Topic. I beat Yuito's story last year and started new game plus with Kasane recently, so I figured I'd breeze through most of the virtual missions since I have all the upgrades but I'm getting wrecked even in the novice missions and the difficulty settings don't seem to make much difference. I can't tell if it's cause I'm still getting used to her or if these really are this hard.

What you have to focus on is dealing as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Avoiding taking damage is necessary for better ratings, even more than dealing a lot of damage.. But with that bein' said, you shall always focus on taking down that one highlighted other, who has an insane speed and is difficult to take out, as the reward is very generous.

They're supposed to be challenging, very difficult, indeed.. As they always were.

yes

Yep, these are supposed to be quite the challenge.