History Main / ForcedLevelGrinding

* There's one speed-run of the first ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi Mario & Luigi]]'' where the person manages to beat the game ''without ever being hit'', completely taking away the need for any levels at all (besides attack power, of course).

** Disgaea usually has a point in the game where you can with stronger enemy bills through the dark assembly(or Cheat Shop in Disgaea D2) modify enemy levels to 99, which thanks to a quirk with the exp formula they give as much exp as killing a level 320 unit. the level this usually occurs on also has exp modifying Geo Effects which further boosts the exp the enemies give. From here you can quickly enough get to a level where you can easily run roughshod through the rest of the main story, or take a bit of extra time and grind up to take on the bonus dungeon and prep for the post game bonus bosses.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo 2]]'' can be beaten without any level grinding at all. On the first difficulty setting. But if you haven't been, then good luck with [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Hell]].

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' has ridiculously hard boss battles at some points of the game, depending on whether or not you use MoneyGrinding to buy guaranteed critical items. Problem? Every time someone new joins the group, XP gained from monsters drops. At the end of the game, you have 8 people in your party and the best fight in the game gives 3600 XP. It takes several ''hundred thousand'' to gain a level once you got to the 30s-40s. Trying to finish the game at the Lv30-40 range is not pretty as some of the later bosses can chew you up.

** The entirety of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII''. Special mention must be made for [[ThatOneBoss Garuda]], whose intended tactic involves four Dragoons -- all of whom must be raised to workable job levels. In the DS remake, the best jobs were nerfed, and the bosses (and most late-game RandomEncounters) are granted double -- sometimes [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill triple!]] -- turns. Even a properly-ground-out party can be demolished by a Back Attack in the World of Darkness before a single command actually goes off. Although equipping the lowly thief with double Dark Knifes and sitting him in the front row results in hitting the damage cap at level 35. As long as you've ground your job level high enough by stealing from absolutely everything. Even in a heavily-optimized SpeedRun of the NES version, grinds in the Hidden Road; Ancient Ruins; outside of the Ancient's Labyrinth and Cave of Bahamut are needed to survive.

** To put this things even worse to the extreme, there's an optional [[ThatOneAchievement achievement]] that requires you to claim the chest ten times which each character which in total is 300,000 tickets. With nine characters in total could accumulate 2,700,000 tickets. It could even take months or even years just to get that achievement.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'': In ''Joker'', when you have to deal with quadrilinear synthesis in order to Catch em' All, you'll have to do a ton of grinding to raise and synthesise the ridiculous requirements, many of which require high-end metallic slimes (which in turn require you to get a lot of the very difficult and annoying to get lower end metal slimes). Thankfully, in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker2'', it's been made somewhat easier. The English release gets Meddle Slimes, which are incredibly easy to catch post-game and turn into metal slimes when caught (allowing you to catch many of them without them becoming harder to scout). Not to mention that post-game, an entire, easy-to-access area composed of almost entirely Liquid Metal Slimes and Metal King Slimes is available, speeding up level grinding much faster.

* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' has one significant instance of this early on, in the first forest. You have little in the way of new armor and no new weapons, so you need to grind up from level 3 to somewhere around level 8 in order to get past the bosses at the end. Past there, new gear starts becoming available, which means you can build your levels at a more reasonable pace from then.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Since there is no LeakedExperience system in the game, you'll probably have to do at least some level grinding in order to keep the party members that you don't use as much strong enough for what you're facing. In addition, every few Chapters, the monsters in the surrounding paths to each location will increase in level, forcing even more grinding just to avoid getting crushed on the way to the other Chapters. This is definitely true in the endgame, as the TrueFinalBoss requires you to use all eight of your party members, four for the first phase and the other four for the second.

* Any game where [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits you know about timed hits]] and ActionCommands averts this to some degree, as the difficulty is a combination of levels and skill.
** There's one speed-run of the first ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi Mario & Luigi]]'' where the person manages to beat the game ''without ever being hit'', completely taking away the need for any levels at all (besides attack power, of course).
* ''VideoGame/The7thSaga'' for the Super NES is an infamous example. How much grinding is necessary differs from character to character (you can choose several beginning [=PCs=]), but gaining a few levels from town to town is absolutely necessary. In some areas it's possible to find monsters that one-shot you, leading to grinding 5 to 10 levels just to stand a chance.

** The game's story has you and 6 other Apprentices all competing at a common goal. Depending on the circumstances you may have to fight one of the others, and they employ LevelScaling. The problem here is that enemy Apprentices ''keep their ''Elnard'' stat growths''. The more you level grind, the harder they become. AntiGrinding and ForcedLevelGrinding in the same game!
*** It's often said that TheMedic Valsu becomes [[{{Unwinnable}} impossible to defeat]] at too high a level, but [[UrbanLegendOfZelda fortunately this is a myth]]. His ally version learns a GameBreaker spell called Elixir that full-heals both HP ''and'' MP, but his enemy version can never cast this. That said, the lack of Elixir will not stop the BadassPreacher from murdering you with his ''other'' healing, buffs, and ice magic.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Since there is no LeakedExperience system in the game, you'll probably have to do at least some level grinding in order to keep the party members that you don't use as much strong enough for what you're facing. This is definitely true in the endgame, as the TrueFinalBoss requires you to use all eight of your party members, four for the first phase and the other four for the second.

*** The main storyline can be beaten with no grinding, but then as soon as the postgame starts, everyone goes cuckoo for Treasure Maps. If you do a spot of exploring with your new GlobalAirship, it won't take you long to find an easy quest that gives you an interestingly-named Treasure Map. Hm, wonder who this [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII Baramos]] fellow is, and [[BonusBoss why his name]] [[NintendoHard is on this map]]...and the false sense of security combined with the total lack of in-game warning (apart from the name alone, for ''Dragon Quest'' vets) might lead you to believe that this couldn't possibly be ''that'' hard. Also, the difficulty levels of the "normal" Treasure Map grottoes are fond of spiking.

** The epilogue stage in the GBA remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', starring all the game's dead characters, is made up of two dungeons, a BonusBoss, and a final boss. Needless to say, since the characters are nowhere near as strong as the main heroes were at the end, you have to do a ''lot'' of grinding to be able to even get near the boss, let alone beat him.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' it's usually possible to keep up to pace without grinding, but completing the Cave of Eidolons is impossible without grinding Rosa to level 36 (40 in the DS remake), at which point she learns the spell necessary to defeat the PuzzleBoss there. The [=DS=] remake, on the other hand, is a bit less merciful to players who've been working their way straight through. Some of the monsters-in-a-box which were easy enough in the original now provide one-shot kills to a non-ground party, and heaven help you if you haven't built up at ''least'' 10 levels before you're able to survive fights at all on the Lunar Surface. This especially holds true for the [[BonusDungeon Lair of the Father]], where the average enemies tend to eat you for breakfast. Strangely, the ''BonusBoss'' is pretty easy, with the right strategy. On the other hand, the accelerated rate at which you gain levels in the [=DS=] version means that Rosa reaches level 40, and learns the spell noted above, well ''before'' reaching that part of the game. Also worth noting is a bit of forced [[MoneyGrinding gil grinding]] in ''FFIV'' -- specifically, grinding to buy armor that [[TheHero Cecil]] can wear [[GoodCostumeSwitch post-class change]] so he doesn't have to fight naked anymore (it's a bad idea to fight like that when one is the StoneWall, after all). There's only one armorer in the one town available, and the only wares he's got on offer cost about 15,700 gil for the whole offering -- roughly four times the amount required to buy the bundle in the last town. And the monsters in the few areas available to you? Conspicuously ''not'' [[MoneySpider Money Spiders]] -- as in, it doesn't really make a difference that you just went through a dungeon, the ''best'' encounters there gave double-digit gil ''tops''. While this can be partially alleviated by selling the old armor that Cecil can't use anymore, because KarlMarxHatesYourGuts, it won't be anywhere near enough to cover the cost of the new armor on its own.

** All the {{Bonus Boss}}es play it painfully straight, however. Don't even ''think'' about entering a BonusBoss fight in a ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' game without a party of 99ers.

* This can happen in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. The majority of enemy encounters are player-initiated, and you can play through the story without refining your combat skills, making the FinalBoss and the ''final'' FinalBoss (not to mention the BonusBoss) fights almost impossible to win. The game encourages grinding, but it also rewards players with evolved items for ''not playing the game.''

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the consecutive objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its release and are a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day on which they choose to do a promotion drive, but, on any given day, promotion drives are mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols bring in two-to-three digit numbers of new fans, while knocking two digits off the sales of singles gives a good idea of the number of new fans they generate. Hitting the top five on the sales chart has a very good chance of happening while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a long period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarI'' started the trend for the series, especially [[EarlyGameHell at the beginning]] when even the most basic {{Mook}}s could kill easily Alis until you went up a few levels and earned enough money to upgrade her equipment. Although the character levels eventually capped at 30, there was still a lot of ''very'' expensive stuff like the Hovercraft and Ice Digger that you had no choice but to grind for the money needed to buy them in order to proceed.
** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' has '''loads''' of forced level grinding. To survive the first dungeon you'll probably have to grind at least 10 levels, as well as buy new weapons and armour. Not to mention that whenever a new character joins up, they start at level 1, so you '''have''' to grind if you actually want to use them. It's worse after [[spoiler:you lose Nei]] because it's likely you'll have to train someone else up from scratch to fill the fourth party space, who will more than likely get killed over and over by robots while you're leveling him/her.
** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' had it worst in the first and third generations. In the [[EarlyGameHell first generation]], you start with only one character out of an eventual party of five, and although you can pick up the second character fairly soon, it'll be ''hours'' later before you get the rest, and since the random encounters are ''not'' balanced for a smaller party, you'd better hope to have the best equipment available for those two and a few levels under your belt just to survive. The next two generations both start off with at least three characters already in the roster, but that end-game equipment is ludicrously expensive, and you're ''really'' going to need it.
** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' largely ''averts'' this for the first time in the core series. Doing the side-quests and optional areas when they become available and not running away from battles usually provided enough money and experience to carry you through each new area. There is one point about 30 to 60 minutes into the game where one could spend a bit of time doing some easy grinding while abusing the temporary aid of much higher-level character, but that's hardly arduous and entirely un-forced.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' largely ''averts'' this for the first time in the core series. Doing the side-quests and optional areas when they become available and not running away from battles usually provided enough money and experience to carry you through each new area. There is one point about 30 to 60 minutes into the game where one could spend a bit of time doing some easy grinding while abusing the temporary aid of much higher-level character, but that's hardly arduous and entirely un-forced.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has ''Money Grinding''. You can survive the next area just fine without too much level grinding, provided you can afford the ungodly expensive equipment. Oh, and the next town that's five minutes away has a better set of ungodly expensive equipment that you need to buy to survive. Money grinding is almost never worth it in PSIV, though. There are some very expensive equips in the mid- to late-game, but they're generally only worth a point or two of attack or defense. There is one point about 30 to 60 minutes into the game where one could grind for some sweet gear while abusing the temporary aid of much higher-level character, but that's hardly arduous, and entirely un-forced. Doing the sidequests and not running away from battles usually provided enough money and experience to carry you through each new area.

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the consecutive objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its release and are a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day on which they choose to do a promotion drive, but, on any given day, promotion drives are mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols and single releases themselves bring in two-to-three digit numbers of new fans. Hitting the top five on the sales chart has a very good chance of happening while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a long period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its release and is a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day on which they choose to do a promotion drive, but, on any given day, promotion drives are mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols and single releases themselves bring in two-to-three digit numbers of new fans. Hitting the top five on the sales chart has a very good chance of happening while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a long period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its release and is a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day, but promoting the group is mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols and single releases themselves bring in two-to-three digit numbers of new fans. Hitting the top five of the sales chart has a very good chance of happening while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its release and is a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day, but promoting the group is mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols and single releases themselves bring in two-to-three digit numbers of fans. Hitting the top five of the sales chart is guaranteed to happen while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

* ''VideoGame/IdolManager'': Two of the objectives from Chapter 1 of story mode are getting into the top five of the sales chart and getting to the very top of the sales chart. The PlayerCharacter's rival's group, which needs to be beaten in practice, will consistently have sales a little south of 200,000. The sales of a single all happen upon its launch and is a portion of the number of fans. Getting half-way through the promotion-related objectives will allow the player to get around 1000 new fans per day, but promoting the group is mutually exclusive with ''both'' making money via performing (which nets no new fans) and taking the idols to the spa when stamina restoration via the break room isn't enough. Side gigs for idols and single releases themselves bring in two-to-three digit numbers of fans. Hitting the top five of the sales chart is guaranteed to happen while sales are still in the four digits and unlocks a single story event. Considering all those factors, it's easy to have a period of halted plot progress during which gameplay in entirely dedicated to looping through tasks meant to increase the number of fans all while keeping the agency sustainable.

* ''VideoGame/RecordOfLodossWar'' for Dreamcast. If you proceed to the BigBad's lair as soon as it opens, you will be unable to cause any damage to him at all. You're supposed to run around killing dragons to build up your levels and equipment first.