Originally Posted by
Wolf Kanno
Honestly, I don't think the game was made any easier on the technical side of things. It's a combination of being better at exploring, being better at allocating license points, LP being more efficiently usable (due to the abundance of useful lores right next to each other most of the time) and not having trout gear most of the time.
Not saying I've looked this up tho.
Edit: FTR I had a party average of ~23 when I was at the Stilshrine myself, so you seem a little overleveled to me. Though I still wrecked everything, not like levels matter that much compared to gear.