Kura; I mean to go with a little higher difficulty with KH2 Remix (as long as it isn't kick-my-ass on the final boss) since I REALLY hate Atlantica with a passion there. (Rhythm game? UGH!) That's why I never got the secret ending in the vanilla KH2; I couldn't STAND Atlantica. This one? I already saw Deep Dive(Fansub, remember?) so I'll be happy seeing the plain vanilla ending this time. And I hope if the book comes back, there won't be as bad a minigames as that. Ugh.
And I'll keep that in mind. Prolly will be ordering the next one soon as I beat COM, prolly not going to platinum it but I'll beat both stories.
The mini games for the 100 Acre Wood are far more manageable in Kingdom Hearts II - almost insultingly so, ironically enough - but as long as you beat the final boss handily enough in the vanilla version of II, you should get "The Gathering" easily enough. That being said, I'd be lying if I said that trying to get "Birth by Sleep" was any easier. It's
much harder since it requires you to really work at it no matter what difficulty you're playing. Here are the conditions for "Birth by Sleep" as follows from a Kingdom Hearts wikia:
Beginner: Not available
Standard: Complete Jiminy's Journal, complete all Gummi ship missions and get the Gold Crown
Proud: Complete Jiminy's Journal and get the Gold Crown
Critical: Get the Gold Crown
For all difficulty modes that grant you the secret ending "Birth by Sleep," you are required to get the Gold Crown. The problem here lies in the fact that in order to get the Gold Crown, you must satisfy the Mushroom XIII, defeat the Data Organization XIII and defeat the Lingering Sentiment/Will. The Mushrooms tend to go from easy to dickishly annoying (Mushrooms I and VIII come to mind). The Data Organization XIII can do this as well with Luxord being stupidly annoying if you don't abuse the pause trick to get the timing right for his card game near the end. Lingering Will, however, is an absolute
beast. That being said, the alternatives involve trying to do all of the missions in Jiminy's Journal or doing that
plus every single Gummi mission as well.
While Critical Mode may be daunting, it's still a load of fun and forces you to play on your toes at times. There are plenty of guides that can help you with some of the superbosses such as the Data Organization XIII and the Lingering Sentiment/Will. Believe me when I say that it's worth it finally seeing that smexy secret ending on your TV screen knowing that you earned that fought hard for it.