch flashes appear on enemies or screen shakes when they attack you. Mash button get battle over with quickly, etc.

Front-view has an advantage in perspective. In side view, when you put a dragon and two goblin minions in one battle, it will feel more cartoony, because the goblins are not much smaller than the dragon. In Front-view, you can put the Dragon in the back and the Goblins in the front. It will feel better, because it will look like the dragon is smaller than it should be because it's much further back than the goblins.

Front-view also has an advantage in making the player feel more immersed, in making them feel like they are the ones fighting the battle, not some other characters. Great for horror games and such. Side-view is more detached, "gamey". Which isn't a bad thing, but it leads to a different experience. I mean, look at the Fire Breath animation from MV. That's the kind of stuff that works really well in Front-view. And First Person games in general.

And you can animate Front-view combat too. Even if you don't have characters on screen, you can have characters hands casting spells and swinging swords etc like 3D first person games. Many old-school dungeon crawlers did that.

Sure, the default Front-view has no animations and enemies only change color to attack, but let's not forget that in default Side-view battle system, Actors take a step forward to swing at air like in old-school Final Fantasy games and enemies function like in Front-view, except the attack animation appears on the target.

 

[TheoAllen]

Front-view has an advantage in perspective. In side view, when you put a dragon and two goblin minions in one battle, it will feel more cartoony, because the goblins are not much smaller than the dragon. In Front-view, you can put the Dragon in the back and the Goblins in the front. It will feel better, because it will look like the dragon is smaller than it should be because it's much further back than the goblins.

This looks like a matter of asset which you can customize.

Front-view also has an advantage in making the player feel more immersed, in making them feel like they are the ones fighting the battle, not some other characters. Great for horror games and such. Side-view is more detached, "gamey". Which isn't a bad thing, but it leads to a different experience. I mean, look at the Fire Breath animation from MV. That's the kind of stuff that works really well in Front-view. And First Person games in general.

Of course, let's not forget that they took like 3 generations of RPG Maker sticking with front view based assets. And finally, put side view option, but they also forgot that most of their animation is more suitable for the front view rather than a side view. The thing is, you don't use the default animation for the side view.

 

[Beregon]

This looks like a matter of asset which you can customize.

Not really, this was just a quick example, but there's more advantages and cool things you can do by playing with perspective.

Of course, let's not forget that they took like 3 generations of RPG Maker sticking with front view based assets. And finally, put side view option, but they also forgot that most of their animation is more suitable for the front view rather than a side view. The thing is, you don't use the default animation for the side view.

The argument about default animations (and RTP in general) being more suitable for Front-view is right, but... most RTP-only games seem to use Side-view combat (and even ones with some custom stuff like tilesets or characters frequently use default animations).

But the part you quoted was more about the screen-filling animations and things like the Earth 1 boulder launch working very well in Front-view, giving the illusion of danger.

Side-view advantages are obvious, but Front-view has advantages too. They are both better for different types of games, depending on the feeling you want to instill in the player.

 

[TheoAllen]

Not really, this was just a quick example, but there's more advantages and cool things you can do by playing with perspective.

I get your point, it just you don't have to use the stock asset to support your argument while inserting a phrase "in a side-view" which highlighting "these assets are not meant for side view battle". As it can be replaced if necessary.

(and even ones with some custom stuff like tilesets or characters frequently use default animations)

And people using the default animation database (for side view) has been my pet peeve for a long time, to be honest. They should be customizing the animation, and by that, I don't mean replacing the assets. But create your own animation database that is suitable for side-view battles.

They are both better for different types of games, depending on the feeling you want to instill in the player.

The only time when I thought the front view was good (for immersion), is when I was playing a certain adult-themed RM game in which due to the absence of the side view sprite (only a portrait in the HUD that is changed based on the condition), I had to imagine what was actually happening. And I don't think that would work better if it has SV battlers.

 

[Beregon]

I get your point, it just you don't have to use the stock asset to support your argument while inserting a phrase "in a side-view" which highlighting "these assets are not meant for side view battle". As it can be replaced if necessary.

You've got a point there, tbh.

And people using the default animation database (for side view) has been my pet peeve for a long time, to be honest. They should be customizing the animation, and by that, I don't mean replacing the assets. But create your own animation database that is suitable for side-view battles.

At the very least, they should pick the animations that work well in sideview too, but yeah, most simply use whatever they think looks cool even if it doesn't fit the perspective. Like the Fire Breath or Earth boulder launch animation.

The only time when I thought the front view was good (for immersion), is when I was playing a certain adult-themed RM game in which due to the absence of the side view sprite (only a portrait in the HUD that is changed based on the condition), I had to imagine what was actually happening. And I don't think that would work better if it has SV battlers.

I've played plenty of horror games that used side-view battles with one character, which felt like they would be way better with Front-view. Now, a big part of that is that most used the default assets for enemies and the character, which just really doesn't work that well if you want to spook the player, but even then, considering a Front-view battle system instead would have been a good idea.

That's not to say that side-view can't work in horror games (maybe it's more like Resident Evil). I just prefer Front-view in those that do have battles.

 

[Kokoro Hane]

I definitely prefer side-view, as I love seeing the little sprites in action! However, front view can be nice if the party's portraits are visible, so it feels more like they are there.