The tutorial suggested easy. I chose normal. First thing I did was get an achievement for 10 kills without damage. Tried the tutorial again and didn't do any better.

The arena at the end of the tutorial is a terrible benchmark, it throws you into the deep end with regards to combat, I did absolutely dreadful, but once the game starts up properly it builds up all your combat skills gradually -- but since I failed the arena I'm played on easy at first, and it's like running through doom with iddqd in the actual game.

Play on hard, and reload a few times, but get a much better experience where you have to actually parry and counter thrusts etc. You feel like you're accomplishing something rather than grinding to get to the next point-n-click-adventure-game bit.

Okay, I've got it downloaded and have played a few hours. With a GTX 950, core i3 6100, and 8 gigs of ddr4, with every setting maxed, even ubersampling, at 1080p....
Pretty good actually! Rather smooth, with some rare stuttering. I can't help wondering if some setting isn't actually enabled.

In terms of difficulty, after immediately dying in the first mission I switched to easy and have been limping my way through the game. I've never played anything like this before, so I'm taking my time.

The game is rather pretty, though not as polished as I had hoped. No support for interface scaling, pop-in, and anti-aliasing being a single toggle. Also, while I can disable the HUD (Awesome!), I cannot access my inventory or character stats at the same time. Still a great game. I got in an argument with a guard and a sassy prositute told him she knew how little balls he actually had. Love it.

Not playing on hard becomes annoying in the later stages when you are already more comfortable with gameplay, and got a lot more abilities especially in the final sets of the skills tree (like adrenaline based skills). Geralt feels too overpowered. Besides monsters like Kayran (which is the hardest fight in the game either way), playing on hard is the most balanced option.

Quoting: GrifterThe arena at the end of the tutorial is a terrible benchmark, it throws you into the deep end with regards to combat, I did absolutely dreadful, but once the game starts up properly it builds up all your combat skills gradually -- but since I failed the arena I'm played on easy at first, and it's like running through doom with iddqd in the actual game.

Play on hard, and reload a few times, but get a much better experience where you have to actually parry and counter thrusts etc. You feel like you're accomplishing something rather than grinding to get to the next point-n-click-adventure-game bit.

The game seems slightly imbalanced to me. Regular foes and minibosses are absurdly easy. Endrega Queens, Wraiths, even Kayran, are easy. But I reached the first fight with Letho and I'm stuck. My attacks are too weak, thus the fight takes long and sooner or later I make some stupid mistake and get hit seriously - from then it's just the spiral downward.

It's comparably bad to the first boss fight in Deux Ex HR and in huge contrast to Dark Souls, where regular foes can be as deadly as bosses.

Good mods:

Geralt with beard: http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/693/?
Bag instead of book: http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/93/?
Pirouette dodge instead of roll: http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/697/?

Ah, and surely import your end game save from TW1. Raven's Armor is pretty neat.

It would seem that can cchange the difficulty later on if I need to, so that's good.

I've found some pretty sweet mods myself. Better textures, a more advanced HUD, and even interface scaling.

On a final note, after playing at 720p and then switching back to 1080p, I can say that it's just as smooth at either resolution. Which is a great departure from when my games ran like crap at any resolution.

Play well on my Radeon R9 290 with Open Source, last I tried.

Alright, just a few more observations on my part.

First of all, those textures absolutely tanked my performance. That said, they are freaking gorgeous, so overall a fair trade. I turned down a few settings and barely even noticed a difference.

The other mods are a bit hit and miss, which is most likely my own fault.

Finally, let me just say that this game is awesome! I can barely pull myself away long enough to play anything else. A definite must buy for anyone.

Quoting: chuzzle44Finally, let me just say that this game is awesome! I can barely pull myself away long enough to play anything else. A definite must buy for anyone.

Yes, and if you didn't play the first yet - play it as well (Wine). I like it even more.