IMO there are three global factors that decide how (un)challenging the game is: party size, level and the trainer's intelligence. Party size is on your favor by default, so if in order to wind you also need to be on the same level or higher, than that means you're dumber than the AI.
>>45559574I'm usually about on-level since, while I battle every trainer, I usually keep 7-8 pokemon.
Exceptions to this have been GSC, HGSS (because of that fucked up level curve), ORAS and SS (thank you mandatory exp share).
The games are easy enough to beat everything while being 2-20 levels under (depending on where you are of course) but they keep insisting on giving us buttloads of exp. Which is fine if you want to maintain a whole box worth of pokemon (unless it's Johto, where wild pokemon overlevel trainers), but for everyone else it means massive overlevelling.
>>45559617For SS I carried 8 pokémon, most of them unevolved, and I used randos when catching so I could discard that exp. I still was overleveled for everything and destroyed every team up until Leon's level spike finally put him above me (he actually managed to faint three of my unevolved pokemon).
