I've read that they wanted to make combat really hard so that it is actually something to fear - just like it would have been in real life.
Really, that would be awesome if so.
Nothing worse than being a medieval super soldier taking on 50 armed guys with the same block, parry, attack combat like AC series.
From the marginal amount I have read/watched you're a blacksmiths son, not a nobleman's son so getting lots of combat training and sword fighting won't have been a staple of your life.
I just worry my PC won't be able to get the most out of the game, with CPU/GPU prices as they are I'm not upgrading for a while.