| Soriku said: If this were entirely true, how come you don't have to grind, or barely grind for a lot of games still? In DQ8 I never grinded for the main story. I doubt it's necessarily because I was so good at the game or something. So are some JP games more Western than others? :P |
This. Pretty much people throw the label of 'grinding' on Dragon Quest all the time. But more often than not, I've found its because its the way they play, not because the games themselves force you to stop and do excessive leveling outside of the main storyline. In fact, aside from Dragon Quest VII, I can confirm every other DQ game can be played just by fighting the enemies you see along the way and with the skills you obtain. 'Grinding' only helps you get new skills/stats earlier than you should have in a Dragon Quest game and is not necessary unless, frankly, you require the handicap to make up for not using the gear/skills/techniques given to you at that time.
This is a far cry from other JRPG series much more popular in the west. Such as Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter or how about the biggest grind of them all, Pokemon. All of which have very open leveling systems and skill sets, but as a result can lead to areas where you actually have to stop and 'grind' to proceed (such as not gaining a required magic spell from a skill tree with Espers/Materia/Sphere Grid in a Final Fantasy or having to stop and catch a specific type of Pokemon to defeat a gym leader).
Dragon Quest is very unique in the RPG world in how balanced it is in both battle engine and level cap. If you exceed the level cap, you won't gain much EXP and it encourages exploration into new areas. If you are too low in EXP, you can compensate with new gear and even techniques in battle.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
