Level grinding

Level Grinding, Leveling, or Training, is a fan-term used to describe walking around an enemy infested location and defeating enemies in battle for the sake of leveling up. The point of this method is to strengthen up the team, usually for an upcoming boss. Level Grinding may also be called Farming, which is usually used for more specific cases, like AP Farming or Experience Farming for Ability Points and Experience Points respectively.

Being a long-time method in role-playing games, Level Grinding has been received with a lot of negative reaction. Many reviewers criticize games that require excessive level grinding in order to defeat difficult enemies. In early role-playing games, the original Final Fantasy being one of them, level grinding was almost mandatory. Since then, grinding has been somewhat disguised as other gameplay elements. Final Fantasy XII, for example, introduced the Hunt system, which many gamers use as a means to grind and earn various items.

Final Fantasy
Early game, the Peninsula of Power has many high level monsters that yield high experience and gold and are easily defeated with Fira and Diara. Additionally, since certain bosses always appear when a character steps on a tile, easy bosses such as the Dragon Zombie and the Evil Eye can be fought repetitively.

Additionally, on the first floor of the Cavern of Earth, there is a section (a corridor on the far west) that contains a fixed encounter on every tile making it an easy place to level up.

In the late game, the Warmech gives the most experience of any enemy, though it is very powerful.

Final Fantasy II
Similar to the Peninsula of Power in the first game, south of Fynn is an area with powerful monsters that will raise the party's stats quickly early in the game. Later, the Tropical Island and the Jade Passage have high level monsters that can be defeated with little effort in attempt to boost stats. Additionally, in the 20th Anniversary edition, players can use the Arcane Labyrinth to quickly boost their stats. Also, players of the NES and Origins can exploit the Select/Cancel trick, in which the player selects an action and cancels it, but the stat boost still registers. Players of all versions can attack their own players to quickly boost HP or MP.

Final Fantasy III
On the Floating Continent, there are few good places to grind, such as Bahamut's Lair. However, the Surface World has a few such places. After obtaining the Nautilus, players often use the Sunken Cave and the Saronia Catacombs to level up. Later, the Forbidden Land Eureka is another good grinding spot. In the DS version, there is a very useful way to grind in the Crystal Tower's first floor. When in battle with a group of Blucks, the player must kill all except one and continually Guard until the Bluck summons a Kum Kum. The party can defeat the Kum Kum and simply wait for the Bluk to summon another.

Final Fantasy IV
The Lunar Subterrane, though the enemies are powerful, is often used to grind. Players of the Advance version use the Lunar Ruins to level up, as the enemies leave a huge amount of experience and gold.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Areas to grind in The After Years differ from tale to tale, and each have a level cap, with the exception of the game's final tale. The most optimal place to grind in the last tale is the Depths of the True Moon. Alternatively, if the monsters are too hard, the next best place is the Subterrane.

Final Fantasy V
Players use the Objet d'Art in Castle of Bal to quickly farm AP as they die with one Level 5 Death and leave high AP. Interdimensional Rift is a good farming spot as the enemies pose little threat, but grant high EXP. Players of the Advance version could use the Sealed Temple to grind, and possibly the Cloister of the Dead, as many bosses are fought in a row. However, by unlocking the Cloister of the Dead the player has completed everything in the game and grinding is generally pointless, unless one has not fought the superbosses yet.

In World 2 and onwards, the player may opt to fight the Shield Dragon, if they possess the Control ability, to earn 2500 EXP for each party member as well as 5 AP by simply having the monster use Blaze on itself until it dies. For World 1, players may opt to fight the Mini Dragon enemies near Istory Falls for lots of EXP. For AP farming, the monsters in the final floors of the Interdimensional Rift give lots of AP with very little effort (most can be slain by using Odin), though the most notable enemy that gives AP is the Mover, which must be defeated before they escape or the battle ends, though when defeated, gives away 199 AP.

The island JUST (the one shaped like a key) north of Crescent Island is notable for the only enemies on it are Black Flame. They provide 870 Gil, 362 Exp, and 3 ABP. They can be killed with any "Throw" (Fire/lightning/water Skill) magic from the ninja, or Elemental Summons (Ramuh, Shiva, or Ifrit).

Final Fantasy VI
In the World of Balance, the Triangle Island has the Intangir, which can be easily be killed with Doom in the SNES version. In the World of Ruin, the Dinosaur Forest is used by many to grind, as its enemies leave huge amounts of experience. Also, the desert south of Maranda holds Slagworms (Hoover in the original version) and Cactuars, both of which give out high amounts of AP (though the Slagworm gives out high EXP as well). While the Cactuars have high evasion this can be solved by equipping a Sniper Eye, or by using any other technique or spell that can ignore evasion. The worms are also vulnerable to the Death spell which means one can avoid its sandstorm counter attack, which can be potentially devastating. To get the most out of grinding, the party should equip Espers that grant stat boost bonuses upon gaining a level.

Final Fantasy VII
The earliest point in the game where some players choose to level grind is in the Sector 4 Train Tunnel. If the player heads south right until the end, an infinite amount of troops can be fought. If the player gives a character the Restore Materia and heals until the character runs out of MP, they can switch it and do the same for the other two. This is also a good place to get Limit Breaks quickly, and it is also a source for a vast amount of kills. At this point in the game, each character should be able to kill each enemy in one attack from the back row, including Tifa.

Aeris's LEVEL 2 Limit Break, Fury Brand, can be exploited to get the two other party members Limit Breaks to maximum so they can use Limit Breaks faster. This is also a faster way of filling LEVEL 3 and LEVEL 4 Limit Break gauges, and it allows players to draw the benefits from Sadness while still being able to use Limit Breaks relatively often.

After leaving Midgar, if the characters' levels are high enough, players can use the Midgar Zolom to grind, as it will respawn infinitely and give high amounts of experience. Other players use the Matra Magic Enemy Skill acquired from just outside of Midgar to defeat enemies that appear outside of the Chocobo Farm since they appear in large numbers. If the player uses Hypers to get into the Fury status, the enemies should also make getting and using Limit Breaks simpler.

On Disc 1, upon reaching Junon, the player can pull an alarm in the tunnel that leads to the Junon Underwater Reactor, which will allow the player to fight strong enemies from the start of Disc 2, which yields high EXP and AP, as well as high Gil. This method is recognized as a sound way to grind in any SCC.

Outside Nibelheim, the player can fight and Manipulate the Valron enemy using the appropriate Materia. Using the Dive Kick, which takes off one-quarter of the player's maximum health, the player can fill the Limit gauge quickly, while not being threatened with KO since the HP decrease can be calculated beforehand.

After obtaining the Tiny Bronco, the player can head to an island close to Mideel, where they can fight the Mideel region enemies, such as Head Hunters. Equipping three Rune Armlet armor from Bone Village, and each player's double AP growth weapons they should have obtained by this point in the game, the player can stock a lot of AP to level up Materia. With a level 3 Restore materia equipped with an All materia, the player can cast Regen and allow the enemy to attack the player and get Limit Breaks. If of a high enough strength, three Fury Ring accessories from Gongaga Village allows the player to kill the enemies quickly without need for user input.

After obtaining the submarine, the player may opt to go to the Sunken Gelnika, where they can fight powerful enemies that yield high EXP, as well as being morphed into sources for stat boosts.

Later on, Cactus Island is useful for its Cactuers that give out moderately high EXP and AP. Additionally, Movers in the Northern Crater give out insane amounts of AP, but are very rare. Players can also exploit the W-Item Duplication Bug to give themselves 99 Elixirs to feed the Magic Pots and gain large amounts of EXP and AP.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Due to the leveling system's nature, it is difficult to level grind in this game, as there is a lot of luck involved. However, leveling up is not determined entirely at random. Although it is not shown in the game, enemies still drop EXP, and the more EXP the player gains, the higher the chance the player levels up during a Modulation Phase. If the player wishes to level grind, they can do so by fighting enemies in missions that are labeled "Very Hard".

As Zack levels up, the rate at which his stats increase reduces, meaning at higher levels, level grinding is not very effective. Players often increase their stats by utilizing Materia Fusion.

Players use Mover enemies to obtain quick SP, and for quick Gil players use Tonberry enemies. When players unlock Mission 9-6-6: The Reigning Deity, they can equip the Brigand's Gloves and steal 99 Phoenix Downs. These can be sold for a large sum of Gil. If the player wishes, they can buy Dualcast Materia, and then convert them to SP. They can also use the Phoenix Downs in Materia Fusion to quickly raise the HP stat on a Materia to its maximum.

Final Fantasy VIII
Grinding is almost imperative in Final Fantasy VIII, but in a different way: Since the party's level means less than what Magic the player junctions, players grind by drawing many spells from enemies, and refining spells from items or lower level spells. The player can easily earn lots of high level junctioning spells early on by playing Triple Triad and modifying the cards into items and refining the items into magic.

Players looking for EXP go to the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell, where there are many powerful enemies that give away huge amounts of EXP, and can also be easily defeated with Quistis's Degenerator. AP grinders head to Cactuar Island where the Cactuars can be easily slain by Squall's normal attack, and give out 20 AP each. To maximise the party's potential it is wise to stay in low levels until obtaining the Cactuar GF, equip its stat boost abilities and then fight in the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell to gain stat boosts along with levels.

Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy IX has fewer places to grind than its counterparts, however, they still exist in some forms. The crystal versions of the Four Fiends in the Crystal World yield high amounts of AP. The Grand Dragon and the Yans on Vile Island both give huge amounts of EXP; Grand Dragons can be easily felled after a certain point, especially with the help of Dragon Crest, but Yans remain exceptionally difficult even at optimum character levels. The party can fight Grand Dragons fairly early on in the game, as they can be fought above Gizamaluke's Grotto and die from Quina's Level 5 Death spell. The player can also "grind" to max out certain character specific abilities: Zidane's Thievery powers up whenever he successfully steals from an enemy; Freya's Dragon's Crest can be maxed out by slaying a 100 dragons and Quina's Frog Drop powers up the more frogs s/he has caught in the marshes.

Final Fantasy X
The Omega Ruins' enemies give high amounts of AP, and with Double/Triple AP and Overdrive -> AP large amounts of sphere levels pour in. Also, using Tonberries and their ilk with Overdrive -> AP earns lots of sphere levels if the player has killed enough enemies. Also, killing the Monster Arena's Species Conquest enemies give Spheres that add new stat nodes to the Sphere Grid and boost characters' stats quickly.

Final Fantasy X-2
End game's Farplane and Via Infinito are places which hold powerful enemies. It should be noted that Via Infinito's battle difficulty rises as player goes deeper into underground. Lady Luck learns the Double EXP ability, which can be used whenever a character uses the Dressphere. When a character equips both the Ap Egg (triple AP) and the Key to Success (double AP) they will receive 6x the AP they normally earn. However, the conditions for earning Key to Success mean the player cannot get the Mascot Dressphere later on.

The characters earn AP as they execute commands in battle. If the player can create a continuous loop of actions that kill neither the party nor the enemies, they can easily rake in AP. One of the most effective methods for stockpiling AP involves the Treasure Hunt Garment Grid equipped with the Mug ability; the Mug ability scores AP even if the character is unable to acquire an item from a monster.

Final Fantasy XI
As an older MMORPG, level grinding was the principal means of advancement. Until the release of Wings of the Goddess, this was generally restricted to EXP/Merit parties against enemies like crabs, beetles, mandragora, goblins, colibri, and imps, due to the low-risk of grinding on those. With the 4th expansion, Campaign Battles provided an alternative method of level grinding by participating in Crystal War skirmishes.

Final Fantasy XII
The Gambit system allows for auto-levelling tactics where the player can leave the party levelling and gaining EXP without having to as much as touch the controller.

An easy grinding spot early on is when the alarm sounds after rescuing Ashe on the Dreadnought Leviathan. If the player stays in the area where enemies first appear after the alarm goes off enemies will continue to appear. When the player is close to death they can simply travel back a little bit to the Save Crystal where they can heal and repeat the process.

Negalmuur in Stilshrine of Miriam is a famous auto-level spot: it will frequently summon Ghasts and by correctly setting up the party's Gambits it is possible to create an infinite loop, which allows the game to be left playing while the party continues to gain experience. The party should use Gambits such as Foe:HP<3,000 to hit only the Ghasts and not the Negalmuur summoning them, and to prevent the party leader remaining KO'd for too long the party can use Decoy to attract as many attacks as possible to other members, and also use a Gambit that prompts the allies to use a Remedy on the party leader when needed.

Henne Mines is renowned for two convenient grinding spots: The first is Pithead Junction B where touching the gate switch sends a limited number of Jellies falling from above, and if they die from the Time Magick Break, they will respawn endlessly. If the player programs their Gambits correctly, it is possible to sustain an auto-leveling without touching the controller. Besides the Break spell, it is recommended to have another ally to cast Sleepga on the Jellies and another to keep the party alive with curative spells. The second spot is Pithead Junction C that is riskier than the Pithead Junction B spot. Flipping the gate switch will send Abysteels descending down from the ceiling. They do not respawn endlessly like the Jellies, but are vulnerable to Sleep and are damaged by curative magic. With the proper Gambit set-up, the player can use Sleepga to neutralize the Abysteels and kill them with Curaja without waking them up. The Abysteels will leave roughly 3,000 EXP each, which in tandem with their large numbers makes leveling quick and easy. If the party is equipped with Embroidered Tippets, they could potentially earn up to of 100,000 EXP with each press of the switch.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Because all official Missions are one-time-only events, players are forced to rely on Monster and Summoning Melees if they wish to spend some time leveling up. The Summoning Melee at the Gates of Shattered Time and the challenging yet rewarding gambit of Midlight's Deep are two exceptional grinding locations, though the latter requires some time commitment.

Final Fantasy XIII
''See also: Recurring Enemies with Highest CP (Final Fantasy XIII).

There are several places in the game that allow players to accumulate large quantities of CP in a relatively short time. Although many of these are only accessible (or practical) at or after the endgame, this is also the point at which they become particularly useful. One notable spot is the penultimate configuration of the Tesseracts in Orphan's Cradle, where a moderately powerful party can defeat, for example, the lone Wladislaus in about two minutes (using a slightly risky Evened Odds -> Relentless Assault strategy) for 32000CP, and it can be respawned quickly by returning to the lower Save Station. This is a good spot, but one which can never be revisited after the Tesseracts undergoes the final reconfiguration in order to access the final bosses.

Another popular spot is in the Archylte Steppe near the Mah'habara Subterra entrance with the fighting Behemoth King and Megistotherian pairing; the party will always get a preemptive strike, and both enemies will be at half of their HP. One way to kill them is to stagger the Behemoth King and use the Commando's Launch ability to prevent it from replenishing its HP, then killing the Megistotherian. With a strong party the battle will only take approximately 7-14 seconds for 6600 CP, or 13200 CP with a Growth Egg.

One popular training method, especially for lower levels, requires the player to repeat mission 24 in Taejin's Tower over and over again. Each battle will yield 6,000 CP (12,000 with a Growth Egg) and the reward for completing the mission is a Moonblossom Seed that can be sold for 6,000 Gil, and it takes only a few seconds to walk from the Cie'th Stone to the Mark, making Mission 24 an extremely good method of getting quick CP with some Gil on the side.

Also, in the optional area of the Mah'habara Subterra mines (access granted by riding Atomos back from Sulyya Springs), one will eventually come across an area with six Cryohedrons. They can easily be killed in a matter of seconds for 7140CP each time. The bombs will respawn when the player backtracks a little.

Formation of five Pulsework Gladiators can be encountered on Fifth Tier of Taejin's Tower. As each one grants 1,600 CP for being destroyed, defeating them will grant 8,000 CP per battle.

The Oretoise family are big moneymakers. The Adamanchelids are easy to kill and can drop a Gold Dust that sells for 15000 Gil. The Adamantortoises and Adamantoises roaming the Archylte Steppe have a chance to drop a Platinum Ingot, which sells for 150000 gil. The Adamantoise in Eden, however, is right next to a Save Station allowing for a quicker restart. It is possible to have Vanille death-spam an Adamantortoise, which can yield around 40,000CP (80,000 with Growth Egg).

Additionally, with some patience, 10 minute runs through the Faultwarrens can yield around 75,000CP (150,000 with Growth Egg). This includes all of the non-marked enemies along the way. Primeval Crossroads -> A Dance of Shadow -> Via Stellarum -> Salamandrine Path -> Titan's Trials (Mission 47, Raktavija). Of note are the Cactuars on the Salamandrine Path, which give around 7,500/15,000CP each if defeated. There are 8 of them, but they run from battle if given the chance. Also, Attacus (Mission 51) gives 75,000/150,000CP when defeated, although that battle typically lasts at least 15 minutes. Everything considered, an hour in the Faultwarrens can yield almost a million CP. A caveat, though - it's best to be farther along the Crystarium to attempt this, as the fights can be tough.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
There are two ways to grind for levels. The first is to clear out the battlefields on the world map. This also yields some decent and rare items.

The other is to clear out higher level zones, leave, and reenter thus making the monsters inside respawn. Keep in mind that some zones don't respawn once the boss is killed.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Since EXP and JP are gained by performing successful actions, regardless of who the action is targeting, players can level grind by defeating all but one enemy units in any battle, prevent the remaining enemy unit from taking any action (such as by inflicting Sleep or Disable) and command the player's units to use their commands on each other, including offensive actions. In addition, Midlight's Deep contains many high level monsters which the player can fight to earn EXP and JP, as these parameters are mitigated by the unit's and target's level. This can also be performed by lining the party up in an X formation, where all 5 squares have the same elevation, and the middle character uses the Monk's Chakra ability in order to heal himself and those around him as they use their commands on each other. Leaving the party lined up allows them to act quickly, as they do not move, and other buffs such as Haste and Protect can be used on the entire party. A prime location for grinding can be found very early on in the game at Mandalia Plains.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance received EXP from one action is dependent on the relativity between the acting character's level and the target character's level. Though missions usually offer challenging high level enemies, they can be completed only once. Enemies throughout the map in random battles will always be a levels relatively average to the player party, and any enemy at the same level will give the same amount of EXP, even if they are as different as an enemy Black Mage or a Thundrake.

Because of this, one random encounter is as good as any other in order to level up. That being said, if a character is to target himself or herself with an action, preferably a healing or supporting one, they will gain 10 EXP; targeting a character one level higher will garner 12 EXP; targeting a character one level lower will garner 8 EXP, and so forth. Therefore, weaker characters can easily level up quickly by affecting higher level characters in battle, even if these characters are party members.

An easy trick to gaining levels fast is the Smile ability the Juggler learns. It is learned by equipping the Orichalcum, and when two Moogles are on the field with that ability at the same time, they can continue using the ability on each other to create a cycle of experience gain and canceling out the other units' chances to move. With this ability, they can easily get to level 50 so the rest of the party can beat up on them to gain levels themselves.