Combat Tip 1:
During combat, if you hold LT, you can quickly scroll thru the SIGNS with the left and right on D-PAD (so no need to go into the signs radial menu). you will notice sign changing in top left on HUD
Combat Tip 2 :
The area under enemy health bar glows red, just when its time to parry.
Combat Tip 3 :
Use the DODGE and not the ROLL. The former allows you to quickly evade attack, while being well placed for counter attacking. The latter takes too long to recover.
Not sure if the parry point was covered in tutorial, but it has help save my butt a number of times!
I am playing on second hardest difficulty and its just right! have to use potions and food and dodge and parry to get through battles. oh, and mix of signs. the combat in this game is so rich! makes skyrim look paltry and one-dimensional by comparison. makes Dragon Age look formulaic and bland.
regarding the GFX, I have set everything to ULTRA or HIGH and switched off Hairworks. game looks lovely and runs rock solid 60 FPS (with a 970 and i5)