minimal grind RPGs

[pakopako]

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love doesn't even have random battles or any way to grind at all.

I'd put that as a tactics/strategy game. They generally don't (Shining Force, Der Langrisser, Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc.) Throw a player against a linear sequence of maps and watch the chaos!

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (which isn't as bad as people say it is, but it's certainly not great).

A good SNES game. Speed runs clock it at about 3 hours. Regular runs take 10-20 depending on how much you grind. And yes, you can grind in the game. (Because battles are elective, you can either search for enemies in dungeons or enter a "battle point" on the map that lasts up to ten fights each.)

How about the SaGa series? It has its roots in the GBclassic Final Fantasy Legend series and extends to the SNES and the PS/PS2 era. These games generally do not have XP. Akin to Final Fantasy 2 (NES), you can stats depending on how well your battle went.

The GB games were a bit rougher, but I feel moved faster. The 1st GB game gave you three classes and a variety of starting templates. The classes were "Monsters" (set stats supposedly on par with the current dungeon; but you could game the system to get advanced ones), "Humans" (you had to buy upgrades to grow), and "Mutants" (they gain stats, and spells, randomly at a variable rate).

The 3rd GB game uses a standard XP system, but is fairly easy that you don't need to grind. They also make everyone a "monster" class -- you have the option of, instead of managing your weaponry, turning into a monster mirroring your XP level with a pre-made attack set.

The 2nd GB game I feel is the most polished. "Humans" and "Mutants" both gain stats after battle, but "Mutants" may also learn new attacks instead. "Monsters" remained the same, but there is a new "Robot" class whose stats are determined by their purchased equipment. (Gold is fairly easily farmed.)

I'd also recommend action RPGs like the Secret of Mana series, or Crystalis (NES > GBC version).

[brunoafh]

Suikoden. The way the xp system is designed, grinding is not only unnecessary, it isn't really possible. Also, once you become too strong to gain any substantial xp from whatever weak enemies you may be fighting, the "Run" option turns to "Let go". Let go will instantly end the fight. This saves major time as you can imagine. A grindless RPG, that is also strangely underrated.

[mobiusclimber]

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love doesn't even have random battles or any way to grind at all.

I'd put that as a tactics/strategy game. They generally don't (Shining Force, Der Langrisser, Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc.) Throw a player against a linear sequence of maps and watch the chaos!

Actually, FFTactics is one of the most grind-heavy RPGs (and strat-RPG) I've ever played. I'm not sure if it's that it's necessary to grind in it or just that the game really seems to be all about maxing out your characters more than it is about going thru a story. Shining Force is also very grindy if you don't want to tax your brain too much. Is a battle a bit difficult and/or your characters are getting picked off? Just cast escape (or whatever the spell was called... Egress I think?) and go back to town. Heal up and start the fight all over again from the top. Not saying it's the ONLY way to get thru the game, but I certainly had to do it often enough. Not sure about the other two you mentioned b/c I could never get into that style of strat-RPG (where you don't control individual characters).

[Arbitern1]

Paper Mario and Paper Mario 2 the Thousand Year Door require no grinding at all.

[greg]

I actually like the original Grandia better than Grandia 2, but they are both great. I just feel the original's combat system was slightly better and the story and characters had more charm. Grandia has my favorite combat system to date in a Japanese rpg. It's all about learning how to use it properly, rather than levels and stats

I agree. I have a friend (Specineff on this forum) who has played the 2nd but yet never played the 1st. Grandia 2 is a great game, but Grandia 1 has the charm, storyline, and characters that are much better. Plus the sound effects by Skywalker Sound in the 1st game is just incredible. Too bad that the Saturn version was never ported domestically. At least we got the inferior PS1 port.

[MidnightRider]

Did I miss something with Grandia? I can recall not liking it due to, not level grinding, but skill/magic grinding. Seemed like one had to grind the hell out of each skill/spell to get a better one, let alone to get anything effective enough for the end game.

Shenmue: People tend to see the ability to talk and travel/explore as RPG elements, which are about the only thing Shemue or anything Zelda have in common with the genre. Not sure how no one can see Shemue as an adventure game. It has bits of hybridization, since the action is akin to beat em ups, and you have the arcade to play around in, but otherwise, just plain adventure.

On topic....well, just about anything I could think of has already been mentioned.

[Opa Opa]

Don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but Chrono Cross doesn't require grinding.

[MidnightRider]

I just remembered something, you didn't exclusively say JRPG's, so.... Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic(both), Jade Empire, Mass Effect, the Elder Scrolls series(the enemies scale with the levels you have, which kinda dissuades grinding, if the overall level system already didn't)....

[jfrost]

Final Fantasy VIII. Explore the junction system and you're golden. Only the bosses have fixed levels, the rest of the enemies get stronger the more you level.

In fact, leveling is a nice system of forcing monsters to drop different items. But you really never need to do it to complete the game.

[greg]

Final Fantasy VIII. Explore the junction system and you're golden. Only the bosses have fixed levels, the rest of the enemies get stronger the more you level.

Ugh! You just end up grinding the magic draws with FF8. FF8 is a turd, IMHO. I gave up on Thousand Arms because I didn't like the combat system. But I actually finished FF8, despite hating the combat system, just because I hated that game so much and I refused to let it have victory over me.