Progression that respects your time

Every RPG has a progression system, but not all of them value your time. The good ones make each session feel like it moved something forward. The bad ones pad the gap between fun with busywork.

The test I use is simple: after fifteen minutes, did I unlock, learn, or build something? In Ashvale Wanderers the answer was almost always yes, because its skill trees and crafting gave constant small goals.

Grind isn't automatically bad. It becomes bad when the reward is just a bigger number with no new decision attached. I'd rather earn one skill that changes how I fight than three levels that change nothing.

When you're trying a new game, watch how it paces its rewards in the first half hour. That early rhythm usually tells you how the whole thing will feel twenty hours in.