patrikc: I find it far superior to the first game, except alchemy (which was unfortunately streamlined).
Combat can be brutal at times, especially in the beginning. I like the fact that you always have to be on your toes, there is little to no room for error.
I had two problems with TW2: QTEs and boss battles.
I'm curious, how did you fare against Letho and the Kayran?
So far, I haven't had any major problems with only being able to use alchemy during meditation (which seems to be a common criticism). I also don't mind the inventory UI changes. Although, one thing about the alchemy I do find annoying is that you can't see on the alchemy screen how many of each item you already have in your inventory. So, you can't easily see which things you are short of.
I agree it is good they've made the combat more challenging, as it was too trivial in W1. Although, imo (especially in Chapter 1) it is difficult for annoying reasons, like the hit-from-behind thing. I feel like with the combat they have thrown out some things that made W1 distinctive and are chasing after games like Dark Souls/God of War. I.e. imitating, rather than innovating.
** Possible spoilers, for anyone that hasn't played it ** The Kayran I didn't find too difficult, tbh. I beat it on about my 4th or 5th try. I found it quite a bit less challenging than the troll and the endrega queens (which I found insanely hard at first). I found the QTEs near the end to be a little annoying, but easy enough to deal with. A bit of a shame the combat ended that way, rather than letting the player finish it off with skill.
I thought Letho was easily the hardest boss in the first chapter - he was very challenging and it took me many attempts to beat him (I lost count). He seemed a bit OP tbh - I'm not sure why he would be so much more powerful than Geralt and able to take so much more damage. Eventually, I just played him so many times that I learned his attack patterns. His attacks seem to depend on how far away you are from him. If you are far from him, he tends to use signs/bombs, but if you go in close, he almost always uses a slow sword attack. I found the best way to beat him was to wait for his Quen to wear off, then Quen up, go in close, dodge his sword swings and keep stronging him in the back (with a bit of Igni mixed in).
(I am playing it on hard, btw, so that might be skewing my view regarding difficulty)
So far I haven't found the combat in chapter 2 to be anywhere near as challenging. I assume I'll have to face Letho again at some point, but I haven't got there yet.