Discussion: Is Grinding Fun?
One of the most diversive and controversial JRPG-mechanics, and one that started as a design-shortcurt — Is grinding even fun, or is it still an excuse for impossible balancing?
To preface, I love grinding. But I understand people who doesn’t.
Grinding started as a way for RPG designers in the 80s and 90s to jump the large hoop of balancing on top of the very limited technology they were working with. This meant that they could work on other things that RPGs are widely known for; dialogue, monster designs, equipment and a very large game world. Balancing is a gigantic undertaking, even today, so the fact that designers could skip a portion of that work was well worth it.
Grinding was then marketed as a gameplay decision to make the players feel engrossed in the world, and be engaged in the game for many hours, growing close to the main character(s) by continuously slaying enemies and getting stronger.
It worked, and maybe even more so than the developers thought. Not that they ONLY made grinding because of the shortcut in design, I’m sure they also meant for it to be fun for the players and wanted them to be engaged in the game.
I also think that because of the reception of the design-choice by players, developers realized that players actually had fun with the repetitive nature of slaying monsters, for the sake of getting stronger and progressing in the game.
Grinding then became a 50/50 of development shortcut and design choice, which actually massively increased the time spent on other innovations, making JRPGs some of the most impressive games of that era, because of their sheer scope.
In the late 90s and forward into the 00s and 2010s, balancing was no longer an issue, and grinding became more and more of a player-driven choice, as sort of a in-game difficulty slider — not to say that players were getting a little more tired of the same mechanics they were used to. Many systems and games were no longer a novelty, and developers had to innovate more than ever to make players hooked.
Grinding then became one of most diversive things in the JRPG community, and now we’re here in 2024. Grinding is still a thing, but it’s no longer a development shortcut, instead it’s a game design choice to prolong the game to get that sweet value that we players love so much.
However, many players, even JRPG fans can quickly drop a game if they feel like they have to grind too much, so now the question quickly becomes:
Is Grinding Even Fun?
And it depends on many factors that include:
- Animations: Are the animations smooth and good-looking?
- Visuals: Is the art-style and graphical decisions visually pleasing?
- Sound: Does the sound and music give players “that kick”?
- Art: How are the characters designed? Are the enemies fun to encounter?
- Controls: How easy is it to attack and to take other actions?
- Transitions: Is the transition between combat and world seemless and fast?
Quite a bit of factors come into play to decide if a game’s grinding is fun or not, but they’re all elements that determine if a game ITSELF is good.
A game like Dragon Quest XI (11) does these things very well, same with a more modern take like Octopath Traveler. They’re both visually appealing and easy to control with some great art and rewarding sound-design, and both are great games overall.
So perhaps that’s just the conclusion; JRPGs are difficult to make genuinely good games, but when they are good, grinding them also becomes fun.
