The game is very unforgiving in terms of monster regions. Most games place monster encounter regions based on what level you should be when you're in that region. They have natural barriers such as water or mountains to prevent characters from reaching more difficult monsters before their time. In FF2, this isn't the case. For example, on the starting continent, walking within about 5-10 tiles of the town has you fighting low level enemies. Walk towards the southern edge of the continent, a very short distance from the first town, and you get attacked by mid game enemies that'll annhilate you. It's hardly fair, but then again, the looming threat of an unbeatable battle around any corner is what makes FF2 fun. There's always suspense while adventuring if the rules of safe/appropriate monster levels are thrown out the window. If you want to survive, follow the RPG player's mantra: "Save often".