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>And healing items
pretty much anything gets easy once you cheese that in though. If you know how to plan ahead your Revives and Potions, you can even strategize with them if your team is that weak and Revive the mons that are resistant against x type. It doesn't take a physician to know what to do.
I think that, had it not been for healing items, the game would be notoriously harder than SM, that's for sure, but not by that much either because frankly, NPC trainers are still a walk in the park, with or without healing items. It also greatly depends on who's in your team and if you have a decent type effectiveness incorporated into your team.