Don't get me wrong so far I'm loving the hell out of this game but there is one major gripe is the use of potions. This game puts such a big emphasis on the use of potions but time and time again I'm forced into battle where it is impossible for me to apply them. I.E: I just got into the fight with the Draug and due to the parts leading up to the boss I was unable to apply potions. Also the fact that potions decay during conversations but then they proceed to put long conversations before battles. If they are going to make such a big deal out of potions then you should be able to apply them from the enhancement screen.

The basic arrangement of the game for the first time through is that you find out about the situation where you really should have "potion-ed up" - after you are dead. So you replay from a save and meditate to use potions the second time.

The Draug fight is simply unfair for that and there are numerous complaints about it. Your potions have expired, and you have to fight right from the beginning of the scene BEFORE you even get to Draug. Just a bad save-point.

personally i agree the new potion mechanic is not very interesting.
Basically you need to know what you are going to do in advance so mostly the pots are used to repeat a specific fight after a reload for me.
Anyway duno if you noticed there are some mods, atm didnt tried personally, but there is one made to extend the potion timers that may be interesting to mitigate the loosing time on conversation etc.

[url=]http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/full_list_of_mods/page1[/url]

I don't mind the actual mechanic of the potion system - in fact I like the idea of rewarding players for careful research and preparation before battle. But the way the mechanic actually works in game kind of sucks - by the time you figure out what potions you should be using it is often too late.

*minor spoiler*
The kayran battle is an exception and I liked the way your research and preperation paid off in that instance.
*end minor spoiler*

I realize it's probably difficult to telegraph the specifics of every major fight and maintain immersion - every five minutes "oh hey look, a bunch of monsters and a convenient place to meditate!" - but then again, that's kind of how the potion system is designed to work.

At least we'll be able to get a lot more out of potions on subsequent playthroughs. I pretty much expect to play any RPG multiple times anyway, so there's that.