A word of warning

[Ferengi]

I'd actually feel better about it if the game just flashed a big lightning bolt animation towards a random party member and sent him to the great beyond.

Well, sorry but ROTFMAO.

I know your pain firsthand alas, the monsters are not uniformly "really tough now", which actually would be OK. WHat seems to be happening is random area monsters are 10x+ worse than some nearby area, so one is cruising thru the game thinking about all those players claiming the game is too hard until one is unlucky enough to take a wrong turn. It is a matter of luck (or whether a player actually plays all parts of the game or skims), in fact your suggestion actually matches what happens better than any other I've heard. :D