The combat system was created in effort to imitate real medieval combat, and i think within that restriction they did a fairly good job, though it is a bit strange they didn't realize the kind of problem masterstrikes was going to create.
"But, but, it's a game, why should it imitate real life".
Because it's a game made specifically to imitate real life you mongoloid. It's the entire fucking point and main attraction of the thing for a lot of us. It's like playing Arma 3 and ask why the gunplay is not the same as in Quake.
And because the combat system was designed to imitate real life combat, it's not going to look any different in the sequel. Any change or improvement would only be found under the surface and won't likely be noticable until you get to play the thing. It's likely for instance they have already reworked masterstrikes out of the gate and there will be other balance changes but visually it's not going to change for pretty damn obvious reasons.
Besides, some issues with the combat had nothing to do with the mechanics of the fights themselves. The perk system in KCD wasn't as well thought out as it could have been for instance. Some of the perks are unique and the novelty alone compared to your average RPG was pretty cool at least but we needed more and we needed them to be more impactful. This is also something that might be improving in the sequel that isn't immediatly obvious in gameplay previews.
Lastly, before anybody accuses me of copium, the reason i'm fairly confident the combat and other mechanics will be improved in the sequel is that they are clearly using the original as a base, so a lot of the basic work as already been done and it's all a matter of refining the thing further. They would have to try really hard to fuck it up if they are using the original as a starting point, since so much of the work is already out of the way.
What COULD be worse than the original is the story and writing. That's mostly where my concern is to be honest.