Ok, currently I'm in Chapter 7, and the difficulty has just spiked. Although I absolutely adore the story content of the side missions in this chapter, the battles themselves are incredibly difficult.

(SPOILER)Currently, I'm going up against the Girl-Power trio. It is such an incredibly well built team to fight. Konoe uses Shippujinrai to strike at the start of a turn, and I've seen her Brave while doing it. Two hits from that is enough to nearly kill my weaker characters. Artemisia doesn't usually get to me before I can get Rampart up, but she is keeping me tied down with playing defenses up constantly. And Victoria is an absolutely nightmare with her status effects, especially Doom and Death.

In Chapter 6, I was having my progression stalled by not enjoying the content as much. In Chapter 7, my progression is being stalled by the difficulty of the fights. Any advice you guys can offer is welcome.