As someone who has played mount & blade for (regrettably) over 3000 hours, I can without question say that for myself Bannerlord's combat is a massive improvement to the old titles. Sure, you may have some dodgy calculated damage numbers that one shot foes, but for me this is all the more realistic as it is hard to imagine being able to carry on fighting after receiving a sabre slashing deep into your skull or a mace turning your face into mincemeat. Not only is damage more realistic, combat animations are much more fluid and chaining attacks is extremely satisfying. Death animations add to the drama of slaying foes which was extremely lacking in other titles.
Edit-
But this is a different argument from the levelling system which has little tangible impact on combat from my experience.