Combat soldiers have carried bladed weapons consistently over the years and there have been times when they were needed during combat. A big problem most games have with regards to combat, which warps the perception of people, is that everyone fires their weapon and does it accurately. In the US post combat studies after WWII showed that only a small percentage of soldiers fired their weapons. IIRC they found that only a small number of soldiers in a squad would fire their weapons during a firefight. Those that did weren't very accurate, i.e. the ratio of lead fired vs damage was high. It isn't like movies, when people are shooting at you, unless you have superb discipline, it's going to effect you negatively. One reason high morale and unit cohesion were important.
One reason is because soldiers don't like exposing themselves to enemy fire and to fire accurately they would have to expose more of their body. Soldiers in combat like cover and if you watch footage a lot just place their weapon above cover or around corners and fire blindly. If a soldier was to lift his head above cover there was good chance that a lucky shot would be a mortal wound. An added consideration is that only one or two hits would take the combatant out of the action. Even in modern warfare body armor only provides limited protection. It is mostly medical advances that have reduced the number of soldiers dying on the battlefield.
Let's put this in perspective, this is a crpg not a combat simulator. IMO the combat element of the game needs to have some variety, balanced for different play styles and have some progression. I've grown to like the melee aspect of the game and have used it successfully. Granted, I don't know what higher tier enemies will exist later, but I hope that the weapon progression will accommodate it.
