This reminded me of why I like(d) Warband so much.
In games like Absolver and the street fighter games etc., you only fight one guy at a time. No matter how good you get, that's all the context there ever is.
Meanwhile in WB, you can have duels, but there are also large battles and sieges that give your dueling skill context, and that's great. It adds a lot of complexity to the whole thing and makes it a bit less abstract.