It's definitely a 9/10 for me too. It's just that I'm getting fed up of fighting the controls and not the enemies.

Played an hour last night and really enjoyed. There are frame rate issues I found on the zone version. Combat feels rewarding to me as well.

Side quests will soon overwhelm me and the fall damage is quite embarrassing as well, but so far very happy with it.

I died at the same part =p. Also in a boat but that was my mistake, first killing of drowners, then picking up the treasure without checking my breath X°X.

Same for me. World, story, characters 9/10 so far, the gameplay 6/10, good enough not to quit but I'm having more fun talking to people and exploring than doing the combat and find the next glowy red thing.

After 15 hours I'm still having issues parking Geralt correctly in front of some of the press x to do something markers. Everytime there's a torch or lamp nearby he decides to play around with that instead. The quest with the ghost lamp was fun, yet aiming that lamp so it actually points at the ghost is terrible, and it repeatedly starts over as you try to reposition.
The camera is made worse by the frame rate dips, tight turns with the horse are pretty much impossible, fighting near walls will quickly make you dizy, underwater swiming near walls, "yes I would like to see what the inside of his head looks like"
Enemies get stuck on trees and other things in the environment as well, so at least it's balanced :p

Get the killer whale potion, that should help with swimming. Although you have to dive to collect buckthorn first :/

Different strokes. Bloodborne bored me to no end. The Witcher is quite fun.

I was feeling the same way about it yesterday as well. The swimming is horrible.

It didn't make me quit, but I sure as hell stay away from diving as much as possible.

Yeah, the swimming mechanics aren't the best... Though they aren't the worst either. 

Then again... I struggle to think of any game where I enjoyed any mechanic involving water or swimming. Unless of course you're controlling a dolphin.

Reading through the thread now is pretty interesting I have to say. Seeing the ups and downs and the things you liked and didn't like. It's both amusing and informative, so thanks for the read.

Wow! To the OP: Totally different reaction from Bloodborne fans than I got in my similar thread. I played Bloodborne and prefer The Witcher. I stated that I'd not played much of Bloodborne and got chastised for my comments. Apparently since the OP likes Bloodborne his comments are OK. Also, please note that I'm not trying to crap on the OP by stating this.

Yep, all of those little annoyancies build up in the end. I'm smoking far too much during this game.