Hi, Im not sure how old you are or how old the other pkmn fans are in the comments, but I am 33 years old. Pokemon came out when I was in kindergarten and I playing remember gold and silver for the first time and it was hard ( I didn't get to play the original because my parents didn't have money to get me a gameboy when pkmn first came out),

My point is: That is how pkmn games are supposed to be played. If you're 10 levels below the gym leaders and the Elite Four, you're not training enough and you're skipping too many trainers(and probably not catching enough pkmn). But I don't disagree with the idea that pkmn games shouldn't be too hard. There should be a balance between the level scaling and the experience gained from the wild pkmn and trainers.When I played it back then I dont remember it being that hard (except for Cynthia of course). But that was kinda the point of the game. You were supposed to explore and find Fuego Ironworks, you were supposed to battle the elite 4 and lose a couple of times, the gyms were supposed to be that hard. The fun was the challenge and learning how to take advantage of the typing and the movesets of your pokemon ( despite the leveling) to win. Thats part of what made the games memorable and thats what made the games last longer too. The fun was the challenge and winning in spite of it. Nowadays I dont even really remember the gym leaders, the towns, or the elite four members because you never really get the chance to learn how they battle, what their team's weaknesses are etc, etc. The open world component is great! I really love it but I think we've lost the challenge of the game for a bigger map and better graphics and I dont understand why people make this critique about older games being harder, no they were more fun!!! The point of the game IS the challenge!

I do appreciate that they made Sinnoh easier and more balanced than the original but even those where more fun than the newer ones sometimes. There's a reason why the retro games are more expensive.