Now it's Grind Time!

Do you like to grind in video games, or consider it an unnecessary chore? Is grinding something that just has to be done in order to progress in games for you, or something that you relish the opportunity to do? What are the best and worst grinds in video games that you've experienced?



As for me...I play Disgaea. That should be indication enough of how I feel about this. xD

BUT I feel that grinding has to have tangible benefits, and can't be rooted in RNG systems if it is going to be rewarding. Things like grinding for crowns/rare materials in Monster Hunter, and shiny hunting in Pokemon games, as two prominent examples...those are not fun.

(What sort of title did I expect from a person named Meyneth)

Grinding can be fun, yeah...in some cases. Bravely Second is pretty much a prime example of this, since its increasing battle bonuses can be a real help in leveling up (but also at the cost of making such an easy game even easier). As for Bravely Default...

There are some cases where I just want to get rare items by repeatedly fighting enemies, but it quickly becomes the most monotonous experience in a video game I can imagine (cough Xenoblade cough).

It depends on the game for me. Some things like Phantasy star and a few other RPG/MMORPG are okay to grind in, but others where there is so much repetition of the same thing over and over such as maxing the sphere grid in FFX I really find boring.

Disgaea was for sure a fun grind. Seeing the damage hit insane numbers was great.

I enjoy grinding. The only game I can't stand grinding in is Pokemon, because you have to grind every team member separate.

The new exp share system fixes this, but I'm skilled enough now to where I can go through the elite four with a team in the low level 40's.

I hate grinding, it's a slow, boring and tedious process that doesn't require much thought or skill. I've lost some sanity grinding. I hate it especially when a game basically forces you to grind.

As long as it doesn't get out of hand it is ok. I feel bad if i think back how much i grinded Ragnarok Online..

I love grinding. I find it so relaxing... there's almost nothing I love more than throwing on Netflix or a Youtube playlist and mindlessly grinding trophies or something while I watch video. It's almost zen.

I like grinding. Gets boring, but I don't mind :p

I grind only if there is no other option.

I play MMORPG all the time so yeah, grinding have become one of my chores. Sometimes I get bored but its worth in the end.

I'll grind to an extent, generally only if it results in a notable result and rewards me for my time (items I can sell, more options later in the game, etc.) or if it won't impact the progression of the game (getting over levelled and losing the intended difficulty).

I vastly prefer games that don't rely on grinding though, it usually means it was thought out well and the creators aren't forcing me to deal with their lack of ability to create a game with smooth progression.

Been doing level grinding ever since gen 1 of the Pokemon games. I got that stupid Dragonite in Pokemon Blue, had multiple boxes of level 100 Pokemon in Gold, tried statmaxing in Morrowind (never got that Luck stat maxed, though), grinded through multiple Disgaea games and recently spend way too much time farming materials and kills in Fire Emblem Warriors.

It may be boring at times, but it's nice when after hours of level grinding you can steamroll through that stupid boss who walled you not too long ago.

It's a chore, but it gives me something to do. Sure, I'll complain about it, but sometimes you just gotta do it.

I hate grinding, but yet I do it obsessively in every game, RPGs especially.

I'm what you call an overacheiver.

Before when all my Pokemon games were done via emulation, and I literally could not battle any real person, I still did mega grinding, IVs, EVs, etc..... all that.

No idea why. Bit of a perfectionist much, maybe?

I never grind untill i get to a point where im massively outclassed and then I have to grind

I've said a few times that grinding in games, in my mind, is inherently one of the laziest gameplay features your game can have, and I stand by this pretty steadfast.

This isn't to say it can't be used well. Disgaea and various other NIS games make grinding hella fun, and a solid Action RPG can make grinding a joy, but...look at Final Fantasy XIV for instance, the Forbidden Land of Eureka, specifically. In Eureka, you level through grinding, but enemies are beefy and exp is low. Even with a lot of people it takes a good while to get anywhere, and generally the people that love it the most enjoy it because they can shout to people in the shout chat and socialize. But without changing anything about how FFXIV works, the addition of grinding is mind-numbingly dull.

Even looking at the story, if you make an alt or just want to get to higher-level content, you have to look to story quests for EXP for the most part, with other methods giving pretty paultry exp aside from dungeons. But in those cases, it's the destination that people enjoy rather than the journey.

Your game needs to be designed around grinding to make grinding fun, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I enjoy grinding in HDN because it makes battles rewarding and you always feel like you're going somewhere. I don't mind grinding in Dark Souls because the encounters are dynamic enough that I'll not only likely have fun in them, but also I'll also know that grinding will never be necessary because every encounter in the game can be cleared regardless of stats. Knowing what you want your grind to be and how your playerbase will feel about doing it can be one hell of a strength.

I don't mind grinding, however I don't like for it to be a focus and a necessity to get past things in a game. A game I think got that down pat was Chrono Trigger. I never felt the need to go back and fight more enemies to level up because the difficult of the enemies was so well paced.

Pokemon is a game that I would say does grinding well, too. Like you kind of have to, in older games at least, but it's not totally necessary. And I don't mind it there? Because I like raising my Pokemon and it's easy to feel like I'm building a bond with those little pixels. Now, a game like Tales of Zestiria where you DO have to grind really pisses me off. The exp gain is bad and you're mostly trying to grind weapons and fuse them and shit and it's just. I get that it's item-focused, but I don't think it was done well and it is just jarring to me how you can be at a point in the game where you're maybe level 50 and you're fighting bosses at 80. That's not a fair curve at all.

Like Cherrim though, I do find it somewhat relaxing. I remember grinding for the final boss fight in Birth By Sleep (all three times) and throwing on a playlist of VGM and muting the actual game and just beating the shit out of enemies for a couple of hours before I decided it was time to do the big match. I love grinding in Pokemon too, as I mentioned. I like raising all sorts of Pokemon and I don't find it all that monotonous, honestly. It's fun watching my team get stronger, evolve, learn new moves, etc.

I dislike grinding and looting games. I prefer games where you need skill to win and not better weapons to win a battle.

I'm okay with it to an extent. As long as my concentration is split and I am not solely focused on it, I find it almost enjoyable - like if I was listening to music and talking to somebody, or thinking about whether reincarnation offers me much comfort. Utter immersion equates to pure hell. And I'm sort of conscious about time-wasting, so there's this terrible shame factor involved too.

Music and deep thinking make it glorious. So I'm a fan, but with strict criteria.