Nightmare mode: Vanilla or Catastrophe?

[Sunshine]

Trying to get the achievement for beating nightmare mode and i was wondering what would be easier.
Is grinding a pain in the ass like in other YS games on the hardest difficulty? that would make catastrophe a though call since i was planning to grind my way to obscene STR/DEF levels.
Do healing items really outweigh the higher stats?

[TheHaplessWanderer]

Tough call on just how beneficial healing is compared to being able to buy Str and Def seeds. I am currently going through my own Nightmare Catastrophe run after completing Normal Vanilla, and I miss being able to heal during boss battles, but the enemy stats seem so much higher now that healing would just delay death by another minute or so, which is not enough. Since I have to grind to beat the next boss anyways, having access to the seeds saves me a lot of time. Also, you are going to hit the 1 XP grind either way late game, and if the last boss is extremely difficult in Nightmare, having access to the seeds will be a huge time-saver.

[Sunshine]

Thanks for the eloquent response dude, guess i'm gonna go for the catastrophe run then

[Gnidex]

I think catastrophe is harder in the beginning, but late in the game it's easier.
Grinding is HORRIBLE on Nightmare, but at least before boss which gives you red sword you can go to dangerous area in the forest, then grind in Limewater Cave and 2-shot that boss, boss in ruins and world bosses.