The new system seems only marginally more realistic than the old, the primary difference being that there is seemingly more pronounced (and longer lasting) stun. We can only hope that they don't let the 'prettiness' of the new system have a negative impact on combat, where everyone swings through molasses and is stuck in 2 seconds of stun after a successful block. I'm all for longer, more-realistic impact stun, so long as you can act fairly quickly out of the animation, if not interrupt it altogether with an input.