>>45651671>FRLG, Emerald, Platinum, and even fucking BW were harder.Not him, but absolutely false (aside from maybe Emerald). FRLG in particular was piss-easy, so I don't know what you're talking about there. Gen 7 has by far the most competent teambuilding, AI, movesets, and EVs/IVs for overall NPC trainers, barring a few exceptions in the earlier gens (Cynthia, Challenge Mode in Gen 5, etc.). Seriously, look at the NPC team sheets for the Ultra Games, you'll be shocked at how many trainers, even generics, have some form of optimized perfect IV or invested EV.
There's something to be said about having to ignore the gratuitous grants the game gives you, like EXP share and Roto-Powers, but if we're going down that rabbit hole, every game is made piss-easy by abusing Full Restores and X-Items.