CRINGINSID'S PROFILE

I'm pretty guilty of making a lot of RPG's I play redundant because of my bad habits, one of those being grinding excessively. However, other times I prefer purposefully nerfing the game via doing the opposite, as in, getting into fights sparingly and being underlevel constantly. And now that I think my experiences with both sides, that's a problem.
Sometimes you can be either overleveled and have no fun with the game cause you win too easily or underleveled and have no fun with the game cause you loose too much. But that mostly depends on the game in question and the playstyle of the person playing it. A lot of games fall in 2 categories. Either very forgiving on their leveling system, allowing players to never have to grind to be strong enough to defeat enemies. Or being super dupity unforgiving, essentially forcing the player to grind in order to progress. Of the two I prefer the first, mostly because when I tolerate grinding it's because I want to grind. And forcing the player to do so is kinda cheap, it doesn't make the game harder, it just makes it frustrating.
Some games have managed to go around this dilemma, such as removing a level system entirely, not letting the player grind at all, or punishing you for grinding in the first place. Games that do this can be hit or miss. I personally like games that limit your battles and in turn limit your exp. Mostly because leveling up just all around feels good and removing it kinda bums (some games do this very very well though). And in some games a stagnant level usually indicates intense INTENSE difficulty, and an overall feeling of "oh crap I can't make this any easier can I?".
But as the final word about the situation I guess I can say it depends on the game your making. If you want to focus on story, don't make grinding an attractive option. Mostly cause of situations like "huh, so that's what we have to do? nvm imma go mass murder some slimes to become op." or, "oh no I cant beat this boss he's too hard, welp gotta slay half his army to get exp so I can beat him.". And removing grinding or levels is effective only if the tone calls for it, and/or it is used cleverly. So really the best solution is testing ya game and playing it in it's full to see if it flows smoothly.

Also now that I think of it, perhaps grinding can be used as a narrative tool... I just haven't seen it being used effectively yet... or being used at all...

Locker worked.
Wow how didn't I think of that.

It looks pretty versatile. Exactly what I needed, thank you.