Hey I'm that guy that made the clover thread yesterday.
Just beat the first gym and I gotta say, that was a really good first gym. I challenged Brock as soon as I got to Gadech city with a couple level 10s and a level 13 starter. Did surprisingly well, my starter did all the heavy lifting but both my other team mates contributed at least a little. Wasn't quite enough in the end, but I got through his 2 weaker mons and got Chompest to consume the berry before he took me out. Then I did the Museum sidequest, evolved Larvades into Proboskito, added blobby to my team, and then immediately challenge the gym again, having a similar experience but this time edging out a victory.
Insanely enough I only managed to win because Blobby got 2 icy winds off due to mudslap lowering Chompest's accuracy, and then those icy winds let my grasshole outspeed Chompest even after several rock tombs. This is legit good pokemon gameplay, makes me actually think a little while not needing some perfect team to win, very good sign of what's to come.