Blindly running towards the enemies and just whacking at them does not seem to be a promising tactic in the Witcher 2. After a few deaths I decided to start blocking enemy attacks, which in theory should lead to me dying less often.
Often this works pretty well, and I'm able to block the incoming attacks, but sometimes the enemy attack goes through even though I'm blocking. I thought at first it was only because they attacked me somewhat from the side, but also direct frontal attacks occasionally hurt me.
What are the requirements for blocking an enemy attack? When can attacks be blocked and when does that not work?