Crosh: I find the difficulties to be completely unbalaced. Easy is not different from Insane. You will die in both cases, just faster on insane. Because:
Parry costs vigor
Controls stick, glitch, don't respond, respond with a huge delay and what have you
All signs exept for shild are plain useless
Most bombs are useless

And most of it is due to the shitty upgrade system. It is too slow, if we could upgrade faster then the game combat would be much better and more rewarding. Right now its just boring "Shield, hit, roll, run, bomb, hit and again" it is the same and works for every difficulty and ANY other plan fails even on easy.

Also would be amazing if they would fix the sign-bomb selection so we won't need to click to change the sign. That would make the game A LOT better, believe me!

darkroastbeans: I, too, was very frustrated by the combat at first. I actually thought the combat mechanics in TW1 were great, and I was initially sad that they had changed.

That said, I'm learning to enjoy the combat quite a bit now that I've gotten used to it. Others have mentioned that you have to use *all* tools at your disposal (signs, traps, bombs), even for "easy" enemies, and especially in group combat situations.

Really the only complaints I still have are:

1. The targeting system is kind of dumb at times. It really relies on the camera angle, not the angle of Gearalt, which has, more than once, had me slicing air when I thought I was attacking an enemy. Also, in the prologue mission where I was sneaking through the dungeon, it would often target the torches rather than a chest on the ground, so when I thought I was looting I would light up the whole hallway and, oops, there's a guard!

darkroastbeans: I, too, was very frustrated by the combat at first. I actually thought the combat mechanics in TW1 were great, and I was initially sad that they had changed.

That said, I'm learning to enjoy the combat quite a bit now that I've gotten used to it. Others have mentioned that you have to use *all* tools at your disposal (signs, traps, bombs), even for "easy" enemies, and especially in group combat situations.

Really the only complaints I still have are:

1. The targeting system is kind of dumb at times. It really relies on the camera angle, not the angle of Gearalt, which has, more than once, had me slicing air when I thought I was attacking an enemy. Also, in the prologue mission where I was sneaking through the dungeon, it would often target the torches rather than a chest on the ground, so when I thought I was looting I would light up the whole hallway and, oops, there's a guard!

2. After certain combat movements there is a slight delay where keyboard input seems to be ignored. I know this is a timing issue, but seriously, in group combat who can wait to come to a full upright stand-still before dodging in another direction. TW1 was a little more responsive in this respect, I think. Also, I really miss being able to flip over enemies, especially when being surrounded in group combat.

3. I find that I don't use strong attack too much, mostly because it takes too long to swing the sword. I sometimes use it in one-on-one combat, but if you rapidly hit an enemy with fast attack, you can keep them off balance pretty well. Maybe later sword skill enhancements will make strong attack a better option.

4. Inventory management is kind of tedious. It reminds me of the inventory in Mass Effect 1 -- you can carry a lot of stuff, but you have to look through a long list to find what you want.

That's really it. I'm loving the game so far. The graphics are amazing, the story is compelling, and the characters are rich. It is easily becoming a favorite.

fruitbarrier: Your second point is what' s killing the game for me. combat feels so unfinished because of it

greenfish: Don't worry guys i'm sure they'll cater to your needs with a new "special" difficulty that will fit your combat.

LordRikerQ, obviously you didn't play the first witcher game then, talk about horrendous combat. If you don't like the way witcher deals with the rpg aspects and combat, then why did you buy a sequel?

A few of us on witcher forums installed a FCR (insane x10 mod) just for the combat in witcher 1, the potions were so overpowered in the vanilla it wasn't funny.

I'm so happy you can't abuse the potion system in the sequel, makes for a true challenge.

EDIT: I belive the author of the mod was named flash or something, too bad the forums still aren't online, otherwise he could probably alter the combat for your own needs.

cloud8521: NEVER. xbox will never touch my PC. period... only pc gamepads

rivo101: swallow ur preide:) and try it

LordRikerQ: I wouldnt make such broad generalizations there friend. I loved Witcher 1 and bought it 3 times (Original, EE and EE DC from GOG). Though I also really enjoyed combat in the Witcher 1. Generalizations can make someone look like an ass you know, just saying.

greenfish: You bought the first game (obviously a fan if you bought it 3 times) and yet you don't like the IMPROVED combat in the sequel..... wait what?

Well number one, I was under the assumption this was your first witcher game hence your "comments" towards it being more action oriented!?

"Combat doesnt really take brains more then Reflexes. I'd prefer a RPG that really makes you use your brains in terms of Puzzles and Adventure game style challenges not mindless violence."

Those are your own words, to met it seemed like this was indeed your first witcher experience.

In witcher 1 the game had lots of balance issues, namely you became rambo while you drank potions in combat.

LordRikerQ: Im no masochist so I dont enjoy frustratingly difficult gameplay, and I didnt bother messing too much with alchemy, because I like fighting mano y mano rather then using potions to boost, though it did become necessary later on for some fights. The fact the combat was more balanced and reasonable, and thus made up for the lack of hyper reflexes. The combat however isnt improved in the sequel, its even more for 13 yr olds with hyper reflexes when every enemy feels like a boss fight and you have to coordinate all these button pushes for bombs, potions and switching between light and heavy, too much micromanagement for someone whos hands just cant move fast enough.

The problem here is, if I play on easy Im not getting a reasonable challenge and if I play on normal the reflex requirement is too much, especially those QTEs. Normal mode is the problem, I think hard and insane are fine but normal ramps up the difficulty beyond a reasonable challenge for most 'normal' players.

Gaxel: You can disable the QTE from the options menu...