I mean look at that second video you sent and look at 00:20, a total flickfest, the weapon is way to fast from nothing to attack position so it looks kinda stupid.
Players can block these attacks. Some duels last a really long time.
Back in 2015, when I was completely new to the game, I wasn't nearly as fast as I am now, but I still did well enough against these players to enjoy the game, and I look back on it with nostalgia. Taking down better players in melee was really satisfying and exciting, and it's what kept me playing. I would have been annihilated in duels, but in the chaos of groupfights, you can get lucky, for one thing, but also genuinely get better, as you get stuck in and try new things, rather than just wimp away.
I can imagine starting out in MM with a low playerbase would be too stressful, but Warband had this thing called Battle mode in a public server, and the setup (along with other servers) was a good place to get better. If anything, it was getting killed by cavalry and headshot by archers from far away that was the bigger problem.
Looking at people like Metafa play the game, it seems noobstomping is just as much a thing in Bannerlord anyway.
It's also important that the combat system be the best it can be (i.e. not dumbed down or made clunky), because if there's more of a general impression that there's something downright impressive about it, that will get players more intrigued and interested, rather than if it was like a kiddy pool where everyone's wearing armbands.
@jon01
Just wanted to say the block delay is not a problem anymore, you can pretty much block everything, there is of course feints which are hard to block. I am fine with movement, but if it can be sharper and more precise I am all up for it.
It's the attack delay that concerns me the most. It's hard to tell whether it's sometimes lag or a peculiarity in the game design or just my own slip up, but clearly they've put a lot of variables into the system, which probably give off this responsiveness issue. I'm aware of weapon stunning, but still, apart from when you've committed to a swing, there shouldn't be too much else to prevent you from attacking, otherwise it feels really annoying, like you're fighting your own character more than your opponent.
it is equally exhausting hearing people say "Combat is ****", "Warband combat gameplay is perfect", "TW killed bannerlord", etc etc.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "Warband combat gameplay is perfect" whatsoever. People who love the game criticise it all the time. I reckon if they'd remade Warband's combat 1:1 but with better graphics in Bannerlord, the "Warband veterans" during the beta period would still come up with a long list of things that could stand to be improved. That's the state of progress we should have been in, rather than the enormous backstep we're in now. Fans of Warband's combat want the strengths of its system to continue and evolve in ways that stand up to scrutiny.
I really would have thought that Warband's animations could be improved (or more animations added) in ways to make it visually smoother without lessening the responsiveness of combat. But if tighter controls do take a hit on the visuals, then so be it. Even a game like The Last of Us Part II has animations that bend reality for the sake of functionality, such as when you hug a wall or jump onto a ledge. They could have made it more realistic (and hence, clunkier), but they didn't. Treat that aspect the same as attacking and blocking in M&B.
The graphics of Bannerlord are great. The animation is a mixed bag, especially on NPCs in the SP, yet in combat too it can look floaty and unconvincing. The biggest problem, however, is what's going on "underneath the hood" with the mechanics. Asking for tighter controls in a combat-based game really isn't unreasonable at all.