Oh, a few more questions...
I chose the fire type Fennekin, and found that fire moves obliterate just about everything, and fire types are only weak to water and something else I can't quite tell. Would the game have actually been challenging had I chosen one of the others? (Not that I'm all the way to the end yet, but I got pretty far...)
This time around the main story isn't all that difficult to clear, mostly thanks to the Exp Share being a little bit more potent than it has been in the past. For some reason the Fire-type starters are usually only weak against one of the gyms.
Their other weaknesses are Ground and Rock, by the way; Delphox's Psychic-type adds Dark and Ghost to that for an impressive list of weaknesses. You might want some other team members who can cover those weaknesses.
Also, is there any reason NOT to use your Exp. Share? E.g. does it reduce the XP gained by the Pokemon actually doing the fighting in order to give it to the other Pokemon in your party?
The only reason not to use it is if there is a Pokémon in your party who you do not want to gain experience or EVs for whatever reason; under most circumstances, there's no disadvantage to using the Exp Share at all. Apparently
they don't even affect the experience gained by the participating pokémon.
And what's the difference between a TM and an HM, anyway? They're both special moves you can teach your Pokemon, some of which can be used outside of battle...
HMs need certain Gym Badges to work outside of battle (again - I think they skipped this in Gen 5?), while TMs with field effects can be used at any time you want.
(edit to avoid double post)
So, preliminary results of Operation Entry Hazards Everywhere; sent out about a box worth of Ferroseed, got back a bunch of
useless junk unloved pokémon who I set free from their vicious cycle of being WonderTraded back and forth, but scored a couple of good trades; a Protean Froakie, a Friend Safari Ditto (no Imposter, but two perfect IVs that can be bred onto anything is nice), and a Friend Safari Frogadier without Hidden Ability (but again, 2 perfect IVs).
Only problem is Froakie / Greninja's egg moves are still a bit of a mystery; as far as I can tell from the research that's been done, it can get Water Sport (which is pretty near worthless), Camouflage (not... really that useful in combination with Protean), Toxic Spikes (niche, but ok), and... that looks like all that's known right now.
Even so, with a breeding pair of 5-IV Azumarills that can breed some nice stats onto Froakie, I'm tempted to try it as a breeding project soon.