I'm playing The Witcher 2 - and I'm having a great time with it.
That said, it does have a few more issues than I remember.
I'm in Flotsam, and one thing that's really stupid is how enemies "despawn" - and sometimes they're literally vanishing right in front of me, like the Endrega. The game has these rather rigid monster "patrol areas" - and most creatures, like the Nekkers - have some kind of animation for the despawning - like how they dig into the ground and disappear - but the Endrega simply vanish unless there's a tree nearby or whatever.
Also, I'm finding there's a distinct lack of variety in NPC "ambient" spoken lines. As in, you hear the same line over and over - constantly. This is pretty bad for immersion - and some of the voice acting is grating, like the children spouting the same two lines about "does he tend to lose them" talking about my two swords and bla bla.
But, overall, the game is so much more my style than the first game. It feels great to simply move around - and I've always loved the combat system, though I concede it can be very arcadey if you're not "in control" of your movement.
But, it's pretty tactical once you learn how to move around and dodge - and you can feel yourself getting better all the time. I love that. Never got that feeling with TW1 - where I still misclicked right to the end with the same frequency.
The visuals are superb - and the atmosphere likewise. The new voice actors for the main characters are also much better, and the dialogue makes sense all the way now.
It's my first time with the EE - and I'm enjoying the new crafted items, which I assume are part of the "Dark" difficulty setting. It works much better than the old primitive crafting system from TW1 - and the UI is a clear improvement as well. That said, I'm still pretty annoyed with the weight limit - and I think they should have gone Gothic on it.
The primary story is much more compelling, and the game doesn't make you forget it with a ton of trival quests.
It's such a pleasure after playing TW1 - which I had to force myself through.
My only concern is that I don't have much in the way of time for extended sessions, so I can't get that cohesive experience I prefer.
Also, TW3 is so far away - that it was probably a mistake to start the replays this soon. Oh well, I'll live