Forced Grinding

Grinding is a fairly standard part of RPG video games. Maybe it's for levels so you can actually beat the random encounters. (Like in, say, The 7th Saga, which I finally beat a few years ago after deciding to just kill the same mobs over and over for hours on end until I was powerful enough to win.) Maybe it's for reputation so you can buy new gear. (World of Warcraft is a prime example of this one!) Maybe it's for a rare item drop. (I've still never gotten a pink tail in Final Fantasy IV, though I have certainly tried!) Final Fantasy V can have you grind AP to level up your jobs. Final Fantasy X can have you grind in an attempt to capture every monster type in a zone.

But is it fun? In some of these cases I'd say it is. In others I'd say no. In each case you're being forced to repeat some task. Running in circles spawning fights in order to capture all the monsters would at least appeal to some people. The task is related to the goal. You want to catch them all? You need to find them all! In other cases it seems a little over the top. The 7th Saga was just not balanced properly. You didn't gain nearly enough levels by just playing the game and therefore had to spend a lot of time doing nothing interesting. Reputation grinds in World of Warcraft were sometimes fun and were sometimes a real chore. It mostly depended on how interesting and varied the ways of gaining that rep were.

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals has a very interesting take on level grinding. It's an action-RPG and they seem to have made a real concession that some people will just be better at controlling an action fighter than others. The fights aren't super hard and I'm pretty sure just gaining a lot of levels will be good enough for most people to win. But the game is primarily about solving puzzles and a great plot. Why should some people have to run in circles grinding mobs?

Instead what they did is abstracted grinding levels away entirely. You still gain levels normally by playing the game but if you get wiped out you're presented with the following three options:

• Restart game from previous checkpoint. (Basically an auto-save feature.)
• Reload a previous saved game.
• Restart game from previous checkpoint and gain 5 levels for free.

Did you die because you weren't used to the boss pattern and want to give it another go? Choose the first option. Did you die because you forgot to stock up on potions? Choose the second option. Do you just think you need some more levels before you'll be tough enough for the fight? Choose the third option and get those levels instantly. No need to wander around in circles doing something tangentially related to the game!

Part of me looks at that option with disdain. Gamers these days are being coddled! Cartman had to kill boars for 2 experience apiece in order to be tough enough to win his fight and you should have to do so too! Stupid easy mode! Personally I haven't chosen that option yet (I have died a few times but I've figured out how to beat the fights eventually without just powering over them.) but I think it's existence is actually a really good thing. Without that option some people would just go grind levels without enjoying it. Some people would work at getting better at the mechanics of the fight. And some people would just quit.

Personally I belong in that second camp. I want to find a way to get better and don't mind doing some pretty silly/boring stuff to pull it off. But why should everyone be forced to play games the way I do? Games in the past happened to be set up in a way I like (or do I like doing things this way because of games in the past...) but that doesn't mean they have to be set up that way forever. Perhaps most importantly I can still play my way! Especially in a game with a good story that you want people to see it just makes sense to have different paths to victory.