Oh yeah, I remember SWR AI being just pathetic regardless of difficulty, while IaMP plays closer to an arcade fighter. Not much advice here besides practice, these games are their own vast field. If you want to see something closer to them then look into Capcom and SNK fighters, either through MAME or the many rerelease collections out there.
That said, the story modes in the two games have a very different feel. IaMP plays pretty much like normal but with extra special moves, while in SWR spellcards make enemies lose standard properties and just spam the attacks. Overall fighting game experience helps with the former, but the latter is more of a puzzle that is its own thing.
