MaXMC: Yrden and Quen are your best allies, but don't forget Aard and the bombs as well.

SlackerSupreme: You're in the Prologue; no, the entire game is not flashbacks, this is just foreshadowing and setting up your objective. It's a tutorial also, but a very unforgiving one, most of the tips go by to fast to notice, and you'll have to refer to your journal to read them properly.

Keep it constantly in mind that Geralt is level 1, and is extremely weak at this stage of the game.

Tips
1. Dodge, dodge, dodge.
2. Don't ever let yourself get surrounded. Ever. You won't get swordsmanship and magical abilities to deal with groups until later in the game. Backstabs do like 200% damage.
3. Spells: use Quen to protect yourself, especially against fire(!) and missiles. Yrden is good for seperating people in groups.
4. You want to take on foes one at a time, where you can properly parry and hit back. Use Yrden and the environment and try to seperate the weaker foes (unarmored, no shield, etc) from the tougher ones. If a group is standing over there and hasn't noticed you, try to approach them from an angle where only one sees you, then kite him away from the group and kill him.
5. Learn to parry then strike back, but be aware of one caveat: parrying requires Vigor (that lil' yellow bar), but spells also use vigor. If you snap off a few spells and that meter is suddenly empty, guess what: no parrying. . If that happens use your mobility and tip #1.
6. Any of the flashbacks that have friendly NPC's with you, let them do the fighting, and skirt around the edges of the battle, taking cheap shots at the enemy. If an enemy "locks on" to you, run away until they're busy with a friend once more. Then cheap shot them again.

Until you get some levels, more health, more vigor, powerful spells, etc, you have to fight groups guerrilla fashion, hit-and-run, dodge, seperate, over and over.

Once you're out of the prologue, that's when the game really begins. It's a huge, wonderful game stretching out in front of you.

Good luck!

JaPan: Well I finished the game yesterday and I still have some issues with the combat. The most important one is that we can drink potions only in meditation. Am I the only one to find it really, really idiotic?

JaPan: Well I finished the game yesterday and I still have some issues with the combat. The most important one is that we can drink potions only in meditation. Am I the only one to find it really, really idiotic? There are many fights in game beginning right after a cutscene and you simply can not drink a potion. You even can not eat something as in the previous game.
Another problem is that you get many useless skills in the training tree like throwing daggers. I have never used a dagger in my playthrough. Instead some useful fight skill should be there. Like the one to be able to hit multiple enemies. Was I the only one finding it first funny, than sad, having to run around the forrest because the game put 6 or more scoiatel at me. On lvl6!
Not to metion I miss the logic of blocking depleting vigor. I can swing the sword as long as I want, but two blocks and I am out? WTF?
But the biggest problem I had are bosses. Especially the krayen. Or even entrega queens. Dying 20 or more times IS NOT funny. Dying, because you forgot to hit a button in the right time and having to play it all over IS NOT funny. I really do not understand why these consolish QTEs were implemented. I for example play after getting from work. So I am tired and my concentration is not the best. And of course, having to go to youtube to see what I am supposed to do also is not funny. Then imagine my surpirse, when fighting Draug, I put yrden, it got stuck and I killed with 5 heavy hits. Boss fight over in about a minute.

Maerd: 1. No it's not idiotic to drink before hand, but cutscenes are buggy, yes because they don't pause the effect.
2. Throwing daggers is a machine gun. I would say, it's too powerful if you know what you are doing.
3. The ability to hit several enemies is already there.
4. Scoa'tel appear at night mostly, wait for a day or let the monsters kill them.
5. Yes, the vigor for the block is brutal, but it's made for balance otherwise you'll be invincible.
6. Kayran sucks big time, yes. Dragon sucks too. Draug mostly sucks. Letho is a good boss. The best boss fights in the witcher series are The Beast and Azar Javed from TW1. Any oversized bosses must be removed from the game completely because the fights with them are just ridiculously unrealistic even by fantasy standards.
7. You can turn QTE off in the menu (except for a fist fight, which remains qte).

StingingVelvet: Or maybe it's because the tutorial is a piece of crap, and the game does not really tell you how to play.

Cyjack: The tutorial segments can be read in your journal tutorial section after they pop up. They will explain how combat works, and, among other things, how to lock onto a single target. There is also a manual.

Wishb0ne: Leaving combat aside for a moment...

The worst thing about the prologue for me was how frustrating and useless some parts were. The first thing my char got to do, after all those ridiculous cut scenes that made me think I was watching a movie instead of playing a game, was trying to aim a ballista at that guy with the feather plume. No help, no clues, and even knowing the correct degree was no help and hitting felt more random than anything else.

Worse, just to add to my frustration was that unlike combat, I really didn't learn anything from succeeding at that task.

The same thing with running down the wall during the dragon attack. Too much of the prologue was frustrating, required many loads to complete, and were necessary to do just to move the story along. And, again, did nothing for making me play the rest of the game better.

I know lots of people love the really dramatically rendered cutscenes, but I don't buy games to see how well the people working on the game can make movies. As much as i love playing Witcher 2, the prologue was a failure if it was supposed to be a tutorial.

Still, once i got past it i love the game. It's a horrible introduction to a great game.

indelible: I find the bulk of the criticisms - and it's no difference in this thread - are branding the combat system poor because it is quite demanding and challenging at times, which leads to frustration. Sadly games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect have bred a lethargy in gamers that leads everyone to acting all surprised when a game comes out that seemingly throws a curve ball in the form of a demanding and challenging combat system.

I was one of those people to begin with, I'm not ashamed to admit, however as the game progresses I realised what was happening. As I gained new abilities and better equiptment, the combat became less demanding and more forgiving. I think CD Projeckt were attempting to deliver a gameplay experience that highlighted your progression in a more noticable way, as in as you gain levels and stated attributes you gain in power and things become easier to deal with. I think it punctuates the character of Geralt in a really nice way, and if it was intentional - which I can't see how it wouldn't be - it really is a credit to CD Projeckts ability to create an immersive experience all round.

So my only retort to the crticism in this thread is: demanding and challenging isn't synonymous with poor. If you feel that gameplay that offers a challenege to the player and forces you to actually play, rather than just to sit back and hammer your mouse button mindlessly, is poor, then I guess it is poor. HOWEVER after consideration I personally don't think it is poor at all. I think it is bang on and I am very much looking forward to my second play through on a higher difficulty, knowing that all that stands between me and the next chapter is my ability, or lack thereof.