The fast battle speed can make things hard if you aren't used to it. I once loaded an old save, and it had been several months since I had last played the game. I fought (SPOILER)Baralai a bit before the end of Chapter 2, and when I wasn't exactly sure about my classes' abilities and what to do with them, my party was eliminated before I could really get anything done. "So which character has the healing/reviving spells" = game over.