>>33373550thanks to this anon I'm up and running
Just beat Falkner without any loses due to overleveling. I was trying to feel out the difficulty of the game and went in safe, but I'm enjoying the challenge so far. The game itself is also pretty well made, although the amount of Pokemon available on each route does feel overwhelming.
Here's the team heading into Union Cave, with a Bellsprout, Gastly, and Jigglypuff in the PC.