How much grinding?

[Syrin]

I loved everything about the first game EXCEPT the mind numbing excessive brainless grinding. It forced me to abandon the game. I came back to it to try to complete the story lines, but couldn't do it. PLEASE tell me it isn't a mindless grind fest like the first one.

[Minneyar]

If anything, I feel like the game putting "Recommended Level"s on areas was a terrible mistake, because as you can see here, a lot of people interpret that to mean they must grind to be that level before you can go in that area.

The thing is, it's completely untrue. With decent equipment or tactics, you can handle areas whose recommended level is far above your average. As I'm playing through, I'm constantly rotating out my team to always have the lowest level characters, I always keep Evasive Maneuvers equipped, I've done zero grinding, and I never run in areas with random encounters. The result is that my main character is usually a couple of levels below the Recommended Level for each chapter, the rest of my party is often <10 levels below it, and it's fine. Ochette still wipes most random encounters before they can act. Bosses require a little strategy, but I still beat most on the first try, and I've yet to fight anything that took more than two tries.

This is not a hard game, and you don't need to grind, period.

[Sogreth]

You grinded in the first game? I found it insanely easy and I never had to grind.

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by Minneyar:

If anything, I feel like the game putting "Recommended Level"s on areas was a terrible mistake, because as you can see here, a lot of people interpret that to mean they must grind to be that level before you can go in that area.

The thing is, it's completely untrue. With decent equipment or tactics, you can handle areas whose recommended level is far above your average. As I'm playing through, I'm constantly rotating out my team to always have the lowest level characters, I always keep Evasive Maneuvers equipped, I've done zero grinding, and I never run in areas with random encounters. The result is that my main character is usually a couple of levels below the Recommended Level for each chapter, the rest of my party is often <10 levels below it, and it's fine. Ochette still wipes most random encounters before they can act. Bosses require a little strategy, but I still beat most on the first try, and I've yet to fight anything that took more than two tries.

This is not a hard game, and you don't need to grind, period.

While I agree, stories 1 to 8. As lvl 45 to 50 is fine.

End boss is all 8 and lvl 75 required all 8 members. And an extra boss lvl 85.

You sir will grind, or just not complete the game.

[rasabt]

Originally posted by Gronmor:

Originally posted by Devoras:

Normally a game like this would have been a must-buy for me, however I gave up on the first game because of the grinding. The gameplay loop in the first game was spend 2-3 hours just walking in circles fighting random encounter enemies to level up to the point where I could continue playing the story, then spend 20-30 minutes playing the story, then have to go back to grinding again before I could continue the story. If this second one is the same I'd rather spend my time playing something that respects my time more and is less tedious.

Again as others have said, you didn't need to do that in the first game, and you don't need to do so in this one either. You'll be around the recommended levels by the time you reach new chapters usually, and as for weapons and armors, you can use Path Actions on NPCs, steal them with Therion (in the first game) and Throné (in this one).

The game can be challenging at times, more so than many other jrpgs, sure. But with the right weapons and armors, and with a good understanding of the gameplay, you can manage, in both games

I mean, I'm currently on the final chapters of my characters! Beaten Throné's, Temenos's, Agnea's and Ochette's final boss, and the only character that was above the recommended lvl 45 was Throné; everyone else was around 40. And I didn't use her for the Temenos, Agnea and Ochette's fights either. Like I said, it's very doable

reading through comments like this (and other similiar comments) leads me to believe people played neither game beyond the lvl 18s to 20s, yet still feel the need to answer questions about the pacing and leveling process of this specific game (or the prequel)

you do (are supposed to) need to grind in both games; there's a pretty weird pacing going on this time around, which means you will probably meet all neccessary requirements up to around 24 (story quest), then level differences between your party and the plot-quest become more gaps, not slight differences.
just like in the first game you can kinda cut down on the grinding process, by finding higher level (but easy to kill) spots to grind and there are more support possibilities for +exp+jonP+cash...like in most other jrpgs.
stealing, or party-none-combat-skills are neat (in a way), but will not gear your party at that point: neither will they produce anywhere near enough cash to get your roster equipped, nor will the net you enough gear to not have to go on shop sprees (mediocre weapons cost 30k upwards at that point)
nevermind that grinding (killing rng encounters) is less tedious than running to every random npc to checkbox click every singel unique party interaction...do that in larger settelments 2 to 3 times and you will go grinding voluntarily

[Shyguymask]

Originally posted by Devoras:

Originally posted by Gronmor:

Again as others have said, you didn't need to do that in the first game, and you don't need to do so in this one either. You'll be around the recommended levels by the time you reach new chapters usually, and as for weapons and armors, you can use Path Actions on NPCs, steal them with Therion (in the first game) and Throné (in this one).

I definitely did need to grind in the first game, I would often be 7-10 levels behind the recommended level in order to get to the next chapter, and have to grind to catch up. They also made it really hard to grind because there weren't enough level appropriate areas, ie. I would be level 38 and the only places to grind were level 33 and 43, so I risked dying every fight if I tried to grind random encounters in the level 43 area which meant it took a long time having to redo the battles when I lost, whereas if I tried to grind the level 33 area it took a long time to get enough experience because you get so little.

I don't even remember anything about the game's story, all I remember is the constant grinding. Actually I think I just talked myself out of being interested in this game at all, I'm getting annoyed just thinking about the first game

So what if you're underleveled? Levels hardly make a difference past the early game at least in Octopath 1, most of your stats comes from equipment. And in all cases there is nothing preventing you from forming a strategy and beating the bosses if you learn the game's mechanics. People have beaten the advanced job superbosses while extremely underleveled and without too much trouble either.

There is no grinding needed, the problem is you.

[Beeps]

Originally posted by rasabt:

you do (are supposed to) need to grind in both games

Developer intent is about as close to meaningless in these games as it can possibly get. It doesn't matter what you're "supposed to" do if the game gives you so many ways to bypass intentionality.

Originally posted by rasabt:

nevermind that grinding (killing rng encounters) is less tedious than running to every random npc to checkbox click every singel unique party interaction...

Debatable. And also beside the point; you get better gear from dungeon chests from any NPC in the game up until you reach the endgame.

[Takfloyd]

I never fought even a single random battle in this game and it was still easy. I think I got a game over like 5 times in total. I was around level 15-20 when I started doing the final bosses for each story, which you are "supposed to" be level 45 for. It was the same with the first game.

The level recommendations are just for complete idiots, they are not a rule. If you have more than two braincells you can beat any boss at any level.

The game is anti-grind - it punishes you for every random battle you fight by making the bosses even easier.

As a corollary: The game's biggest flaw is that it forces you to be a certain level with a character to use their path action a couple of times. I was infuriated when Throné's final chapter required her to be level 34 to assassinate some NPC. My characters were around level 18 at the time. I had to put off her chapter for last after doing everything else including optional content, and it ruined her final boss of course.

[Chilly]

To be honest, the only thing you may need to grind for is meeting the level requirements for stealing items from npcs and getting all their info, assuming you are going the "honorable" way and not using the path actions that have a chance to fail. Some of them have level requirements of 80+ like the battle tested weapons, and i'm too cheap to use purchase on them if i don't have to.

[Gronmor]

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Originally posted by Minneyar:

If anything, I feel like the game putting "Recommended Level"s on areas was a terrible mistake, because as you can see here, a lot of people interpret that to mean they must grind to be that level before you can go in that area.

The thing is, it's completely untrue. With decent equipment or tactics, you can handle areas whose recommended level is far above your average. As I'm playing through, I'm constantly rotating out my team to always have the lowest level characters, I always keep Evasive Maneuvers equipped, I've done zero grinding, and I never run in areas with random encounters. The result is that my main character is usually a couple of levels below the Recommended Level for each chapter, the rest of my party is often <10 levels below it, and it's fine. Ochette still wipes most random encounters before they can act. Bosses require a little strategy, but I still beat most on the first try, and I've yet to fight anything that took more than two tries.

This is not a hard game, and you don't need to grind, period.

While I agree, stories 1 to 8. As lvl 45 to 50 is fine.

End boss is all 8 and lvl 75 required all 8 members. And an extra boss lvl 85.

You sir will grind, or just not complete the game.

I've beaten the extra boss at around lvl 60 for my whole team. And that's only because that's the level I was at when I faced it; I didn't grind to get to level 60, it's just the level I ended up at finishing all the stories, all the subquests, looking up the dungeons, etc.

Believe me, there is absolutely NO NEED to grind! All you need is a working strategy! Like, I didn't won against the extra boss on my first attemp, it took me at least half a dozen tries just to find a working strategy for the first half, and another dozen for the second half. But once you find that working strategy, you can win; grinding is unnecessary.

Oh, and the story's final boss? Finished that one on my very first attempt, at an even lower level, too (obviously). Honestly, that one isn't really hard, compared to the final boss of the first game.

So, to reiterate: No you don't need to grind. You just need a working strategy.

[Earthangel 666]

Originally posted by Syrin:

I loved everything about the first game EXCEPT the mind numbing excessive brainless grinding. It forced me to abandon the game. I came back to it to try to complete the story lines, but couldn't do it. PLEASE tell me it isn't a mindless grind fest like the first one.

there is no grind got to max level under 30 min what a garbage game :)

[Sogreth]

Originally posted by I best player:

Originally posted by Syrin:

I loved everything about the first game EXCEPT the mind numbing excessive brainless grinding. It forced me to abandon the game. I came back to it to try to complete the story lines, but couldn't do it. PLEASE tell me it isn't a mindless grind fest like the first one.

there is no grind got to max level under 30 min what a garbage game :)

Yep

[Earthangel 666]

Originally posted by Sogreth:

Originally posted by I best player:

there is no grind got to max level under 30 min what a garbage game :)

Yep

exactly

[Jkrav]

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Originally posted by Minneyar:

If anything, I feel like the game putting "Recommended Level"s on areas was a terrible mistake, because as you can see here, a lot of people interpret that to mean they must grind to be that level before you can go in that area.

The thing is, it's completely untrue. With decent equipment or tactics, you can handle areas whose recommended level is far above your average. As I'm playing through, I'm constantly rotating out my team to always have the lowest level characters, I always keep Evasive Maneuvers equipped, I've done zero grinding, and I never run in areas with random encounters. The result is that my main character is usually a couple of levels below the Recommended Level for each chapter, the rest of my party is often <10 levels below it, and it's fine. Ochette still wipes most random encounters before they can act. Bosses require a little strategy, but I still beat most on the first try, and I've yet to fight anything that took more than two tries.

This is not a hard game, and you don't need to grind, period.

While I agree, stories 1 to 8. As lvl 45 to 50 is fine.

End boss is all 8 and lvl 75 required all 8 members. And an extra boss lvl 85.

You sir will grind, or just not complete the game.

This is just straight up false. Beat every story with the required character being at least 5-8 levels below recommended (as long as your main is around the recommended level youll be fine).

Beat the final boss with everyone at 52-54. If you needed to be level 75 to finish the final boss, you didn't actually plan your team well.

Can't speak on the secret extra boss, but there are strategies to make it manageable. I only grinded when I wanted to but it doesn't make that big a difference.

[SaN]

I think Octopath is one of the greatest jrpg ever and it is for some reasons, one of them is because farming is not needed to beat the game, farming is needed only to beat the hidden boss.

As farming reduce the game difficulty, in other words the problem is not the game recquire too much farming, the problem is you are not playing efficiently enought for some reasons.

Watching a good speedrun will show you I am telling the truth.

Almost the same apply to Octopath 2 and in this one farming is faster and easier than before. So we can agree this is an improvement.

About story, well i've read some reviews in the past and what I've seen is most of them don't like is more the storytelling than the story.

It can be very difficult to understand that something we don't like is not bad or something we like is not good. Emotions are very strong to blind us.

Thats why knowledge and experience are very important things.

Retrogamers will already know what I will say as a conclusion.

Octopath storytelling is what jrpg storytelling was before FF7.
Is this bad? Absolutely not. It's just different.

[Sogreth]

Originally posted by SaN:

Emotions are very strong to blind us.

Well said. When people blindly follow SE and buy anything they release, yes, their emotions rule and blind them.