OK, I am 57 years old. it took me 2 years to finish The Witcher 1. This is the only PC game I have EVER played. I have total respect for the crew that developed The Witcher. I own a business, I have a life. the Witcher became a part of my life in my "down time".

I want to start this thread for those of us who are PC game dummies.

I am stuck in the prologue on the bridge with the King Foltest in my arms and the Dragon kicking my ass on the bridge. any suggestions?

Run straight south. Don't let up.

If you can't do the QTE, then set Difficulty to Easy. No need for QTE.

At that point, it's just a matter of running straight south. If you hesitate for even a second at any point, the dragon will be able to catch up and swipe you dead. But, if you didn't hesitate, he'll never catch up.

Run away with S not W, click the right mouse button when the dragon is about to swat you or breath fire.

Run with S and keep mashing right click during the event.
Edit: If you're not doing it on easy. I died a few times on hard before using this strategy. It sounds cheap but the QTE is really a pain in the ass to deal with and shouldn't hinder your progress.

An adventurous gamer with an open mind, acknowledging that they're learning a new style of play and politely asking for help is no dummy in my book.

But my book is kind of moth eaten, smells vaguely of cheese, and a lot of the pages stick together, so that may or may not be reassuring for you.

The mistake I made here was to let up on the movement key to press the button to hide from the fire. You have to have both pressed at the same time to move and hide.

I like this thread. I'm a middle aged woman (not that my gender has anything to do with it, just saying that to introduce myself!) with arthritic joints including my hands and I have always avoided games with action type combat because I have trouble pressing buttons with a fast enough reaction time to succeed.

I'm far more used to games with turn based combat, either in RPGs or strategy games, where intelligent use of tactics and the forces and resources you have available are more important than reaction times and manual dexterity - so this has been a steep learning curve (and I have to keep putting the game down for a bit because it hurts my hands!)

My tip is that the Quick Time Events in this game are impossible if your mouse sensitivity is NOT at maximum, so check that in your gameplay settings. I was struggling for days with some of the QTEs (arm wrestling especially, also some of the boss combat "click a mouse button as fast as you can until the bar fills up"* type of thing) until I turned my mouse sensitivity up to 10.

*PS. Does that make anyone else think of Daley Thompson's Decathlon or similar on the Spectrum? Whenever I have to fill up a bar by clicking madly I remember playing those sorts of sports games back in the early '80s where you'd have to hit X and Z over and over as fast as possible until your spod got to the finish line (or until your X and Z keys broke, whichever happened first) - it seems gaming has come full circle :D

Epona, if you'd prefer a more leisurely and story focused experience, theres no shame in turning the game to the "easy setting", especially if it would be physically less demanding for you. CDPR have said that its a mistake to compare their "normal" mode to the "normal" difficulty of most other games. Their normal would be "hard" for most other rpgs, and their easy would be "normal".

Using "Easy" mode would reduce the intensity, and the amount of overall clicking you'd have to do, and please believe me Im not saying this to be at all condescending. I think it's great youre playing the game.

Oh god I know, I started on Easy, I know my physical limitations :D It's not condescending at all to suggest that, I just wish half the people posting here would be as polite and friendly as your post, rather than (to all intents and purposes) saying "ner, ner, if u find it hrd u mus B stoopid". Arthritis does not drain intelligence, but it does make the rapid pressing of keys or buttons somewhat tricky ;)

Thanks for the tips! I am hoping we can keep this thread going . I enjoy this game,and would love to share with others who are not perfectionists! I enjoyed the W1 not only for the story, but for the whole experience or living in the Witcher's world.

I am too tired tonight, but i will try tomorrow to beat that f**king dragon!

I hope anyone else with "dumb" questions will post them here. I believe there is no such thing as a stupid question.

Coelocanth (middle aged gamer) approves of this thread. :)

Good luck with the dragon tomorrow! Have you turned off difficult QTEs in the gameplay menu? If so as soon as the cut-scene ends hold down the S key (because the camera angle is set so you're running towards the camera which is S rather than W, that caught me out the first time I tried it - I pressed W and ran straight into the dragon's mouth!) and I didn't need to do anything else to dodge the dragon, just holding down S so that you are running towards the camera until the next cut-scene triggers at the end of the bridge did the trick for me - I didn't need to do any fancy footwork or dodging. I am playing on easy with difficult QTEs turned off.

I'm 53. I can't blame arthritis; I just have miserable hand-eye coordination and have had it since I was young.

I got away from the dragon, and you can, too. Hit "S" and run like hell! :-)

Hope you make it.

I almost cried after reading this thread. You guys have my whole respect. You guys are doing what I'm dreaming to do when I'm older.

Youtube, might help. Just type "witcher 2 walkthrough/playthrough" and browse the part that you need help. Also, in part when you need to constantly click the mouse, you can try using your thumb as that's what I do when my index finger becomes tired.

I have RA. It effects my fingers and elbows a lot. I use a trackball mouse and a portable keyboard while playing. With the mouse I'm able to to use my stronger fingers on the ball and adjust for longer playing. I never use my fingers for too long doing the same thing. I have two left mouse buttons and the right button is big enough to reach with the ring finger or use the the ball.
I always play on on easy the first time I play an RPG with lots of action.
I find trackball mouse and keyboard easier than gamepad.
I'm able to map keys to what fingers are stronger and not so painful.
Sometime I use the keyboard for left mouse click.
I am always looking for better & comfortable ways to game.