Heh, the new area Irys sends you to is a bit... yikes, isn't it? Maaaaybe could do with dialling down the strength of some of the enemies there or allowing saves.
I sort of found that if an enemy used Soth (or another big spell and I got unlucky with paralyze or confuse) on turn 1 before I could get Azki's Reflect up (and enemies' Speed is so high the enemies always act first) it was Game Over and right back to the start again. It... sort of got too frustrating to be fun to be honest.