61 Frames Per Second

The Things We Do For Levels

Posted by Bob Mackey

It all started about 10 years ago with a little game called Final Fantasy VII--actually, it started many years before that, but in my head the origin of this particular issue starts with Square's world-changing blockbuster. You see, as a teenager with a lot of time on his hands and no real income to speak of, I felt obligated to get the most out of every game I purchased; and with Final Fantasy VII, this meant I eventually invested hours and hours in the delightful field of Chocobo breeding. But there was just one problem: the racing necessary to beef up your breeding Chocobo's stats was extremely boring, and, if I remember correctly, only required the mashing of a single button.

My solution to combat this boredom? Whenever a race started, I would entertain myself by hitting "play" on the nearest VCR remote control--usually with a recent episode of The Simpsons--and come back to my game minutes later, already in progress. But the problem of needing backup entertainment to entertain me when my regular entertainment wasn't cutting the mustard didn't really dawn on me until later in life. Let's just say that I'm happy I never played video games on a picture-in-picture set; it probably would have corrupted my gaming habits permanently.

Since I still play RPGs, the problem of grinding (for levels, money, or anything) hasn't really gone away--though most modern developers are far more generous in this area than they have been in the past. Still, even remakes of old RPGs can pose a problem; I'm currently going through the bonus content of Dragon Quest IV, and I need about five more levels before I can take on some overpowered optional bosses--the only problem is that, at this point in the game, it takes about 45 minutes (my estimation) to gain a single level. So what have I been doing to combat the endless joy of hammering on the A button? You name it: listening to podcasts and audio commentaries, browsing the Internet on my laptop, catching up on old TV shows over at Hulu--anything, really, to keep me distracted from the task at hand. If I were to explain my mad multi-tasking to someone unfamiliar with RPGs, they'd probably think I was crazy--and I just may be.

So, what does everyone else out there do when grinding becomes a necessity? I can't imagine that I'm the only one who keeps multiple sources of entertainment at hand in case of boredom-based emergencies. Ah, the privileges of first-world living.

Related Links:

Roundtable Discussion: The Relevance of Japanese RPGs
Star Ocean and the HD-JRPG Conundrum
The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest IV – Chapters of the Chosen

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Posted Feb 23 2009, 12:00 PM

Filed under: rpg, jrpg, gaming habits, dragon quest iv: chapters of the chosen, grinding

Comments

Luke said:

For me it's levels, not loading - I usually have a book or DS perched on top of the PC for those squandered "Connecting to server" seconds. Though this ADHD-attention span isn't a handicap as I'm usually connecting to a first-person-shooter.

I play a lot of RPGs, but the second they start demanding grind is the second I'm out of there. Once I've completed the main story the completion percentage can go whistle.

February 23, 2009 12:13 PM

Roto13 said:

If I absolutely have to grind to proceed in a game because I'm just not strong enough despite fighting every enemy I've met so far, I just stop playing. Grinding isn't challenging or interesting or fun. It's more like work, and I don't play games to work.

February 23, 2009 1:49 PM

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

I rarely like to engage in grinding. But then, I rarely play RPGs, and the two aspects are no doubt related.

I usually do my grinding when the game is fresh, and build up a little early on if I'm able, or if I find a good spot.

Though I did love Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door so much, I was readily and willingly defending my title in the Glitz Pit. That part would have been so much better if you were allowed more contenders than just Rawk Hawk without throwing matches, though.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

February 23, 2009 8:29 PM

John H. said:

If I have to grind to advance, I usually play something else. Life is to short to engage in makework in the name of fun. There are plenty of other things out there to waste my time that I -have- to do without pulling that into things I do to enjoy.

The whole level-grinding thing comes out of a vestigal, misapplied aspect of simulationist RPGs like (classic) D&D. It has a place in those games, and those games can be fun even with experience systems in place, because the gaining of that experience is complex and challenging. In fact, the play itself is the real focus of those games; gaming experience is just a mechanism that provides a (somewhat illusory) sense of player empowerment and helps keep the game fresh as the players put more time into it by changing the scale, attempting to use the ever-rising power curve of RPG ability to triumph over current setting (n) to gain an edge before having to move to setting (n+1).

February 24, 2009 3:11 PM

Ian said:

Come to think of it, one of the few games I didn't mind grinding on was The World Ends With You. I think that's in part because of it's system...you could make it so that, without a doubt, you would get a certain rare item if you won the fight. I guess you could say then that I didn't mind it because the rewards were great.

February 25, 2009 2:07 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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