Do you like level grinding in RPGs?

[Locut0s]

Final Fantasy is probably the most notorious level grinding series but you can grind away in most RPGs, especially the old school Japanese ones. Some people hate having to do it, others love it. How do you feel?

Personally I love it. I don't know why it's monotonous and boring. Perhaps it has some sort of hypnotic quality to it, staring at the same battle screen, the same monsters, listening to the same music hour after hour. And the fact that you ARE progressing slowly still gives you that feeling of accomplishment, but in nanoscale increments.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I hate grind. Whats the point in such repetitive gameplay? If an RPG requires grind, it shows that the creators could not think of enough original content for you to do in order to achieve 20 hours or more of gameplay.

Baldurs Gate 2, for instance, has absolutely no grind at all. And yet it can take 20 - 30 hours to complete. Diablo II only requires grinding in higher difficulties or if you want to do runs for better equipment.

Sadly, it seems that its mostly Japanese games that require it.

 

[Locut0s]

I hate grind. Whats the point in such repetitive gameplay? If an RPG requires grind, it shows that the creators could not think of enough original content for you to do in order to achieve 20 hours or more of gameplay.

Baldurs Gate 2, for instance, has absolutely no grind at all. And yet it can take 20 - 30 hours to complete. Diablo II only requires grinding in higher difficulties or if you want to do runs for better equipment.

Sadly, it seems that its mostly Japanese games that require it.

Well its more of a cultural thing than a design thing. It's not that the designers couldn't think of more content so much as the game was designed that way on purpose. I think the idea behind it was to give the user the experience of being in thousands of battles honing your skill as you went. It's now become more of a cultural thing in Japanese games more than anything. Fans of JRPGs expect actually like it.

 

[MooMooCow]

I hate grind. Whats the point in such repetitive gameplay? If an RPG requires grind, it shows that the creators could not think of enough original content for you to do in order to achieve 20 hours or more of gameplay.

Baldurs Gate 2, for instance, has absolutely no grind at all. And yet it can take 20 - 30 hours to complete. Diablo II only requires grinding in higher difficulties or if you want to do runs for better equipment.

Sadly, it seems that its mostly Japanese games that require it.

Most JRPGs don't require any grind at all to complete the main storyline. You'll most likely grind a considerable amount for optional side quests and bosses, but you aren't forced to do it.

 

[Locut0s]

Most JRPGs don't require any grind at all to complete the main storyline. You'll most likely grind a considerable amount for optional side quests and bosses, but you aren't forced to do it.

More modern ones yes. I'm thinking more of old-school JRPGs like FF 2,3,4, Dragon Quest, etc...

 

[Ancalagon44]

Most JRPGs don't require any grind at all to complete the main storyline. You'll most likely grind a considerable amount for optional side quests and bosses, but you aren't forced to do it.

Try going through a Pokemon game without doing any grind. Its impossible. You'll get to the later gyms being 10 levels below the gym leaders, or even worse the elite 4.

 

[MooMooCow]

Try going through a Pokemon game without doing any grind. Its impossible. You'll get to the later gyms being 10 levels below the gym leaders, or even worse the elite 4.

It entirely depends on how you play the game. Spamming Max Repels, avoiding all trainer fights, and not bothering to catch any Pokemon will force you "grind" levels towards end game. If you actually bothered to do play the game as is rather than attempting to rush to the end, you'll see that the grind is very minimal. It's been true for Blue, Yellow, Silver, Sapphire and Pearl in my experience.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I do all of the trainers, and still grind is required. A few hours of it later in the game, especially the elite 4. I've finished FireRed, Diamond and Platinum, and gave up on Emerald after beating the gyms because of the grinding required (and I only started playing FireRed and Emerald to access more pokemon).

 

[erwos]

IMHO, level grinding on the main quest is generally a sign of inadequate balancing or a misguided attempt to force more hours out of content.

Of course, the only thing worse than grinding are badly-balanced "enemies level with you" systems, where grinding actually makes things worse because you didn't know to pick a certain set of skills and classes. LOOKING AT YOU LAST REMNANT!

 

[sao123]

some games like runescape are based solely on grinding levels in all of 20some skills...
woodcutting + fletching + arching combat + prayer bones
or
(fishing or farming or combat) + woodcutting + firemaking + cooking

etcetc

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

I'm doomed, because not only do I like to pwnwtfbbq enemies with ridiculously overlevelled skills, but I'm borderline obsessive about skill completion (in games where it's possible), which probably explains my Lost Odyssey save with close to 80 hours on it. Although to be fair, it probably takes 40 hours just to get in and out of the freaking Temple of Enlightenment.

 

[pathos]

I LIKE doing a little extra grinding every map, to stay just ahead of the curve, and make the random battles/boss battles easier.

I do NOT like playing the game normally, and getting your ass handed to you in the next area because you are 10 levels to low.

Optional grinding = good
Compulsory grinding for hours to keep from getting a game over screen = bad

 

[Beev]

I like grinding a bit here and there, or early on to get something special. My favorite grinding in any game so far has been in FF10 for the monster arena. I LOVE stat maxing. I was disappointed that 12 didn't have it, but I heard 13 does so I'm happy.

 

[meltdown75]

i'm doing a bunch of side quests and other crap in Fallout 3 until my guy reaches level 20 and then i'll do the main quests.......

if this is grinding, then yes, i am doing it. after i finish uncharted, that is.

 

[Gillbot]

NES - Dragon Warrior, oh the memories and time wasted leveling up.

 

[purbeast0]

i hate it because i hate rpgs.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Some could argue that this is the template for MMORPGs, but that's another topic -

To put simply, I enjoy grinding; but like many others have said (and I find this somewhat ironic), I like it and do it only if it's optional. I don't like games designed w/ grinding in mind where character progression - in terms of stats and perks - is far too slow!

 

[Thraxen]

I LIKE doing a little extra grinding every map, to stay just ahead of the curve, and make the random battles/boss battles easier.

I do NOT like playing the game normally, and getting your ass handed to you in the next area because you are 10 levels to low.

Optional grinding = good
Compulsory grinding for hours to keep from getting a game over screen = bad

This is exactly what I like. Sometimes I'll grind just to get ahead of the curve, hunt for better gear, or to meet the level requirements of some good gear. But I hate when I'm going through a game at a steady pace and then suddenly the next challenge in the main story is so hard that I'm forced to grind for 5 hours just to continue. Grinding for an optional side quest is fine with me.

 

[Joemonkey]

i'm replaying FF1 on my iPhone and while I thoroughly enjoyed the grind back when I was 12 years old I now find things like the earth shrine are starting to get BOOOOOOOOOOOOORING...

 

[DaveSimmons]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I hate that in Persona 3 FES if I want to see the content for the social links I skipped the first time I'll need to do 40+ hours of grinding on a second playthrough to be able to pass the boss battles.

Combat was enjoyable enough to grind once, not enough for me to want to grind it all over again.

 

[gorcorps]

NO! Well I guess it depends on what you mean by 'grinding'. If I'm just doing side missions that have a point then I don't consider it grinding even though they're optional. If, however, I'm just going around to fight random enemies for nothing more than tiny bits of XP then I hate it.

 

[Dumac]

I do all of the trainers, and still grind is required. A few hours of it later in the game, especially the elite 4. I've finished FireRed, Diamond and Platinum, and gave up on Emerald after beating the gyms because of the grinding required (and I only started playing FireRed and Emerald to access more pokemon).

It sounds like you may just be bad at pokemon....

What level is your team, and what pokemon does it consist of?

I can't remember ever grinding in pokemon. I do fight all the trainers, do sidequests, and never use repels, but I don't run back and forth waiting to fight someone (unless I'm trying to catch a certain pokemon).

The only time I've grinded was when trying to raise a new, low level pokemon to the same level of my team.

As for Emerald, that game was pretty easy. Catch Rayquaza, and he'll own the elite 4 for. I remember catching him with pokemon ranging from 30-39, which shouldn't be too much higher than yours once he becomes available.

 

[AstroManLuca]

i'm doing a bunch of side quests and other crap in Fallout 3 until my guy reaches level 20 and then i'll do the main quests.......

if this is grinding, then yes, i am doing it. after i finish uncharted, that is.

I wouldn't consider that grinding. You're just doing side quests. In fact, a lot of RPGs don't even have the option to grind. Once you kill an enemy, he stays dead. Once you clear an area, it stays clear.

Grinding is only applicable to games that have either respawning enemies or random encounters. I think it's mostly a Final Fantasy thing. Or maybe it's a Japanese thing. Maybe that's why I dislike Japanese games in general and Final Fantasy in particular. Well, one of the many reasons.

Personally I detest grinding and I will not play a game that forces or even encourages me to grind. I'm a completionist and I want to finish all the side quests, but doing side quests and the main quest should be enough to make me level up. I don't want to run around like an idiot waiting for a random encounter just so I can get another 200 xp when I need a million for each level.

 

[meltdown75]

that's cool. i like how the areas stay clear. the only things that seems to pop up are raiders and that other gang, i forget their name. Mercs maybe. one of them had a sniper rifle upgrade. getting it was good times.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Of course, the only thing worse than grinding are badly-balanced "enemies level with you" systems, where grinding actually makes things worse because you didn't know to pick a certain set of skills and classes. LOOKING AT YOU LAST REMNANT!

You forgot Oblivion