Yello's Gaming Journal
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October 18, 2025 - I enjoy the grind more than I should...
It's funny that I hear most people complain about grinding the most in games, as if it's the devil. While there are definitely instances of grinding actively exploiting players to keep playing for way too long. I actually enjoy the grind, especially with games I'm enjoying. I mean that's pretty obvious, right? You want to keep playing the games that you love. But what I really mean in "the grind" is trying to experience everything a game has to offer, such as collectibles, achievements, beating every level, etc.
Growing up, I had limited options for games, yet I spent SO many hours memorizing each of them for their own unique playstyle, content, and shortcomings. Even licensed games had all the attention I could give because they still had content for me to experience, however cheaply made. But nowadays, I have TOO many choices. I never liked the idea of unfinished business because they always linger in the back of my head. (I still have yet to get all the trophies in Smash...) So what I've been doing lately is going back to my older games and attempting to complete them. Some are genuinely impossible to fully complete, but I'd like to try anyway.
But more specifically, I wanna highlight the slow burn of intentionally grindy games. Leveling up and breeding are notorious in Pokémon games for being a grind. Modern entries essentially take away these time-sinks entirely, thanks to EXP Candy and lower egg cycles. But I oddly like to grind in older games a lot more. It's something about the time investment that feels a lot more satisfying than instantly making a level 100 Pokémon. I'm endlessly addicted to leveling up my main team in every game to level 100 the long way because that takes dedication. Completing the Pokédex is also a prime example of a grindy journey, yet I'm happily partaking in that struggle when I find a spare moment.
A more recent example that ignited this realization was when I finally picked up Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition a handful of weeks ago. I heard that game was insanely grindy, to the point where it turned some people off, but when I was looking back at gameplay, I was oddly intrigued. It look like a game with a juicy amount of content to sink my teeth into. So when I finally snagged a copy on eBay, I was instantly hooked by the endless loop of hacking and slashing my way through every enemy. It's so satisfying because it feels like an endless buffet that I'm for SURE getting my money's worth out of it.
So this is when I realized why I never tend to move onto new games because I find joy in exploring everything a game has to offer first, even if I don't necessarily have the skills to do so just yet. I can't just move onto the next shiny new game like some people. And honestly, that's better for my wallet in these trying times. $70 games are gonna be a hard pass for me...