History PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling / FinalFantasy

** This can, however, prove very problematic if done wrong, because while the levels of random encountered mooks will advance with you, their ''equipment'' will not, as it's determined by your storyline progression. This, of course, leaves an even playing field, as you won't have equipment they won't have and vice versa - until you run into a random encounter full of non-mook ''monsters'', balanced against the hypothesis that you are ''not'' engaging in level-grinding, and have equipment commensurate to your level. Cue an OhCrap moment if you're not very powerful and built not to rely on your equipment.

* Popos Heights and Sacrobless Island. The first is an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship in the middle of the Mist Continent. The dungeon is very early in the game[[note]]Second-to-last before the end of Disc 1[[/note]], so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 exp. per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and away we go!
* Vile Island has a particularly awful DemonicSpider encounter; however, that enemy also gives around 22000 exp. per monster, making it an excellent late game EXP farm.

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!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''

* New characters are recruited at the average level of the existing party[[note]]plus or minus about five levels[[/note]]...meaning that an hour or two fighting rats in the Narshe caves to power-level Terra in the very beginning of the game will result in Locke being similarly overleveled when you recruit him on the next screen, which will in turn make Edgar overleveled when you get him a few minutes later, and so on. Over time, of course, the game will catch up...except that character levels are averaged AGAIN when you re-recruit them in the World of Ruin, meaning you can spend an hour or two power-leveling with Celes when SHE is the only character in your party!
!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
* Junon Cannon Alarm. After the trip through the sea, you can return to Junon and go to the passageway under the lift (which Rufus rode earlier). There are bunch of Shinra Troops practising military parade and a red switch on the wall. Press the switch and you can fight enemies that'll get you level 60 or more.
* Once you get the Morph Materia from the Temple of the Ancients, go back to several areas you've been to before. You can morph several known enemies into different kinds of Source, which will permanently increase a party member's stat by 1, and is normally quite a rare item (you get a smattering of "[[RareCandy Sources]]" through the entire game). People normally don't get many sources since they are unaware that simply morphing an enemy will get them a decent amount of a certain source, if you know where to look. Feel free to max out your stats now.
** Gongaga Reactor has the enemy Heavy Tank ([[NinjaPirateZombieRobot an anthropomorphic robot triceratops with treadmills for its legs]], [[RuleOfCool whose primary attack is a wheelie]]) which you can morph for Power Source which raises your strength. Grinding there will eventually leave you with a party with max strength on ''disc 1''.
** There's also the Sunken Gelnika, a BonusDungeon that you can access once you get the Submarine. All the enemies can be Morphed into [[RareCandy Sources]].
* Mideel's eastern half is accessible as soon as you gain the Tiny Bronco, and has several enemies that yield hundreds of AP and thousands of XP and Gil. Furthermore, the area has enemies that can drop both Turbo Ethers and X-potions, giving you the best healing and MP restoration you'll need for most of the game.
* The Swamp Room in the Northern Crater is the only location where you can fight Movers and Magic Pots.
** Movers, bouncing red spheres which appear in groups of three, grant 800 AP each. If you put the most powerful Materia, Knights Of The Round, into a weapon that triples AP gains, you can duplicate it in just 70 battles.
** Magic Pots will request Elixirs from you, in exchange for massive experience and ability points. You can either exploit the W-Item trick to create infinite Elixirs to give to these Magic Pots, or (if you prefer to do things legit) you can steal them from Master Tonberrys and Gighees, which also spawn in the area.
* The northwestern room of the Mythril Mines are often used to level up limit breaks, which require a character to kill a certain number of enemies. This room is useful becace the enemies always appear in groups of 4 or 5, and right after the opportunity to acquire the useful Matra Magic skill, which can defeat this whole group in one casting.
!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''
* Popos Heights and Sacrobless Island, the first is an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship in the middle of the Mist Continent. The dungeon is very early in the game[[note]]second-to-last before of Disc 1[[/note]], so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 exp. per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and awa-ay we go!
* Vile Island has a particularly awful DemonicSpider encounter, however that enemy also gives around 22000 exp. per monster, making it an excellent late game EXP farm.
!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''

!! ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''

!! ''Videogame/FinalFantasyTactics''

!! ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0''

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has Timed Quests on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st and 25th of every month that pit you against enormous hordes of Cactuars, which are annoyingly speedy and spammy but relatively easy to kill and give substantial amounts of experience.
** Abusing the Elemancy system in conjunction with items that grant the Expericast property can turn many monster hunt quests into this. One particularly famous example is the quest "Fistful of Gil", which puts you against a single Yojimbo; spamming as many Expericast spells at him as possible, finishing him off and then staying at an upper-class inn (Galdin Quay or Altissia's Royal Suite being the best ones) can earn you millions of XP and very quickly boost your team dozens of levels. Even moreso when combined with food and accessories like Moogle Charms that bolster experience gains.

* Perhaps the best grinding spot for VendorTrash is the group of 4 Sacrifices in the first area of the last chapter, as both of their drops can be sold for a nice profit. It also doesn't take long to walk away and come back to make them respawn. Unfortunately, once you reach the final boss, the only way to respawn the Sacrifices then is to save and reload after every fight.

* Continuously saving and loading on the last part of the Tesseracts (located in Orphan's Cradle) in the last area (before the Tiamat Eliminator fight) can net about 70,000 CP every time, plus some valuable VendorTrash.

!! ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII''[[note]]You cannot grind for experience in this game (you raise Lightning's stats by completing quests), but you can grind for items, money and Energy Points.[[/note]]

* The TropeNamer is the FanNickname for a peninsula north of Pravoka - originally a GoodBadBug where a few squares accidentally held the data for the wrong area of monsters, but it quickly became popular due to its potential for massive experience early on. All rereleases have [[AscendedGlitch kept said bug]]...except for the Pixel Remaster version.

* Directly south of Altair is a strip of land where you fight enemies from the Mysidian encounter table, similar to the first game. Many a player have used this strip to battle the magic-based enemies to level spells up against the Flans that are immune to several status effects (such as Toad, which pays dividends when the party gets the snowmobile later in the game and can access the minigame), which in turn also increases mana and other stats.

** Abusing the Elemancy system in conjunction with items that grant the Expericast property can turn many monster hunt quests into this. One particularly famous example is the quest "Fistful of Gil", which puts you against a single Yojimbo; spamming as many Expericast spells at him as possible, finishing him off and then staying at an upper-class inn (Galdin Quay or Altissia's Royal Suite being the best ones) can earn you millions of XP and very quickly boost your team dozens of levels. Even moreso when combined with Experience-boosting food and accessories like Moogle Charms that bolster experience gains.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has Timed Quests that pit you against enormous hordes of Cactuars, which are annoyingly speedy and spammy but relatively easy to kill and give substantial amounts of experience.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has Timed Quests that pit you against enormous hordes of Cactuars, which are annoyingly speedy but relatively easy to kill and give substantial amounts of experience.

** Abusing the Elemancy system in conjunction with items that grant the Expericast property can turn many monster hunt quests into this. One particularly famous example is the quest "Fistful of Gil", which puts you against a single Yojimbo; spamming as many Expericast spells at him as possible, finishing him off and then staying at an upper-class inn (Galdin Quay or Altissia being the best ones) can earn you millions of XP and very quickly earn you dozens of levels.

* Vile Island has a particularly awful group demonic spiders but that enemy also gives around 22000 exp. per monster!

* The basement of Bal Castle, and only one kind of enemy: Objet d'Art. They come in groups of two and five, and are vulnerable to the [[PowerCopying Blue Magic]] spell Level 5 Death, and can also be dealt an InstantDeath if you use a Gold Needle on them. Groups of two give you 4 [=ABP=], while groups of five give you 8. This makes it the ideal grinding spot for Jobs for a good portion of the game. [=AND=] the castle has its own Inn and save point.

* The basement of Bal Castle, and only one kind of enemy: Objet d'Art. They come in groups of two and five, and are vulnerable to the [[PowerCopying Blue Magic]] spell Level 5 Death. Groups of two give you 4 [=ABP=], while groups of five give you 8. This makes it the ideal grinding spot for Jobs for a good portion of the game. [=AND=] the castle has its own Inn and save point.

!! ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII''[[noteYou cannot grind for experience in this game (you raise Lightning's stats by completing quests), but you can grind for items, money and Energy Points.[[/note]]

* The TropeNamer is the FanNickname for a peninsula north of Pravoka - originally a GoodBadBug where a few squares accidentally held the data for the wrong area of monsters, but it quickly became popular due to its potential for massive experience early on. All rereleases have [[AscendedGlitch kept said bug]]... except for the Pixel Remaster version.

* Grinding on Mount Ordeals with a solo Paladin Cecil makes most of the next few dungeons (Lodestone Cavern, Tower of Zot, Sealed Cave) far more bearable. When Cecil class changes from a Dark Knight to a Paladin, he goes back down to level 1, but he's still powerful enough to deal real damage to the enemies, especially the undead ones. Just fighting all the monsters you normally come across as you walk down Mount Ordeals will get Cecil to level 10 easily. What's more, all party members you've ever had in your party to that point gain EXP even when they're not in the party -- including Kain, Rosa, and Rydia, meaning the only member of your final party missing out on a large experience boost is Edge. (Unless you're playing a version that lets you switch party members, in which case Cid misses out as he hasn't been in your party yet, and Palom and Porom miss out if you're actually soloing because they're actually in your party, and KO'd characters do not get EXP.)

* When trying to catch up on easy levels in the second world, the island where you can find the Catoblepas summon is only reachable by a cave with your submarine. The cave itself is home to the Druid, which has a decent 1,500 experience yield.

* New characters are recruited at the average level of the existing party[[note]]plus or minus about five levels[[/note]]... meaning that an hour or two fighting rats in the Narshe caves to power-level Terra in the very beginning of the game will result in Locke being similarly overleveled when you recruit him on the next screen, which will in turn make Edgar overleveled when you get him a few minutes later, and so on. Over time, of course, the game will catch up... except that character levels are averaged AGAIN when you re-recruit them in the World of Ruin, meaning you can spend an hour or two power-leveling with Celes when SHE is the only character in your party!

* During the monster rain in Esthar, there's an NPC you can speak to to trigger a fight with an Elnoyle. Due to the way monsters scale with player level, you're guaranteed to gain a level almost every single time you kill an Elnoyle. And Elnoyles are vulnerable to instant death, so junction 100 Dooms to a weapon and watch the exp roll in.

* Popos Heights and Sacrobless Island, the first is an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship in the middle of the Mist Continent. The dungeon is very early in the game[[note]]second-to-last before Disc 2[[/note]], so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 EXP per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and awa-ay we go!
* Vile Island has a particularly awful group demonic spiders but that enemy also gives around 22000 exp per monster!

* The game has a built-in Power Peninsula in the Arena at Akademeia. One option is to fight three of the easiest enemies in the game, all of which respawn as soon as they have their phantoma harvested; dying will not lose any EXP or phantoma, there's a one-use healing portal to top off, and enemies gain a level every sixty kills. The other option lets a single cadet train with an NPC for however long passes between you turning the game off and turning the game back on. The first works as a traditional Power Peninsula and lets you rack up [[OneHitKill Killsights]] for some side-gains, while the second can be [[LoopholeAbuse easily exploited]] by turning your system clock forward 24hrs at a time.

* Here's a certain setup: Most of your party is in Comrade Overdrive Mode with one in Stoic Mode (presumably the one who you killed most enemies with), then fight the Don Tonberry[[note]]Capture all Fiends in the Stolen Fayth Cavern[[/note]] in the Monster Arena. Have the Stoic character attack Don Tonberry and it will counter with Karma. Revive that character, rinse and repeat. Karma's power depends on the number of enemies that that character's killed, and certain weapon ability combinations (Overdrive -> AP[[note]]10 Doors to Tomorrow; unlock Catastrophe in the Monster Arena[[/note]] and Double/Triple AP[[note]]20 Megalixirs or 50 Wings to Discovery, respectively; Bribe Marlboros or Great Marlboros[[/note]], and ''maybe'' SOS Overdrive[[note]]20 Gambler's Spirits; unlock Th'uban in the Monster Arena[[/note]]) would net the characters with easily over a hundred levels, even if they escape the battle.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''
** The [[TropeNamer trope name]] comes from the FanNickname for a peninsula north of Pravoka - originally a GoodBadBug where a few squares accidentally held the data for the wrong area of monsters, but it quickly became popular due to its potential for massive experience early on. All rereleases have [[AscendedGlitch kept said bug]]... except for the Pixel Remaster version.
** Anyone interested in some simple SequenceBreaking can get to the Castle of Ordeals as soon as they reach Crescent Lake, and get some great experience (plus the first reuseable magic-casting items and a sword that's highly effective against nearly everything in the next major dungeon) and a class upgrade before fighting the Fiend of Fire.
** There is also the Hall of Giants, an area on the first floor of the Earth Cave in which every step is populated by giants. Great for later on, when the Peninsula Of Power and the Castle of Ordeals no longer give great experience awards.
** In early versions of the game the fight with The Eye in the Ice Cave was this, due to your ability to step one step away from where he spawns, step back, and fight him again ad nauseam. He had an instant death attack, but the chances of it succeeding were very low, he cast it infrequently, and after a certain point he died too fast for this to be an issue. Similar fights against elementals in the [[SchmuckBait usually empty side rooms]] and in front of certain chests also provided similar gains.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' takes place on a Pangaean continent, and as such it's possible to encounter stronger enemies than you're intended to face by walking too far in the wrong direction. While you can get slaughtered quite easily if you go the wrong way, certain areas can be tackled by a sufficiently-prepared party.
** Early on, you get the WhiteMage Minwu as a GuestStarPartyMember. While his combat skills aren't phenomenal, he joins with a full repertoire of white magic spells at high levels. Clever use of his magic ([[GameBreaker Blink]] in particular) can allow you to survive much more dangerous monsters than you'd otherwise be able to handle. In fact, one of the easier ways to break the game involves leveling his Warp spell only three levels, and then warping the Palamecian captains in Fynn for strong mid-game weapons (and stat increases if you survive the fight), which opens the door to many of the other methods.
** The area between Fynn and the Palamecian desert isn't too difficult, and many of the enemies encountered along the way drop spell tomes. If you can handle the monsters, a couple of minutes of grinding can net you dozens of tomes, including several GameBreaker spells—and any tomes you don't want can be sold for a very handsome sum.
** The path to Mysidia from [[FirstTown Altair]] is filled with ''very'' deadly enemies. The area around Mysidia itself is less dangerous and can be reached easily with the ship, should you wish to grind up, shop around in Mysidia, or loot the Cave of Mysidia [[SequenceBreaking before you're expected by the plot to go anywhere near there]].
** Directly south of Altair is a strip of land where you fight enemies from the Mysidian encounter table, similar to the first game. Many a player have used this strip to battle the magic-based enemies to level spells up against the Flans that are immune to several status effects (such as Toad, which pays dividends when the party gets the snowmobile later in the game and can access the minigame), which in turn also increases mana and other stats.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' has the Undersea Cave; a completely optional place which gives a lot of experience for comparatively little effort. Just one runthrough to get all the treasure inside will level your party up by at least 3-5 levels.
** There's also Lake Dohr and Bahamut's Lair, at least in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoDS DS]] [[VideoGameRemake remake]]. Even better than the Undersea Cave, though you can't reach them until you get the third airship, the Invincible. Unfortunately, Lake Dohr can't be accessed after you defeat [[MakingASplash Leviathan]], however Bahamut's Lair remains open as long as you need it. [[NintendoHard You're going to need it.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'':
** Grinding on Mount Ordeals with a solo Paladin Cecil makes most of the next few dungeons (Lodestone Cavern, Tower of Zot, Sealed Cave) far more bearable. When Cecil class changes from a Dark Knight to a Paladin, he goes back down to level 1, but he's still powerful enough to deal real damage to the enemies, especially the undead ones. Just fighting all the monsters you normally come across as you walk down Mount Ordeals will get Cecil to level 10 easily. What's more, all party members you've ever had in your party to that point gain EXP even when they're not in the party -- including Kain, Rosa, and Rydia, meaning the only member of your final party missing out on a large experience boost is Edge. (Unless you're playing a version that lets you switch party members, in which case Cid misses out as he hasn't been in your party yet, and Palom and Porom miss out if you're actually soloing because they're actually in your party, and KO'd characters do not get EXP.)
** Due to the way the world map is divided into enemy-containing quadrants, going as far north of Mount Ordeals as possible will allow you to encounter enemies from the area around Troia that, while able to slaughter you messily if you're not careful, also drop about 8 times the experience and gold than the enemies you're supposed to be encountering drop. You can also get Cat Claws from panthers, a decent equip for Yang when you recruit him not much later, and Poison Arrows from pythons if you arm your {{Squishy Wizard}}s with bows.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', there's the castle with the sealed legendary weapons in world 2. When you first go there, you'll meet dragons who are [[BossInMookClothing much too tough for you]]. If you have a Beastmaster in the party, however, those monsters can be controlled with the "Control" ability, and can be made to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard kill themselves]] for massive experience.
** There's also the basement of Bal Castle, and only one kind of enemy: Objet d'Art. They come in groups of two and five, and are vulnerable to the [[PowerCopying Blue Magic]] spell Level 5 Death. Groups of two give you 4 [=ABP=], while groups of five give you 8. This makes it the ideal grinding spot for Jobs for a good portion of the game. [=AND=] the castle has its own Inn and save point.
** It is also possible to kill these monsters instantly (one at a time) by using the Gold Needle on them. Gold Needles are purchasable in the castle above, and costs less than the Gil received for killing the monsters.
** Outside Karnak, there's a forest with only a single type of enemy which is vulnerable to fire magic. A single Fira (or Fire if the party is strong enough) will wipe out every enemy and net a reasonable amount of gil and experience, making for a good spot for early game grinding.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a few:
** In the SNES version, Triangle Island, found in the World of Balance, where you can quickly learn spells from fighting the Intangir, which is normally a BossInMookClothing due to its astounding HP (more than [[DiscOneFinalBoss Ultima Weapon]]!) and the fact that it always counterattacks with a powerful Meteo spell, even before it dies. The Intangir begins battle in the "Vanish" state. Thanks to a GoodBadBug in the original version, "Vanish" status makes instant death spells hit with 100% accuracy, despite the fact that the Intangir itself is ''immune'' to Instant Death. So you enter battle, use Gau's Mu/Rhodox Rage, Intangir dies without using Meteo, and you get 10 AP, which means you need a ''maximum'' of 10 of these guys to gain even the hardest-to-gain spells.
** Dinosaur Forest, in the northern part of the World of Ruin, which contains the strongest enemies in the game. They give great experience (and the possibility to obtain a GameBreaker relic), provided you're able to survive multiple Meteor spells (and maybe even an [[TotalPartyKill Ultima spell]]!).
** And if you send one of your characters there alone with an Experience Egg, you can get over 17,000 XP (effectively gaining [[GameBreaker one level per enemy]]). However, this is only possible if you've got either the Master's Scroll or Soul of Thamasa relic (which allow you to attack/cast spells multiple times, respectively) equipped.
** This trick can also be combined with another trick mentioned below. While it won't net you as much EXP, the enemies around the Dinosaur Forest do net you a decent amount and equipping a character with the Experience Egg makes up the difference rather well. And, as an added bonus, staying on the grassy area means you only run into enemies that use physical attacks; getting the Vanish status on a character means you can grind for as long as you wish and never take any damage. While it's somewhat slower than using the forest, it is significantly safer.
** There's also the desert near Maranda in the World of Ruin, which is inhabited by Cactuars. Cactuars give you no EXP, but 10 AP and 10,000 gil, and are easy to kill with defense-piercing and evasion-ignoring attacks. The other enemy in the region, the Slagworm, is somewhat tough for lower levels, because it can counterattack with ''two'' Sandstorms (each one deals around 1000 HP worth of Wind-elemental damage to the entire party), but it's vulnerable to the Death and Stop spells, and it gives good EXP, 5 AP and 10,000 gil. It's an excellent place to learn spells in the World of Ruin, and make a lot of money while doing it.
** The Veldt is the equivalent in the World of Balance. It doesn't raise levels, but you probably don't want to grind too much before you get Espers that raise your stats at level-ups. You want magic points to learn spells. And you get magic points and gil in spades.
** There is a section in an early part of the game where the party is on a raft which can move through a repeating loop of river without player interaction, and Banon, a GuestStarPartyMember, has a no-MP heal command. The upshot of this was that rubber-banding down the controller on one button and leaving the SNES on overnight would let you come back to find your characters around level 60 with only a few hours of real playtime elapsed. Most expert players would advise against using this trick at this point in the game, though, as the best stat gains are obtained when Espers (acquired much later) are equipped. (Though the game will become quite easy at level 60+ regardless.) The main use also tends to be in [[SelfImposedChallenge minimal step runs]], as this process doesn't use any steps.
** There's also the small island in the World of Ruin where Doma Castle sits. If you cast Vanish (or summon Phantom) to make one party member invisible, you can solo the monsters and gain tons of Exp. As long as you stay on the brownish-yellowish field part of the island, you'll only encounter enemies that attack with physical attacks, so you'll never get knocked out of Vanish.
** New characters are recruited at the average level of the existing party[[note]]plus or minus about five levels[[/note]]... meaning that an hour or two fighting rats in the Narshe caves to power-level Terra in the very beginning of the game will result in Locke being similarly overleveled when you recruit him on the next screen, which will in turn make Edgar overleveled when you get him a few minutes later, and so on. Over time, of course, the game will catch up... except that character levels are averaged AGAIN when you re-recruit them in the World of Ruin, meaning you can spend an hour or two power-leveling with Celes when SHE is the only character in your party!
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has Junon Cannon Alarm. After the trip through the sea, you can return to Junon and go to the passageway under the lift (which Rufus rode earlier). There are bunch of Shinra Troops practising military parade and a red switch on the wall. Press the switch and you can fight enemies that'll get you level 60 or more.
** There's also Gongaga Reactor where the enemy Heavy Tank dwells ([[NinjaPirateZombieRobot an anthromorphic robot triceratops with treadmills for its legs]], [[RuleOfCool whose primary attack is a wheelie]]) which you can morph for Power Source item which raises your strength. Grinding there will eventually leave you with a party with max strength on ''disc 1''.
** Once you get the morph materia from the Temple of the Ancients, go back to several areas you've been to before. You can morph several known enemies into different kinds of Source, which will permanently increase a party member's stat by 1, and is normally a quite rare item (you get a smattering of "Sources" through the entire game). People normally don't get many sources since they are unaware that simply morphing an enemy (like the Heavy Tank, above) will get them a decent amount of a certain source, if you know where to look. Feel free to max out your stats now.
** Mideel's eastern half is accessible as soon as you gain the tiny brnoco, and has several enemies that yield hundreds of AP and thousands of XP and Gil. Furthermore, the area has enemies that can drop both Turbo Ethers and X-potions, giving you the best healing and MP restoration you'll need for most of the game.
** There's also the Sunken Gelnika, a bonus dungeon that you can access once you get the Submarine. All the enemies can be Morphed into [[RareCandy Sources]].
** The Swamp Room in the Northern Crater is the only location where you can fight Movers and Magic Pots.

** The northwestern room of the Mythril Mines are often used to level up limit breaks, which require a character to kill a certain number of enemies. This room is usefull becace the enemies always appear in groups of 4 or 5, and right after the opportunity to acquire the useful Matra Magic skill, which can defeat this whole group in one casting.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has the Island Closest To Heaven and the Island Closest To Hell: two islands filled with level 100 monsters that have great spells to steal, plus many draw points for powerful spells like Ultima and Full-Life. If you have a plan in mind, here is where you can build your characters up to take on Omega; if you don't, here is where you can squander the LowLevelAdvantage the game gives you and ratchet up the difficulty level for the rest of the game.
** Cactuar Island and the desert near it have primarily Cactaur encounters which give off 20 AP (Ability Points) each, so abilities can be learned quickly. As a bonus, they also give you very little EXP, letting you preserve your LowLevelAdvantage.
** Here's a fun game to play on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell: Have Quistis in critical condition and use Degenerator over and over again, since the monsters only attack you one at a time, and very few non-boss enemies are immune to it, none of which are present on either island.
** During the monster rain in Esthar, there's an NPC you can speak to to trigger a fight with an Elnoyle. Due to the way monsters scale with player level, you're guaranteed to gain a level almost every single time you kill an Elnoyle. And Elnoyles are vulnerable to instant death, so junction 100 Dooms to a weapon and watch the exp roll in.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has Popos Heights and sacrobless island, the first is an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship in the middle of the mist continent. The dungeon is very early in the game, so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 EXP per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and awa-ay we go! there is also vile island that has a particularly awful group demonic spiders but that enemy also gives around 22000 exp per monster!
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''[='=]s [[BonusDungeon Omega Ruins]]. One or two battles there will yield enough AP to let your characters move several spaces on the Sphere Grid. Perfect for endgame StatGrinding.
** A dozen or so battles in the Omega Ruins will make the notoriously difficult final boss a cake-walk. A few dozen more and the ease with which you demolish him could be considered cruel and unusual.
** There's also the Monster Arena, where repeatedly fighting certain monsters allows you to both optimize and re-traverse the Sphere Grid to make your characters strong enough to stand a chance against the [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]].
** The Highbridge are before the battle against Seymour Natus is worth a mention. The enemies here award you large sums of AP, more than you get in Mt. Gagazet. Kimahri isn't available because he fending Seymour off before the party decide to turn back and all fight together. Also, Yuna just got a summon (Bahamut) with a powerful all-target attack that isn't an overdrive, which it can spam to make quick work of the groups of enemies you fight here.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has one that's available almost at the beginning of the game. Because of the rather strange BeefGate random encounters on the overworld map, it's possible to come across enemies dozens of levels beyond your current level, since enemies in this game do not scale to the party's levels. Near the Westersand is a respawning creature called a Dustia, which just happens to be undead. And because in this game ReviveKillsZombie, all Vaan needs to do is show up with an inventory full of Phoenix Downs and use them when Dustia spawns. As long as the player leaves the map before the [=XP=] count shows up on screen, the Dustia will continue to respawn while the [=XP=] and gold awards will still register. Over about three hours, you'll be around level 40 before the game's tutorial is technically over, and by selling the rare drops Dustia generates, you'll have more money than you know what to do with. What's more, because of the game's LeakedExperience system, every party member that joins from then on, which is every other party member, will have a similar level to Vaan's vastly inflated total.
** A short while after that, Penelo will join Vaan, allowing for the chaining of Quickenings. This means you can go and fight the unagressive dinosaur in the desert that's massively above your level. Normally it would kick your butt, but if you do enough chained Quickenings it'll never get a chance to attack.
** An even better option, with no player input needed, is the famous Negalmuur method. The Negalmuur is a strong, difficult to find enemy, and one of the few creatures in the game to constantly spawn its own minions.[[note]]The method is less effective on the other ones for various reasons.[[/note]] With clever use of the gambit system, which allows for automatic party members actions, the party can be configured to keep themselves healed, target Negalmuur's minions, and leave Negalmuur himself alone. Leave the game on overnight, and by morning, all three party members will be at level 99, with full [=LPs=], and an inventory full of valuable loot.
** Unlocking the second and third parts of the Lhusu Mines allow for some high level gain as you can go through the second portion as early as defeating Judge Bergan, and the third stage as early as arriving at the Phon Coast AND defeating the Antlion.
** Similarly, if one can acquire 10 Espers (before the Pharos, this requires being able to survive the Nabreus Deadlands, Necrohol of Nabudis, and upper portions of the Great Crystal), the Second Stage of the Henne Mines have Abysteels that go down rather easily and give about 3k experience, which can be doubled with Embroidered Tippets.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a few: The behemoth/megistotherian battle near Mah'habara, using Vanille's summon and LimitBreak on adamantoises, and grinding cactuars in Titan's trials. For pure CP, the group of 6 Cryohedrons in Mah'habara is pretty good, as they're easy to kill (especially with Firaga) give over 7,000 CP per fight (over 14,000 with the Growth Egg), and is pretty easy to get them to respawn.
** Continuously saving and loading on the last part of the Tesseracts (located in Orphan's Cradle) in the last area (before the Tiamat Eliminator fight) can net about 70,000 CP every time, plus some valuable VendorTrash.
** Perhaps the best grinding spot for VendorTrash is the group of 4 Sacrifices in the first area of the last chapter, as both of their drops can be sold for a nice profit. It also doesn't take long to walk away and come back to make them respawn. Unfortunately, once you reach the final boss, the only way to respawn the Sacrifices then is to save and reload after every fight.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' keeps up the series tradition: Pay a visit to Dying World 700 AF, activate the ''attract tougher enemies'' fragment skill and watch the [[MetalSlime Metallicactuars]] line up to hand you thousands of CP.
** Maxing out your monster's levels is a more complicated task than regular level grinding as monsters require special materials to become stronger. Some high grade materials can be bought, but expect to pay for them through the nose. Alternatively, setting the Archylte Steppe's weather machine to rainy will turn the Clearwater Marshes into an excellent grinding spot for Potent Essences and Crystals. As an added bonus, this is also a good location to grind for the tedious Clock Stopper achievement/trophy.
* ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'': You cannot grind for experience in this game (you progress by completing quests), but you can grind for items, money and Energy Points.
** There is a side quest in Yusnaan which requires you to kill 30 monsters in a time limit (hint: Chronostasis). If you quit before fulfilling your quota you fail the quest, but keep all of your drops and EP. You can re-take the quest as often as you like until you complete it.
** Cactuars spawn at a point in the Dead Dunes. They have a base value of 5000 gil, rising to 15,000 on Day 13, and 25,000 if you unlock Day 14. Would ma'am like to put some money aside for a NewGamePlus?
* Because non-story enemies level with you in ''{{VideoGame/Final Fantasy Tactics}}'' and the way experience works in this game (the amount of experience you gain is based on your target's level relative to yours), the ''very first random encounter area'' can easily become this, as ability-wise it's got the easiest enemies in the game. Once you've leveled your jobs up enough you can whip out some class/ability combinations that allow you to level almost indefinitely with minimal effort. As such, grinding for a few hours on the Mandalia Plains effectively makes the rest of the game trivial at best.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' has two separate cases of this, in exchange for most missions having fixed enemy counts and encounters on the map seeming hell-bent on making a player's life miserable.
** The game has a built-in Power Peninsula in the Arena at Akademeia. One option is to fight three of the easiest enemies in the game, all of which respawn as soon as they have their phantoma harvested; dying will not lose any EXP or phantoma, there's a one-use healing portal to top off, and enemies gain a level every sixty kills. The other option lets a single cadet train with an NPC for however long passes between you turning the game off and turning the game back on. The first works as a traditional Power Peninsula and lets you rack up [[OneHitKill Killsights]] for some side-gains, while the second can be [[LoopholeAbuse easily exploited]] by turning your system clock forward 24hrs at a time.
** From the [[NewGamePlus second playthrough on]], the player gets access to optional "[[AnotherSideAnotherStory Code Crimson]]" missions. The very first one, after a couple brief fights, has the player expected to make their way past three areas with ''infinite-spawning'' enemies. Not only do they serve the normal use, but in the [[UpdatedRerelease HD version]] the central one serves as a good place to rack up [[GlobalCurrencyException SPP]].

** The [[TropeNamer trope name]] comes from the FanNickname for a peninsula north of Pravoka - originally a GoodBadBug where a few squares accidentally held the data for the wrong area of monsters, but it quickly became popular due to its potential for massive experience early on. All rereleases have [[AscendedGlitch kept said bug]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has Popos Heights, an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship. The dungeon is very early in the game, so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 EXP per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and awa-ay we go!

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy:''
** The [[TropeNamer trope name]] comes from the FanNickname for a peninsula north of Pravoka in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' - originally a GoodBadBug where a few squares accidentally held the data for the wrong area of monsters, but it quickly became popular due to its potential for massive experience early on. All rereleases have [[AscendedGlitch kept said bug]].
*** Anyone interested in some simple SequenceBreaking can get to the Castle of Ordeals as soon as they reach Crescent Lake, and get some great experience (plus the first reuseable magic-casting items and a sword that's highly effective against nearly everything in the next major dungeon) and a class upgrade before fighting the Fiend of Fire.
*** There is also the Hall of Giants, an area on the first floor of the Earth Cave in which every step is populated by giants. Great for later on, when the Peninsula Of Power and the Castle of Ordeals no longer give great experience awards.
*** In early versions of the game the fight with The Eye in the Ice Cave was this, due to your ability to step one step away from where he spawns, step back, and fight him again ad nauseam. He had an instant death attack, but the chances of it succeeding were very low, he cast it infrequently, and after a certain point he died too fast for this to be an issue. Similar fights against elementals in the [[SchmuckBait usually empty side rooms]] and in front of certain chests also provided similar gains.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' takes place on a Pangaean continent, and as such it's possible to encounter stronger enemies than you're intended to face by walking too far in the wrong direction. While you can get slaughtered quite easily if you go the wrong way, certain areas can be tackled by a sufficiently-prepared party.
*** Early on, you get the WhiteMage Minwu as a GuestStarPartyMember. While his combat skills aren't phenomenal, he joins with a full repertoire of white magic spells at high levels. Clever use of his magic ([[GameBreaker Blink]] in particular) can allow you to survive much more dangerous monsters than you'd otherwise be able to handle. In fact, one of the easier ways to break the game involves leveling his Warp spell only three levels, and then warping the Palamecian captains in Fynn for strong mid-game weapons (and stat increases if you survive the fight), which opens the door to many of the other methods.
*** The area between Fynn and the Palamecian desert isn't too difficult, and many of the enemies encountered along the way drop spell tomes. If you can handle the monsters, a couple of minutes of grinding can net you dozens of tomes, including several GameBreaker spells—and any tomes you don't want can be sold for a very handsome sum.
*** The path to Mysidia from [[FirstTown Altair]] is filled with ''very'' deadly enemies. The area around Mysidia itself is less dangerous and can be reached easily with the ship, should you wish to grind up, shop around in Mysidia, or loot the Cave of Mysidia [[SequenceBreaking before you're expected by the plot to go anywhere near there]].
*** Directly south of Altair is a strip of land where you fight enemies from the Mysidian encounter table, similar to the first game. Many a player have used this strip to battle the magic-based enemies to level spells up against the Flans that are immune to several status effects (such as Toad, which pays dividends when the party gets the snowmobile later in the game and can access the minigame), which in turn also increases mana and other stats.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' has the Undersea Cave; a completely optional place which gives a lot of experience for comparatively little effort. Just one runthrough to get all the treasure inside will level your party up by at least 3-5 levels.
*** There's also Lake Dohr and Bahamut's Lair, at least in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoDS DS]] [[VideoGameRemake remake]]. Even better than the Undersea Cave, though you can't reach them until you get the third airship, the Invincible. Unfortunately, Lake Dohr can't be accessed after you defeat [[MakingASplash Leviathan]], however Bahamut's Lair remains open as long as you need it. [[NintendoHard You're going to need it.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'':
*** Grinding on Mount Ordeals with a solo Paladin Cecil makes most of the next few dungeons (Lodestone Cavern, Tower of Zot, Sealed Cave) far more bearable. When Cecil class changes from a Dark Knight to a Paladin, he goes back down to level 1, but he's still powerful enough to deal real damage to the enemies, especially the undead ones. Just fighting all the monsters you normally come across as you walk down Mount Ordeals will get Cecil to level 10 easily. What's more, all party members you've ever had in your party to that point gain EXP even when they're not in the party -- including Kain, Rosa, and Rydia, meaning the only member of your final party missing out on a large experience boost is Edge. (Unless you're playing a version that lets you switch party members, in which case Cid misses out as he hasn't been in your party yet, and Palom and Porom miss out if you're actually soloing because they're actually in your party, and KO'd characters do not get EXP.)
*** Due to the way the world map is divided into enemy-containing quadrants, going as far north of Mount Ordeals as possible will allow you to encounter enemies from the area around Troia that, while able to slaughter you messily if you're not careful, also drop about 8 times the experience and gold than the enemies you're supposed to be encountering drop. You can also get Cat Claws from panthers, a decent equip for Yang when you recruit him not much later, and Poison Arrows from pythons if you arm your {{Squishy Wizard}}s with bows.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', there's the castle with the sealed legendary weapons in world 2. When you first go there, you'll meet dragons who are [[BossInMookClothing much too tough for you]]. If you have a Beastmaster in the party, however, those monsters can be controlled with the "Control" ability, and can be made to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard kill themselves]] for massive experience.
*** There's also the basement of Bal Castle, and only one kind of enemy: Objet d'Art. They come in groups of two and five, and are vulnerable to the [[PowerCopying Blue Magic]] spell Level 5 Death. Groups of two give you 4 [=ABP=], while groups of five give you 8. This makes it the ideal grinding spot for Jobs for a good portion of the game. [=AND=] the castle has its own Inn and save point.
*** It is also possible to kill these monsters instantly (one at a time) by using the Gold Needle on them. Gold Needles are purchasable in the castle above, and costs less than the Gil received for killing the monsters.
*** Outside Karnak, there's a forest with only a single type of enemy which is vulnerable to fire magic. A single Fira (or Fire if the party is strong enough) will wipe out every enemy and net a reasonable amount of gil and experience, making for a good spot for early game grinding.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a few:
*** In the SNES version, Triangle Island, found in the World of Balance, where you can quickly learn spells from fighting the Intangir, which is normally a BossInMookClothing due to its astounding HP (more than [[DiscOneFinalBoss Ultima Weapon]]!) and the fact that it always counterattacks with a powerful Meteo spell, even before it dies. The Intangir begins battle in the "Vanish" state. Thanks to a GoodBadBug in the original version, "Vanish" status makes instant death spells hit with 100% accuracy, despite the fact that the Intangir itself is ''immune'' to Instant Death. So you enter battle, use Gau's Mu/Rhodox Rage, Intangir dies without using Meteo, and you get 10 AP, which means you need a ''maximum'' of 10 of these guys to gain even the hardest-to-gain spells.
*** Dinosaur Forest, in the northern part of the World of Ruin, which contains the strongest enemies in the game. They give great experience (and the possibility to obtain a GameBreaker relic), provided you're able to survive multiple Meteor spells (and maybe even an [[TotalPartyKill Ultima spell]]!).
*** And if you send one of your characters there alone with an Experience Egg, you can get over 17,000 XP (effectively gaining [[GameBreaker one level per enemy]]). However, this is only possible if you've got either the Master's Scroll or Soul of Thamasa relic (which allow you to attack/cast spells multiple times, respectively) equipped.
*** This trick can also be combined with another trick mentioned below. While it won't net you as much EXP, the enemies around the Dinosaur Forest do net you a decent amount and equipping a character with the Experience Egg makes up the difference rather well. And, as an added bonus, staying on the grassy area means you only run into enemies that use physical attacks; getting the Vanish status on a character means you can grind for as long as you wish and never take any damage. While it's somewhat slower than using the forest, it is significantly safer.
*** There's also the desert near Maranda in the World of Ruin, which is inhabited by Cactuars. Cactuars give you no EXP, but 10 AP and 10,000 gil, and are easy to kill with defense-piercing and evasion-ignoring attacks. The other enemy in the region, the Slagworm, is somewhat tough for lower levels, because it can counterattack with ''two'' Sandstorms (each one deals around 1000 HP worth of Wind-elemental damage to the entire party), but it's vulnerable to the Death and Stop spells, and it gives good EXP, 5 AP and 10,000 gil. It's an excellent place to learn spells in the World of Ruin, and make a lot of money while doing it.
*** The Veldt is the equivalent in the World of Balance. It doesn't raise levels, but you probably don't want to grind too much before you get Espers that raise your stats at level-ups. You want magic points to learn spells. And you get magic points and gil in spades.
*** There is a section in an early part of the game where the party is on a raft which can move through a repeating loop of river without player interaction, and Banon, a GuestStarPartyMember, has a no-MP heal command. The upshot of this was that rubber-banding down the controller on one button and leaving the SNES on overnight would let you come back to find your characters around level 60 with only a few hours of real playtime elapsed. Most expert players would advise against using this trick at this point in the game, though, as the best stat gains are obtained when Espers (acquired much later) are equipped. (Though the game will become quite easy at level 60+ regardless.) The main use also tends to be in [[SelfImposedChallenge minimal step runs]], as this process doesn't use any steps.
*** There's also the small island in the World of Ruin where Doma Castle sits. If you cast Vanish (or summon Phantom) to make one party member invisible, you can solo the monsters and gain tons of Exp. As long as you stay on the brownish-yellowish field part of the island, you'll only encounter enemies that attack with physical attacks, so you'll never get knocked out of Vanish.
*** New characters are recruited at the average level of the existing party[[note]]plus or minus about five levels[[/note]]... meaning that an hour or two fighting rats in the Narshe caves to power-level Terra in the very beginning of the game will result in Locke being similarly overleveled when you recruit him on the next screen, which will in turn make Edgar overleveled when you get him a few minutes later, and so on. Over time, of course, the game will catch up... except that character levels are averaged AGAIN when you re-recruit them in the World of Ruin, meaning you can spend an hour or two power-leveling with Celes when SHE is the only character in your party!
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has Junon Cannon Alarm. After the trip through the sea, you can return to Junon and go to the passageway under the lift (which Rufus rode earlier). There are bunch of Shinra Troops practising military parade and a red switch on the wall. Press the switch and you can fight enemies that'll get you level 60 or more.
*** There's also Gongaga Reactor where the enemy Heavy Tank dwells ([[NinjaPirateZombieRobot an anthromorphic robot triceratops with treadmills for its legs]], [[RuleOfCool whose primary attack is a wheelie]]) which you can morph for Power Source item which raises your strength. Grinding there will eventually leave you with a party with max strength on ''disc 1''.
*** Once you get the morph materia from the Temple of the Ancients, go back to several areas you've been to before. You can morph several known enemies into different kinds of Source, which will permanently increase a party member's stat by 1, and is normally a quite rare item (you get a smattering of "Sources" through the entire game). People normally don't get many sources since they are unaware that simply morphing an enemy (like the Heavy Tank, above) will get them a decent amount of a certain source, if you know where to look. Feel free to max out your stats now.
*** Mideel's eastern half is accessible as soon as you gain the tiny brnoco, and has several enemies that yield hundreds of AP and thousands of XP and Gil. Furthermore, the area has enemies that can drop both Turbo Ethers and X-potions, giving you the best healing and MP restoration you'll need for most of the game.
*** There's also the Sunken Gelnika, a bonus dungeon that you can access once you get the Submarine. All the enemies can be Morphed into [[RareCandy Sources]].
*** The Swamp Room in the Northern Crater is the only location where you can fight Movers and Magic Pots.
*** Movers, bouncing red spheres which appear in groups of three, grant 800 AP each. If you put the most powerful Materia, Knights Of The Round, into a weapon that triples AP gains, you can duplicate it in just 70 battles.
*** Magic Pots will request Elixirs from you, in exchange for massive experience and ability points. You can either exploit the W-Item trick to create infinite Elixirs to give to these Magic Pots, or (if you prefer to do things legit) you can steal them from Master Tonberrys and Gighees, which also spawn in the area.
*** The northwestern room of the Mythril Mines are often used to level up limit breaks, which require a character to kill a certain number of enemies. This room is usefull becace the enemies always appear in groups of 4 or 5, and right after the opportunity to acquire the useful Matra Magic skill, which can defeat this whole group in one casting.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has the Island Closest To Heaven and the Island Closest To Hell: two islands filled with level 100 monsters that have great spells to steal, plus many draw points for powerful spells like Ultima and Full-Life. If you have a plan in mind, here is where you can build your characters up to take on Omega; if you don't, here is where you can squander the LowLevelAdvantage the game gives you and ratchet up the difficulty level for the rest of the game.
*** Cactuar Island and the desert near it have primarily Cactaur encounters which give off 20 AP (Ability Points) each, so abilities can be learned quickly. As a bonus, they also give you very little EXP, letting you preserve your LowLevelAdvantage.
*** Here's a fun game to play on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell: Have Quistis in critical condition and use Degenerator over and over again, since the monsters only attack you one at a time, and very few non-boss enemies are immune to it, none of which are present on either island.
*** During the monster rain in Esthar, there's an NPC you can speak to to trigger a fight with an Elnoyle. Due to the way monsters scale with player level, you're guaranteed to gain a level almost every single time you kill an Elnoyle. And Elnoyles are vulnerable to instant death, so junction 100 Dooms to a weapon and watch the exp roll in.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has Popos Heights, an area accessible only by a vine ladder in a dungeon, or by airship. The dungeon is very early in the game, so you'd be fighting level 60 monsters at level 20 or so, each of which give around 8800 EXP per battle. Combine with a character who has an instant death spell that always hits on that monster, and awa-ay we go!
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''[='=]s [[BonusDungeon Omega Ruins]]. One or two battles there will yield enough AP to let your characters move several spaces on the Sphere Grid. Perfect for endgame StatGrinding.
*** A dozen or so battles in the Omega Ruins will make the notoriously difficult final boss a cake-walk. A few dozen more and the ease with which you demolish him could be considered cruel and unusual.
*** There's also the Monster Arena, where repeatedly fighting certain monsters allows you to both optimize and retraverse the Sphere Grid to make your characters strong enough to stand a chance against the [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]].
*** The Highbridge are before the battle against Seymour Natus is worth a mention. The enemies here award you large sums of AP, more than you get in Mt. Gagazet. Kimahri isn't available because he fending Seymour off before the party decide to turn back and all fight together. Also, Yuna just got a summon (Bahamut) with a powerful all-target attack that isn't an overdrive, which it can spam to make quick work of the groups of enemies you fight here.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has one that's available almost at the beginning of the game. Because of the rather strange BeefGate random encounters on the overworld map, it's possible to come across enemies dozens of levels beyond your current level, since enemies in this game do not scale to the party's levels. Near the Westersand is a respawning creature called a Dustia, which just happens to be undead. And because in this game ReviveKillsZombie, all Vaan needs to do is show up with an inventory full of Phoenix Downs and use them when Dustia spawns. As long as the player leaves the map before the [=XP=] count shows up on screen, the Dustia will continue to respawn while the [=XP=] and gold awards will still register. Over about three hours, you'll be around level 40 before the game's tutorial is technically over, and by selling the rare drops Dustia generates, you'll have more money than you know what to do with. What's more, because of the game's LeakedExperience system, every party member that joins from then on, which is every other party member, will have a similar level to Vaan's vastly inflated total.
*** A short while after that, Penelo will join Vaan, allowing for the chaining of Quickenings. This means you can go and fight the unagressive dinosaur in the desert that's massively above your level. Normally it would kick your butt, but if you do enough chained Quickenings it'll never get a chance to attack.
*** An even better option, with no player input needed, is the famous Negalmuur method. The Negalmuur is a strong, difficult to find enemy, and one of the few creatures in the game to constantly spawn its own minions.[[note]]The method is less effective on the other ones for various reasons.[[/note]] With clever use of the gambit system, which allows for automatic party members actions, the party can be configured to keep themselves healed, target Negalmuur's minions, and leave Negalmuur himself alone. Leave the game on overnight, and by morning, all three party members will be at level 99, with full [=LPs=], and an inventory full of valuable loot.
*** Unlocking the second and third parts of the Lhusu Mines allow for some high level gain as you can go through the second portion as early as defeating Judge Bergan, and the third stage as early as arriving at the Phon Coast AND defeating the Antlion.
*** Similarly, if one can acquire 10 Espers (before the Pharos, this requires being able to survive the Nabreus Deadlands, Necrohol of Nabudis, and upper portions of the Great Crystal), the Second Stage of the Henne Mines have Abysteels that go down rather easily and give about 3k experience, which can be doubled with Embroidered Tippets.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a few: The behemoth/megistotherian battle near Mah'habara, using Vanille's summon and LimitBreak on adamantoises, and grinding cactuars in Titan's trials. For pure CP, the group of 6 Cryohedrons in Mah'habara is pretty good, as they're easy to kill (especially with Firaga) give over 7,000 CP per fight (over 14,000 with the Growth Egg), and is pretty easy to get them to respawn.
*** Continuously saving and loading on the last part of the Tesseracts (located in Orphan's Cradle) in the last area (before the Tiamat Eliminator fight) can net about 70,000 CP every time, plus some valuable VendorTrash.
*** Perhaps the best grinding spot for VendorTrash is the group of 4 Sacrifices in the first area of the last chapter, as both of their drops can be sold for a nice profit. It also doesn't take long to walk away and come back to make them respawn. Unfortunately, once you reach the final boss, the only way to respawn the Sacrifices then is to save and reload after every fight.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' keeps up the series tradition: Pay a visit to Dying World 700 AF, activate the ''attract tougher enemies'' fragment skill and watch the [[MetalSlime Metallicactuars]] line up to hand you thousands of CP.
*** Maxing out your monster's levels is a more complicated task than regular level grinding as monsters require special materials to become stronger. Some high grade materials can be bought, but expect to pay for them through the nose. Alternatively, setting the Archylte Steppe's weather machine to rainy will turn the Clearwater Marshes into an excellent grinding spot for Potent Essences and Crystals. As an added bonus, this is also a good location to grind for the tedious Clock Stopper achievement/trophy.
** ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'': You cannot grind for experience in this game (you progress by completing quests), but you can grind for items, money and Energy Points.
*** There is a side quest in Yusnaan which requires you to kill 30 monsters in a time limit (hint: Chronostasis). If you quit before fulfilling your quota you fail the quest, but keep all of your drops and EP. You can re-take the quest as often as you like until you complete it.
*** Cactuars spawn at a point in the Dead Dunes. They have a base value of 5000 gil, rising to 15,000 on Day 13, and 25,000 if you unlock Day 14. Would ma'am like to put some money aside for a NewGamePlus?
** Because non-story enemies level with you in ''{{VideoGame/Final Fantasy Tactics}}'' and the way experience works in this game (the amount of experience you gain is based on your target's level relative to yours), the ''very first random encounter area'' can easily become this, as ability-wise it's got the easiest enemies in the game. Once you've leveled your jobs up enough you can whip out some class/ability combinations that allow you to level almost indefinitely with minimal effort. As such, grinding for a few hours on the Mandalia Plains effectively makes the rest of the game trivial at best.
*** This can, however, prove very problematic if done wrong, because while the levels of random encountered mooks will advance with you, their ''equipment'' will not, as it's determined by your storyline progression. This, of course, leaves an even playing field, as you won't have equipment they won't have and vice versa - until you run into a random encounter full of non-mook ''monsters'', balanced against the hypothesis that you are ''not'' engaging in level-grinding, and have equipment commensurate to your level. Cue an OhCrap moment if you're not very powerful and built not to rely on your equipment.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' has two separate cases of this, in exchange for most missions having fixed enemy counts and encounters on the map seeming hell-bent on making a player's life miserable.
*** The game has a built-in Power Peninsula in the Arena at Akademeia. One option is to fight three of the easiest enemies in the game, all of which respawn as soon as they have their phantoma harvested; dying will not lose any EXP or phantoma, there's a one-use healing portal to top off, and enemies gain a level every sixty kills. The other option lets a single cadet train with an NPC for however long passes between you turning the game off and turning the game back on. The first works as a traditional Power Peninsula and lets you rack up [[OneHitKill Killsights]] for some side-gains, while the second can be [[LoopholeAbuse easily exploited]] by turning your system clock forward 24hrs at a time.

** ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' has an early game one in the Secret Caverns in the Nether Nebula, the first real dungeon. To access it, you'll need [[{{Mons}} Mirages]] with the Flutter and Smash abilities. Conveniently, two such Mirages can be found in the cave, though they'll need training first. If you can manage to survive an encounter or two in there, your levels will shoot up, and you can easily leave the place at level 20 or above--much higher than the story expects for a while.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' has a screen where four wolves spawn in a line aimed at a point where the player can enter the screen, making it possible to seriously injure or kill them all in one shot from a charged ranged weapon. And unlike most monsters, the wolves respawn immediately upon leaving and re-entering the screen. Charge willpower, enter, kill wolves, leave, repeat.

** New characters are recruited at the average level of the existing party[[note]]plus or minus about five levels[[/note]]... meaning that an hour or two fighting rats in the Narshe caves to power-level Terra in the very beginning of the game will result in Locke being similarly overleveled when you recruit him on the next screen, which will in turn make Edgar overleveled when you get him a few minutes later, and so on. Over time, of course, the game will catch up... except that character levels are averaged AGAIN when you re-recruit them in the World of Ruin, meaning you can spend an hour or two power-leveling with Celes when SHE is the only character in your party!

*** Magic Pots will request Elixirs from you, in exchange for massive experience and ability points. You can either exploit the W-Item trick to create infinite Elixirs to give to these Magic Pots, or (if you prefer to do things legit) you can steal them from Master Tonberrys, which also spawn in the area.