No offense but i think this game totally need to be modded in the first playthrough. Without this mod called Potion oil duration and crafting fee tweak http://witcher.nexusmods.com/mods/5, economy in this game is seems balance and potions become essential. Why i talked about economy in this game because it totally broken and hard to craft better armor and swords and totally hard to earn money. You would totally spend time in mini games that gives you little rewards. You could killed some monster and sell their loot in that game but doesn't earn you exp points to level. Also don't expect to much about quest money rewards in the game if you are planning to craft an armor and sword. Especially in Chapter 2 if you do a certain quest, the money in that chapter is totally difficult!