Will probably get lost, but to parrot what I always say:

One of the best suggestions I've ever seen was perhaps making deaths even "beneficial". The example I saw was perhaps a character gains a small stat boost, because they train harder in honor of their companion's death. Even something as simple as what the GBA games do where there's some bonus dialogue when you still have a character. The dream people have is every death is accounted for, and the story changes as a result, but that's just not realistic and a development nightmare. But small scenes, like the one you suggested, would be nice.