Personally speaking, I wish I didn't have to wail on enemies for as long as that Executioner video showed. It diminishes the power of my weapon, it makes my character seem weak and pathetic, and seems to just be a gimmick to make the gameplay appear longer than it should be. Cut the health of those enemies by about 50%, and give 'em a stun animation and maybe things might improve.
I agree 100% on this. For the most part I like the 2.5D approach in MoF, but the combat looks incredibly tedious and everything else you mentioned. Seriously, we're supposed to be in control of a top-of-the-line, bad-ass warrior of (the Brotherhood of) Light. He seems like a weak pansy-man if can't take out a simple Skeleton in one or two hits at most.
And hitting an enemy has no crunch to it at all. Not having at least a tiny flinch makes it seem like every enemy from top to bottom has "Super Armor". Now being an old-school gamer, I do look at the roots of the series with rose colored glasses some times, but just doing what all the other kids are doing with NO improvement over the last guy is just lame.