Just a couple of general tips:
you can turn on "witcher senses on minimap" in hud configuration. This is so huge, I wish I knew about this ages ago, it makes the sherlock holmsing parts way less tedious. Especially if witcher sense mode makes you nauseous (also recomend turning off motion blur for that.)
if you like me turned off music early on because you got bored of hearing that same song over. definitely turn it back on for a bit when you get to new areas, the track in skellige is epic and I nearly missed it completely.
don't be stingey like me, buy all recipes from main quest characters before they die or get upset with you.