Yes, Gothic 2 had two different combat control systems. Most reviewers overlooked this.
The new one mapped the most aggressive option to the LMB. Of course it's nothing for purists, but it gets the job done.

Reportedly the best option:
Map the controls to a gamepad, if you have one and it comes with a decent piece of software.

There was a user mod which allowed adjusting the difficulty. And another one which a couple of script bugs and made things a bit more consistent. Maybe both are even one and the same, I don't remember.