What do you think on grinding?

[Sasori]

I think Awakening does it rather well. You can grind as much as you want, but its not necessary to complete the main storyline. You can grind to give the children some nice skills, but i'm far too lazy to bother with that so I usually keep my grinding to a minimum.

[Ike-Mike]

When people complain the game is a ‘grindfest’, they do not understand what is going on. It is a game of growth. A game where getting a new item or spell totally changed your experience.

[BrightBow]

You would rather make it easier for the designers to choose what to force the player into rather than make it easier for the player to adjust the difficulty as they see fit?

Funny, I wasn't aware that the game was made for the developers.

That's not what I mean at all.

What I mean is that it allows a challenging level design where the outcome depends on the player's ability.

And not by the player's tolerance in performing repetitiveness tasks.

And we do have difficulty levels already.

Though, I do wish it was more like the Tales series where you can change the difficulty later on. A Fire Emblem campaign is too long to expect the players to restart the whole thing if they hit a dead end.

Edited April 30, 2013 by BrightBow

[Murdok Dracul]

Grinding in story mode simply for the sake of getting stronger feels like cheating, so I didn't do much of that...but getting stronger isn't the only reason for going into challenges or sidequests. The random appearances of enemies on the map, I didn't pay much attention while I was still going through the story, but I did battle the daily Spotpass character each time one appeared, and I played the DLC maps once each (though EXPonential growth isn't available here yet so it's not like I broke the game with it), just to get as much out of the game as possible, not because I wanted to make my team stronger. Admittedly, I did grind the few children and Spotpass characters that I used, but only to make them catch up with the difficulty level, not to make them too powerful. Except Jaffar, he's already amazingly awesome.

[Khainiwest]

I feel as though as limit breaker killed the balance for lunatic+. I managed to beat it before the EXP release, so there was no means to really grind, I just relied on my avatar to become a boss killer. Now I enjoy the game more because I can expand on my characters, really see who makes a nitch. Noire/Inigo conversations are possibly my favorite, Noire/Severa/Morgan(F)specifically being my favorite girl trio.

But even with max stats, max grinding, forged weapons, it still reflects some difficulty. Limitbreaker however just kind of broke it. WIth that skill you can solo map's pretty much. I enjoy the growing of the characters of the personalities I like, and making them the best they can be. That's how I have fun with my FE games.

[KnightOfCalc]

Grinding is the way to get the Gold!!!

I like grinding, but I always have a file where I do the difficulty for real.

[Renall]

I don't grind until Chapter 25 is cleared anyway, and I only grind on Normal files I feel like trivializing to try out pairings or build Streetpass teams.

If you're grinding to max stats on any difficulty other than Normal/Casual and doing it pre-Exalted Falchion, you're just wasting your time unnecessarily. Play the game normally on harder difficulties and just keep a Normal file for the fun OP stuff.

That and nothing is more smug than having your Avatar with a silly expression and "N/C. Deal with it." greeting quote when the other player checks and sees you're Normal/Casual.

[Tamanoir]

Well, I always grind to death and then get bored because it makes the game to easy.

But, now I use grinding to obtain support conversation (and renown).

[Rehab]

I see the question as age-old barebones game design, where you start out each level the same as you did the last (see: a ton of platformers, shooters, still a fair number of action games) and/or were guaranteed to have access to certain resources each time you got to a certain level, versus, say, Civilization, or sports. There are no discrete blocks of challenges in a lot of strategy games of the sort, no "levels" in the same sense, you just go from start to finish. As you progress, at least as a beginning player, it's harder to know for certain if, as you're progressing, you're "making your way closer to victory," or "have made so many mistakes as time went on that you've ultimately made it impossible to claim victory," due to having fallen irretrievably behind another player (AI or human), or if you've otherwise dug a hole for yourself.

Fire Emblem is sort of a mix. The games are most commonly made up of a succession of discrete challenges, levels, but there's no guarantee that in each new level, one player will have tools at their disposal that will be equal to another player's tools. Given that you can't go back and build (or preserve, in the case you let somebody die) your team differently if you save over your file, and that you don't know what challenges the next level will provide until you get there, it's hypothetically possible to go into a level that your team is unprepared for, or has a much harder time clearing than they might've, otherwise. Players used to the conventions of the series generally will generally be able to take what the games throw at them and know how to avoid any dramatic roadblocks like that, but it's still possible (especially for the uninitiated) to have a bit of that long-term existential dreading of a challenge you're not prepared for, and have no way of getting better prepared for that doesn't involve starting over in a separate playthrough.

Overworld grinding alleviates that area of unsureness. Which is nice for completely eliminating those CAN'T EVEN PROGRESS SHIT GAME 0/10 scenarios. Though I'm also fine with that long-term team-building-against-time challenge, I just think the game should be honest about it, and that it wouldn't be too detrimental to give players the option to opt out of it.

And I don't usually take much offense at people grinding, overlevelling, or abusing game systems in whatever way they like, at least in single-player games. Like all of the challenge a game provides is ultimately accepted voluntarily just by choosing to play it anyway, I personally don't think it's worth getting upset about how anybody else chooses to respond to that challenge.

[Thor Odinson]

I don't really care about other people grinding, but if they come up to me and, unironically and/or unjokingly bash me due to my lack of full shiny stats/op skills while I'm still in storyline mode since I don't grind until postgame, they can go fuck themselves.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I don't really care about other people grinding, but if they come up to me and, unironically and/or unjokingly bash me due to my lack of full shiny stats/op skills while I'm still in storyline mode since I don't grind until postgame, they can go fuck themselves.

Wait, whos doing that? Srsly....

[shadykid]

Wait, whos doing that? Srsly....

think of the people who grind with Donnel and then claim he's the best character

it's those guys

[Loki Laufeyson]

O.o

I actually havent encountered people who grind Donnel and claim hes the best thing since smoked gouda. Anyone with a brain who has played the game knows how fucking irritating it can be to train Donnel.

[HeroMystic]

O.o

I actually havent encountered people who grind Donnel and claim hes the best thing since smoked gouda. Anyone with a brain who has played the game knows how fucking irritating it can be to train Donnel.

I've met 3 people so far who says Donnel is the best character due to grinding, or playing Normal mode. They even generically talk about how he's awesome when switched him to Mercenary to use Armsthrift.

And this particularly irritates the hell out of me, because it's the same story 100% of the time.

[Just call me AL]

O.o

I actually havent encountered people who grind Donnel and claim hes the best thing since smoked gouda. Anyone with a brain who has played the game knows how fucking irritating it can be to train Donnel.

I have. Though he does seem like the only one who does. Though the type of site he frequents is a little questionable per se (I don't exactly know which sites he frequents aside from one.), and it doesn't seem to be all too serious even when compared to someone like a Nino fan who claims she's actually worth the effort you have to put into her.

But I digress.

As for the topic, I do some grinding yes. Mainly for postgame, supports, DLC, and just so I have a skill I want on a certain child character. (Especially if the child in question is Male!Morgan, Inigo, Owain, or Brady.)

[Junkhead]

Funny, most of the time when people talk about linearity in video games it's because they think a game is too linear. I'm sure as hell glad to have more options, at least on the runs where I choose to go for side chapters.

I actually prefer linearity in FE games. Everything else I feel has been stated by Bright Bow. I want the game to reward me for an actual acomplishment that isn't countlessly eating my time only to beat the game as if it were Kindergarten Mode.

Soul has already mentioned my only complaint:

I find it annoying when people say, "Oh, I beat Lunatic+. Heck, it wasn't that hard!"

...And then they say they ground their units...

Seriously, it takes the fun and strategy out of a Fire Emblem game!

Granted, post-game is entirely different.

IS should've made it so that people could only go through each DLC once until post-game, where they could then grind.

A lot less people would be playing Lunatic+, though, if that were to happen...

I don't really care about other people grinding, but if they come up to me and, unironically and/or unjokingly bash me due to my lack of full shiny stats/op skills while I'm still in storyline mode since I don't grind until postgame, they can go fuck themselves.

This is what I'm ranting about it in the first place, lol.

I notice that, ironically, it's rather casual players (players who tend to grind, precisely) are the ones who went through LM/+ and have claimed that isn't really hard...-_-

Wait, whos doing that? Srsly....

I won't call out names, but someone in the chat once did.

"nm plays itself, hm is easy, lm is normal and lm+ is slightly hard".

...Um, yeah.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Walpurgisnacht

[Loki Laufeyson]

I won't call out names, but someone in the chat once did.

"nm plays itself, hm is easy, lm is normal and lm+ is slightly hard".

...Um, yeah.

o.O Wow.

Normal mode is hella easy though regardless of what you do. But calling Hard mode easy mode is lol. Its not super hard (i mean come on, i can beat it without grinding. And everyone knows im not a balls-to-the-wall hard mode player) but its not fuckin' easy mode. I clutch and play Casual on Hard mode. Lunatic? Im not sure i can even get to chapter 5 so i CAN grind.

[shadykid]

I notice that, ironically, it's rather casual players (players who tend to grind, precisely) are the ones who went through LM/+ and have claimed that isn't really hard...-_-

implying that casuals have the strategy to beat chapter 2 lunatic+

what a bunch of losers

(no but seriously, i doubt most players who grind like that are playing on lunatic)

[Vashiane]

Donnel is a bit of a pain to grind, but I feel the effort was worth it. Endgame Bow!Knight Donny doing 62 x2 with an steel bow? Yes. Endgame Bow!Knight Donny with Armsthrift and Astra bow? HELL yes.

Although, now that I think about it, using the words a "bit of a pain" is a SLIGHT under-exaggeration. -_-

Above statement is true. Me and my wacky out-of-the-box off-the-wall strategies keep me in Normal/Classic. And I grind. Quite a bit.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Vashiane

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

A bad player like me can finish Lunatic+, so anything can change!

No I dont recruit donnel. Screw that pot

Edited May 1, 2013 by JSND

[shadykid]

A bad player like me can finish Lunatic+, so anything can change!

Your end has come!

....oh this isn't the favorite quotes thread

Donnel grinding: a bit* of a pain

(* "a bit" meaning why am i wasting my time grinding this dude instead of Avatar)

[Loki Laufeyson]

Although, now that I think about it, using the words a "bit of a pain" is a SLIGHT under-exaggeration. -_-

Har. I only grind him when i want to pair him up and make a Super Baby. With Aptitude! (my last Noire..gods be good, my last Noire...so...broken...)

It takes hella days. So much Pair Up. So much EXPonential Growth...So yeah. Hes a right pain in the fanny to use! Reminds me of Amelia in FE8. I feel Donnel's pay off is better than Amelia's, but the time it takes is roughly the same. Most hardcore players arent gonna be fussed.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Donnel is much easier to train than miss Amelia

Also MIss Amelia never get out of being a Miss because of lolgrowth

DAT Aptitude

Edited May 1, 2013 by JSND

[Vashiane]

Har. I only grind him when i want to pair him up and make a Super Baby. With Aptitude! (my last Noire..gods be good, my last Noire...so...broken...)

It takes hella days. So much Pair Up. So much EXPonential Growth...So yeah. Hes a right pain in the fanny to use! Reminds me of Amelia in FE8. I feel Donnel's pay off is better than Amelia's, but the time it takes is roughly the same. Most hardcore players arent gonna be fussed.

Good thing I'm not that hardcore. And it so is. Watching Donnel tank everything in sight with his wife was a beautiful whirlwind of wind magic and arrows.

And I don't even have EXPonential Growth. So I pretty much camped out at chapter 3's store for Reeking Boxes. Thank God for Bullion drops and Leif's Blades.

[Thor Odinson]

Yeah see my thing with Donnel is, if you do grind then there's really no limit on what your characters levels are anyway so even if I grinded I wouldn't use him since fuck that shit Imma use all my favourite characters instead, and if you don't grind he's really hard to use

He has nice genes for daughters if you're into the galeforce postgame, but that's about it

That's my take anyway you're free to use him as however you like

And hell with no grinding my MU still capped str and skl by endgame on the power of strength asset/veteran/10 move/basically unkillable so yeah

52 strength man

Veteran OP

Edited May 1, 2013 by Thor Odinson