1/3
2 Years of Service
I have to agree... the biggest issue with sandbox games is that they replace content with grind. There are two categories that sandbox games fall into (primarily)... Achievement and Discovery.
The latter requires a lot of content, but is the most rewarding, in my opinion. While the former can be rewarding, often it is padded out with a repetitive series of actions, and the only real achievement is managing to suffer through it.
That said, grind *can* be enjoyable, engaging, or even relaxing. But the focus needs to be on refining the grind aspect in those situations. But I'll take a Discovery sandbox any day.
The latter requires a lot of content, but is the most rewarding, in my opinion. While the former can be rewarding, often it is padded out with a repetitive series of actions, and the only real achievement is managing to suffer through it.
That said, grind *can* be enjoyable, engaging, or even relaxing. But the focus needs to be on refining the grind aspect in those situations. But I'll take a Discovery sandbox any day.