[Japo]

I find it advantageous to be very close to enemies during swordfights, once you've hit the foe you'll get to hit again without any likelihood of his parrying if you do it immediately afterwards. If you're not close, the enemy is out of reach for the second hit once he's stepped back after the first one.

I've just replayed this after the sequel (PoP2) and in the latter swordfights are not only much more numerous, but also much more difficult! Every foe in PoP seemed to me like piece of cake after having just played PoP2.