No it's not, I addressed this. The reason I can counter so well is because Geralt blocks the instant you press the button. There is literally no lag.
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Have you ever seen a fight in real life? Because it's not some free flowing, seamless thing. This is not Batman's freeflow(tm) system. This combat system is not designed to flow seamlessly and look badass. This combat tries to simulate the danger, the back and forth, the moments of tension in real fights.
You should never be blocking/parrying against creatures. It's ineffective. You should only dodge away from creatures. Blocking/parrying is only good against humans/sword wielders. The game tells you this.
You should also constantly be using Signs to halt creatures, push them back, or protect yourself. If you're relying on your sword you are literally playing the game wrong. The devs said in an interview that you need to use Signs almost as much as your sword to do well in combat. Look at the Bestiary to see what signs an enemy is weak against. Constantly use Quen and use Ygni often.
That's a decent comparison to UC3, which was wonky, and TW3's combat does have a sense of that. But it also gives you so many options and so many strategies that it's far deeper than UC3 could ever dream of. Also the comparison is a bit unfair – UC3's combat was very flawed and poor, I think rose tinted glasses are making UC3's seem better than it actually is. TW3's combat is hugely superior.
There is no sluggishness in TW3 either – but Geralt has to move his entire body, which is heavy, to attack. You press a button and he will immediately begin attacking – but his attack movement is a bit longer and slower. Also I think you're misremembering games again: in BB there are plenty of times when you need a strong attack which takes half a second to 'charge up'.
In TW3, against a Wyvern say, I can dodge sideways away from its strike, hit it once, then roll diagonally past it while it attacks again, then strong attack it in the back. Then roll away and throw a bomb at it, before we begin circling each other again.
You could literally replace 'TW3' in the paragraph above with 'BB', and everything I said would stand identical. TW3 uses very different systems and controls, but there are more parallels with BB than you think. I believe it has clearly inspired CDPR.
I disagree. It's not trying to make easy, seamless combat like AC/BM/SoM. TW3 is trying to simulate fights a witcher would actually be in. It requires consideration, planning, positioning.
In plenty of fights you can barely attack at all and there is no focus or incentive on combos. I've no idea where you're getting this from. This is not a combo-focused, seamless system.
What this guy said.
THIS IS NOT A STRAIGHT-UP ACTION GAME.
I got the timing down quite early and it works well for me. Basically know that they're going to do it, stand there, and pull that trigger the moment they start swinging. I ignore the red flash of their health bar, I just use the animation as a key.
