As far as the difficulty goes, I occasionally wonder if my knowledge of pokemon makes the game easier than it really is.
I mean, back in the day of Red and Blue, just about everyone went through the stage when they had a Charizard that knew Ember, Flamethrower, Fire Spin, and Fire Blast. And your team wasn't exactly very well put together.
We know better now. We know type matchups, how to have an effective moveset, and how to build a good team. You have to wonder, how hard would these games be for someone that knows fuck all about pokemon?