the one good thing about grinding defense ups is that they don't require materials from the special enemies, which makes it slightly easier to grind. but also you need so god damn much and orichalcum costs 5000 fucking money (sorry, munny).
Its ridiculous.
AP and strength ups are even worse because they require mythril, and that is nearly fucking impossible to grind, because you're either grinding 1% drops from very select enemies or grinding a special enemy for materials to MAKE mythril.