[WLK:P0] Prologue: Beginning a new game

Get ready to play Among the Sleep! Learn about starting a new game, choosing difficulty, and setting up your game for the best experience.

Hey there! So you're about to dive into the spooky world of Among the Sleep for the first time? Awesome! Before you jump in, let's chat about a few things to make sure your playthrough is as smooth (and terrifying) as possible. Think of this as your quick pre-game setup guide.

First up: Data Install. This game really pushes the PSP to its limits, and sometimes that means longer loading times or even a bit of slowdown during intense moments. To help avoid those annoyances, I really, really recommend doing a FULL DATA INSTALL before you start. It makes a noticeable difference.

Next, let's talk Difficulty. Just like in other Kingdom Hearts games, you'll pick your difficulty when you start, and it actually matters for unlocking the secret ending. Here’s the breakdown:

• Beginner: You'll hit harder and take less damage, but sadly, the secret ending is totally out of reach.
• Standard: Normal damage for both you and enemies. To unlock the secret ending, you'll need to complete the Final Episode and find absolutely everything – every enemy, ability, sticker, treasure, and beat every mini-game with each character. It's a huge undertaking!
• Proud: You'll deal normal damage but take double damage. The secret ending just requires completing the Final Episode.
• Critical: You'll deal less damage, earn less HP, and take double damage, but you start with extra command slots and the Zero EXP ability if you want to make things even tougher. The secret ending is unlocked by completing the Final Episode.

Just a heads-up: if you play on different difficulties with different characters, the secret ending requirements will be based on the lowest difficulty you used. Also, your character's level plays a massive role in the actual difficulty, so don't be afraid to pick a harder mode than you're used to and just grind levels to compensate!

Finally, CPU Speed. After you play through the tutorial for a bit, you'll unlock the Config menu. I highly suggest heading in there and bumping the CPU speed from 222MHz to 333MHz. It'll drain your battery a little faster, but it's a huge help in preventing that annoying gameplay slowdown.

Remember, you can adjust the data install and CPU speed later, but your difficulty choice? That's a one-time decision, so choose wisely!