Personally, I think the combat system is one of the best action RPG systems ever. If not THE best.

I recently restarted the game after reaching chapter 2 - because I wanted to do a few things differently, and I wanted the "Strong Back" perk.

Very few games can get me to restart after 15+ hours in - and it's a great sign.

In any case, after restarting - I chose hard difficulty. I didn't die a SINGLE time during the prologue - where I died constantly on medium the first time.

THAT is how a great combat system works. You learn from your mistakes, and you master it eventually. I'm very comfortable with it now.

It's a fantastic system, really.