Different weapons and armor used by your opponent also effect what tactics you need to use. If he is wearing heavy armor a blunt weapon wont do much damage, and some enemies just have a natural resistance to piercing weapons. Doing anything else during combat but standing still and hitting your different attack buttons is very tough, and you will likely only move during a fight to retreat and swallow a health potion or some food. This turns combat into a simple click-fest, which is disappointing if you were looking for a greater degree of action. If you are a fan of bloody games then you may be interested to know that opponents can be beheaded, disarmed, crushed, and go through a variety of other violent deaths.
Heads roll down hills and lots of blood splatters from freshly cut wounds.
Some swords have a chop attack or other commands that intentionally aim for a bloody strike. Its not so gory as to detract from the fighting, but if you like to watch appendages fly you will get to see it quite a bit while using the right weapons. There is a combo system that allows you to create a string of attacks to perform sequentially with a simple button press, but it seems like a worthless addition to the interface. If you program an attack from more than one weapon you character will stop, holster his weapon, draw the new one, ready himself, and then perform the next attack. This all takes a great deal of time from which your opponent will get a good three or four free whacks at you.