It is interesting to see how different people can have two completely different experiences with games. all the things you mentioned are pluses for me.

for example, what I would say about the same issues you said:

The breakable shields are a nice addition they make it so the player can´t turtle up indefinitely, and also make it that by being persistent enough you can break an enemy shield whose defenses you had trouble overcoming. You also sometimes have to face the decision of trying to quickly dispatch an enemy, go help your partner, or look for a shield.

pressing the attack button locks Caddoc into an attack animation rendering him unable to dodge, as it should be. locking the animation means you have to properly read the flow of battle and the enemies movements to correctly choose when to strike, like in the Souls series.

I should note that I played on a 360 controller despite playing in a PC before commenting the next point:

I liked the absence of lock on. The animation transition is fluid enough that you can change targets to any direction mid-combo, which is sometimes essential in a fight against multiple enemies. Lock on against too many enemies means you take too much time to circle between enemies until you get to the one you want, or need to unlock, face the enemy and lock again. Hunted all I need to do was push the stick in the direction I wanted and attack.

I will also say I liked the visual style of the game´s levels and the interaction between the characters

I may have played a patched version, since I never encountered a bug during the whole play trough.