The Witcher - Preview & Interview @ IGN

IGN has some pre-E3 Witcher coverage, starting with a hands-on preview. The article has some excellent details on combat:

As you power up Geralt more sets of moves become available, but from the outset it seems like you'll be able to chain together at least a few attacks. The game has three levels of difficulty, which affect how you identify when you need to press the left mouse button (LMB) to successfully transition into the next attack sequence. When playing in the easier modes, you'll see the attack icon change into a special flame symbol. On the hardest setting there'll be an audio cue, but you'll rely mostly on visually identifying when a sequence has reached an end and another can begin. Missing the transition window by hitting LMB too early or late breaks the combo, giving your enemies an opportunity to attack. Blasting out magic with the right mouse button (RMB) also breaks the attack chain, but it's useful in many cases to temporarily disable other enemies in the area advancing on your position.

They also have an interview with designer Michal Madej, speaking to him before playing the game.  The conversation starts with Oblivion:

IGN: I didn't like the main story in Oblivion very much.

Michal Madej: I didn't like Oblivion at all. [CD Projekt] had to play the game, we had to find what was, why the game was so popular.

IGN: What elements of that have you brought into The Witcher?

Michal Madej: Graphics. We believe Oblivion was so popular because, first of all, it was very well known brand. Second thing it was very popular because it has really great visuals. And also my opinion is games like Oblivion are dying because people who want to play open-ended games, they're playing online games. Playing Oblivion was like playing World of Warcraft without any other players. For me it was boring.

Thanks, kencube.