You beat me to it, I think the same! I started playing V13 on Intense but I switched to Normal at the Giratina fight in chapter 4 because it just got too difficult for it to be fun for me. The challenge of a difficult battle feels rewarding to beat up to a point, but the intense mode battles were getting past that point in difficulty for me. I am also playing mainly for the enjoyment of the story rather than for difficulty. I tried out Intense mode just to see what it was like (2 previous playthroughs on Normal pre-V13), but I decided it wasn't for me. I am on Chapter 8 now and am satisfied with the level of difficulty on Normal mode.
I don't really understand. This might just be me gaining experience on battle strategy and the like (I played Reborn first), but I think Reborn difficulty is equivalent to or slightly above the current Rejuvenation Normal mode, but you seem to imply that Normal mode Rejuv is harder than Reborn, which is not my experience.
Yeah, I am playing with the same team or sometimes switching out one of my Pokémon, but not more than that. The battles are satisfyingly challenging on Normal but still manageable. I stopped playing on Intense mode and switched to Normal in chapter 4 because the difficulty was getting to the point you mentioned that I would have had to train multiple new Pokémon for each major fight, which hurts the fun factor for me.
Overall, I would just like to tell Jan&co that we are the community, and we will continue to support you as long as you continue to support us with enjoyable releases of your games.
Best Wishes,
Shadow Angel