Well, technically almost everything in the game is very far from reality.
Horses:
- Horses as mentioned, have more brain than running into things (riders however do not always...). If you try that they either jump over it, change direction suddenly or in the case of a noob rider (which is the case in 99% of times) there is a chance he stops suddenly (may even slide on his hooves like someone "pulled the handbrake") in which case he may send the rider fly in a nice curve forward.
- Rearing up is the MOST STUPID thing ever in this game... horses may rear for different reasons, but it is not a way of stopping. In case of sudden stops they put the weight balance down and back, on the hind legs and under the belly but that is a different story, the way they rear up in M&B is practically hurting the laws of known physics... to rear up they must stop first, trying to rear from speed would result in the hind legs slide forward and the horse turn around in the air and landing on his rump or back. And anyway, in real life horses rear up very seldom.
- It is ÜBER DAMN LAME how they rear up for any minor thing, you walk into another horse and they rear... you ride close to another rider in battle and they rear... you charge into someone and they rear... you get hit by a polearm and they rear... Bull***... The creators of the game seemed to have no much idea about horses in general, not to mention such fields as equine ethology and biomechanics, or the little notable fact of how warhorses were trained, namingly to ignore and crush through any obstacle in their way. In real life there is no warrior who could stop a charging horse unless he gets a fatal blow from a weapon.
- Regular horses who did not get war training would not run into and through people walking around, or only very seldom or by accident.
Regarding falling, I've fell off a horse in canter two times and did not even hit myself, saw a friend and his hors falling over together on a patch of ice and none got hurt... and in the same time I saw a girl falling off from a horse standing still, and on sand, and still breaking an arm badly... so it depends on many factors, by some degree random, but it also counts how much you know how to fall without getting injured. The heavier armor you wear can make falling the worse - leather armors may protect you while I am sure falling off in full plate can hurt... I guess knights have had fallen lot of times and even practiced it so they were used to it (The myth knights could not stand up or mount again when fell is bullcrap.) but a regular fighter who just got his first horse not long ago (back then it was a real luxury) will more likely get injured due to lack of experience.
Two handed swords and bastard swords:
- In real life the technique of these weapons is based on their mobility, a large sword can be hell quick too if well balanced and used by an experienced warrior. These techniques include grabbing the blade with the off hand to hold it like a short spear (used against plate armor), hitting with the pommel, grabbing the blade with two hands and using the hand guard as a fighting pick to crush helms, etc. It is a complex martial art, and the "grab that metal and swish it around like an idiot" style you see in the game is just the typical Hollywood image of medieval combat by people who have no clue about it at all.
- And in general, fighting was much much more cmplex than most people think...
Some pics from mostly medieval fighting codexes:
http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/182.jpghttp://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Gladiatoria/Gladiatoria.htmAlso check this:
http://www.kb.dk/da/nb/materialer/haandskrifter/HA/e-mss/thalhofer/thott-2_290.htmlSo... if we keep arguing what is wrong with the game, we can continue that for eternity but it will not really change anything. The game as it is, get used to it. Minor improvements can be done but if you wanted to correct all faults that would mean developing a totally new game. Maybe M&B 3...