10 Video Games Ruined By Excessive Grinding

Grinding is an integral part of many, many video games, and while often spoken of in a negative context, it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

The overwhelming majority of RPGs will ask players to grind at one point or another, either to level up for a tricky fight ahead or hoover up resources from enemies.

When the combat's fun and the player isn't asked to waste hours and hours of their life doing the same repetitive action, grinding can provide a nice, even relaxing break in the main quest.

But of course there are also countless games which abuse player goodwill with their frankly ludicrous over-indulgence in tiresome grinding.

We're talking about those games which make you do the same boring tasks and battles over and over again before you can get what you really want.

From RPGs to racing games, beat 'em ups, and first-person shooters, these 10 games all prove that grinding is rife throughout the industry and doesn't much discriminate among genres.

Not all grinding is created equal, and your mileage may vary, but these games really took liberties with player persistence, thoroughly wasting their precious time in the process...

While on one hand RuneScape is one of the more accessible MMORPGs on the market, it's also one of the most intensely grind-heavy, such that countless players have joked over the years about it basically being a second job.

RuneScape offers separate levelling progression systems for each of its many skills - from combat to mining, woodcutting, and cooking - and while some clearly find these repetitive gameplay loops relaxing, they're tailor-made to make progress as painstakingly slow as possible.

Even for the grindy standards of most MMOs, RuneScape requires a zen-like level of patience and commitment, and for many working adults the colossal time investment simply won't be worth the scant rewards.

Considering it can take over 150 hours to master just one of the game's 28 skills, that's a ton of repetition, in service of a game whose world isn't nearly interesting enough to warrant so much of your life - especially when there are so many great games out there.