I'm delving in this RPG after years of dusting of the shelves.
In addition I've purchased the enchanced editio nhere.

So, about combat: I found that the combat in this game is a bit... random.
It seems that monsters hits you a little randomly, causing, sometimes, huge amounts of damage, enough to kill you on the spot, even if full health.

Up to now I've found annoying the Beast and Cockatrice fight.

I'm playing the EE, at maximum difficulty.

Other experiences?

I didn't find cockatrice tough (I play on max difficulty, others are just too easy). Beast is rather annoying usually, since it's still early on and your char isn't advanced yet.

But I'm not so sure about how exactly damage is calculated. It might depend on the attack angle (i.e. frontal, back, side etc.). So don't let Geralt be surrounded and attacked from the back.

Beast was hard - but then I just used aard which made it easy.
Cockatrice was easy.
I also play on the max difficulty

Nobody should be able to kill you in a single hit unless you've been incapacitated or knocked down. However, some monsters (like the Koschey, kikimore warriors, royal wyverns, centipedes, or any of the trophy monsters) do a very large amount of damage. Geralt has very good defenses and has a good chance of dodging or parrying attacks, but when attacks do get through, he can get hurt pretty badly. So depending on your luck, you may get through one fight totally unscathed but be half-dead after an identical fight from that same monster.

If you're playing on hard, make sure to invest in alchemy formulae and/or experimentation. The weapon oils are amazingly good and long-lasting, and Geralt doesn't get any ill effects from potions until his toxicity gets to about 60. Things like Bindweed, Willow, or Kiss can be total lifesavers against the right monsters. The regeneration for rubedo potions is pretty long-lasting too, which can be very useful for reducing your downtime between fights. Tawny Owl with dominant rubedo (sewant + hellebore + hellebore) is one of my favorite general-usage potions, and it can be made with ANY potion base.

I've just bought the game on sale and working my way through the intro/tutorial. While the story and atmosphere is drawing me in, I've gotta admit that the combat (or what I've understood of it so far) is a big turn-off.

One thing I enjoyed from Skyrim's (to my taste a bit oo simplistic) combat was that you needed to watch your opponent and respond to his/her actions (blocking/dodging/etc.). Here I'm not even focusing on the opponnent but a little icon to the right of him/her, waiting to click when told to click. I don't need to interpret the combat scene because the game is doing that for me. Click click click. It's like the world's most boring rhythm game. I was reminded of a line from Yahtzee's review where he summarized combat as 'clicking on enemies once or twice'. The weird thing is that my first thought was: I'm sure this isn't a console title, right? Because the 'let-me-automate-that-for-you' attitude felt distinctly consoley...

Am I being to quick to judge? Is there a way to make it more interesting? Mods/settings/character development? I'm playing at medium difficulty but if hard just makes it a more difficult rhythm game, then it's not really an improvement :-/

I haven't used it myself, but you might check out the Full Combat Rebalance mod, aka FCR. Supposedly makes combat a lot more interesting.

I played with no mods but on the hardest difficulty... the main thing that changes is that alchemy becomes really important. So while the fights themselves still use the same "timed clicks" system, you have to put more thought into your preparation beforehand. Mix up some appropriate potions, maybe apply some blade oils, then head into battle for better results. The fight itself is still pretty "automated", but I got satisfaction out of my strategic planning before the fight.

Finally, you will likely enjoy the combat in The Witcher 2 a lot more. It's completely different. I would recommend finishing the first game before moving on, though, since the plot follows on from the first game directly.

I actually quite like the combat system, because it is different from most other games and there are so many animations depending on skill level and so forth, with some very nice finishing blows. Can see why people find it boring though, because it is a timed click-fest.

The combat in Witcher 2 is apparently better, but it is more consoley in other ways, like the inventory system and general UI design.

The strengths of the Witcher isn't necessarily the combat system, but it more than makes up for it with a great story, mature gameworld, and tough choices and postponed consequences.

I actually love TW1's combat system. I feel that it gives me enough to do without my having to micro-manage Geralt's every move. And the combat animations are so gorgeously graceful that I never get tired of watching them, and I've played this game rather a lot.

People who are having trouble timing their clicks should play on Medium, since the flaming sword makes it easy to tell when to click. Once you've done a chapter or two on Medium, you'll have a feel for the rhythm of the combat, and you'll know the particular swishing sound that Geralt's sword makes when it's time to click again. Once you have this down, you can play on Hard, where the flaming sword icon is absent, and you have to listen to the sound the sword makes in order to time your clicks properly. (You usually can't switch difficulty levels in the middle of TW1, but Flash's Difficulty Potions Mod makes it possible to do so.)

Many people like TW2's combat system better, but I like it FAR less well. There's a lot more micromanaging involved, the combat animations aren't as fun to look at, and all the rolling annoys me no end. For me -- and I know that many other people feel differently -- combat was a pleasure in TW1 and a chore in TW2.

Thanks for the suggestions and replies. It's a matter of taste it seems. I'll keep at it, try some combination of difficulty and mods and just try to focus on the other bits of the game that do work for me :-)

There is an option in the FCR mod that enables you to turn off the small flame icon which is the signal to swing your sword. That is the only thing from that entire mod that I used, as you can select what you want from it. I hated the cheesiness of that icon, and this improved the game alot for me.

Or you can just play on Hard; the flaming sword icon is absent in Hard mode. (You usually can't switch difficulty levels in the middle of TW1, but Flash's Difficulty Potions Mod makes it possible to do so.)

I actually really liked the flashing icon, as it was difficult to hear the right swishing sound in the middle of a hectic combat. Have tried without it (on hard) but I just mucked it up too often and got tiny chains, so prefer to play on medium with the flashing instead.

Goes to show we are different and like different things :)

On my first playthrough, I needed the flashing icon. After that, I still needed it, but I also needed Hard Difficulty for a decent challenge, so I had to get used to just using the sound (and also Geralt's swords flares slightly).

By the time I got around to Flash Mod and FCR, I didn't even need the sound. After a few playthroughs, the rhythm becomes ingrained, you know when to click because it's the right time to click. I'd take pride in it, but it did take several playthroughs.

I still prefer combat in TW1 to TW2, even though I've come to learn and love the combat in that game in its own way.

I agree completely. The combat in The Witcher is atrocious. It's really unfortunate, because there are a lot of good things about the game, but the combat is so bad it detracts from everything else.

I'm one of those who really enjoyed the combat, it looks so right for a character supposedly so significant. Yes, I'm also an Elder Scrolls player, so I've tried that method of combat as well. Apples and Oranges in my book.
I should add that in Hard difficulty, he still has the little flourish, which has an ORANGE blur behind it at the point where you should click again (IIRC, its been a while since I started my Hard playthrough and stopped)