(Ironically, I think playing on Normal rather than Easy might actually have something to do with it because I don't approach it going "But Easy should be super easy!!" and getting huffy when I can't just brute-force my way through everything.)
Last gameplay note, Oscar needs to go take a break and think about what he's done; he's gotten two level up with zero stat increases now and only one level up where his strength increased and he's like level 7 now and slowly but surely becoming a liability. Which is a shame; I like him.
Over on the story front, I remember now why I took to Ike so much (after getting over the part where I had apparently mispronounced his name in my head for years <.< ). He's such a good boy. <3
He cares so much about the others! And he's genuinely good at apologising when he messes up (like when he doesn't know what to call the laguz other than the whole "subhuman" thing he'd heard thrown around)! And he listens to advice but also isn't afraid to make his own decisions! And he's cute!
also - Soren is clearly getting revenge for that earlier chapter where I was trying to feed him exp but the rest of the party kept killing enemies with crits when they weren't supposed to. He's watched and learned and is now throwing crits/triple spells around left & right.
(At least Shinon's mostly an entertaining asshole and not a "get off the screen, you're negatively impacting my enjoyment of the scene!" kind of asshole, so it's all good.)
I stopped at the end of this chapter, so I haven't replayed the one where everyone reacts to The Death That Was Very Obviously Going To Happen yet, but I remember Rhys getting some dialogue there that genuinely made me a bit teary-eyed last time I played it. So I'm looking forward to that. Rhys is also a good.
... does he now.