What do you do to break the monotony of level gridning?

Recently, I had to do some Level Grinding in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and I didn't know what to do to make it seem like less of a grind. I ended up turning on Pandora and listening to music to help pass the time and it really got me in the zone. So I started thinking about what other people do to help grinding seem like less of a grind.

Okay, so really I'm hoping to get some good ideas that I can steal in the future, but I'm also curious.

Usually, I just turn on music. =d

I tend to stop for five minutes and think about my path in life. This became existentially miring, so I went to playlists of music instead.

The best strategy was to stop playing games that required grinding for success.

Edit: I once spent about an hour on an emulator trying to get Adamant in Final Fantasy IV from those damn pink puffs. I got through it by listening to stand-up comedy routines.

edited 20th Nov '10 8:39:10 AM by Zephid

I used to read books, but I would normally end up being more absorbed in the book than in the game.

I play tug of war with my dog sometimes. Got my laptop right next to my PC so sometimes I browse tvtropes

I would just stop, usually.

^Same here. If a game gets to the point where I'm not having fun playing it I tend to put it down and wait until random battles become enjoyable again. Or just give up on it altogether.

I'm of the opinion that grinding in a single player game isn't really an acceptable gameplay mechanic. If I find myself in a single player game which is built in such a way that some form of grinding is required, I'll re-evaluate my overall interest in this particular game. If it's some self-imposed grind that is not required to advance, but is to achieve a specific result that I want, that's up to me (those are pretty rare, though), but in those cases, I am by nature driven to do it, so I am less concerned about needing to break monotony. In fact, if it can be described as such, it's probably crossed that threshold where the reward is no longer worth it, and it's time to stop.

If it's an MMO...well I try to avoid it there, too. If I have friends to play with, I'll sometimes do some mild grinding. Most of the time, I just don't find it a productive use of my time. If I don't find the experience fun or interesting, it's missing the point of it being a game. I'll get there when I get there.

Switch things up a bit. Instead of fighting the same old enemies over and over, I'll mix things up and fight a variety of things. If that's not enough, I'll take breaks with other, less-productive activities in game, or do things that are incredibly stupid for my amusement. If THAT isn't enough, I'll also, say, browse TV Tropes and all.

This is assuming I'm at the point where I need to do heavy grinding, of course. Slight degrees of grinding come naturally to me, since I habitually want to gather and kill everything that I can.

edited 20th Nov '10 10:23:55 AM by Miijhal

Sometimes i try and see what other weird stuff i can get the game to do while i grind. Pulling as many monsters together at once, searching nooks and crannies of the grind area to see if i missed anything, jumping off tall buildings because i can. In Etrian Odyssey i imagine my pack of adventurers bickering with eachother over why they're doing something so monotonous.

Tends to make the grinding last longer, but definately makes it more fun.

The limited amount of grinding in Persona 3 (I remember there being more in Persona 4) never really got boring since I really like the battle system. And the battle theme.

I deal with it by the simple fact that I have gaming ADD.

If a grindy game starts getting boring, I'll put in a platformer until platforming gets boring! Or I'll swap back and forth to prevent either from getting boring.

Say I'm playing a RPG. I set the character on auto and open up another window and I start play a RTS. Then I get bored at that and i set the base on defense and open up a FPS. I start griefing other players with "advanced camping" and then i start exploiting a glitch and leave it racking up kills without doing anything. THEN I open up a city building game and build a lot of mines. I open another window and start playing tetris. I lose at Tetris and close that window. I've mined about 40000 ore and close that window. I've racked up 70 kills and got banned, and close that window. My base is still there and there is a flood of grunts running into automated gunfire and i close that window. I gain 10 levels in swimming and then i go buy some potions.

edited 20th Nov '10 1:47:08 PM by Carbonpillow

The best strategy was to stop playing games that required grinding for success.

This. If a game is so boring and monotonous I have to distract myself from it, it's no longer leisure and I should be wasting my time in other ways.

I don't grind. In the vast majority of RP Gs, the enemies you're forced to fight while exploring is enough to progress, although even exploring can be boring or annoying sometimes. If the game does require me to intentionally seek out battles solely for the purposes of levels and not for a quest or something, I'll stop playing.

I dunno, it depends on the game. With Disgaea, I just grind and grind and never notice that I'm actually grinding. I have fun grinding when I'm playing Disgaea. In other games, it's just boring so I tend to take it sizable chunks. Maybe 30 minutes every 6 or so hours.

The occasional random dungeon via the LFD tool in World Of Warcraft usually breaks up a dull questing session.

I play RP Gs very, very grindy as a general principle, even when I don't really need to. I would probably beat them faster if I eased up.

I really like curbstomping the bosses, I guess.

I usually just turn on music. It's remarkably effective, especially if the game has poor music in itself.

I've done that with Pokemon and Monster Rancher, but I found out I couldn't do it with Dragon Quest since I like the level up jingle too much.

Although Pokemon crossed with New-Age Retro Hippie music is quite something.

edited 20th Nov '10 3:29:41 PM by SparkyLurkdragon

I imagine each goon I fight to be some hammy, cocky ne'er do well and laugh in their face as I demolish those delinquents with my devastatingly powerful army. That, or I tuirn on music and input commands to the beat of whatever I'm listening to. It works.