why grind?

[Demongeneral109]

can someone please explain the appeal in grinding? I have a friend who logged over 200 hours in Disgea three and can one-shot every opponent in the game with every character... I enjoy Disgea as much as the next JRPG fan... for the story, why anyone would go on without exposition or backstory motivation is beyond me... help me out Escapist nyoro~!

 

[Julianking93]

The hell if I know.

I typically avoid all games heavy on grinding. It's almost just a way to increase the game's length.

 

[Corven]

The hell if I know.

I typically avoid all games heavy on grinding. It's almost just a way to increase the game's length.

This is about the same answer I was going to give, some people just have the innate ability to do the same repetitive task over and over again without it causing severe boredom.

 

[SideSlyGuy]

No one "likes" to grind. The only reason I can think that people do is to get nice things. Hell, I spent a good 2-3 hours grinding in FF7 just to get Mug...

Grinding is just a way to make you work for something you want, and that's about all it does, ever.

 

[JetFool]

Grinding, and whether or not you enjoy it, is basically just a personal thing. I enjoy grinding, because I enjoy getting experience and items, leveling up, and all of the sort of slower-paced stuff like that. Grinding in games is kind of like studying in school. You might not have to do it, if you're good enough, but it can be very rewarding if you do.

 

[Asturiel]

Grinding is subjective to each person, some people hate it, some people love it, and some people don't notice it.

A good game will have you grinding for hours without you realizing you are grinding

 

[blankedboy]

Grinding can be good if it gets played around with. I tend to stick to the MMORPG that doesn't have any grinding

 

[delet]

Because it's amazingly satisfying to see the damage you deal steadily rise up and up beyond what you ever thought possible. In D2 on the PSP, I've recently got Laharl to dish out 21mil damage in a single hit, and he can dish out 14-17mil standard.

Maybe it's just me, but I quite like being far too overpowered like that.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

It's because of the reward of leveling. Sometimes I'll play a grind-tastic game, and, I'll be the first to tell you I don't enjoy doing the same battle again and again. But I do love how rewarding it feels when I level up. Speaking as someone who used to have some serious drug problems... it's kind of like a miniturized form of the addiction cycle (by which I mean the struggles aren't as terrible, but the high from leveling isn't as big either). You're not grinding because it's fun, you're grinding because the high from leveling is rewarding enough that you can forget how boring the grinding is in pursuit of it.

 

[Velvo]

Mmmm, I love grinding cause it stimulates my... wait. Video game grinding? BE MORE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR TITLES.

I'm just not a fan of JRPGs in general, so don't ask me. If I wanted to play a turn based strategy game, I'd play a Total War game. Much more interesting.

 

[gabe12301]

The grind is what keeps the players playing the game for so long.

 

[Riddle78]

From what I could gather from my observations of MMO players,"Grinding" is the act of staying in the same area of the game world in order to harvest a specific resource,be it EXP,minerals,Vespene Gas,or the flesh of your foes. It has a tendancy to temporarily,or sometimes permanently,drain an area of the specific resource.
From what you said,your bud ground for EXP in order to make the game laughably easy,and arguably,far less fun.
I never understood grinding. The closest thing I do to grinding is diving into every dungeon I pass,kill all hostile occupants,loot the place,sell the loot,return if I had to leave some swag behind.Repeat until I can buy out the Chateau de Roi.It's called being a "Self Contained Economy", and even AFTER I buy the Sword/Gun of Infinate Pwnage,I STILL have problems.

 

[Gilfareth]

To be honest, I don't know why people are willing to grind. I myself went completely bonkers with a certain Final Fantasy VII - 7, if you can't read roman numerals - , spending a total of thirty-two hours (not in a row, thankfully) using Morph on the creatures in the sunken Gelnika. Every enemy would become one source, and every source increased a stat by one point, and each battle took anywhere from three to twenty minutes each. I went until I had all three of my main-use characters with every possible stat at 255.

I -still- don't know why I did this. At the time, it was something of a trance; 'I HAVE to do this', I told myself. 'I HAVE to be the best I can be'. And I was, but beating Emerald and Ruby Weapons DOES NOT REQUIRE STATS AT 255. You can set both of them up to be almost completely automatic if you like, and I found that out not too long ago.

So why do people grind? I suppose in my case, I wanted to prove to everyone that played the game that I could be better than them. I realize now just what a twat it makes me seem to others. I don't grind anymore, because if a game doesn't let you win with pure skill using what you would normally have by that point, then I'm not forcing myself through shit.

 

[Space Spoons]

In my case, it's simply a matter of hardwired habits. See, when I was little, I used to watch my brother play Final Fantasy games on the SNES while waiting for my turn with Donkey Kong Country or whatever I had rented that weekend. When curiosity got the better of me and I decided to finally try the game for myself, I played the way any newbie to the JRPG genre would; I rushed it.

I was playing Final Fantasy II (the first US version of IV). Needless to say, my foolhardy playstyle landed me in hot water. Within a few days of starting my game, I had already hit a roadblock in the form of Milon, the first Elemental Fiend you face in the game. He really isn't difficult to defeat, if you're adequately leveled, and even if you're not, healing items and spells can dole out some serious damage. Of course, I didn't know that. I got stuck. To my inexperienced mind, there was only one solution; "Fight monsters, get strong." And so I fought. I fought and I fought and I fought, until I finally pushed through both Milon fights using only the Fight command (yes, even with Tellah, Palom and Porom, and no, it wasn't to show off. I just didn't know any better).

Long story short, I grind out of habit. It's been a long time since I was inexperienced enough to lose a fight in a Final Fantasy game, but even so I like to play it safe.

 

[PayneTrayne]

There's only one game I grind in, and it's Pokemon. And it's so that I can be the very best, like no one ever was. Without grinding, I'd never catch them, and therefore never train them (as is my cause). I spend hours grinding across the land, searching far and wide for more Pokemon to grind. I need to grind with them, so I can understand them, and the power that's inside.

 

[Mockingjay]

The appeal is the desire to be better than anyone else. Grinding can be fun anyway, as long as you have friends joining you.

 

[Flying-Emu]

I like grinding because it's a way to wind down after a long day at work. Sometimes I just can't be bothered to deal with extraneous explosions and twelve-year-olds screaming at me.

And PLEASE stop saying "nyoro~"

Seriously, what does that even mean?

 

[Tourette]

I play MMO's where grinding is the norm but only play MMO's that you quest and not have to spends hours grinding on mobs to get those extra few levels as there are not enough quests to fill this gap.
Therefore I would say I wasn't grinding but am playing the game and ideally, enjoying it.
The journey to the endgame is fun while you quest and helps you learn your class so when you get to endgame content you are proficient and therefore will be able to take part in endgame raids ect ect with ease.

 

[SimuLord]

If the rewards are parceled out at regular enough intervals to really feel like progress is being made, grinding doesn't feel like grinding. Blizzard has mastered this, which is why they've got millions addicted to their virtual crack.

It's not just MMORPGs either. Gaming in general tends to keep the interest of the player when there's a "just one more..." element to it, whether it's one more turn in a Civ-style game, one more building/service to construct in a city builder, one more run of goods in a trading game, or even one more thing to do in The Sims. This is why east-facing windows in bedrooms are evil---awful hard to fall asleep with the sun in your eyes.

 

[Kyrian007]

Grinding can be good if it gets played around with. I tend to stick to the MMORPG that doesn't have any grinding

I have to ask... seriously, and no disrespect intended. Is there such thing as an MMORPG that isn't at least 98% grind? Every one I've ever seen looks like a total grind sandwich. Every one of my friends who play MMORPG's seriously love grind and play for that specific reason. I dislike grind, and any kind of RPG usually contains too much grind. I love RPG's that make an attempt to reduce grind. FF VIII with it's level appropriate enemies allows you just to blast through the story, and I loved it. Western RPG's like KOTOR limit grind, and those are awesome. But even "limiting" grind in an RPG only takes it down to 35% or so. Hell, I thought Borderlands (an FPS for goodness sakes) had too much grind.

So just askin', what MMORPG limits grind? I might be able to like one for once. Up until now, I couldn't stand even a single hour of Everquest or WoW.