[2020] Difficulty curve?

Has a great question answered earlier, so now I have an opinion I want to discuss.

Does there feel like every fight has a MASSIVE difficulty curve?

Comparing this to Pokemon, you could, essentially, almost one shot sweep through almost any challenge with your unique starter. Maybe only adding things as needed.

So far in this, even only using two main Tems, who are now 30 and 31, I feel weak and under powered? I'm at the second Dojo, and HOLY CRAP. Even the Tem trainers leading up to it, with just 4 level 22s could almost wipe out my whole team. And the grinding for levels feels slow.

Is it really just a slow and steady pace, or do I need to buckle down and re-equip myself a team that has types that match up and just slog it out? I have lots of items sure, but I used SO many on my first dojo.

It almost feels like I'm playing the game wrong in some way so far.