Instead of first learning "what is your name" or "we are _____" or "i am _____'" or anything remotely useful and actually said in day-to-day conversations, we get to learn:

this boy is on the airplane
these dogs are eating dog food
this manager is talking with his worker in the store
those fish are swimming
this boy is running
these girls are walking

this that this that this that this that this that this that these those these those these those these

ahhhhh i am going crazy

that said, turn pinyin off and this is great for picking up hanzi

ting hao !

ting hao ni mei

I whipped through the first three units of Stage 1 with ease. Minimum 96% score on all lessons.

Then suddenly it started to get hard.

Rosetta Stone relies on repetition. However, it's a "good" kind of repetition because while the core principle is the same, there is always a subtle variation in the way they present it.

You just need to fly through the early stages as quickly as you can. Once it gets challenging, you will enjoy it more.