My thoughts in answer to your main questions:
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Were Adam and Eve like you and me, easily swayed (assuming you're easily swayed)? Or was Satan more powerful then, able to tempt even the First Two? Has Satan become more or less powerful since the beginning, or has his power stayed about the same?
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Adam and Eve's fall from perfection brought sin into Man's makeup. To paraphrase a scripture: "through Adam sin entered the world, and death through sin." Adam and Eve's nature was thus different from all their offspring in that they
chose to sin, while all mankind after them were
predisposed to sin. With the obvious exception of Christ, of course. Christ's nature provides evidence of this fundamental flaw in humanity: the only way for him to remain sinless on Earth (which was a necessary component of his mission) was for him to be conceived by holy spirit rather than being anointed from among (relatively) faithful "natural" humans.
Was Satan more powerful then? I don't think so. According to scripture, it was after Adam's sin that Satan was joined in his rebellion by other angels--an event that must have made him a much more effectual power, though he was not personally enhanced. There's also no evidence in the scriptures to suggest the kind of power dynamic that exists in Tolkien whereby Satan would be able to deplete his natural potency by malicious deeds. We can only assume that Satan himself has remained the same as he always was, but has become more powerful through his constantly tightening hold on the world and, as scriptures indicate, his increased focus on Earth as his last day gets nearer.
So why were Adam and Eve so easily tempted? When Satan deceived Eve, he told her that if she ate, her eyes would be opened and she would know good and bad. Therefore, before eating from the tree, Adam and Eve were
unaware of any course of action contrary to the wishes of God. When they listened to Satan and chose to sin, their eyes were opened because now they knew that they could ignore the commands of God--they were, after all, created with free will, just as the angels were. Furthermore, the existence of the tree in Eden seems to indicate that God may have intended for them to be confronted with their free will at some point. Maybe Satan just put it in front of them before they were "mature" enough to face the test, or maybe they were ready and simply failed. In either case, that original question that Satan raised--Can Man "guide his own step?"--is the same one that was transferred into Christianity as a central theme. Christian teachings thus urge disciples to put faith in God's eventual correction of this world rather than in Man's efforts.