Why is the early game the way it is?

I don’t know if anyone has the same experience but if you try to start by trading, you get robbed constantly, if you try to fight in tournaments you have little shot due to incredible armor/weapon advantages, you have barely enough money to start a decent warband but still go risking not being able to find looters and losing it all.

Can barely level combat skills because a fight will hardly last more than 2 seconds anyway, the heck do you do besides have a miserable experience.

It’s an absolutely horrid slog at the beginning, and not in a rewarding way. Bouncing between failed battles until your athletics and weapon skills are high enough to actually move.