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You mean at the very beginning? Calcennon City. You might need to go to Amaria's gym, but I didn't have any issue not going there.

Level cap is tied to badges. As of this episode we're up to 17 badges.

I will say, the game is not as hard as it might appear. Mostly you just need to strategize a bit. If you train up the Zigzagoon a bit and shrink the Prinplup and Kricketune you really shouldn't have any problem with Florinia. While she's not super easy she is still fairly straightforward. And the level cap is hardest to work around at the beginning of the game when you only have a small number of Pokemon available.

The thing is, its not that hard to not overlevel if you don't grind endlessly. I almost never use common candies and my Pokemon are never over or under leveled. If you play the game normally then you end up at the right point, not facing this problem. The game TELLS you this is going to happen. Repeatedly. And one of those is a scene that you have to go through to get started. Julia also told you it would happen when you beat her. It doesn't matter how much other trainers get buffed. You can ALWAYS grind your way past them if you have the time and patience. By making you face the gym leaders on the level they (the leaders) are required to be at by basic programming the game is forcing you to think, to show that you are capable of playing the game with skill rather than simply brute forcing your way past the challenges by using Pokemon ten levels above your opponent. Anyone can beat a Pokemon team if their Pokemon are level 35 while their opponents are level 25. You have to know what you're doing to fight other trainers on an even footing. Not that it IS an even footing. The AI is not capable of matching a human player on any level. You go in with the inherent advantage of being a person versus the machine. You can strategize, think long-term, etc. (not to mention you get infinite item use). If anything the AI should get a bigger handicap to make up for that.

That uh...isn't true. Yes xer points go up when you refuse to fight Arclight, but that was because that was Adrienn's choice as well. More likely xe approves of the fact you are also refusing to play Lin's little game. The other increases are when you help clean up the city, the same thing that xe is doing. The point decreases meanwhile revolve around refusing to become the Champion, or refusing to believe El. None of that is suspicious due to xer not knowing all the facts at the time of GG's kidnapping.

Nah, Serra's the next real challenge. Shade and Kiki aren't more than speedbumps.

That is completely and indeed BLATANTLY untrue. Adrienn's field effect more or less spells utter doom for xe's entire team. Samson is fought on a field designed to power up flying moves. Luna's field boosts moves that hit her Pokemon for massively increased damage. Shelly is fought on a field that easily turns into a devastating advantage for your team. And etc. If you actually bother to learn the field effects and how they work they are far more balanced than you seem to think. Not to mention that you are a person, with a brain. The AI is an idiot. You should be able to outhink it in your sleep. The AI cannot plan. The AI cannot adapt. This is true of pretty much every game, where the only advantage the computer has is reflexes. But in turn-based battles it doesn't even have that. I like both Reborn and Dark Souls, and in general I tend to think of both as games that reward preparation, planning, and strategy over the more standard brute force your way through (though admittedly I also do plenty of both). And while a lot of Dark Souls players are utter dickweeds the same is true of most fandoms (on the grounds that most people are dickweeds, so law of averages.)

That's became Infernape is a monkey. And monkeys exist to be horrid little monsters deserving only of contempt. Your reaction is both natural and normal.

Not without a direct field changing effect (i.e. Electric terrain or the like). I personally used ground types. But spamming ground moves is kinda my go-to in general.