archaven: I see where you are coming at.. Too bad Witcher 2 game is very 'light' on combat, RPG statistics and mechanisms and leveling. Heck you don't even have much monsters to fight with comparing to Witcher 1. A shame if you asked me.
The only thing shine with Witcher 2 is it's sophisticated story and plotline mixed with some action combat. That's about it. Of course this is solely my opinion.
gregski: I find the stats/skills advancement mechanism working well. It demands the player to make CHOICES - just like one does following the story - and is in line with the Witcher's "you can't have everything" spirit. Plus, as you are playing as a witcher, the fact that the game makes specialization reasonable enables players to shape their character towards something like traditional classes from other RPGs (warrior/mage) - which should work for those missing this traditional approach.
Hey mate i agree with you there. I like the combat in Witcher 2. It's working well with a good mix of action (player skill) and statistics (Geralt's skill and gears).
I like that they improvised the mechanics in the next sequel to have more RPG elements and statistics while retaining the level of action.
This way they can have both an action game with deep RPG mechanics like character attributes (Str, Dex, Magic, Mana, Vigor), chance to evade, chance to find rare items, chance to knockdown/knockback, chance to stun/freeze, etc. At the moment these mechanics already IN the game (chance to incinerate/bleed/poison/stun) in case you did not see that.
I would also like to see that they actually improvised and expand the skilltree of Swordsman, Alchemy and Magic. Make it so that players can some sort of cross-class and unlock different skills and powers. This is my suggestion for improvement for next Witcher. Of course you can freely disagree as it's just my opinion. And i don't turn my opinion onto facts. I never do.
Cheers