This game lets you initiate an attack whenever it feels like it.

1) An enemy runs towards me. I click on my sword. I cannot pick a combat style unless the game first decides to let me. I point my cursor to the enemy, the cursor turns into a sword. Sometimes Geralt will initiate the attack, sometimes he'll just stand there like a freaking moron, he'll take a couple of hits just for fun, then I click again and he decides to fight.

2) If I press pause and then click on an enemy, sometimes it will initiate the attack, sometimes not.

(Btw, all this has nothing to do with the timed attack mechanic, which I had no trouble adapting to. Once the game does me the honor of letting me attack an enemy, things are fine.)

3) Also, if I'm in non combat mode, why do I have to draw the sword first, then attack? If I point to an enemy and left click on him, shouldn't my baboon of a character automatically draw the sword and attack?

4) The responsiveness of my dodging moves (double press W/A/S/D) is again inconsistent, sometimes the character evades the attack or does a roll, sometimes he just ignores them.

Is this how the game is, or is there something wrong with my setup? I'm on Windows 10 and I have a GTX970. Any help appreciated.

1. This has never happened to me.
2. -- ditto --
3. Think about what you said. A sword *must* be drawn before attacking. Think about what happens if you don't.
4. It's an old, old game. Nobody said the controls were ultra responsive. They take some getting used to.

3. I didn't say a sword shouldn't be drawn before attacking.
4. I don't see how the age of a game has to do anything with responsive controls.

If you've never experienced what I described in #1 (which is my main complaint really) maybe there's something wrong with my setup.

Yes you did:
"why do I have to draw the sword first, then attack? If I point to an enemy and left click on him, shouldn't my baboon of a character automatically draw the sword and attack?" Really? You don't see any correlation? Maybe.

I said why can't the character draw his sword as soon as I left-click on an enemy. You even quoted me.

And no, I don't see any correlation.

EDIT: Anyways, there's a clear communication gap here, so lets leave it there.

Fair enough.

I think I've found the culprit of the weird behaviour. I disabled vsync which I had enabled through nvidia's control panel. Now the combat is much more responsive and you don't have to draw the sword manually, the character will do it automatically once you click on an enemy. I did not expect that.

EDIT: I didn't play the game for a couple of months and picked it up again now. It seems the game still controls badly. Vsync had nothing to do with it, more like a placebo effect.

That's my experience; clicking on an enemy (red name) will draw the last sword you used (steel or silver) automatically. Because of that, it's a good habit to unsheathe the sword in advance, so you can choose which one you want to fight with.

For neutrals (blue name) I believe you always need to have the sword already in your hand to attack, because the default interaction with them is to talk.

I agree it is a good idea, though I haven't gotten a silver sword yet because the game was so frustrating. But it's completely logical and expected when you simply click on enemy to do something instead of just stand there which I was experiencing. Anyway the game is playable now, even enjoyable.

The combat is extremely unresponsive. Try casting signs when fighting an enemy. There is a good chance nothing happens. I can confirm all your other points as well.

Although it improved in Witcher 2, it isn't until Witcher 3 where the combat finally feels responsive.

edit: even worse is when you get attacked during a cutscene in the later parts of the game

I knew I wasn't crazy. I thought I had it partially solved by disabling vsync in nvidia's settings but it was more like a placebo effect. The game is indeed extremely unresponsive as you said. The best one can do is to just get used to it. Whenever someone's attacking me and Geralt refuses to draw the sword and attack, I try to run away from the enemy to give the game some time to decide whether it should respond to my input. Not very fun, but it usually works without taking too much damage.

I would recommend forcing vsync... This game doesn't cap fps and can burn your card depending on your config..

It takes few hours to adapt to the games rythmic combat .. and convoluted controls scheme..like drawing the sword out before choosing attack style..I exclusively used hotkeys maybe that could help

I have vsync + triple buffering enabled, it just runs smoother (on top of what you said).

As for the controls, yes I only use the hotkeys like you. My complaint wasn't about the combat mechanics btw, the rhythm and all that. It's not like I randomly spam the mouse button. What you really have to adapt to is Geralt sometimes getting his sweet time before he decides to respond to user input (draw sword, attack, dodge, cast sign). Sometimes it takes a few seconds and in those cases I usually run away until my sword is drawn.

It's not really a bad game but the combat, even if it was snappier, it would still be boring imo. I'm just playing the game for the story, I want to finish 1 & 2 so I can move on to Witcher 3.

everything abt this game is rythmic even stuff like drawing out weapons.. the lag in casting signs while in the middle of sword play, the cooldown between consecutive dodges...

possibly high iso view is what worked for me..

the story is pretty unidimensional with 2 twists.. more like an afterthought, not integral to the storyline.. the funny part is i could sense the plot unfolding before it actually did.. but the game railroads you into making choices, coupled with pacing issues and huge maps that fail to evoke any feeling of exploration... i came out feeling deeply unsatisfied.. if you are not enjoying the game, i would strongly recommend reading up the story somewhere and moving to witcher 2/3, whichever has caught your fancy..

I'm already half way through chapter IV and at this point I've adapted to the occasional lag of the controls (or the rhythm if you want to call it that). I doesn't irritate it me as much as it did when I made the original post, but it's not really a game I'd play over and over again considering I have so many other games to try out.

The only thing I regret is not starting the game on the hardest difficulty, because on medium I barely need to use Alchemy etc. You can just slash through the enemies, throw in an Igni or Aard sign here and there and you're done in seconds.