I want to get my monies worth and am debating whether to go hard or just medium. With ahrd they say u need alchemy , magic and swordplay to survive. Does anyone have any word on if you can only max 1 skill tree meaning in order to play hard you will have to buy potions? Also anyone playing hard banging there head on the desk even though its just released ?

I finished TW1 on hard without any hickups, and yet normal TW2 got some time to get used to, still is hard. BTW you can change the difficulty in game if it turns out too hard or too easy.

I started on Medium and died in the second set of battles...lol. Think that setting will be good for most people.

So far, Hard is....well, hard. :/

I'm not sure how much of that is my not being used to the combat yet though. ie: I am still rarely successfully blocking any attacks for instance.

It definitely feels harder than W1, though W1 let you pause so you could get off perfect combos 100% of the time.

I can't imagine playing at Insane at my current comfort level with the combat.

Great news, in The Witcher 1 the difficulty could not be changed once the game had started.

Combat is much more tactic in this part. No "group fencing style" means getting surrounded should be avoided at all costs. Also potions can't be gulped down in the heat of battle, you have to go into meditation.

EDIT: you could if you downloaded a mod from the official forums :-)

Yea. The potion change is really, really big for me. :/ Taking a lot of getting used to.

Makes them more part of preparation than instant helpers. More realistic and in line with the books, but of course not as fun for everyone. I personally don't mind.

Alright I think i've decided here...no more hard for me, gonna start on normal :)

They're also much...much...MUCH shorter duration this time around. I'm actually going out of my way to collect materials this time. ;p

At least we're not limited by access to proper gunpowder, grease and alcohol anymore, so as long as you have ingredients you can keep 'em coming. Also the item crafting ideas are great!