Game Discussions Game with most tedious grind....

[jasonbarron]

After spending three years trying to supervise our store's inventory/stocking team, and trying to get them to reach the minimum level of expected productivity, I have to agree. Half the new hires would quit because I actually expected them to do the job they're being paid to do, while many of those that lasted eventually got promoted to other, better paying positions.

I recently stepped down from that position, because of the stress of having to rebuild that team constantly, because the company recently added salaried management responsibilities to the position (if I had wanted those responsibilities, I would've gone into the management program long ago), and quite frankly I'd gotten tired having to get up at 3am and missing out the rest of my family's lives.

The funny thing is that I actually lasted a lot longer than most of my predecessors, as well as my successor. It's telling that it took him less than a week to come up to me and say, "Now I know why you stepped down."

The game of Real Life can get pretty grindy at times.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

That's how I feel about Space Engineers. One could argue that it is grindy, and indeed it is to some extent, but the beauty of the game is as you progress, you invent new and better ways to gather resources, through better equipment and eventually automation. It is the challenge of, "How can I make a better drilling rig?" and "How can I automate component production?" that makes the game so wonderful IMO. Perhaps HG has also added this aspect to NMS since I played last (which was before all the "wires" were added).

The wires are the thing I like least in NMS. I just can't see any plus point for them and personally would much rather Thier existence was abstracted . They add to the polygon count to a base, they are a pita to make the go where you want sometimes and they look unsightly.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Oddly I'm going to nominate two games that I really enjoy.

NMS can feel a bit grindy when filling up on resources for building, and STALKER (series) can feel the same when moving stashes around and hoovering up loot.

I need to play stalker actually. It's been in my library for donkeys years.

 

[Iskariot]

So i am still a looooong way from a corvette or a cutter in ED.... the thing is, to me that is important, to have a long term goal. It saddens me when I see FD (imo) cave in and accelerate everything so that stuff can be gotten in a handful of hrs. 2000 hrs into ED and i am maybe half way to those big ships and that is just fine... I may never get them and again that is ok, so long as it is possible, i am cool with it.

but speeding up stuff too much to "reduce the grind" that some complain about actually has the opposite effect to me and makes me not want to play. I need long term goals to motivate me, and i seem to speend more and more time making rules and banning content from myself to keep those long terms goals alive.

A thousand times this.

It irritates the hell out of me when I read on the forums "I am new at this game, and my Anaconda....."

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

A thousand times this.

It irritates the hell out of me when I read on the forums "I am new at this game, and my Anaconda....."

Indeed but it isn't the players fault imo it is a tough one because as I have said in principle I really do not care what others have.
I suppose for me in an ideal world there would be a sandbox mode and a realism economy mode that way everyone could be happy.

 

[EUS]

Since i'm pretty picky about which games I purchase, and I end up playing them for years, ED is the grind-iest game I've played.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

It could be a lot worse. If you have read Sir Terry Pratchetts' book "Only You can Save Mankind" you would run across a character known as Wobbler. He wrote a game called "Journey to Alpha Centauri". It was a screen with some dots on it. Because, he said, it happened in real time, which no-one had ever heard of until computers. He'd seen on TV that it took three thousand years to get to Alpha Centauri. He had written it so that if anyone kept their computer on for three thousand years, they'd be rewarded by a little dot appearing in the middle of the screen, and then a message saying, "Welcome to Alpha Centauri. Now go home."

 

[MAD DOG MacD]

Those complaining that games are too grindy are not going to enjoy the real world. You will NOT be rewarded simply by showing up. You are expected to work for your money. Don't feel you need to work, then you don't get.

Which means going out there and doing something in order to accomplish a task. It's all transferrable.

Most of the games are the same way. You actually have to do something to get something, within reason. I'll agree with the consensus that NMS is uber-grindy to the point, I can only play the game for a little bit and put it down for months at a time.

ED has checks and balances, it's like life, you have to work for your reward as no one will just give it to you.

Gary

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

It could be a lot worse. If you have read Sir Terry Pratchetts' book "Only You can Save Mankind" you would run across a character known as Wobbler. He wrote a game called "Journey to Alpha Centauri". It was a screen with some dots on it. Because, he said, it happened in real time, which no-one had ever heard of until computers. He'd seen on TV that it took three thousand years to get to Alpha Centauri. He had written it so that if anyone kept their computer on for three thousand years, they'd be rewarded by a little dot appearing in the middle of the screen, and then a message saying, "Welcome to Alpha Centauri. Now go home."

Is that the prequel to desert bus simulator on sega CD? (Now with VR.port on PC)

 

[PiLhEaD]

I need to play stalker actually. It's been in my library for donkeys years.

Oooh I envy you experiencing for the first time - which one(s) do you have?

If it's 'Shadow of Chernobyl' (ShoC) I'd suggest persevering with it - it's not a game that flatters the player, and the early stage was a bit off-putting for me. If it's 'Call of Pripyat' it's an easier start, and if it's 'Clear Sky', then it's a decent start, but it's generally acknowledged as the weakest game of the trilogy.

The other huge aspect to the series is the modding community and, strangely perhaps, I'd actually suggest applying 'Complete' for ShoC, as it doesn't change the game overly, but it certainly smooths out some of the rougher edges that even the final version of the game has - it also improves the atmosphere and graphics imho.

 

[PiLhEaD]

Those complaining that games are too grindy are not going to enjoy the real world...

I play games to escape from the more mundane aspects of life, and is one of the reasons I never enjoyed The Sims. And of course, no one pays me to play games, whereas I do get paid for working - so that's a fair exchange.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Oooh I envy you experiencing for the first time - which one(s) do you have?

If it's 'Shadow of Chernobyl' (ShoC) I'd suggest persevering with it - it's not a game that flatters the player, and the early stage was a bit off-putting for me. If it's 'Call of Pripyat' it's an easier start, and if it's 'Clear Sky', then it's a decent start, but it's generally acknowledged as the weakest game of the trilogy.

The other huge aspect to the series is the modding community and, strangely perhaps, I'd actually suggest applying 'Complete' for ShoC, as it doesn't change the game overly, but it certainly smooths out some of the rougher edges that even the final version of the game has - it also improves the atmosphere and graphics imho.

I have all 3 . (also have both versions of the 1st 2 metro games..... Christ I have more games than I know what to do with most untouched)...

You know what I am most hyped to play right now tho...... Horace! An 8/16 bit retro homage currently free on epic.

But I digress sorry.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I remember playing Ultima Online back in the day, and that was ridiculously grindy too. How many chopped trees & failed bows make 5cp again?

How could I forget UO? The game that gave me the tendinitis I still need to work around today? I was lucky enough to have a shop just inside the guard zone of Minoc, so I made good gold for the stuff I made in game, and sold that building for $500 when I quit, but I really wish I could go back in time and thwart past me on the head for her poor posture and not taking frequent breaks when playing.

 

[EUS]

Those complaining that games are too grindy are not going to enjoy the real world.

And here I thought we were just sharing our thoughts on our entertainment choices.

 

[Darth Wonko]

It irritates the hell out of me when I read on the forums "I am new at this game, and my Anaconda....."

Right? I personally would love to see the Anaconda removed from the game or nerfed all to hell. I find it horribly offensive (which is silly of me) that it has the furthest jump range of all ships.

At least Cutters and Corvettes require something other than credits to purchase.

Those complaining that games are too grindy are not going to enjoy the real world. You will NOT be rewarded simply by showing up. You are expected to work for your money. Don't feel you need to work, then you don't get.

Which means going out there and doing something in order to accomplish a task. It's all transferrable.

Most of the games are the same way. You actually have to do something to get something, within reason. I'll agree with the consensus that NMS is uber-grindy to the point, I can only play the game for a little bit and put it down for months at a time.

ED has checks and balances, it's like life, you have to work for your reward as no one will just give it to you.

Gary

Yeah... but, I play games to GET AWAY from the grind of real life.

 

[Vasea Azure]

Those complaining that games are too grindy are not going to enjoy the real world. You will NOT be rewarded simply by showing up. You are expected to work for your money. Don't feel you need to work, then you don't get.

Which means going out there and doing something in order to accomplish a task. It's all transferrable.

Most of the games are the same way. You actually have to do something to get something, within reason. I'll agree with the consensus that NMS is uber-grindy to the point, I can only play the game for a little bit and put it down for months at a time.

ED has checks and balances, it's like life, you have to work for your reward as no one will just give it to you.

Gary

Gary, you sound like a very competitive, coop/mp focused player. I myself am the opposite, I play games to get away from real life "grind" as far as possible

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

"This game" (by which I assume you mean Elite: Dangerous) doesn't require you to grind. Pretty much everything you want to do in the game can be done in small ships. Even large ships can be acquired and outfitted without grinding, but doing so requires you to actually pay attention while playing the game. Players grind because they choose to do so, either out of a belief it'll get them what they want faster, because they'd rather split their attention while playing this game, or just because they can't be bothered to learn how the game actually works.

Games that I've played that required grinding?

Biggest one I've ever played is NMS. You need to grind for the materials necessary to grind for the materials necessary to grind for the materials you need to stay alive on a planetary surface long enough to grind for the materials necessary to launch your ship. Survival games in general tend to have a bit of a grind by nature, but that game took it up to 11, to the point where not even VR could keep me engaged long enough to accomplish anything, which is really saying something. For me, the early game is the most important aspect of a survival game, because I tend to play them iron-man once I've learned the basics, but the early game in NMS was just too much of a grind for me to ever want to play again.

There are other games I've played outside the survival genre that could be a grind at times, but generally that grind is limited to getting past certain stages of the game, as opposed to the entire game itself.

I agree regarding Elite.

I think the best part of Elite was that for a long time I really felt like a nobody in a huge galaxy. When Engineers were introduced, it felt like a story mode, and a great way of experiencing all aspects of the game - then, since I scooped up whatever I found, I had enough mats for most of the upgrades anyway - apart of a few exceptions.

As a second thought, I think the grindiest game I played was Final Fantasy X - that required tons of boring fights to level up characters just to advance in the story.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Right? I personally would love to see the Anaconda removed from the game or nerfed all to hell. I find it horribly offensive (which is silly of me) that it has the furthest jump range of all ships.

At least Cutters and Corvettes require something other than credits to purchase.

I love the Anaconda on the basic principle that it has its bridge at the back like the Corvette, both on monitor and in VR it is awesome to push that bow out of a mailslot. But my favorite designs are the Corvette and the FDL.

Having said that, Anaconda's main issue is its hull mass at 400t, should be at least 800t or more.

 

[jasonbarron]

If someone says "ED has grind" everybody assumes you're just talking about getting into an Anaconda

 

[Iskariot]

Indeed but it isn't the players fault imo it is a tough one because as I have said in principle I really do not care what others have.
I suppose for me in an ideal world there would be a sandbox mode and a realism economy mode that way everyone could be happy.

No, definitely not blaming the player, I am blaming the ease with which credits can be had nowadays.
For me personally a lot of the fun is in having to work for something. Even just buying the Viper really meant something to me in the early days, earning enough to buy a Python and upgrading its modules was a huge undertaking. When I bought the Anaconda after 16 months or so I could not even afford to upgrade it and first had to park it and earn more credits in my Python. I loved that.

But nowadays people can post comments saying "I am new to this game, and my Anaconda..." Being new and already having the credits for an Anaconda should not be possible.
I think this is bad for the game as such. There have to be long term goals. There need to be things at the horizon you want to earn the credits for.
For some the carrier might become such a thing.... which is good for them.
Sadly for me, being a soloist, I do not see the point of the carrier at all.