Have you noticed?. . .

Have you noticed that the Pokemon games are hard to play? I had to get rid of my Pokemon Sun because it was too hard to play anymore. When i went to trade it in at the game store i saw other Pokemon games there, so it must have been hard for others to play too. I still love Pokemon. But their games are too hard to figure out & play!! What are your thoughts about this?

No. Pokemon games are way too easy. And they've only gotten easier with each new generation.

I suppose it'll vary a bit between people. But part of it is how much experience one has playing these games, and what one has in their party. Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon is in some ways harder than several of the games before it, but then there's also how the game offers you a number of Pokemon along the way that will make some of the battles much easier. That early game Hawlucha you can get likely does wonders for a lot of the game. That Arbok trade probably makes the Grass Trial trivial. And so on. But if you don't have all the right things, some of the battles can be a lot harder to do.

I mean I've been playing pokemon for a long time and the only reason why some games seem a little harder than it actually is, is usually because I use my favorite pokemon whether they are effective or not, skip a lot of battles and use set mode, I guess that's why I keep losing to Whitney on the first try. The games are pretty easy otherwise if you play practically and go for the strongest and easily accessible pokemon. I guess it depends on your play style.

Honestly, the newest games can feel overwhelming due to the sheer number of additional features, items, and pokemon that are now included.

Features-wise, just off the top of my head there's Poke Finder, Festival Plaza, Poke Ride abilities, Pokemon Refresh/Poke Amie, Poke Pelago, trainer customization, shinies, passport pictures customization, ribbons, berry harvesting, hyper training, EVs/IVs/natures, the QR feature, Zygarde cells, Totem Stickers, Ultra Beasts/Ultra Space/Ultra Wormholes, fishing, the Battle Tree, the Battle Agency, Furfrou haircuts, Mantine Surfing, Z crystals which open the door to a plethora of new moves, Mega Evolutions, a lot of daily events, the complicated mechanics involved in breeding, all the online trading and battling options, and a plethora of other things.

Itemswise, since there are now 802 pokemon, in addition to all your story-, healing, ball, and battle-related items, you have all the extra items that go with specific pokemon: things like the drives to change Genesect's type, the memories to change Silvally's type, all the form-changing items like Shaymin's Gracidea, Marowak's Thick Club, every single Mega Stone which uniquely corresponds to one Pokemon. And people give you these items constantly throughout the journey, so by the time you reach the Elite 4, your bag is a bloated mess that takes over a minute for to scroll down and find whichever item you're looking for.

And then there's the pokemon themselves. We're at 807 now, not including all the additional forms and Mega Evolutions. If I recall correctly, there were 395 pokemon available in the (non-Ultra) Sun and Moon. That's an insane amount to hunt and find (taking note of rare pokemon and the myriad of unique evolution methods), and that's not even half of all the pokemon there are! But if you want to get into competitive battling, the sheer number of options makes for a lot of pokemon, movesets, stats, and abilities to get down (granted that only a fraction of all pokemon are relevant in any given tier).

Now, I'm not really faulting Game Freak for providing so many different ways to play and enjoy Pokemon - in fact, that's what I think is a huge strength of the series that contributes to its longevity. But there's definitely a "design through accretion" philosophy in place which can make the newest games daunting for someone just starting to get into the series. And, despite some beginner-friendly safeties like the EXP share, with so many options for pokemon teambuilding available and so much knowledge required, it can be easy for a new person to make choices that make even "beating the game"/becoming the champion difficult. Nevertheless, I would encourage a new player to figure out what they like, and enjoy the wide breath of experiences the pokemon world has to offer at their own pace. :)

For sure, absolutely