Difficulty?

[Ammy175]

Is it just me, or are Sun and Moon a good deal harder than most Pokemon games? Not that I'm complaining (I welcome the change!); I'm just curious what other people's thoughts are.

Besides putting some depth into the sets that opponents have (such as with the 4th Totem Pokemon/one of the ones it calls for help), the levels seems to stay pretty close to you, for the most part. I just arrived at the 3rd island, and I'm at about the same levels as Hau was. I'm not sure how much this changes with the Exp. Share on, though, since I've been playing the game with it off this whole time (although, I feel it might not make the biggest difference, since the B/W experience formula is back).

 

[tokyodrift]

I have to agree. I went into a few Totem Pokemon battles thinking "Oh I can smash this thing!" and ended up getting destroyed. I've been playing with the EXP Share on since I was worried if I did turn it off, I'd be underleveled but I'm push almost 30! Another part of me feels like the AI is a bit smarter as well. They seem to be keen on using Status moves/Stat lowering moves first. Overall more annoying haha!

 

[Florges]

I have to agree that it is a lot harder. After finishing the Team Skull shenanigans on the third island, I have been constantly struggling with everything. I am currently trying to level up everyone to 65 before tackling the "league."

 

[Ammy175]

Another part of me feels like the AI is a bit smarter as well. They seem to be keen on using Status moves/Stat lowering moves first. Overall more annoying haha!

Oh my god, yes. I remember the second Hau fight: his Pichu used Charm thrice before attacking my Rowlet. Since it was my only Pokemon, that fight took quite a while for me to beat.

 

[tokyodrift]

Oh my god, yes. I remember the second Hau fight: his Pichu used Charm thrice before attacking my Rowlet. Since it was my only Pokemon, that fight took quite a while for me to beat.

I had this trainer who had an Umbreon who kept using Baby-Doll Eyes.......

 

[thedestinedblade]

I'll admit to getting wrecked quite a few times to Totem Lurantis. I had nothing that resisted grass and I made the mistake of knocking out that Trumbeak, which brings in a Castform to use Sunny Day. {XD} Synthesis/Solar Blade galore.

 

[Ducolamia]

It it so much harder. I was so shocked that I almost blacked out a couple of times. Totem Vikavolt and Mimikyu were probably the hardest Pokemon for me to fight. Runner up goes to Totem Lurantis for being a pain in the butt all the time.

 

[Hermione Granger]

I'm barely keeping up with my levels after just completing my 4th trial and I'm about to do some tweeks to my team and do some training before my 2nd Grand Trial. I'm thankful for the fact that you get the exp. share early on.

 

[Ammy175]

I'll admit to getting wrecked quite a few times to Totem Lurantis. I had nothing that resisted grass and I made the mistake of knocking out that Trumbreak, which brings in a Castform to use Sunny Day. {XD} Synthesis/Solar Blade galore.

Plus, the Castform's Weather Ball. 100 power move + STAB + boost from Sunny Day.

It didn't help in my case that if something on my team wasn't weak to Grass, it was weak to Fire.

 

[ShyRayq]

Definitely, and it continues into the postgame.

Spoiler:

Anabel's Salamence and Dexio's Metagross + Mega Alakazam are the worst: being fast when everything else is slow, hard hitting and having movesets that deal neutral coverage to pretty much everything. And, they're 2-3 levels higher than Kukui's highest levelled pokemon. Revive spamming are your best friends when you're fighting them.

The difficulty is high but good despite how annoying some of the later pokemon are.

 

[Mawa]

Huh I didn't read all the thread as I play slowly and I don't want to spoil myself too much, but I was affraid to see this game being too easy! Glad to see it might not be the case?

 

[Hikamaru]

I can easily understand what everyone is saying here. But yes, don't ever fight Dexio in the postgame until you're like at least 10 levels higher than him because he has a hard-hitting team of Psychic-types that have coverage for pretty much nearly everything.

As for Totem Pokemon, the hardest one was without a doubt the Mimikyu because it has strong STAB moves and seems to often outspeed and destroy your team. In fact someone who I was watching an LP of got destroyed six times by that thing because he had so many Pokemon weak to Ghost and Fairy on his team, oh and did I mention it also has a Lum Berry?

Lurantis in Lush Jungle has to come a close second, because it has a very high power move (Solar Blade) when you fight it, and your team likely won't have the defenses to take it at that point, plus it calls upon stuff like a sun-setting Castform and a Trumbeak packing Rock Blast to easily destroy most of the weaknesses that Grass has. Even the second totem, Wishiwashi is no slouch, being in School Form and calls upon an Alomomola that heals it every single time with Heal Pulse, all while being in the rain as well.

 

[Bidoof FTW]

I've had exp. share on and off for when I felt like it was a needed change, and I feel like not using the exp. share is not a good idea. You're absolutely going to have to grind, and although pokemon centers every 5 steps helps, pokemon calling for help makes grinding a whole lot harder.

 

[Hikamaru]

I've had exp. share on and off for when I felt like it was a needed change, and I feel like not using the exp. share is not a good idea. You're absolutely going to have to grind, and although pokemon centers every 5 steps helps, pokemon calling for help makes grinding a whole lot harder.

You have a very accurate point. I remember on Poni Island I started seeing trainers that were on almost on par with my team's levels, notably Hapu. While the Exp. Share has its 6th Gen mechanics again, the fact that the EXP scaling reverted back to 5th Gen mechanics means grinding is difficult and keeping the Exp. Share on is much more recommended than keeping it off because otherwise you'll be underleveled for pretty much every major fight in the game.

 

[Green Pidgeot]

From what Ive seen it's quite easy. It mightt be too much of a slog otherwise, with few new Pokémon. I don't mind it being easy though.

 

[adelgirl]

I definitely agree, I'm glad it was made ore difficult than some of the previous games.

 

[Ammy175]

From what Ive seen it's quite easy. It mightt be too much of a slog otherwise, with few new Pokémon. I don't mind it being easy though.

I'm curious to hear more. How far in the game are you?

 

[blue]

I'm glad it's not just me who's finding this game quite tough. Maybe it's because I'm kinda under-levelled, but a lot of the fights are quite tricky and I'm only just onto the third island. Definitely not a bad thing, one of my issues with X/Y was the lack of difficulty which these games definitely seems to have improved on.

 

[Captain Gizmo]

Yup, I do find it more difficult than previous gen. Especially since XY was very easy xD
Especially with the call for help feature, sometimes they call a Pokemon that is 3-4 levels higher than mines and I'm already having trouble dealing with one Pokemon with the same level as mine.

 

[mikey]

I think its a bit more difficult than past games, and I love it! Especially after I found XY and ORAS really easy.