"The real-life Mount & Blade duels in this video are hilarious! As for the game, we try to strike a balance between having fun, intuitive gameplay and somewhat believable combat. Because of the skill-based nature of the game and the fast-paced combat, players need to be able to clearly see what their opponents are doing at any given time which is why some of the animations may be a little exaggerated."
This is good reasoning though. I always though animations in Warband were great, especially compared to it's competitors.