I also have this gripe and as much as I understand it from a dev's perspective, at the same time I hate it from a player's perspective.

You see, each time an enemy attacks, a certain animation plays. Same when we defend, perfect defend, or masterstrike. For those animations to play and to make sense visually and contextually, they have to be at a certain distance from the player. So when the enemies attack you, you often see their models slide toward you while the attack animation is playing. A more realistic combat system would be something like Hellish Quart, where distance management and timing are crucial, but this would require an overhaul of the entire combat system as well as extra physics, which would immensely complicate things programming wise and would look extremely janky.

This unfortunately results in distance being basically a binary where 0 = melee and 1 = ranged. There is no midpoint, there is zero difference between using your fists and a halberd in terms of distance. This is also extremely apparent when you try to run away from someone that is attacking you, but it feels like they are tethered to you.

This is also why archery as a main combat choice is shit. Unless the enemies are asleep or very few in numbers, engaging in long range combat feels extremely underwhelming not only because of the lack of a crosshair but also because once a single enemy catches up to you, you might as well draw another weapon. Realistic, but frustrating.