So what do you guys think? If I played the first game on hard and enjoyed that level of difficulty should I play this game on that difficulty as well.

After I get the game to work that is. :(

Well your opinion. I hate those modern day "let the prolog be a hidden tutorial"-games.
I'm bored by games taking me by the hand and showing me everything there is to know. It's a RPG so let me figure out things for myself. Is it really that hard to know how to use traps? You place it on the ground and lure something in. What's there to explain?

Yes, yes of course, but that was even before you even think about going to the journal, inventory or else :)

Just putting in a random thought here, as I have yet to experience this so called "flawed" combat for myself... (stupid crappy internet connection, still 1/2hr to go til download finished)

If, as you say, Witchers are supposed to be these badass monster slayers, capable of killing incredibly dangerous creatures and surviving, then surely a dumb-shit pleb of a guard whose only combat training consisted of handing him a sword and telling him not to hold it by the sharp end should pose absolutely no threat to a Witcher... in fact a Witcher should be able to kill said shit-kicker with their bare hands and not break a sweat.

It's a bit like wrestling a bear to the ground and ripping out it's throat, then crying when some little golden haired girl bitchslaps you for killing her playmate.

Just saying....

Its always amazing to me RPGs bring out the facist gamers. I mean having an opinion is one thing, that can be respected but you cant respect anyone that thinks there is only one way to play a RPG - Their way. I really dont see how having a properly balanced normal mode would affect anyone who enjoys difficult masochistic gameplay, since they'll usually play at Hard or Insane modes. Im fairly sure no one is saying the whole game should be changed but some effort should be made to make getting into the game friendly for everyone.

Its not hard to make the game as is play on hard and insane mode but on Easy and Normal have a better tutorial and in the case of normal, being more sanely balanced.

Your correct, and they can. If you explore the fiction you soon learn the deadliest enemy of a Witcher is not a beast but a man.

And the combat is not flawed, its realistic. If your fighting a man in reality with a sword, and he blocks. Well what do you think is going to happen?

Believe me when you unlock the later levels of the swordmanship tree, the easy times of TW1 come back. Though they never left if you take the time to learn the combat mechanics.

You still use a horse to ride to work, yes?
This is not the 90s and a proper tutorial is standard in almost all games. You shouldn't need to read a manual before playing the game.
Killing unexperienced players within the first 5 sec of a game is not good game design. I chose to encounter the dragon on my first try, unaware of how hard it would be.
Don't let me choose without knowing it will be far too hard. Bad game design.
Normal should not be hard. It should be managable with some skill. Maybe 20-30 deaths in the whole game.
I died 30 times in the prologue and I have 10 years of action game experience.
I completed God of War 1 and 3 on hardest difficulty. Those are very hard and still fair. On GOW3 i died approx. 600 times over 18.5 hrs (I wrote those numbers down, I don't guess them). The point is they are fair. Not frustrating. On normal I died only like 30 times.
I like playing games on harder difficulties, but as an option. Normal mode shouldn't be too hard.
TW2 is not balanced correctly in my opinion.

just have to say about the MANUAL thing. I don't know about you guys, but i did NOT buy this hard copy. its digital.

thus to have manual open i need minimize game or have my laptop open next to me.

thus when i played it was lots of trial and error. hell took me 20 minutes to figure out how to meditate.
ha i learned how to set traps before i learned how to swing my sword.

i accidently hit the button to set the trap when i first walked outside the tent, thus learned how to disarm and then ultimately pick back up again.

didn't need a tutorial for that. hell its almost too basic. push R to set trap (if in inventory slot, if not hold ctrl and put i in that slot) then to disarm left click, and o tpick up left click

Apologies if I sound like a fascist, but if its difficult try it on easy. And if you play the prologue in order and read the tips it shouldn't be too difficult. Yes their are some balancing issues, but as you play and level up it starts to become real easy if you know what your doing.

Including: Parrying, Potions, Oils, Signs, Alchemy, Crafting, etc...

Could they have forced linearity in the prologue/tutorial, sure. It would have most likely been a better choice, dying at the dragon section 10 times does get annoying. But if you can access all the tutorial tips simple by pressing "J" or reading the manual, where does this massive problem come from?

OK, so combat is definitely more difficult in this game than The Witcher 1. So far I noticed that Geralt gets punished a lot more if you do the wrong attack at the wrong time. So you need to create as much space as you can between you and your attackers, and focus on one at a time, while watching your flank. If you're about to kill a enemy and another is coming from behind, do a quick block, and finish the weak one off, then quickly roll away, creating as much space as possible. Aard if they're getting too close. Then try funneling them into a Yrd. I hardly ever use Igni, as I think its somewhat of a waste of Vigor. And Axii almost never work properly. Quen is good when you're low health and you need to take out someone quickly.

*shrugs*
It is tough, but you'll eventually figure it out. I died like 10 times on the ballista part in the beginning lol.

If I'm a highly trained swordsman, mutated to have superhuman reflexes and speed, I expect to be able to slay the regular soldier without any effort whatsoever. Realism has nothing to do with it once one of the parties has super-human abilities.

A tiip for those struggling with the combat in the prologue (as I was yesterday): play the prologue twice. My second run was a lot more fun for me because I wasn't looking at a reload screen half the time. Practice makes perfect, unfortunately the current "tutorial" does not give the opportunity to practise much.

You're right, but in my opinion that's not the case...

Normal is normal, unlike modern games where normal is very easy, hard is easy and insane is normal....

If you play at easy, you can forget about bombs, signs, and so on... you can count only in the combat skills, but you still have to fight through the game, right? Or do you prefer an interactive movie?

On normal... just because it is "normal", you should use everything the game provides you, you should launch bombs, drink potions, and so on... that's the "normal".

On hard you should count on your "agility" skill too, because maybe... bombs, drink potions, signs aren't enough.

I agree anyway about the tutorial, maybe they should explain better the combat system... but all you need is in the manual and in the journal.

I read the manual. Reading the manual to understand what buttons do does not translate into how to actually fight though. Tactics, how to approach enemies, etc, are not in the manual. Plus changing targets in mid-fight is aggravatingly difficult. You could, if the camera let you, attack one target, get your next swing on an adjacent target and keep them off balance, but the targeting doesn't allow for this as much as it did in Witcher 1.

Your correct, you just can't stand in the same spot all the time. You have to move, dodge, throw a sign or two. Hopefully you used a potion before entering battle. It is a tactical game, not a "click on the enemy and they die" kind of game.

The tutorial could have been better, but if you play on easy you don't even need to use any Witcher ability outside of your sword to survive combat.