I feel like I really should disagree with that final statement. The game itself was still very hard on critical mode, given that unless you picked shield, you'd be OHK'd constantly later on in the game. This made the boss battles way more intense. I feel like KH1 itself was actually pretty easy on proud mode, as was proud mode on KH2. While I agree that KH1 was harder, I think that comparing KH2 Critical to KH1 Standard is a complete over-exaggeration.
I know this thread is super old, but I wanted to clarify that there is an ability that you get automatically called "No Experience," which is the same ability that you get from equipping winner's proof. As the name suggests, you get no experience.
