Brave Yeah on PS5 the 60 fps mode is the way to go for me and even that has some noticeable slow downs. I’ve not had a chance to try RTX on PC due to it crashing but in Cyberpunk 2077 the global illumination is insane, it makes such a big difference to everything. Honestly the first use of ray tracing that really wow’d me.
Gordon I’d suggest starting with the lower difficulties at first just because the combat can be a little rough around the edges and exploring the world the autosave is only every ten minutes or so by default. Once you get the hang of things you definitely want to bump the difficulty up though, a big part of The Witcher is about preparing for the fights making sure you have the correct oils, unlocking the bestiary entries for the things you kill. On easy difficulties you can just brute force your way through it, which is just not as fun or immersive.
But honestly me The Witcher 3 is about the world, story, and characters, rather than brutal combat challenge.