I'm trying really hard to like this game. I really support what GoG has done with the release in terms of DRM and I'm liking the story so far.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can bear to actually play it. I have spent at least a couple hours on the tutorial missions, dying again and again (probably 50 times), even on easy difficulty. I have read the entire Tutorial section of the journal carefully and it hasn't helped.

By the way, I have played pretty much every major western RPG since Baldur's Gate (1998) and most of the big FPSes since Quake 2 and Goldeneye (1997). I find it hard to believe that other gamers are not having similar problems with what I'm finding to be the insanely difficult intro section.

Given enough patience I know I can just power through it with a ton of trial and error. I'm just not sure I have the desire to do that.

Some of the specific problems I've had:

-When I first played, I picked the most interesting dialog option (the dragon). I was promptly dropped into the interface and burned to death within about 5 seconds of my first time gaining control of my character, before I had even gotten a chance to look around.
-The combat in the tutorial section is just much, much too difficult. You are facing groups of 4+ foes almost immediately, who can cut you down very very quickly.
-There are multiple places in the tutorial where stopping for a few seconds to get acquainted with the interface will get you immediately killed. This is especially bad when the game gives you pop up tutorials in these areas.
-The bombs are effective, but you only get a few of those. After you run out, you are reduced to running around in circles like an idiot over and over trying to get one of the mob of enemies to move far enough away from his allies to get an attack in.
-The parry key simply doesn't work (my character does nothing when I press it) about half of the time for no obvious reason to me.
-The signs seem pretty much useless. The stun one never seems to do much for me. Even if I hit an enemy when they should be off balance (like after a power attack) they are usually stunned for an even shorter time than if you parried a blow.
-The fire sign does almost nothing or literally nothing to most enemies
-The trap sign is probably the most useful, although it also does very little damage and stuns only a short time.
-The defense sign seems to offer partial protection against one or two blows before disappearing.
-As far as I can tell, the mind control sign does nothing at all.
-The game frequently does not allow any saving during very difficult sections or forces you to rewatch over and over dialog and cutscenes, although you can skip most of these.

Is there something I'm missing that will make this game playable?

Sometimes you simply don't like something.

I don't like dog poop, but I'm not going to try to make myself like it.

It never fails to amaze me how much effort people put into trying to force themselves to like something they don't like.

Parrying requires vigor, which spells also use (the lil' yellow bar). No vigor, no parrying.

Don't get surrounded.

All the signs are useful, but especially Quen and Yrden (for groups).

Yeah if you don't like the game don't force yourself.

The combat takes getting used to, but it's not hard or difficult. In fact it's so easy you'll laugh once you get the hang of the mechanics. I can play through the prologue on insane difficulty without using any bombs or any skill other than mouse button 1 swing, spacebar dodge, mouse button 2 swing and using Qun sign.

But if you don't like the game, then don't play it. But as I said, once you get the hang of dodging and rolling and then making a nice power swing you'll find the combat is actually too easy. Yes that's right, the combat in this game is too easy even in the prologue.

And I'm terrible at twitch FPS games. My K/D ratio in BC2 is .5. I die more than I kill in that game and I'm level 19 and I still suck. Not that lvl 19 is much, I barely played compared to those BC2 addicts.

Well I want to like it, because I feel like it has a story worth playing. I'm just finding the interface to be a real barrier to that. Is there any way to highlight nearby items? I couldn't find anything in the Journal on that.

It is also really annoying how the game always moves the mouse cursor all the way up to the corner of the screen and you have to drag it all the way to the middle of the screen, every time, in order to pick up items etc. Just a minor nuisance, but one that gets old for me very quickly since it is such an obvious and easily fixed thing.

wrong. my cursor stays where i last used it, which is somewhere near the middle, probably from looting or selecting signs. seems people just make shit up for features they don't understand.

How do you pick up items without using the cursor? I haven't seen any reference to that in any of the tutorials.

Even if it did move, you don't have to move your cursor a single pixel to pick things up.

You are quick to judge. After looking at it closely, it does seem like if you rapidly open multiple items quickly your cursor stays put. However, wait a little while (or load a new area, or play a cutscene or whatever), and my cursor ends up in the upper left corner again. I'm not just making this up. It happens to me consistently.

Watch your screen as you approach loot/lootable items. Press mouse button. Press space bar. Viola. No moving your cursor a single pixel to speak of.

I wouldnt worry much OP, check out the Mod thread, there are so many great little mods that make the game more fun to play for people who just want to enjoy the world of the Witcher and not get bogged down by masochistic gameplay. Alot of the problems, including using vigor to block is fixed already. I moded my game with almost all the mods available and have been having alot more fun with it.

Ok thanks for that tip. I didn't find any reference to that anywhere in any documentation and would have never guessed it.

I rage-quit on the mission where I was supposed to use the ballista to smash open the archer tower.

But I came back to it.

The controls felt 'sticky' and unresponsive until you actually see that you are not responding because generally someone just smacked you upside of your head.

Igni was useless until I upgraded it and the general sign damage, so not until later in chap 2. I mainly used aard until I had igni doing enough damage.
I am now in chap 2 and have pushed the difficulty up to hard.
It gets easier once you have the hang of it.

You do have to click to pick them up, but you don't move the cursor around the screen is what they mean. or not generally. Usually the cursor remains where you last left it, I am not sure why yours is snapping to one corner.

Highlight lootable items by hitting the Z key, which triggers your medallion. useful when remains are hidden among tall grass etc.