>>44292771Not to knock all the Barryposters and derail the huge argument with the Hauposters, but you should probably compare the proper Barry fight (post 4th gym, before 5th)
As far as the actual Barry vs Hau argument goes, comparing the two of these from when you fight them and assuming grass starter...
Barry's difficulty largely seems to come from Staravia's Double Team/Endeavor/Quick Attack. Yes, he's trying to FEAR you. The rest of his Pokemon have relatively low power moves (largely priority), and since you have Turtwig, if you're matching his levels, you have a fully evolved Torterra, which means STAB Earthquake, which generally means his entire team dies. You can even use the Move Relearner in the same town to get Wood Hammer to absolutely obliterate poor Buizel.
Hau's difficulty previously was in that his Alolan Raichu was a powerful lead, and now it seems to come from his higher variety of Pokemon - 5 Pokemon when the previous major battle against Olivia only had 3 (and the battle in Sun/Moon also only had 3). Brionne additionally hits harder than you'd expect and she (...wait, the game actually makes Hau's starter female if it's Popplio?) has the Z-Crystal. Tauros hits hard and fast. And Alolan Raichu is still there. Though, access to Illusion kind of breaks the pokemon if you have something weak to psychic to put in the very back of your lineup.
I'd have to give the point to Hau on this one. While both of them have easy tricks, Barry is kind of one-note still at this point while Hau has a few points of coverage despite the 'only 2 moves' problem.
Hop doesn't really have an equivalent point (he's either fought before the 4th Gym or after the 5th) but the only good stuff on his team at that point since he's in his post-Bede-curbstomp funk still are a Snorlax (which he thankfully holds onto for later fights) and his freshly evolved starter.
