I really love this game, but I really miss the old user interface and noticed every thing you pointed out. Also, the medallion is this sucky little sprite that glows a lot when near monsters, it doesn't vibrate like it used to and at least the old medallion looked 3D. Also, the character screen was kind of ugly and reminded me of World of Goo.

I'm hoping and praying that they keep Witcher 3 a very PC centered game (although I'm certain it'll probably be even more action/console centric). In spite of this, the game is excellent but unlike most I don't say it is definitively better than the first (I also would have liked small adventures like the first one, oh well...).

Yes, that's pretty much it, exactly. But love them or hate them, ui's are always a matter of opinion, "eye of the beholder" and all of that. The interface kind of reminds me of the original Gothic 1 & 2 ui's--not so much in similarity because they aren't alike, but rather in the fact that everything is so "non-standard", which only means stuff isn't where you might like it to be and you have to hunt for it. Basically, the ui in witcher 2 has to be learned, and I think that puts some people off.

I loathe consoles and don't even like console controllers--I'm strictly mouse and keyboard because I like options and precision. I don't particularly see this as a "console" ui as much as I see it as a sort of hacked-together ui which simply is awkward to learn and use. I suppose that qualifies it for being labeled a poor ui...;)

There are lots of things that I preferred in the first game--except for the timed elements which require you to replay a scene over and over until you can twitch-reflex it correctly. Ugh. W1 had a couple of places like that--places where the pace of the game grinds to a halt while you bone up your reflexes and twitch fingers. I suppose that kind thing is fine for adventure games but I don't really see it has much of a place in rpgs. (Come to think of it, I don't really like that sort of thing at all in a game because I see it as a cheap gimmick.) When in W2 the Kraaken (however it is spelled in the game) has to be taken out--it's another twitch reflex contest! RPGs ought to always offer more than one way to proceed past a choke point in a game like that--fine, let the people who enjoy the reflex twitching have it, but, good grief, put in an alternate way around that point for people who really don't like the QTE's--like me.

Unlike W1, W2 takes itself way too seriously, imo. W1 at times was whimsical and unafraid of making fun of itself, and I thought that just made it all the more entertaining. W2, however, is so dark and brooding that it doesn't have much of a sense of humor and I think that takes away from the game.

Perhaps if they'd just do away with QTE's altogether they might be able come up with a better ui--a sort of traditional rpg-type ui would be a refreshing change. And gosh, if they are going to give Geralt back his memories, don't sacrifice his sense of humor in the process!