I just realized we have no idea how the day/night cycle works in the game, or how often the weather changes in the Wild Area. I hope it's not tied to real time again, it's a bit annoying.
I like the day/night cycle being tied to real time to be honest, as long as there's no consequences for time-changing, it should be fine, right?
Another noob question!
So how many skills/abilities do Pokemon generally learn? Do you equip them? How many can be equipped, if so?
For skills, I'm assuming you mean moves. A Pokemon can have 4 moves at a time and can learn them a number of ways. The most obvious is leveling up gets you access to new moves, but you can also get them through TMs (items that teach moves), tutors (npcs that teach moves), and breeding (a parent of a different species can sometimes pass down moves they learn through another means). Once a Pokemon forgets a move, it's gone unless you talk to a Move Reminder. Luckily, SwSh added a new QoL feature where there's one in every Pokemon center instead of hidden away in a town at some point in the game. Occasionally, a Move Reminder can teach some Pokemon moves they didn't learn yet. An example would be Gardevoir learns Moonblast usually around Level 50, but a Move Reminder could help you access it earlier if you went to them before that.
For abilities, Pokemon can only have one ability at a time, but most have at least two possibilities. There are regular abilities that any Pokemon in the wild will have, but there are also Hidden Abilities that can be obtained through special means like Raids or chaining Pokemon until one glows gold. Hidden Abilities aren't necessarily better than the regular ones, though.