I'm not the guy you replied to, but I really like Dark Souls's combat and hated Witcher 2's. I only played a few hours of Witcher 2, so I could be wrong on a few points, but my main problem with it is that it seems like an Action RPG with more of a focus on the RPG than the action, whereas in Dark Souls it's the other way around.

One of my favorite things about DaS is that you build your character according to what weapon(s)/spells you want to use, as opposed to most other RPGs I've played where it feels like you're forced to use whatever happens to be the most effective. Most of the not-terrible weapons are well balanced enough that the DPS difference between two builds is negligible, so your weapon of choice is chosen based on the moveset, and your weapon's moveset is what dictates the pace of the game more than anything else. The path your weapon takes on different attacks, how long it takes to start up and recover, how many hits it takes to stagger an enemy and so on all play a role in how many options you have in combat, which can vary wildly from weapon to weapon and enemy to enemy. Recognizing openings when you can safely damage enemies is one of the most important skills you have to develop to get through the game, and one thing I really like about how DaS is set up is: you don't necessarily need to know the enemy, just the mechanics. I breezed through DaS2 when it came out. My first death (besides gravity in the tutorial area) was to the Ruin Sentinels, and I only died to them once before beating them. I didn't know anything about things like enemy movesets, which weapons are good or bad, how much more of an impact armor had, or the effects of important stats like ADP, but my experience and knowledge of most of the mechanics carried me through the game.

In W2, on the other hand, it felt like knowledge of the mechanics and moveset wasn't enough, and beating an enemy came down to just knowing what countered it. While in DaS, figuring out how to beat an enemy came mostly through just watching what the enemy does, in W2, it seemed like that knowledge came from the story/dialogue/lore (which I'm mostly fine with), or by trial and error. What I mean by that is, it seemed like there was no way of knowing how effective your signs/potions/items are without either already knowing the enemy or just throwing them out and seeing what's the most effective, while in DaS, I could quickly recognize, just based on the enemy's moveset, where and when my attacks will be effective and which attack to use. The sluggish movement and controls didn't really help either.

In the end, the one big thing that made me quit W2 was: no iframes on the rolls. Or at least it felt like there weren't any. What that meant to me was that the combat was actually slower than my favorite way of playing Dark Souls, which is right in the enemy's face and avoiding all damage by virtue of well timed rolls and good positioning, and that my options during combat were much more limited than I initially thought.