The armor goes into the quest boxes, thank goodness.
Zoltan - I found him at the inn on occasion, but he also can be found at Vivaldi's house or on the street not far from the house or market.

Alice - If Zoltan isn't in the Hairy Bear you can usually find him in Vivaldi's house (the dwarf that lost control of his bank). I think they live together. His house is at #8...very top of the Temple Quarter map.

I only have one piece of the Raven Armor and 'think' (haven't played for awhile) it's carried in my Quest Item section.

Nickie - We posted at the same time...I'm just to slow

Maybe I had too much caffeine and I was a twitch faster! Never a problem though - it's great that we can all add on to each other's answers.

You don't get any pieces of the Raven Armour until you get to Chapter 4 and they go into the fixed inventory of required stuff for the game and not the general inventory.

I did find Zoltan Chevey at the Hairy Bear during the day once and after that I found him either at the place where the city guards are training near the Trade Quarter gate or at Vivaldi's House.

I just started this game yesterday myself. Can I ask you experienced folk whether it's best to leave the difficulty set on medium or switch it down to easy mode? I've barely started, just after the prologue and into the first town in Act 1. It's easy so far but I was worried about difficulty level down the road. I don't mind restarting now but I will mind when I'm in chapter 4 and cursing myself!

Ooooooooh Peggy! What a great adventure you have in front of you!
My first time thru, I did play on easy, just to be sure I could enjoy all it has to offer. And even on easy, it was challenging! Well, it was for me anyway!

I'm on my second time thru, and I upped it to medium...and there is a difference! I bet I can guess who has played on hard, and I can't wait to hear how that was!

I would say, in my opinion, if you like to fight, go for medium or hard. If you would like getting to know Geralt, and the history, and the countryside - better than a fight, go with easy!

Boy I'm so good with explainations, I bet you know just what to do huh?

Hi Peggy, glad to see you playing!

Looney, clear as mud!

But you do have a point. While I like combat normally, this flaming sword combat and the different moves (I'll grow to love it, right?) make me thing easy would be less frustrating down the road. When you say you're playing on medium now and there is a difference, you're talking strictly about combat difficulty...nothing to do with the game proper, right?

And while I know it's a personal preference, are most of you playing with the over-the-shoulder view?

I couldn't have said it better than Looney! I played on easy the first time and I'm playing on medium the second time. The combat is the same, but there are lots more enemies and the bosses are tougher to kill. The one thing about playing on easy the first time through was that I thoroughly got the hang of the combat styles. The only thing that changes with the game are the consequences of the decisions you make. This time through, for the most part I'm making different choices and it's making it quite interesting to say the least!

I'm playing over-the-shoulder because I like to be up close to the action and the other characters. I tried the other two options and went back to OTS. Your Witcher medallion alerts you to enemies anyway.

Hope you have as much fun with it as we are!

Yeah, what Drac says! On medium, I can't kill the monsters as quick, and there are more of them. On easy, I could kill them off pretty quick!

After I got the hang of the combat system, I really liked it! I'm playing on the F1 view, I don't get as dizzy with that one.

I'm trying all different decisions too Drac, it's fun to see the differences isn't it? I just wonder how this will all play out in the ending!

Although usually I prefer the over the shoulder view, I opted to go with the default topdown view - I liked to see what was coming, and it helped me better orient myself to the area.
The combat does take some finesse, but I thought it quite enjoyable with the athletic moves he is capable of. I think the game is much easier than some you have played, if that is any help. And come in and correct me if I am wrong here - I think you can change the difficulty level during the game, if you change your mind. (edit: no, you can't change it, just checked, sorry).

Meh, I really need to pick this up again. So much to do, so little time.

Any special tips for getting past those creatures in the Swamp? Geralt just refuses to attack them...

Hi Drizzt, I was wondering where you were! You're using the silver sword, fast style and he won't fight? Unless you're clicking him too fast, maybe you're having technical problems. Some of the folks have had to use different patches to optimize their playing time - I and several others couldn't use the latest patch, for instance. That said, the fighting style is different from the usual RPGs - you click to engage, but then you have to have different timing with other clicks. If you click away, Geralt will quit fighting (out of balance). You could test this by putting the game on easy. Click to engage, then wait to click again until you see a flaming sword icon. Not sure if the flaming icon occurs in the medium and hard options.

Yeah, I click the "attack" button, but he just stands there like a retard. Very annoying. It wasn't like this before the patch either.

Can the difficulty be changed while in the game? I thought you had to start a new game for that. I am playing on Medium right now.

No, you're right - had to go check just now. You can change a lot of things, but not the difficulty.
Sounds like the patch might be your problem then, if the game wasn't doing that beforehand. I had a similar problem with the 2.0 patch, and had to take it off (plus annoying crashes too).

Now, are you trying to fight the echinops? Geralt won't do anything until you run right up to it and click on the part down toward the bottom of the plant-monster. If it's waving around it may be hard to click on just the right place. If you have Igni, try hitting it a couple of times with fire, then running up and whacking at it.

That's sure true too! If I hadn't had igni, those and the harder plant - forgotten the name, begins with an a - would have just been terrible.

Archeospores! They were the WORST!

That's the one! Those things spit forever!

They also spit poison so you need all the poison resistance you can get. Golden Oriole helps a lot when fighting the spitting trees.

One thing I did to get close to those things was to hold down the left mouse button and rush up close to the bottom part of the plant. If you stand back at a distance and click on the ground he doesn't move. You have to get up close and personal with them.

That's good advice lindy! I'll try that next time I play. I just threw igni at them, and then rushed in and whacked them when they were ignited.

That's exactly what I have tried. And he still just stands there, in "battle" mode, but without attacking.

Does he have the sword out at all? You know, those circles on the left side of the screen - is it colored on the top one, the non-fighting one? Or is the proper sword one lit up? You said battle mode, so you must mean he has sword in hand... If it is, don't have any other ideas except take off the patch and go with a lesser one. And from past experience I can warn you not to use the icon in your game directory that tells you "unpatch" or something like that - instead use the tool that is linked to on the game website.

Hey, I just thought of something, Drizzt, are you getting hit by the poison darts that those echinops (the archespores do too) spit? They will stun Geralt, and he'll just stand there swaying...usually I would end up hit again before I could recover...
The only way I found to get away and recharge was to hold the cursor a bit away from the action and wait for it to turn from the sword to a fat arrow and just start running away. When you run back, you do have to run right at the echinops, to hit it you have to be really close up! You know - charge in like you mean it!
Igni is a great help, if you can, run away and go get Igni leveled up.

I wonder if looking at a saved game would help to figure out what the problem is?

Add me to that list of didn't like the newest patch! I went back to the 1.1a patch and I'm doing good!