Its been said this game is only for hardcore gamers, but there is a chance you will become one by playing this!
The combat system is one of the best I've ever seen, I can say that just the combat in this game is better than many fighting games around, you have to consider many things when facing an opponent, from what weapon you and your foe have equipped, the armor and shield and the surroundings but the most important when in combat is your stamina, every attack and block you make depletes your stamina and if you ran out your at at the mercy of your enemy for a couple of seconds, which are enough to terminate you.
In terms of difficulty this game is hard but not that hard as some people say, you need a lot of patience though, because it takes time and practice to master the combat system and considering this is an RPG you also need to level up from time to time, otherwise you wouldn't have a chance against some of the enemies specially the bosses, I mean even if you are a master of the combat system, if you don't have the stats needed, chances are you will die.
Bottom line, this is one of those games the more you play, the more you like!