/vr/ - Retro Games

I don't notice grinding much because I long learned that what passes as "grindy" tends to be people being unable to pass challenges without first grinding out 5-6 levels. What I do instead is keep pushing the envelope in a given game until I hit a soft stop. Then I start pushing out all the consumables, using magic items, changing up strategies, and otherwise ensuring that I'm not overlooking something. If I hit a "hard stop" where I absolutely need to grind, I reconsider if I want to keep pushing on. This approach allowed me to really minimize grind and maximize enjoyment in games that are considered "painfully" grindy (Final Fantasy I, for one thing).

My favourite way to deal with repetitive encounters to get XP was in Might & Magic 3: Isles of Terra. Game was short and sweet, dealing with easy encounters was just a matter of holding down "A" (no animations, no waiting around, just queue attacks on everyone and beat it down), and it had a way to shoot enemies from range (with bows or spells) to soften up tougher enemies before proper engagement. On top of that, you could eradicate settlements of creatures in order to get a hefty XP boost and prevent their respawning once and for all. That, and M&M also lets you teleport all over the map, setting "Lloyd's beacons" that recall you to whatever point of importance you might want, and you can use this to, for example, be pretty much permanently linked to a well that gives everyone double mana points for a day or +30 temporary levels. With these in your arsenal, you can keep pushing the envelope even further, and hunt down Chaos Hydras for like millions of XP at a time. I had a ton of fun with that game.