If you want "grind" games, look no further than any Dragon Quest (Warrior) or Final Fantasy before 10. Grind, grind, grind, and more grind. Most of it is good grind. But the games are unforgiving without being cheap, tough but fair. They give you just enough information to get you from Point A to Point B, but you really have to be paying attention to know where to go without a GameFAQs. Unfortunately, that one service has largely ruined traditional JRPGs insofar as the ingame directions were a large part of the difficulty factor inherent in the games.
Still, every single Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy (except 8) is worth the play. Just expect them to be long, difficult grinds through fairly unforgiving worlds with deep gameplay and (in the case of FF) expansive stories.